Laravel 5.2 Authentication via API

Question

I am developing a RESTful API with Laravel 5.2. In the token guard located at \Illuminate\Auth\TokenGuard\TokenGuard.php on line 46 the column name for the token is defined as api_token:

$this->storageKey = 'api_token';

I want to change this column name to something else, for example api_key.

How can I do this? I do not want to modify the core TokenGuard.php file.

Answer 1

The built in TokenGuard does not have a way to modify the storageKey field. Therefore, you will need to create your own Guard class that sets the field, and tell Auth to use your Guard class.

First, start by creating a new Guard class that extends the base TokenGuard class. In this example, it is created at app/Services/Auth/MyTokenGuard.php:

namespace App\Services\Auth;

use Illuminate\Http\Request;
use Illuminate\Auth\TokenGuard;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Auth\UserProvider;

class MyTokenGuard extends TokenGuard
{
    public function __construct(UserProvider $provider, Request $request)
    {
        parent::__construct($provider, $request);
        $this->inputKey = 'api_key'; // if you want to rename this, as well
        $this->storageKey = 'api_key';
    }
}

Once you've created your class, you need to let Auth know about it. You can do this in the boot() method on your AuthServiceProvider service provider:

public function boot(GateContract $gate)
{
    $this->registerPolicies($gate);

    Auth::extend('mytoken', function($app, $name, array $config) {
        return new \App\Services\Auth\MyTokenGuard(Auth::createUserProvider($config['provider']), $app['request']);
    });
}

And finally, you need to tell Auth to use your new mytoken guard. This is done in the config/auth.php config file.

'guards' => [
    'api' => [
        'driver' => 'mytoken',
        'provider' => 'users',
    ],
],

Answer 2

Unfortunately there is no way to configure that.

The only way to use an other key is to create your own "Guard": Adding Custom Guards.

You can extend the TokenGuard class and override the __constructor with your own column names.