Implement gRPC API to create and login users in Go

Original video

Hello guys, welcome back to the backend master class! In the last lecture, we've learned how to start a gRPC server using the codes that protoc generated. We also tried to call the RPCs on the server with Evans client. However, all the RPCs to create & login users are still returning an error code, because they're not implemented yet at the moment.

call CreateUser
username (TYPE_STRING) => quang
full_name (TYPE_STRING) => Quang
email (TYPE_STRING) => quang@gmail.com
password (TYPE_STRING) => secret
command call: rpc error: code = Unimplemented desc = method CreateUser not implemented

So today, let's learn how to implement them!

Implementing API to create users

If we open the UnimplementedSimpleBankServer, it will bring us to the generated gRPC service code, where we can find the SimpleBankServer interface that we need to implement. And here, the UnimplementedSimpleBankServer has already given us the basic implementation of the 2 methods that are required by the interface: CreateUser and LoginUser. What we have to do now, is implement them on our own Server struct.

So first, I'm gonna copy this CreateUser method.

func (UnimplementedSimpleBankServer) CreateUser(context.Context, *CreateUserRequest) (*CreateUserResponse, error) {
	return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Unimplemented, "method CreateUser not implemented")
}

Then let's create a new file: rpc_create_user.go inside the gapi package, and paste in the copied codes. In order to add this method to our server, we have to change this function receiver to be our own Server object. The Server struct is already defined in the server.go file in the previous lecture.

OK, next let's add the parameter name for the context and the request. The CreateUserRequest and the CreateUserResponse come from the pb package that protoc has generated for us. Once we save the file, all the necessary packages will be automatically imported and there will be no errors in the file anymore.

func (server *Server) CreateUser(ctx context.Context, req *pb.CreateUserRequest) (*pb.CreateUserResponse, error) {
	return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Unimplemented, "method CreateUser not implemented")
}

Now, we have to write a real implementation for this method. It would be very similar to what we've implemented before in the Gin HTTP API server. So let's open the user.go file inside the api package.

Here we can find the createUser handler method.

func (server *Server) createUser(ctx *gin.Context) {
	var req createUserRequest
	if err := ctx.ShouldBindJSON(&req); err != nil {
		ctx.JSON(http.StatusBadRequest, errorResponse(err))
		return
	}

	hashedPassword, err := util.HashPassword(req.Password)
	if err != nil {
		ctx.JSON(http.StatusInternalServerError, errorResponse(err))
		return
	}

	arg := db.CreateUserParams{
		Username:       req.Username,
		HashedPassword: hashedPassword,
		FullName:       req.FullName,
		Email:          req.Email,
	}

	user, err := server.store.CreateUser(ctx, arg)
	if err != nil {
		if pqErr, ok := err.(*pq.Error); ok {
			switch pqErr.Code.Name() {
			case "unique_violation":
				ctx.JSON(http.StatusForbidden, errorResponse(err))
				return
			}
		}
		ctx.JSON(http.StatusInternalServerError, errorResponse(err))
		return
	}

	rsp := newUserResponse(user)
	ctx.JSON(http.StatusOK, rsp)
}

As you can see, for Gin, we have to bind the input parameters into the request object ourselves. But for gRPC, we don't have to do that, because it has already been taken care of by the framework.

So let's ignore the input binding codes, and just copy the main part of this function, where we interact with the DB to create a new user. Paste it to our RPC method.

func (server *Server) CreateUser(context.Context, *pb.CreateUserRequest) (*pb.CreateUserResponse, error) {
	hashedPassword, err := util.HashPassword(req.Password)
	if err != nil {
		ctx.JSON(http.StatusInternalServerError, errorResponse(err))
		return
	}

	arg := db.CreateUserParams{
		Username:       req.Username,
		HashedPassword: hashedPassword,
		FullName:       req.FullName,
		Email:          req.Email,
	}

	user, err := server.store.CreateUser(ctx, arg)
	if err != nil {
		if pqErr, ok := err.(*pq.Error); ok {
			switch pqErr.Code.Name() {
			case "unique_violation":
				ctx.JSON(http.StatusForbidden, errorResponse(err))
				return
			}
		}
		ctx.JSON(http.StatusInternalServerError, errorResponse(err))
		return
	}
	
	return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Unimplemented, "method CreateUser not implemented")
}

OK, now let's see how we can modify the code to make it work with gRPC. First, for the input password parameter, as you can see, we can easily get it from the CreateUserRequest, because gRPC has already bound all the input data into this object for us. Here we can get the value directly from the Password field of the struct,

hashedPassword, err := util.HashPassword(req.Password)

or a better way is to use a getter function: GetPassword(), because this function will provide a safety check, just in case the request object is nil.

func (x *CreateUserRequest) GetPassword() string {
	if x != nil {
		return x.Password
	}
	return ""
}

Alright, let's go back to our code. Here we're hashing the password because we don't want to store its plaintext value in the database. If an error occurs, we will have to return an internal error to the client.

hashedPassword, err := util.HashPassword(req.GetPassword())
if err != nil {
    ctx.JSON(http.StatusInternalServerError, errorResponse(err))
    return
}

How can we do that in gRPC?

