Build a User Management App with Ionic Angular

This tutorial demonstrates how to build a basic user management app. The app authenticates and identifies the user, stores their profile information in the database, and allows the user to log in, update their profile details, and upload a profile photo. The app uses:

• Supabase Database - a Postgres database for storing your user data and Row Level Security so data is protected and users can only access their own information.
• Supabase Auth - users log in through magic links sent to their email (without having to set up passwords).
• Supabase Storage - users can upload a profile photo.

Project setup#

Before we start building we're going to set up our Database and API. This is as simple as starting a new Project in Supabase and then creating a "schema" inside the database.

Create a project#

1. Create a new project in the Supabase Dashboard.
2. Enter your project details.
3. Wait for the new database to launch.

Set up the database schema#

Now we are going to set up the database schema. We can use the "User Management Starter" quickstart in the SQL Editor, or you can just copy/paste the SQL from below and run it yourself.

Get the API Keys#

Now that you've created some database tables, you are ready to insert data using the auto-generated API. We just need to get the Project URL and anon key from the API settings.

1. Go to the API Settings page in the Dashboard.
2. Find your Project URL, anon, and service_role keys on this page.

Building the App#

Let's start building the Angular app from scratch.

Initialize an Ionic Angular app#

We can use the Ionic CLI to initialize an app called supabase-ionic-angular:

1npm install -g @ionic/cli
2ionic start supabase-ionic-angular blank --type angular
3cd supabase-ionic-angular

Then let's install the only additional dependency: supabase-js

1npm install @supabase/supabase-js

And finally we want to save the environment variables in the environment.ts file. All we need are the API URL and the anon key that you copied earlier. These variables will be exposed on the browser, and that's completely fine since we have Row Level Security enabled on our Database.

export const environment = {
  production: false,
  supabaseUrl: 'YOUR_SUPABASE_URL',
  supabaseKey: 'YOUR_SUPABASE_KEY',
}

Now that we have the API credentials in place, let's create a SupabaseService with ionic g s supabase to initialize the Supabase client and implement functions to communicate with the Supabase API.

import { Injectable } from '@angular/core'
import { LoadingController, ToastController } from '@ionic/angular'
import { AuthChangeEvent, createClient, Session, SupabaseClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js'
import { environment } from '../environments/environment'

export interface Profile {
  username: string
  website: string
  avatar_url: string
}

@Injectable({
  providedIn: 'root',
})
export class SupabaseService {
  private supabase: SupabaseClient

  constructor(private loadingCtrl: LoadingController, private toastCtrl: ToastController) {
    this.supabase = createClient(environment.supabaseUrl, environment.supabaseKey)
  }

  get user() {
    return this.supabase.auth.user()
  }

  get session() {
    return this.supabase.auth.session()
  }

  get profile() {
    return this.supabase
      .from('profiles')
      .select(`username, website, avatar_url`)
      .eq('id', this.user?.id)
      .single()
  }

  authChanges(callback: (event: AuthChangeEvent, session: Session | null) => void) {
    return this.supabase.auth.onAuthStateChange(callback)
  }

  signIn(email: string) {
    return this.supabase.auth.signIn({ email })
  }

  signOut() {
    return this.supabase.auth.signOut()
  }

  updateProfile(profile: Profile) {
    const update = {
      ...profile,
      id: this.user?.id,
      updated_at: new Date(),
    }

    return this.supabase.from('profiles').upsert(update, {
      returning: 'minimal', // Don't return the value after inserting
    })
  }

  downLoadImage(path: string) {
    return this.supabase.storage.from('avatars').download(path)
  }

  uploadAvatar(filePath: string, file: File) {
    return this.supabase.storage.from('avatars').upload(filePath, file)
  }

  async createNotice(message: string) {
    const toast = await this.toastCtrl.create({ message, duration: 5000 })
    await toast.present()
  }

  createLoader() {
    return this.loadingCtrl.create()
  }
}

Set up a Login route#

Let's set up an route to manage logins and sign ups. We'll use Magic Links, so users can sign in with their email without using passwords. Create an LoginPage with ionic g page login Ionic CLI command.

