How do I create a registration and login feature?

A login form is used on the front end of a website, web app, or mobile app to collect information needed to verify whether a user has been registered in a system’s database.

The authentication process is simple. First, the user submits some credentials — typically an email and password — to the backend through a login form. Then, the backend application checks if the email and password are in the database. From there, the backend app will either grant users access or require them to register.

In this tutorial, we’ll learn how to build a simple login form with Node.js. The form will require a user to register an account. Then, we’ll use the entered information and store it in a MySQL database before signing the user in.

Now that we have an overview of the project, let’s start building!

Jump ahead:

Prerequisites

You’ll need Node.js and npm installed on your local development machine to follow this tutorial. If you’re not sure if you have them installed, run the following commands to check their availability:

# To check if Node is installed, run: node -v # To check if Node is installed, run: npm -v

Besides Node.js, you’ll need a MySQL server installed and running. You can use the standalone MySQL installer or server distributions with MySQL built-in, such as WAMP and XAMP.

Building a Node.js login form

Let’s create a new folder for the app and navigate to the folder using the command line with the npm i express mysql dotenv hbs bcryptjs 9 directive:

cd path/to/your/folder

Then, run the following command to install the dependencies required for this tutorial:

npm i express mysql dotenv hbs bcryptjs

Let me explain what each library is for:

• Express: for creating API and web routes and setting up the app backend
• MySQL: for connecting to our local MySQL server
• dotenv: for storing environmental variables that should not be exposed in the app source code
• hbs: for rendering HTML on the server
• Bcryptjs: for hashing passwords

In addition, I recommend installing nodemon, which automatically restarts the server when file changes are detected, saving you precious time in development. Install it with the following command:

npm i nodemon --save

Finally, open your app’s npm i nodemon --save 0 file with a code editor and add the following field inside the npm i nodemon --save 1 object:

"start": "nodemon app.js"

Now, we’re finished with the project setup. Next, we’ll connect to our MySQL database and create a table to store user login information.

Setting up a database connection in Node.js

Start by creating a new database in your MySQL environment named npm i nodemon --save 2. After that, build a npm i nodemon --save 3 table with the ID, name, email, and password. Set the ID to npm i nodemon --save 4 and npm i nodemon --save 5, and the name, email, and password to npm i nodemon --save 6.

In the end, the database in npm i nodemon --save 7 will look like this:

Then, create an npm i nodemon --save 8 file in your app’s root folder. Inside npm i nodemon --save 8, add your database name, host domain, username, and password values to their corresponding variable names. These are the default values for MySQL:

DATABASE = login-db DATABASE_HOST = localhost DATABASE_ROOT = root DATABASE_PASSWORD =

Once you’ve set the variables, create "start": "nodemon app.js" 0 in the root folder. Open it with your text editor and import the following dependencies:

const express = require('express'); const mysql = require("mysql") const dotenv = require('dotenv')

Then, create an Express app:

const app = express();

After that, specify the path to the environmental variables:

dotenv.config({ path: './.env'})

Here, we’re telling the server to find npm i nodemon --save 8 inside the same directory as "start": "nodemon app.js" 0.

Next, access the variables from "start": "nodemon app.js" 3 and pass them to their respective connection properties:

const db = mysql.createConnection({ host: process.env.DATABASE_HOST, user: process.env.DATABASE_USER, password: process.env.DATABASE_PASSWORD, database: process.env.DATABASE })

Now that you have configured the connection with your database credentials, connect the database:

cd path/to/your/folder 0

The connection will either succeed or fail. If it fails, we’ll see "start": "nodemon app.js" 4 in the callback, and we’ll print it on the console. Otherwise, we output the "start": "nodemon app.js" 5 string.

Finally, start the server by running the following command on your terminal:

cd path/to/your/folder 1

If everything goes well, you’ll see "start": "nodemon app.js" 6. Let’s create the homepage.

Setting up the homepage

Inside your project’s root folder, create the "start": "nodemon app.js" 7 folder. Then, in "start": "nodemon app.js" 7, create "start": "nodemon app.js" 9, DATABASE = login-db DATABASE_HOST = localhost DATABASE_ROOT = root DATABASE_PASSWORD = 0, and DATABASE = login-db DATABASE_HOST = localhost DATABASE_ROOT = root DATABASE_PASSWORD = 1. As you may have guessed, these are the Handlebars files for the home, login, and register pages.

Now, for each of them, include the base HTML markup:

cd path/to/your/folder 2

Here, we linked the two DATABASE = login-db DATABASE_HOST = localhost DATABASE_ROOT = root DATABASE_PASSWORD = 2 elements to our custom DATABASE = login-db DATABASE_HOST = localhost DATABASE_ROOT = root DATABASE_PASSWORD = 3 and the Bootstrap CSS library. We also created a navigation menu that will be reused across all pages to include links to the login and register pages.