Well, if you look at the return statement that protoc generated for us, it's pretty simple.

return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Unimplemented, "method CreateUser not implemented")

All we have to do is to create an error using the status.Errorf() function. status is actually a sub package of gRPC. So this Errorf function allows us to pass in 2 parameters. The first parameter is a status code, which in our case should be codes.Internal. Again, codes is another sub package of gRPC, where all the gRPC status codes are defined. And the second parameter is an error message, let's say: "failed to hash password".

hashedPassword, err := util.HashPassword(req.GetPassword())
if err != nil {
    return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Internal, "failed to hash password")
}

We can also embed the original error into this message to make it cleaner.

hashedPassword, err := util.HashPassword(req.GetPassword())
if err != nil {
    return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Internal, "failed to hash password: %s", err)
}

After this step, we will call a function in the DB store to create a new user. Here's the input argument that we need to pass in the function. It's possible to leave it just like this.

arg := db.CreateUserParams{
    Username:       req.Username,
    HashedPassword: hashedPassword,
    FullName:       req.FullName,
    Email:          req.Email,
}

We're accessing the fields directly from the request object. Or, we can do it a little bit better, by calling the getter functions to get the value. So request.GetUsername(), the hashed password is the value we've just computed. Then request.GetFullName(), and finally, request.GetEmail(). Now we call server.store.CreateUser() and pass in the input argument.

arg := db.CreateUserParams{
    Username:       req.GetUsername(),
    HashedPassword: hashedPassword,
    FullName:       req.GetFullName(),
    Email:          req.GetEmail(),
}

user, err := server.store.CreateUser(ctx, arg)

If error is not nil, then there are 2 cases to check. In case the error is a unique violation, it means there's already an existing user with the same username. So we will have to return a different error status code here. I will copy the return statement from above, then change this status code to AlreadyExists and the error message should be: "username already exists". In the other case, we don't know exactly what caused the error in the database, so we just return an internal error, with a message saying "failed to create user".

if err != nil {
		if pqErr, ok := err.(*pq.Error); ok {
			switch pqErr.Code.Name() {
			case "unique_violation":
				return nil, status.Errorf(codes.AlreadyExists, "username already exists: %s", err)
			}
		}
        return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Internal, "failed to create user: %s", err)
	}

Finally, if no errors occur, this is where we should create a response object and return it to the gRPC client. So, let's create a CreateUserResponse object here. And return that object with a nil error at the end of the function.

rsp := &pb.CreateUserResponse{}
return rsp, nil

Now, what do we have in the response? Well, all the required fields have already been defined in the generated struct. In this case, there's only 1 User field in the struct. And the type of this field is pb.User, which is another struct generated by protoc from the protobuf definition we wrote in lecture 40.

rsp := &pb.CreateUserResponse{
    User: &pb.User{

    },
}

We cannot just return the db.User object here, because it's a different type. And actualy, we should not mix up the DB layer with the API layer struct. It's better to separate them from each other, because sometimes we don't want to return every field in the DB to the client. The hashed password, for example, is sensitive information that we want to hide. So what we need now is a function to convert the db.User to pb.User.

I'm gonna create a new file called converter.go inside the gapi package. And in this file, let's add a function: convertUser(), which will take a db.User object as input, and returns a pb.User object as output.

func convertUser(user db.User) pb.User {
	
}

With this function, we can simply call it in the CreateUser RPC to convert the internal db.User object to the required output type of gRPC.

rsp := &pb.CreateUserResponse{
    User: convertUser(user),
}

Now let's implement the convertUser() function. Actually, the return type should be a pointer to pb.User, because that's what the generated response struct wants. The conversion is in fact pretty simple. We need to convert each and every field of the struct. First, the Username should be user.Username, the Fullname should be user.FullName, Email should be user.Email, PasswordChangedAt should be user.PasswordChangedAt, but this field is a bit different, because the timestamp type in protobuf is not the same sa the Golang's time type. So here we have to use the timestamppb.New() function to convert its value. Similar for the user.CreatedAt field. And that's basically it!

func convertUser(user db.User) *pb.User {
	return &pb.User{
		Username: user.Username,
		FullName: user.FullName,
		Email: user.Email,
		PasswordChangedAt: timestamppb.New(user.PasswordChangedAt),
		CreatedAt: timestamppb.New(user.CreatedAt),
	}
}

The convertUser() function is completed.