This guide will show the template inline, but the example app will have templateUrls

import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core'
import { SupabaseService } from '../supabase.service'

@Component({
  selector: 'app-login',
  template: `
    <ion-header>
      <ion-toolbar>
        <ion-title>Login</ion-title>
      </ion-toolbar>
    </ion-header>

    <ion-content>
      <div class="ion-padding">
        <h1>Supabase + Ionic Angular</h1>
        <p>Sign in via magic link with your email below</p>
      </div>
      <ion-list inset="true">
        <form (ngSubmit)="handleLogin($event)">
          <ion-item>
            <ion-label position="stacked">Email</ion-label>
            <ion-input [(ngModel)]="email" name="email" autocomplete type="email"></ion-input>
          </ion-item>
          <div class="ion-text-center">
            <ion-button type="submit" fill="clear">Login</ion-button>
          </div>
        </form>
      </ion-list>
    </ion-content>
  `,
  styleUrls: ['./login.page.scss'],
})
export class LoginPage implements OnInit {
  email = ''
  constructor(private readonly supabase: SupabaseService) {}

  ngOnInit() {}
  async handleLogin(event: any) {
    event.preventDefault()
    const loader = await this.supabase.createLoader()
    await loader.present()
    try {
      await this.supabase.signIn(this.email)
      await loader.dismiss()
      await this.supabase.createNotice('Check your email for the login link!')
    } catch (error) {
      await loader.dismiss()
      await this.supabase.createNotice(error.error_description || error.message)
    }
  }
}

Account page#

After a user is signed in we can allow them to edit their profile details and manage their account. Create an AccountComponent with ionic g page account Ionic CLI command.

import { Component, OnInit } from '@angular/core'
import { Router } from '@angular/router'
import { Profile, SupabaseService } from '../supabase.service'

@Component({
  selector: 'app-account',
  template: `
    <ion-header>
      <ion-toolbar>
        <ion-title>Account</ion-title>
      </ion-toolbar>
    </ion-header>

    <ion-content>
      <form>
        <ion-item>
          <ion-label position="stacked">Email</ion-label>
          <ion-input type="email" [value]="session?.user?.email"></ion-input>
        </ion-item>

        <ion-item>
          <ion-label position="stacked">Name</ion-label>
          <ion-input type="text" name="username" [(ngModel)]="profile.username"></ion-input>
        </ion-item>

        <ion-item>
          <ion-label position="stacked">Website</ion-label>
          <ion-input type="url" name="website" [(ngModel)]="profile.website"></ion-input>
        </ion-item>
        <div class="ion-text-center">
          <ion-button fill="clear" (click)="updateProfile()">Update Profile</ion-button>
        </div>
      </form>

      <div class="ion-text-center">
        <ion-button fill="clear" (click)="signOut()">Log Out</ion-button>
      </div>
    </ion-content>
  `,
  styleUrls: ['./account.page.scss'],
})
export class AccountPage implements OnInit {
  profile: Profile = {
    username: '',
    avatar_url: '',
    website: '',
  }

  session = this.supabase.session

  constructor(private readonly supabase: SupabaseService, private router: Router) {}
  ngOnInit() {
    this.getProfile()
  }

  async getProfile() {
    try {
      let { data: profile, error, status } = await this.supabase.profile
      if (error && status !== 406) {
        throw error
      }
      if (profile) {
        this.profile = profile
      }
    } catch (error) {
      alert(error.message)
    }
  }

  async updateProfile(avatar_url: string = '') {
    const loader = await this.supabase.createLoader()
    await loader.present()
    try {
      await this.supabase.updateProfile({ ...this.profile, avatar_url })
      await loader.dismiss()
      await this.supabase.createNotice('Profile updated!')
    } catch (error) {
      await this.supabase.createNotice(error.message)
    }
  }

  async signOut() {
    console.log('testing?')
    await this.supabase.signOut()
    this.router.navigate(['/'], { replaceUrl: true })
  }
}

Launch!#

Now that we have all the components in place, let's update AppComponent:

import { Component } from '@angular/core'
import { Router } from '@angular/router'
import { SupabaseService } from './supabase.service'

