How to make a Private Route without AuthContext - reactjs

Question

I'm trying to make a private route from my login and signup pages to my dashboard page, but all the tutorials and guides that I've stumbled upon all require some sorta AuthContext thing and I didn't implement my authentication procedure using AuthContext.
I've tried different ways but none of them work and just end up giving me a blank page when I get to the dashboard page, what can I do to make it a private route? Using Firebase v9 btw.
SignUp.js
import './Signup.css'
import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { Link, useHistory } from 'react-router-dom';
import { auth }from '../../../firebase';
import { createUserWithEmailAndPassword, onAuthStateChanged } from 'firebase/auth';
import { Typography, Container, TextField, Button, Alert } from '#mui/material';
const Signup = () => {
const [email, setEmail] = useState('');
const [password, setPassword] = useState('');
const [confirmPassword, setConfirmPassword] = useState('');
const [error, setError] = useState('');
const [user, setUser] = useState({});
const history = useHistory();
onAuthStateChanged(auth, (currentUser) => {
setUser(currentUser);
})
const signup = async (e) => {
e.preventDefault();
if (password !== confirmPassword) {
return setError("Passwords do not match")
}
try {
const user = await createUserWithEmailAndPassword(
auth,
email,
password
);
history.push("/dashboard/canvas");
} catch (err) {
setError(err.message);
}
}
return (
<>
<div className="text-div">
<Typography textAlign="center" variant="h3">Create a new account</Typography>
</div>
<Container className="cont" maxWidth="xl" sx={{ backgroundColor: "#ffffff", width: 500, height: "auto", borderRadius: 4, marginTop: 5, display: "flex", flexDirection: "column", padding: 5, }}>
{ error && <Alert severity="error">{error}</Alert> }
<TextField label="Email" margin="dense" type="email" onChange={ (e) => {
setEmail(e.target.value);
}}/>
<TextField label="Password" margin="dense" type="password" onChange={ (e) => {
setPassword(e.target.value);
}}/>
<TextField label="Confirm Password" margin="dense" type="password" onChange={ (e) => {
setConfirmPassword(e.target.value);
}}/>
<Button onClick={signup} variant="contained" sx={{ marginTop: 2, }}>Sign Up</Button>
<div>
Already have an account? <Link to="/login" style={{ color: '#000' }}>Log In</Link>
</div>
</Container>
</>
)
}
export default Signup;
Login.js
import './Login.css'
import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { Link, useHistory } from 'react-router-dom';
import { signInWithEmailAndPassword } from 'firebase/auth';
import { auth }from '../../../firebase';
import { Typography, Container, TextField, Button, Alert } from '#mui/material';
const Login = () => {
const [email, setEmail] = useState('');
const [password, setPassword] = useState('');
const [error, setError] = useState('');
const history = useHistory();
const login = async () => {
try {
const user = await signInWithEmailAndPassword(
auth,
email,
password
);
//alert("Success, user is recognized");
history.push("/dashboard/canvas");
} catch (err) {
setError("The email or password you entered is incorrect");
}
}
return (
<>
<div className="text-div">
<Typography textAlign="center" variant="h3">Login</Typography>
</div>
<Container className="cont" maxWidth="xl" sx={{ backgroundColor: "#ffffff", width: 500, height: "auto", borderRadius: 4, marginTop: 5, display: "flex", flexDirection: "column", padding: 5, }}>
{ error && <Alert severity="error">{error}</Alert> }
<TextField label="Email" margin="dense" type="email" onChange={(e) => {
setEmail(e.target.value);
}}/>
<TextField label="Password" margin="dense" type="password" onChange={(e) => {
setPassword(e.target.value);
}}/>
<Button onClick={login} variant="contained" sx={{ marginTop: 2, }}>Login</Button>
<div>
Don't have an account? <Link to="/signup" style={{ color: '#000' }}>Create one here</Link>
</div>
<div>
<Link to="/request-password-reset" style={{ color: '#000' }}>Forgot your password?</Link>
</div>
</Container>
</>
)
}
export default Login;
firebase.js
import { initializeApp } from 'firebase/app';
import { getAuth } from 'firebase/auth';
const firebaseConfig = {
apiKey,
authDomain,
projectId,
storageBucket,
messagingSenderId,
appId,
measurementId
}
const app = initializeApp(firebaseConfig);
const auth = getAuth(app);
export {
auth
};
App.js
import './App.css';
import Home from './components/Pages/Home';
import { BrowserRouter as Router, Route, Switch } from 'react-router-dom';
import Signup from './components/Pages/Signup/Signup';
import Login from './components/Pages/Login/Login';
import UserDashboard from './components/Pages/UserDashboard/UserDashboard';
import ForgotPassword from './components/Pages/Forgot-Password';
function App() {
return (
<Router>
<div>
<Switch>
<Route exact path="/" component={Home}/>
<Route path="/signup" component={Signup}/>
<Route path="/login" component={Login}/>
<Route path="/dashboard" component={UserDashboard}/>
<Route path="/request-password-reset" component={ForgotPassword}/>
</Switch>
</div>
</Router>
);
}
export default App;

Answer 1

If you are trying to create a private route component without persisting the authentication state somewhere in your app and exposed out via a React context then you will need to check the auth status asynchronously on each route change. This means you'll also need a "loading" or "pending" state while the auth status check occurring.
Here's an example implementation of just a custom private route sans any persisted state.
import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import { Route, Redirect } from 'react-router-dom'; // v4/5
import { onAuthStateChanged } from 'firebase/auth';
import { auth }from '../../../firebase';
const PrivateRoute = props => {
const [pending, setPending] = useState(true);
const [currentUser, setCurrentUser] = useState();
useEffect(() => {
const unsubscribe = onAuthStateChanged(
auth,
user => {
setCurrentUser(user);
setPending(false);
},
error => {
// any error logging, etc...
setPending(false);
}
);
return unsubscribe; // <-- clean up subscription
}, []);
if (pending) return null; // don't do anything yet
return currentUser
? <Route {...props} /> // <-- render route and component
: <Redirect to="/login" />; // <-- redirect to log in
};
react-router-dom#6
Custom route components are out in v6, use a layout route. The PrivateRoute component will replace Route with Outlet for nested routes to render their matched element prop into, and Navigate replaces Redirect.
import { useEffect, useState } from 'react';
import { Outlet, Navigate } from 'react-router-dom'; // v4/5
import { onAuthStateChanged } from 'firebase/auth';
import { auth }from '../../../firebase';
const PrivateRoute = props => {
const [pending, setPending] = useState(true);
const [currentUser, setCurrentUser] = useState();
useEffect(() => {
const unsubscribe = onAuthStateChanged(
auth,
user => {
setCurrentUser(user);
setPending(false);
},
error => {
// any error logging, etc...
setPending(false);
}
);
return unsubscribe; // <-- clean up subscription
}, []);
if (pending) return null; // don't do anything yet
return currentUser
? <Outlet /> // <-- render outlet for routes
: <Navigate to="/login" replace />; // <-- redirect to log in
};
Wrap the routes you want to protect.
function App() {
return (
<Router>
<Routes>
<Route path="/" element={<Home />} />
<Route path="/signup" element={<Signup />} />
<Route path="/login" element={<Login />} />
<Route path="/request-password-reset" element={<ForgotPassword />} />
<Route element={<PrivateRoute />}>
<Route path="/dashboard" element={<UserDashboard />} />
</Route>
</Routes>
</Router>
);
}