Our CreateUser RPC is now also ready to handle the request.

Let's run

make server

in the terminal to start the gRPC server.

Then, in another tab, let's run

make evans

to open Evans client console.

Then, let's call the CreateUser RPC. Enter the username, full name, email, and password.

call CreateUser
username (TYPE_STRING) => quang1
full_name (TYPE_STRING) => Quang
email (TYPE_STRING) => quang@gmail.com
password (TYPE_STRING) => secret
{
  "user": {
    "username": "quang1",
    "fullName": "Quang",
    "email": "quang@gmail.com",
    "passwordChangedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
    "createdAt": "2022-04-10T10:10:37.688043Z"
  }
}

And voilà, a new user has been created, we've got the response from the server, with the information of the created user.

Pretty cool, isn't it?

So that's how we implement the CreateUser API in gRPC.

Implementing Login User API

How about the Login User API?

Well, it should be very similar.

Now is the time for you to pause the video and try to implement it on your own.

Then we will do it together in a moment. Alright, have you managed to implement it successfully?

The first thing we need to do is to follow the UnimplementedSimpleBankServer.

In this file service_simple_bank_grpc.pb.go, let's copy the LoginUser() method.

func (UnimplementedSimpleBankServer) LoginUser(context.Context, *LoginUserRequest) (*LoginUserResponse, error) {
	return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Unimplemented, "method LoginUser not implemented")
}

We will need add this method to our real Simple Bank server implementation.

So next, I'm gonna create a new file called rpc_login_user.go inside the gapi folder. To keep the code clean and well-structured, I recommend you to keep each RPC in a separate file.

OK, now let's paste in the code that we've just copied.

Change the receiver of this function to our server object. Set the variable name for the context and request. And add package pb to the LoginUserRequest and LoginUserResponse.

Then, let's open the login user API's HTTP handler that we've implemented for Gin server before. Ignore the request binding, and copy all the main processing codes, up to the part where the login user response is created. Then paste that code to the new Login User RPC function.

OK, the first step to handle the login user request would be fetching the user from the database.

So here, we call server.store.GetUser() to find the user with this username.

func (server *Server) LoginUser(ctx context.Context, req *pb.LoginUserRequest) (*pb.LoginUserResponse, error) {
    user, err := server.store.GetUser(ctx, req.GetUsername())
    ...
}

If user is not found, we will return a nil response together with a new error, created by the status.Errorf() function. In this case, the error will store the status code NotFound, and a message saying "user not found". I'm gonna delete this JSON response of the Gin handler. In case an unexpected error occurs, we return another error with status code Internal and message "failed to find user".

if err != nil {
    if err == sql.ErrNoRows {
        return nil, status.Errorf(codes.NotFound, "user not found")
    }
    return nil, status.Errorf(codes.NotFound, "failed to find user")
}

If the user exists, and has been successfully fetched from the DB, then next, we have to check if the input password matches with the one in our DB or not. Note that we only store the hashed value of the password, so here we call the util.CheckPassword() function to compare the plaintext password with the stored hashed value. If error is not nil, then it means the provided password is incorrect.

In this case, we return a nil response, and an error with status code NotFound to the client.

err = util.CheckPassword(req.Password, user.HashedPassword)
if err != nil {
    return nil, status.Errorf(codes.NotFound, "incorrect password")
}

OK, now if the password matches, we call the tokenMaker.CreateToken() function to create a new access token. If this call returns a not nil error, we will return an internal error to the client with a message saying "failed to create access token".

accessToken, accessPayload, err := server.tokenMaker.CreateToken(
    user.Username,
    server.config.AccessTokenDuration,
)
if err != nil {
    return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Internal, "failed to create access token")
}

Similarly, we do the same if the call to create refresh token fails.

refreshToken, refreshPayload, err := server.tokenMaker.CreateToken(
    user.Username,
    server.config.RefreshTokenDuration,
)
if err != nil {
    return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Internal, "failed to create refresh token")
}

You can go back to watch lecture 37 if you don't know about refresh token.

Alright, now the final step is to create a new session record in the DB.

session, err := server.store.CreateSession(ctx, db.CreateSessionParams{
    ID:           refreshPayload.ID,
    Username:     user.Username,
    RefreshToken: refreshToken,
    UserAgent:    ctx.Request.UserAgent(),
    ClientIp:     ctx.ClientIP(),
    IsBlocked:    false,
    ExpiresAt:    refreshPayload.ExpiredAt,
})

Here you can see that most of the parameters are already available, except for the User agent and the client IP address. We will learn how to get them from the gRPC context metadata in another lecture. For now, let's just set an empty string to both of them.