@Component({
  selector: 'app-root',
  template: `
    <ion-app>
      <ion-router-outlet></ion-router-outlet>
    </ion-app>
  `,
  styleUrls: ['app.component.scss'],
})
export class AppComponent {
  constructor(private supabase: SupabaseService, private router: Router) {
    this.supabase.authChanges((_, session) => {
      console.log(session)
      if (session?.user) {
        this.router.navigate(['/account'])
      }
    })
  }
}

Then update the AppRoutingModule

import { NgModule } from '@angular/core'
import { PreloadAllModules, RouterModule, Routes } from '@angular/router'

const routes: Routes = [
  {
    path: '/',
    loadChildren: () => import('./login/login.module').then((m) => m.LoginPageModule),
  },
  {
    path: 'account',
    loadChildren: () => import('./account/account.module').then((m) => m.AccountPageModule),
  },
]

@NgModule({
  imports: [
    RouterModule.forRoot(routes, {
      preloadingStrategy: PreloadAllModules,
    }),
  ],
  exports: [RouterModule],
})
export class AppRoutingModule {}

Once that's done, run this in a terminal window:

1ionic serve

And the browser will auomatically open to show the app.

Bonus: Profile photos#

Every Supabase project is configured with Storage for managing large files like photos and videos.

Create an upload widget#

Let's create an avatar for the user so that they can upload a profile photo.

First install two packages in order to interact with the user's camera.

1npm install @ionic/pwa-elements @capacitor/camera

CapacitorJS is a cross platform native runtime from Ionic that enables web apps to be deployed through the app store and provides access to native deavice API.

Ionic PWA elements is a companion package that will polyfill certain browser APIs that provide no user interface with custom Ionic UI.

With those packages installed we can update our main.ts to include an additional bootstapping call for the Ionic PWA Elements.

import { enableProdMode } from '@angular/core'
import { platformBrowserDynamic } from '@angular/platform-browser-dynamic'

import { AppModule } from './app/app.module'
import { environment } from './environments/environment'

import { defineCustomElements } from '@ionic/pwa-elements/loader'
defineCustomElements(window)

if (environment.production) {
  enableProdMode()
}
platformBrowserDynamic()
  .bootstrapModule(AppModule)
  .catch((err) => console.log(err))

Then create an AvatarComponent with this Ionic CLI command:

1 ionic g component avatar --module=/src/app/account/account.module.ts --create-module

import { Component, EventEmitter, Input, OnInit, Output } from '@angular/core'
import { DomSanitizer, SafeResourceUrl } from '@angular/platform-browser'
import { SupabaseService } from '../supabase.service'
import { Camera, CameraResultType } from '@capacitor/camera'
@Component({
  selector: 'app-avatar',
  template: `
    <div class="avatar_wrapper" (click)="uploadAvatar()">
      <img *ngIf="_avatarUrl; else noAvatar" [src]="_avatarUrl" />
      <ng-template #noAvatar>
        <ion-icon name="person" class="no-avatar"></ion-icon>
      </ng-template>
    </div>
  `,
  style: [
    `
    :host {
       display: block;
       margin: auto;
       min-height: 150px;
    }
     :host .avatar_wrapper {
       margin: 16px auto 16px;
       border-radius: 50%;
       overflow: hidden;
       height: 150px;
       aspect-ratio: 1;
       background: var(--ion-color-step-50);
       border: thick solid var(--ion-color-step-200);
    }
     :host .avatar_wrapper:hover {
       cursor: pointer;
    }
     :host .avatar_wrapper ion-icon.no-avatar {
       width: 100%;
       height: 115%;
    }
     :host img {
       display: block;
       object-fit: cover;
       width: 100%;
       height: 100%;
    }
  `,
  ],
})
export class AvatarComponent implements OnInit {
  _avatarUrl: SafeResourceUrl | undefined
  uploading = false

  @Input()
  set avatarUrl(url: string | undefined) {
    if (url) {
      this.downloadImage(url)
    }
  }

