[javascript] How to implement authenticated routes in React Router 4?

I was trying to implement authenticated routes but found that React Router 4 now prevents this from working:

<Route exact path="/" component={Index} />
<Route path="/auth" component={UnauthenticatedWrapper}>
    <Route path="/auth/login" component={LoginBotBot} />
</Route>
<Route path="/domains" component={AuthenticatedWrapper}>
    <Route exact path="/domains" component={DomainsIndex} />
</Route>

The error is:

Warning: You should not use <Route component> and <Route children> in the same route; <Route children> will be ignored

In that case, whats the correct way to implement this?

It appears in react-router (v4) docs, it suggests something like

<Router>
    <div>
    <AuthButton/>
    <ul>
        <li><Link to="/public">Public Page</Link></li>
        <li><Link to="/protected">Protected Page</Link></li>
    </ul>
    <Route path="/public" component={Public}/>
    <Route path="/login" component={Login}/>
    <PrivateRoute path="/protected" component={Protected}/>
    </div>
</Router>

But isit possible to achieve this while grouping a bunch of routes together?

UPDATE

Ok, after some research, I came up with this:

import React, {PropTypes} from "react"
import {Route} from "react-router-dom"

export default class AuthenticatedRoute extends React.Component {
  render() {
    if (!this.props.isLoggedIn) {
      this.props.redirectToLogin()
      return null
    }
    return <Route {...this.props} />
  }
}

AuthenticatedRoute.propTypes = {
  isLoggedIn: PropTypes.bool.isRequired,
  component: PropTypes.element,
  redirectToLogin: PropTypes.func.isRequired
}

Isit correct to dispatch an action in render() it feels wrong. It doesnt really seem correct with componentDidMount or some other hook either?

Here is the simple clean protected route

const ProtectedRoute 
  = ({ isAllowed, ...props }) => 
     isAllowed 
     ? <Route {...props}/> 
     : <Redirect to="/authentificate"/>;
const _App = ({ lastTab, isTokenVerified })=> 
    <Switch>
      <Route exact path="/authentificate" component={Login}/>
      <ProtectedRoute 
         isAllowed={isTokenVerified} 
         exact 
         path="/secrets" 
         component={Secrets}/>
      <ProtectedRoute 
         isAllowed={isTokenVerified} 
         exact 
         path="/polices" 
         component={Polices}/>
      <ProtectedRoute 
         isAllowed={isTokenVerified} 
         exact 
         path="/grants" component={Grants}/>
      <Redirect from="/" to={lastTab}/>
    </Switch>

isTokenVerified is a method call to check the authorization token basically it returns boolean.

const Root = ({ session }) => {
  const isLoggedIn = session && session.getCurrentUser
  return (
    <Router>
      {!isLoggedIn ? (
        <Switch>
          <Route path="/signin" component={<Signin />} />
          <Redirect to="/signin" />
        </Switch>
      ) : (
        <Switch>
          <Route path="/" exact component={Home} />
          <Route path="/about" component={About} />
          <Route path="/something-else" component={SomethingElse} />
          <Redirect to="/" />
        </Switch>
      )}
    </Router>
  )
}

My Previous answer is not scalable. Here is what I think is good approach-

Your Routes-

<Switch>
  <Route
    exact path="/"
    component={matchStateToProps(InitialAppState, {
      routeOpen: true // no auth is needed to access this route
    })} />
  <Route
    exact path="/profile"
    component={matchStateToProps(Profile, {
      routeOpen: false // can set it false or just omit this key
    })} />
  <Route
    exact path="/login"
    component={matchStateToProps(Login, {
      routeOpen: true
    })} />
  <Route
    exact path="/forgot-password"
    component={matchStateToProps(ForgotPassword, {
      routeOpen: true
    })} />
  <Route
    exact path="/dashboard"
    component={matchStateToProps(DashBoard)} />
</Switch>

Idea is to use a wrapper in component props which would return original component if no auth is required or already authenticated otherwise would return default component e.g. Login.

