Add authentication

User context

In React Native, you can use context to share data between components. You can use a context and a custom hook to manage our user's data.

Create a new file contexts/UserContext.jsx and add the following code to it.

React Native
import { ID } from "react-native-appwrite";
import { createContext, useContext, useEffect, useState } from "react";
import { account } from "../lib/appwrite";
import { toast } from "../lib/toast";


const UserContext = createContext();

export function useUser() {
  return useContext(UserContext);
}

export function UserProvider(props) {
  const [user, setUser] = useState(null);

  async function login(email, password) {
    const loggedIn = await account.createEmailPasswordSession(email, password);
    setUser(loggedIn);
    toast('Welcome back. You are logged in');
  }

  async function logout() {
    await account.deleteSession("current");
    setUser(null);
    toast('Logged out');
  }

  async function register(email, password) {
    await account.create(ID.unique(), email, password);
    await login(email, password);
    toast('Account created');
  }

  async function init() {
    try {
      const loggedIn = await account.get();
      setUser(loggedIn);
      toast('Welcome back. You are logged in');
    } catch (err) {
      setUser(null);
    }
  }

  useEffect(() => {
    init();
  }, []);

  return (
    <UserContext.Provider value={{ current: user, login, logout, register, toast }}>
      {props.children}
    </UserContext.Provider>
  );
}

Now, you can use the useUser hook to access the user's data from any component wrapped by this context's provider.

Display toasts

For a better user experience, display toasts when the users perform an action, such as login, logout, create new ideas, etc.

We can do this by creating a new file lib/toast.js and adding the following code to it.

React Native
import { ToastAndroid, Platform, AlertIOS } from 'react-native';

export function toast(msg) {
    if (Platform.OS === 'android') {
        ToastAndroid.show(msg, ToastAndroid.SHORT)
    } else {
        AlertIOS.alert(msg);
    }
}

Login page

Create a new file views/Login.jsx and add the following code to it. this page contains a basic form to allow the user to login or register. Notice how this page consumes the useUser hook to access the user's data and perform login and register actions.

React Native
import React, { useState } from 'react';
import { View, Text, TextInput, Button, StyleSheet } from 'react-native';
import { useUser } from '../contexts/UserContext';


export default function LoginScreen() {
    const user = useUser();
    const [email, setEmail] = useState('');
    const [password, setPassword] = useState('');
    return (
        <View style={styles.container}>
            <Text style={styles.header}>Login or register</Text>
            <TextInput
                style={styles.input}
                placeholder="Email"
                value={email}
                onChangeText={setEmail}
            />
            <TextInput
                style={styles.input}
                placeholder="Password"
                value={password}
                onChangeText={setPassword}
                secureTextEntry
            />
            <View style={styles.buttonContainer}>
                <Button
                    title="Login"
                    onPress={
                        () => {
                            user.login(email, password)
                        }
                    }
                />
                <Button
                    title="Register"
                    onPress={
                        () => { 
                            user.register(email, password) 
                        }
                    }
                />
            </View>
        </View>
    );
}

const styles = StyleSheet.create({
    container: {
        flex: 1,
        justifyContent: 'center',
        padding: 16,
    },
    header: {
        fontSize: 24,
        marginBottom: 20,
    },
    input: {
        height: 40,
        borderColor: 'gray',
        borderWidth: 1,
        marginBottom: 10,
        paddingLeft: 8,
    },
    buttonContainer: {
        flexDirection: 'row',
        justifyContent: 'space-between',
    },
});