  @Output() upload = new EventEmitter<string>()

  constructor(private readonly supabase: SupabaseService, private readonly dom: DomSanitizer) {}

  ngOnInit() {}

  async downloadImage(path: string) {
    try {
      const { data } = await this.supabase.downLoadImage(path)
      this._avatarUrl = this.dom.bypassSecurityTrustResourceUrl(URL.createObjectURL(data))
    } catch (error) {
      console.error('Error downloading image: ', error.message)
    }
  }

  async uploadAvatar() {
    const loader = await this.supabase.createLoader()
    try {
      const photo = await Camera.getPhoto({
        resultType: CameraResultType.DataUrl,
      })

      const file = await fetch(photo.dataUrl)
        .then((res) => res.blob())
        .then((blob) => new File([blob], 'my-file', { type: `image/${photo.format}` }))

      const fileName = `${Math.random()}-${new Date().getTime()}.${photo.format}`

      await loader.present()
      await this.supabase.uploadAvatar(fileName, file)

      this.upload.emit(fileName)
    } catch (error) {
      this.supabase.createNotice(error.message)
    } finally {
      loader.dismiss()
    }
  }
}

Add the new widget#

And then we can add the widget on top of the AccountComponent html template:

template: `
<ion-header>
  <ion-toolbar>
    <ion-title>Account</ion-title>
  </ion-toolbar>
</ion-header>

<ion-content>
  <app-avatar
    [avatarUrl]="this.profile?.avatar_url"
    (upload)="updateProfile($event)"
  ></app-avatar>

<!-- input fields -->
`

Storage management#

If you upload additional profile photos, they'll accumulate in the avatars bucket because of their random names with only the latest being referenced from public.profiles and the older versions getting orphaned.

To automatically remove obsolete storage objects, extend the database triggers. Note that it is not sufficient to delete the objects from the storage.objects table because that would orphan and leak the actual storage objects in the S3 backend. Instead, invoke the storage API within Postgres via the http extension.

Enable the http extension for the extensions schema in the Dashboard. Then, define the following SQL functions in the SQL Editor to delete storage objects via the API:

create or replace function delete_storage_object(bucket text, object text, out status int, out content text)
returns record
language 'plpgsql'
security definer
as $$
declare
  project_url text := '<YOURPROJECTURL>';
  service_role_key text := '<YOURSERVICEROLEKEY>'; --  full access needed
  url text := project_url||'/storage/v1/object/'||bucket||'/'||object;
begin
  select
      into status, content
           result.status::int, result.content::text
      FROM extensions.http((
    'DELETE',
    url,
    ARRAY[extensions.http_header('authorization','Bearer '||service_role_key)],
    NULL,
    NULL)::extensions.http_request) as result;
end;
$$;

create or replace function delete_avatar(avatar_url text, out status int, out content text)
returns record
language 'plpgsql'
security definer
as $$
begin
  select
      into status, content
           result.status, result.content
      from public.delete_storage_object('avatars', avatar_url) as result;
end;
$$;

Next, add a trigger that removes any obsolete avatar whenever the profile is updated or deleted:

create or replace function delete_old_avatar()
returns trigger
language 'plpgsql'
security definer
as $$
declare
  status int;
  content text;
begin
  if coalesce(old.avatar_url, '') <> ''
      and (tg_op = 'DELETE' or (old.avatar_url <> new.avatar_url)) then
    select
      into status, content
      result.status, result.content
      from public.delete_avatar(old.avatar_url) as result;
    if status <> 200 then
      raise warning 'Could not delete avatar: % %', status, content;
    end if;
  end if;
  if tg_op = 'DELETE' then
    return old;
  end if;
  return new;
end;
$$;

create trigger before_profile_changes
  before update of avatar_url or delete on public.profiles
  for each row execute function public.delete_old_avatar();

Finally, delete the public.profile row before a user is deleted. If this step is omitted, you won't be able to delete users without first manually deleting their avatar image.

create or replace function delete_old_profile()
returns trigger
language 'plpgsql'
security definer
as $$
begin
  delete from public.profiles where id = old.id;
  return old;
end;
$$;

create trigger before_delete_user
  before delete on auth.users
  for each row execute function public.delete_old_profile();

At this stage you have a fully functional application!

See also#

• Authentication in Ionic Angular with Supabase