const matchStateToProps = function(Component, defaultProps) {
  return (props) => {
    let authRequired = true;

    if (defaultProps && defaultProps.routeOpen) {
      authRequired = false;
    }

    if (authRequired) {
      // check if loginState key exists in localStorage (Your auth logic goes here)
      if (window.localStorage.getItem(STORAGE_KEYS.LOGIN_STATE)) {
        return <Component { ...defaultProps } />; // authenticated, good to go
      } else {
        return <InitialAppState { ...defaultProps } />; // not authenticated
      }
    }
    return <Component { ...defaultProps } />; // no auth is required
  };
};

Based on the answer of @Tyler McGinnis. I made a different approach using ES6 syntax and nested routes with wrapped components:

import React, { cloneElement, Children } from 'react'
import { Route, Redirect } from 'react-router-dom'

const PrivateRoute = ({ children, authed, ...rest }) =>
  <Route
    {...rest}
    render={(props) => authed ?
      <div>
        {Children.map(children, child => cloneElement(child, { ...child.props }))}
      </div>
      :
      <Redirect to={{ pathname: '/', state: { from: props.location } }} />}
  />

export default PrivateRoute

And using it:

<BrowserRouter>
  <div>
    <PrivateRoute path='/home' authed={auth}>
      <Navigation>
        <Route component={Home} path="/home" />
      </Navigation>
    </PrivateRoute>

    <Route exact path='/' component={PublicHomePage} />
  </div>
</BrowserRouter>

(Using Redux for state management)

If user try to access any url, first i am going to check if access token available, if not redirect to login page, Once user logs in using login page, we do store that in localstorage as well as in our redux state. (localstorage or cookies..we keep this topic out of context for now).
since redux state as updated and privateroutes will be rerendered. now we do have access token so we gonna redirect to home page.

Store the decoded authorization payload data as well in redux state and pass it to react context. (We dont have to use context but to access authorization in any of our nested child components it makes easy to access from context instead connecting each and every child component to redux)..

All the routes that don't need special roles can be accessed directly after login.. If it need role like admin (we made a protected route which checks whether he had desired role if not redirects to unauthorized component)

similarly in any of your component if you have to disable button or something based on role.

simply you can do in this way

const authorization = useContext(AuthContext);
const [hasAdminRole] = checkAuth({authorization, roleType:"admin"});
const [hasLeadRole] = checkAuth({authorization, roleType:"lead"});
<Button disable={!hasAdminRole} />Admin can access</Button>
<Button disable={!hasLeadRole || !hasAdminRole} />admin or lead can access</Button>

So what if user try to insert dummy token in localstorage. As we do have access token, we will redirect to home component. My home component will make rest call to grab data, since jwt token was dummy, rest call will return unauthorized user. So i do call logout (which will clear localstorage and redirect to login page again). If home page has static data and not making any api calls(then you should have token-verify api call in the backend so that you can check if token is REAL before loading home page)

index.js

import React from 'react';
import ReactDOM from 'react-dom';
import { Router, Route, Switch } from 'react-router-dom';
import history from './utils/history';


import Store from './statemanagement/store/configureStore';
import Privateroutes from './Privateroutes';
import Logout from './components/auth/Logout';

ReactDOM.render(
  <Store>
    <Router history={history}>
      <Switch>
        <Route path="/logout" exact component={Logout} />
        <Route path="/" exact component={Privateroutes} />
        <Route path="/:someParam" component={Privateroutes} />
      </Switch>
    </Router>
  </Store>,
  document.querySelector('#root')
);

History.js

import { createBrowserHistory as history } from 'history';

export default history({});

Privateroutes.js

import React, { Fragment, useContext } from 'react';
import { Route, Switch, Redirect } from 'react-router-dom';
import { connect } from 'react-redux';
import { AuthContext, checkAuth } from './checkAuth';
import App from './components/App';
import Home from './components/home';
import Admin from './components/admin';
import Login from './components/auth/Login';
import Unauthorized from './components/Unauthorized ';
import Notfound from './components/404';

const ProtectedRoute = ({ component: Component, roleType, ...rest })=> { 
const authorization = useContext(AuthContext);
const [hasRequiredRole] = checkAuth({authorization, roleType});
return (
<Route
  {...rest}
  render={props => hasRequiredRole ? 
  <Component {...props} /> :
   <Unauthorized {...props} />  } 
/>)}; 