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Next, inside "start": "nodemon app.js" 9, use the following markup within the DATABASE = login-db DATABASE_HOST = localhost DATABASE_ROOT = root DATABASE_PASSWORD = 5 tags to add a jumbotron to your website’s homepage:

cd path/to/your/folder 3

Then, specify the DATABASE = login-db DATABASE_HOST = localhost DATABASE_ROOT = root DATABASE_PASSWORD = 6 as Handlebars in "start": "nodemon app.js" 0:

cd path/to/your/folder 4

From there, import DATABASE = login-db DATABASE_HOST = localhost DATABASE_ROOT = root DATABASE_PASSWORD = 8 to specify the static assets used in your Handlebars templates:

cd path/to/your/folder 5

Next, register a route for rendering "start": "nodemon app.js" 9 on the homepage:

cd path/to/your/folder 6

Finally, configure the port for the app in const express = require('express'); const mysql = require("mysql") const dotenv = require('dotenv') 0:

cd path/to/your/folder 7

Start your server by running const express = require('express'); const mysql = require("mysql") const dotenv = require('dotenv') 1, then navigate to const express = require('express'); const mysql = require("mysql") const dotenv = require('dotenv') 2 to view the homepage:

Next, we’ll create the register and login forms.

Creating the login and register forms in Node.js

Open DATABASE = login-db DATABASE_HOST = localhost DATABASE_ROOT = root DATABASE_PASSWORD = 0 in "start": "nodemon app.js" 7 and include the following markup within DATABASE = login-db DATABASE_HOST = localhost DATABASE_ROOT = root DATABASE_PASSWORD = 5 and after const express = require('express'); const mysql = require("mysql") const dotenv = require('dotenv') 6:

cd path/to/your/folder 8

We’ll create an HTML Form with inputs for the user’s name, email, password, and password confirmation. The form will post the data to the route we specified in const express = require('express'); const mysql = require("mysql") const dotenv = require('dotenv') 7.

Next, in "start": "nodemon app.js" 0, register the route to the register page and save the file:

cd path/to/your/folder 9

After that, navigate to your browser and select register in the navigation bar. You should see the registration form:

To create the login form, open DATABASE = login-db DATABASE_HOST = localhost DATABASE_ROOT = root DATABASE_PASSWORD = 1 inside "start": "nodemon app.js" 7 and use the same form as above. Delete const app = express(); 1 and const app = express(); 2 for the email and password confirmation. In addition, change const app = express(); 3 attributes and the card title from Register Form to Login Form.

Next, register the login route in "start": "nodemon app.js" 0:

npm i express mysql dotenv hbs bcryptjs 0

Save the files and go to the browser. It should appear like this when you select Login on the navigation bar:

Now that we’ve finished the work on the front end, let’s shift our focus to registering the user in the backend.

Registering the user

The form values will be sent to the const app = express(); 5 route when the registration form is submitted. Let’s build it!

In "start": "nodemon app.js" 0, begin by importing const app = express(); 7:

npm i express mysql dotenv hbs bcryptjs 1

Next, configure the Express server to receive the form values as const app = express(); 8:

npm i express mysql dotenv hbs bcryptjs 2

Then, create const app = express(); 9 and retrieve the user’s form values:

npm i express mysql dotenv hbs bcryptjs 3

Now that you have the values, query the database to check if the email is on the server. That way, a user cannot register multiple times with the same email:

npm i express mysql dotenv hbs bcryptjs 4

If there is an error while executing the query, we’ll access "start": "nodemon app.js" 4 and display it on the server’s terminal:

npm i express mysql dotenv hbs bcryptjs 5

Next, check if there is a result and if the two passwords are a match. If any conditions are true, re-render the register page to notify the user the email is already in use or that the passwords don’t match:

npm i express mysql dotenv hbs bcryptjs 6

If the conditions above are not true, the user will be added to the database. Encrypt the password and post it to the database along with the other values:

npm i express mysql dotenv hbs bcryptjs 7

If there is an error, we’ll print it on the console. Otherwise, re-render the page and send a message to the user that they are registered.

It’s important to note that to show the user messages, you’ll need to edit DATABASE = login-db DATABASE_HOST = localhost DATABASE_ROOT = root DATABASE_PASSWORD = 0 and include the following template below dotenv.config({ path: './.env'}) 2:

npm i express mysql dotenv hbs bcryptjs 8

Finally, save all file changes and test the app on your browser:

Conclusion

I hope you had as much fun following this tutorial as I did creating it. Feel free to fork the from the GitHub repository and play with the code. After all, getting your hands dirty is the best way to learn.

If you have questions, comment below!

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