How can I create a user that is both a social user and one that can login with an explicit password.

General
1

It appears that a user email address can not exist more than once in the user table, neither can a social user have a password added to them.

For example… If I have a user that has a social login (say for their mobile device), but logins to a web site using an email and a password (and only has one email address, the same one that is attached to the social account).

2

That’s an excellent question, Ian. I do not think it would work today and I am somewhat struggling in understanding how these two “users” can be seen as one. For example, I recall having this very problem when I used Airbnb (property rental service). I created an account on their website with a traditional username/password login and had a reservation there. Then later on I downloaded their mobile app and logged in with my Facebook account. Obviously my reservation was not found since technically I got in as another user. So the question is, what should an app do at this point to allow a user to “cross reference” their other account? Provide a “login within login” option? Seems a bit too complicated. How would you solve it?

3

Good question, the problem I have is not that I want them to see the same content. I am happy to have 2 separate users, but I cannot even do that right now, as the email address cannot be used for more than one account. If the email address is already used from a Facebook login then they cannot create a new account with explicit credentials. Perhaps the constraint should enforce uniqueness across the combination of email address and login mencahnism.

4

Thanks for the clarification, Ian. We need to discuss it internally. I will update this topic once we arrive at a resolution.

5

Hi Ian,

We plan to add support for “merging” accounts in the case when a user exists with a “classic” Backendless login and then logs in to a social account that has the same email address.

Regards,
Mark

6

This is also a problem if the user logs in via Facebook and then later wants to login via Google not just if they have an existing username/password account. Is there any indication when this will be done?

7

Also, I notice that Backendless’s own site does not suffer from this issue. You can login via Google, Facebook, and/or username/password. Is backendless.com not powered by the same technology?

8

Hi Austin,

Good catch… )) The algorithm for developer registration and login is different than the one for app users. I am afraid to give any estimates since we’re operating right now a bit differently than usual (support overload, plus a handful changes to accommodate migrations from Parse). This item is fairly high on the list though.

Regards,
Mark

9

Hi Mark,
Is this feature now available in version 4 , particularly for JS ?

Regards,
Bhavya.