const Privateroutes = props => {
  const { accessToken, authorization } = props.authData;
  if (accessToken) {
    return (
      <Fragment>
       <AuthContext.Provider value={authorization}>
        <App>
          <Switch>
            <Route exact path="/" component={Home} />
            <Route path="/login" render={() => <Redirect to="/" />} />
            <Route exact path="/home" component={Home} />
            <ProtectedRoute
            exact
            path="/admin"
            component={Admin}
            roleType="admin"
          />
            <Route path="/404" component={Notfound} />
            <Route path="*" render={() => <Redirect to="/404" />} />
          </Switch>
        </App>
        </AuthContext.Provider>
      </Fragment>
    );
  } else {
    return (
      <Fragment>
        <Route exact path="/login" component={Login} />
        <Route exact path="*" render={() => <Redirect to="/login" />} />
      </Fragment>
    );
  }
};

// my user reducer sample
// const accessToken = localStorage.getItem('token')
//   ? JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('token')).accessToken
//   : false;

// const initialState = {
//   accessToken: accessToken ? accessToken : null,
//   authorization: accessToken
//     ? jwtDecode(JSON.parse(localStorage.getItem('token')).accessToken)
//         .authorization
//     : null
// };

// export default function(state = initialState, action) {
// switch (action.type) {
// case actionTypes.FETCH_LOGIN_SUCCESS:
//   let token = {
//                  accessToken: action.payload.token
//               };
//   localStorage.setItem('token', JSON.stringify(token))
//   return {
//     ...state,
//     accessToken: action.payload.token,
//     authorization: jwtDecode(action.payload.token).authorization
//   };
//    default:
//         return state;
//    }
//    }

const mapStateToProps = state => {
  const { authData } = state.user;
  return {
    authData: authData
  };
};

export default connect(mapStateToProps)(Privateroutes);

checkAuth.js

import React from 'react';

export const AuthContext = React.createContext();

export const checkAuth = ({ authorization, roleType }) => {
  let hasRequiredRole = false;

  if (authorization.roles ) {
    let roles = authorization.roles.map(item =>
      item.toLowerCase()
    );

    hasRequiredRole = roles.includes(roleType);
  }

  return [hasRequiredRole];
};

DECODED JWT TOKEN SAMPLE

{
  "authorization": {
    "roles": [
      "admin",
      "operator"
    ]
  },
  "exp": 1591733170,
  "user_id": 1,
  "orig_iat": 1591646770,
  "email": "hemanthvrm@stackoverflow",
  "username": "hemanthvrm"
}

It seems your hesitation is in creating your own component and then dispatching in the render method? Well you can avoid both by just using the render method of the <Route> component. No need to create a <AuthenticatedRoute> component unless you really want to. It can be as simple as below. Note the {...routeProps} spread making sure you continue to send the properties of the <Route> component down to the child component (<MyComponent> in this case).

<Route path='/someprivatepath' render={routeProps => {

   if (!this.props.isLoggedIn) {
      this.props.redirectToLogin()
      return null
    }
    return <MyComponent {...routeProps} anotherProp={somevalue} />

} />

See the React Router V4 render documentation

If you did want to create a dedicated component, then it looks like you are on the right track. Since React Router V4 is purely declarative routing (it says so right in the description) I do not think you will get away with putting your redirect code outside of the normal component lifecycle. Looking at the code for React Router itself, they perform the redirect in either componentWillMount or componentDidMount depending on whether or not it is server side rendering. Here is the code below, which is pretty simple and might help you feel more comfortable with where to put your redirect logic.

import React, { PropTypes } from 'react'

/**
 * The public API for updating the location programatically
 * with a component.
 */
class Redirect extends React.Component {
  static propTypes = {
    push: PropTypes.bool,
    from: PropTypes.string,
    to: PropTypes.oneOfType([
      PropTypes.string,
      PropTypes.object
    ])
  }

  static defaultProps = {
    push: false
  }

  static contextTypes = {
    router: PropTypes.shape({
      history: PropTypes.shape({
        push: PropTypes.func.isRequired,
        replace: PropTypes.func.isRequired
      }).isRequired,
      staticContext: PropTypes.object
    }).isRequired
  }

  isStatic() {
    return this.context.router && this.context.router.staticContext
  }

  componentWillMount() {
    if (this.isStatic())
      this.perform()
  }

  componentDidMount() {
    if (!this.isStatic())
      this.perform()
  }

  perform() {
    const { history } = this.context.router
    const { push, to } = this.props