session, err := server.store.CreateSession(ctx, db.CreateSessionParams{
    ID:           refreshPayload.ID,
    Username:     user.Username,
    RefreshToken: refreshToken,
    UserAgent:    "",
    ClientIp:     "",
    IsBlocked:    false,
    ExpiresAt:    refreshPayload.ExpiredAt,
})

Again, if the call fails, we return an internal error, saying "failed to create session".

session, err := server.store.CreateSession(ctx, db.CreateSessionParams{
    ID:           refreshPayload.ID,
    Username:     user.Username,
    RefreshToken: refreshToken,
    UserAgent:    "",
    ClientIp:     "",
    IsBlocked:    false,
    ExpiresAt:    refreshPayload.ExpiredAt,
})
if err != nil {
    return nil, status.Errorf(codes.Internal, "failed to create session")
}

When everything is successful, we will create a pb.LoginUserResponse object, and return it together with a nil error. Now, the first field of this response object is a User, so we just use the convertUser() function to convert the db.User to pb.User. The session ID is gonna be session.ID.String(), the AccessToken should be accessToken, and the same for the refresh token. Now the AccessTokenExpiresAt will be timestamppb.New(), and we can get its value from the accessPayload. Similarly, the RefreshTokenExpiresAt value should come from the refreshPayload. And that's it!

rsp := &pb.LoginUserResponse{
    User: convertUser(user),
    SessionId: session.ID.String(),
    AccessToken: accessToken,
    RefreshToken: refreshToken,
    AccessTokenExpiresAt: timestamppb.New(accessPayload.ExpiredAt),
    RefreshTokenExpiresAt: timestamppb.New(refreshPayload.ExpiredAt),
}
return rsp, nil

We're done with the implementation of the LoginUser RPC. Let's open the terminal and restart the gRPC server. Reconnect to it with Evans client. This time, we will call the LoginUser RPC. Enter the username and password we created before.

call LoginUser
username (TYPE_STRING) => quang1
password (TYPE_STRING) => secret
{
  "user": {
    "username": "quang1",
    "fullName": "Quang",
    "email": "guang@gmail.com",
    "passwordChangedAt": "0001-01-01T00:00:00Z",
    "createdAt": "2022-04-10T10:10:37.688043Z"
  },
  "sessionId": "e71d4c75-827e-4a4c-84f3-4c40b3554439",
  "accessToken": "v2.local.uy2QOalUcpdYWXdXQrYMJCSiohbf6FX_sa6eaa6_BtWGRAfX9NYbAGSzV-0AcVOd8YxOS-Fi3jxZrIjPoLIvu3bj9hDqaL2apx9vv4noGmDxfZUTmut6YRPrQMiR2I2FRVP283ZQL1ocmDjAkI2QhXnN0IZaiWFlypmGE_xq37zThDcIjCU6WX_4lrekMNrFkRKOdky2EVyPwCsRV1J_MDeq00ePEjaA-gwx7kkwy3rmfO3ir3R2eR36HNGYKaUUQH77ZuxtTkj7YZZjclk.bnVsbA",
  "refreshToken": "v2.local.ztop-Ppht-YlqJ9myb_vPTCzIWDD2LiR3n7bVIEsKPoxJ_71379knOo7LsGAxg6cQskbn1fCzrBHAbXE-hg0-YAHfNr1Y69lRc12pKVgq8nh-odcvIpwDha03vdtkA4_DY_eeqkUvBRL928No_HnH32OfnyrBOX_yo6OZmPnOmw4HjyFSFh1U-6sBZBmgELdcBwaxo6Pci6sdYrCPOU4Qs0vh5aiJ7IfqmraGN-Yx5qVnuGyi0n8kHInL444HUSxKWUZKqf4T-kkK4B6E10.bnVsbA",
  "accessTokenExpiresAt": "2022-04-10T10:39:32.035910Z",
  "refreshTokenExpiresAt": "2022-04-11T10:24:32.036171Z"
}

Then voilà, we've got a successful response, with all the user information and the access and refresh tokens.

Awesome!

Now let's try to login with a user that doesn't exist.

call LoginUser
username (TYPE_STRING) => quang2
password (TYPE_STRING) => secret
command call: rpc error: code = NotFound desc = user not found

This time, we've got an error with status code NotFound and message: "user not found".

How about login with an incorrect password?

call LoginUser
username (TYPE_STRING) => quang1
password (TYPE_STRING) => wrong
command call: rpc error: code = NotFound desc = incorrect password

In this case, we still got a NotFound error, but the message is "incorrect password".

So everything is working well. And that brings us to the end of this lecture.

We've successfully implemented 2 unary gRPC APIs to create and login user.

I hope it was interesting and useful for you.

In the next video, we will learn how to use gRPC gateway to allow serving both gRPC and HTTP requests to these APIs.

Until then, happy learning, and see you in the next lecture!

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