    if (push) {
      history.push(to)
    } else {
      history.replace(to)
    }
  }

  render() {
    return null
  }
}

export default Redirect

I implemented using-

<Route path='/dashboard' render={() => (
    this.state.user.isLoggedIn ? 
    (<Dashboard authenticate={this.authenticate} user={this.state.user} />) : 
    (<Redirect to="/login" />)
)} />

authenticate props will be passed to components e.g. signup using which user state can be changed. Complete AppRoutes-

import React from 'react';
import { Switch, Route } from 'react-router-dom';
import { Redirect } from 'react-router';

import Home from '../pages/home';
import Login from '../pages/login';
import Signup from '../pages/signup';
import Dashboard from '../pages/dashboard';

import { config } from '../utils/Config';

export default class AppRoutes extends React.Component {

    constructor(props) {
        super(props);

        // initially assuming that user is logged out
        let user = {
            isLoggedIn: false
        }

        // if user is logged in, his details can be found from local storage
        try {
            let userJsonString = localStorage.getItem(config.localStorageKey);
            if (userJsonString) {
                user = JSON.parse(userJsonString);
            }
        } catch (exception) {
        }

        // updating the state
        this.state = {
            user: user
        };

        this.authenticate = this.authenticate.bind(this);
    }

    // this function is called on login/logout
    authenticate(user) {
        this.setState({
            user: user
        });

        // updating user's details
        localStorage.setItem(config.localStorageKey, JSON.stringify(user));
    }

    render() {
        return (
            <Switch>
                <Route exact path='/' component={Home} />
                <Route exact path='/login' render={() => <Login authenticate={this.authenticate} />} />
                <Route exact path='/signup' render={() => <Signup authenticate={this.authenticate} />} />
                <Route path='/dashboard' render={() => (
                    this.state.user.isLoggedIn ? 
                            (<Dashboard authenticate={this.authenticate} user={this.state.user} />) : 
                            (<Redirect to="/login" />)
                )} />
            </Switch>
        );
    }
} 

Check the complete project here: https://github.com/varunon9/hello-react

install react-router-dom

then create two components one for valid users and other for invalid users.

try this on app.js

import React from 'react';

import {
BrowserRouter as Router,
Route,
Link,
Switch,
Redirect
} from 'react-router-dom';

import ValidUser from "./pages/validUser/validUser";
import InValidUser from "./pages/invalidUser/invalidUser";
const loggedin = false;

class App extends React.Component {
 render() {
    return ( 
      <Router>
      <div>
        <Route exact path="/" render={() =>(
          loggedin ? ( <Route  component={ValidUser} />)
          : (<Route component={InValidUser} />)
        )} />

        </div>
      </Router>
    )
  }
}
export default App;

Heres how I solved it with React and Typescript. Hope it helps !

import * as React from 'react';
import { FC } from 'react';
import { Route, RouteComponentProps, RouteProps, Redirect } from 'react-router';

const PrivateRoute: FC<RouteProps> = ({ component: Component, ...rest }) => {
    if (!Component) {
      return null;
    }
    const isLoggedIn = true; // Add your provider here
    return (
      <Route
        {...rest}
            render={(props: RouteComponentProps<{}>) => isLoggedIn ? (<Component {...props} />) : (<Redirect to={{ pathname: '/', state: { from: props.location } }} />)}
      />
    );
  };

export default PrivateRoute;








<PrivateRoute component={SignIn} path="/signin" />

I was also looking for some answer. Here all answers are quite good, but none of them give answers how we can use it if user starts application after opening it back. (I meant to say using cookie together).

No need to create even different privateRoute Component. Below is my code

    import React, { Component }  from 'react';
    import { Route, Switch, BrowserRouter, Redirect } from 'react-router-dom';
    import { Provider } from 'react-redux';
    import store from './stores';
    import requireAuth from './components/authentication/authComponent'
    import SearchComponent from './components/search/searchComponent'
    import LoginComponent from './components/login/loginComponent'
    import ExampleContainer from './containers/ExampleContainer'
    class App extends Component {
    state = {
     auth: true
    }


   componentDidMount() {
     if ( ! Cookies.get('auth')) {
       this.setState({auth:false });
     }
    }
    render() {
     return (
      <Provider store={store}>
       <BrowserRouter>
        <Switch>
         <Route exact path="/searchComponent" component={requireAuth(SearchComponent)} />
         <Route exact path="/login" component={LoginComponent} />
         <Route exact path="/" component={requireAuth(ExampleContainer)} />
         {!this.state.auth &&  <Redirect push to="/login"/> }
        </Switch>
       </BrowserRouter>
      </Provider>);
      }
     }
    }
    export default App;

And here is authComponent

import React  from 'react';
import { withRouter } from 'react-router';
import * as Cookie from "js-cookie";
export default function requireAuth(Component) {
class AuthenticatedComponent extends React.Component {
 constructor(props) {
  super(props);
  this.state = {
   auth: Cookie.get('auth')
  }
 }
 componentDidMount() {
  this.checkAuth();
 }
 checkAuth() {
  const location = this.props.location;
  const redirect = location.pathname + location.search;
  if ( ! Cookie.get('auth')) {
   this.props.history.push(`/login?redirect=${redirect}`);
  }
 }
render() {
  return Cookie.get('auth')
   ? <Component { ...this.props } />
   : null;
  }
 }
 return  withRouter(AuthenticatedComponent)
}

Below I have written blog, you can get more depth explanation there as well.

Create Protected routes in ReactJS

Tnx Tyler McGinnis for solution. I make my idea from Tyler McGinnis idea.

const DecisionRoute = ({ trueComponent, falseComponent, decisionFunc, ...rest }) => {
  return (
    <Route
      {...rest}

      render={
        decisionFunc()
          ? trueComponent
          : falseComponent
      }
    />
  )
}

You can implement that like this

<DecisionRoute path="/signin" exact={true}
            trueComponent={redirectStart}
            falseComponent={SignInPage}
            decisionFunc={isAuth}
          />

decisionFunc just a function that return true or false

const redirectStart = props => <Redirect to="/orders" />

The solution which ultimately worked best for my organization is detailed below, it just adds a check on render for the sysadmin route and redirects the user to a different main path of the application if they are not allowed to be in the page.

SysAdminRoute.tsx

import React from 'react';
import { Route, Redirect, RouteProps } from 'react-router-dom';
import AuthService from '../services/AuthService';
import { appSectionPageUrls } from './appSectionPageUrls';
interface IProps extends RouteProps {}
export const SysAdminRoute = (props: IProps) => {
    var authService = new AuthService();
    if (!authService.getIsSysAdmin()) { //example
        authService.logout();
        return (<Redirect to={{
            pathname: appSectionPageUrls.site //front-facing
        }} />);
    }
    return (<Route {...props} />);
}

There are 3 main routes for our implementation, the public facing /site, the logged in client /app, and sys admin tools at /sysadmin. You get redirected based on your 'authiness' and this is the page at /sysadmin.

SysAdminNav.tsx

<Switch>
    <SysAdminRoute exact path={sysadminUrls.someSysAdminUrl} render={() => <SomeSysAdminUrl/> } />
    //etc
</Switch>

The accepted answer is good, but it does NOT solve the problem when we need our component to reflect changes in URL.

Say, your component's code is something like:

export const Customer = (props) => {

   const history = useHistory();
   ...

}

And you change URL:

const handleGoToPrev = () => {
    history.push(`/app/customer/${prevId}`);
}

The component will not reload!

A better solution:

import React from 'react';
import { Redirect, Route } from 'react-router-dom';
import store from '../store/store';

export const PrivateRoute = ({ component: Component, ...rest }) => {

  let isLoggedIn = !!store.getState().data.user;

  return (
    <Route {...rest} render={props => isLoggedIn
      ? (
        <Component key={props.match.params.id || 'empty'} {...props} />
      ) : (
        <Redirect to={{ pathname: '/login', state: { from: props.location } }} />
      )
    } />
  )
}

Usage:

<PrivateRoute exact path="/app/customer/:id" component={Customer} />

I know it's been a while but I've been working on an npm package for private and public routes.

Here's how to make a private route:

<PrivateRoute exact path="/private" authed={true} redirectTo="/login" component={Title} text="This is a private route"/>

And you can also make Public routes that only unauthed user can access

<PublicRoute exact path="/public" authed={false} redirectTo="/admin" component={Title} text="This route is for unauthed users"/>

I hope it helps!