Build a User Management App with Ionic Vue

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 Vue app from scratch.

Initialize an Ionic Vue app#

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

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

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 a .env. All we need are the API URL and the anon key that you copied earlier.

1VUE_APP_SUPABASE_URL=YOUR_SUPABASE_URL
2VUE_APP_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY=YOUR_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY

Now that we have the API credentials in place, let's create a helper file to initialize the Supabase client. These variables will be exposed on the browser, and that's completely fine since we have Row Level Security enabled on our Database.

import { createClient } from '@supabase/supabase-js';

const supabaseUrl = process.env.VUE_APP_SUPABASE_URL as string;
const supabaseAnonKey = process.env.VUE_APP_SUPABASE_ANON_KEY as string;

export const supabase = createClient(supabaseUrl, supabaseAnonKey);

Set up a Login route#

Let's set up a Vue component to manage logins and sign ups. We'll use Magic Links, so users can sign in with their email without using passwords.

<template>
  <ion-page>
    <ion-header>
      <ion-toolbar>
        <ion-title>Login</ion-title>
      </ion-toolbar>
    </ion-header>

    <ion-content>
      <div class="ion-padding">
        <h1>Supabase + Ionic Vue</h1>
        <p>Sign in via magic link with your email below</p>
      </div>
      <ion-list inset="true">
        <form @submit.prevent="handleLogin">
          <ion-item>
            <ion-label position="stacked">Email</ion-label>
            <ion-input v-model="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>
      <p>{{email}}</p>
    </ion-content>
  </ion-page>
</template>

<script lang="ts">
  import { supabase } from '../supabase'
  import {
    IonContent,
    IonHeader,
    IonPage,
    IonTitle,
    IonToolbar,
    IonList,
    IonItem,
    IonLabel,
    IonInput,
    IonButton,
    toastController,
    loadingController,
  } from '@ionic/vue'
  import { defineComponent, ref } from 'vue'

  export default defineComponent({
    name: 'LoginPage',
    components: {
      IonContent,
      IonHeader,
      IonPage,
      IonTitle,
      IonToolbar,
      IonList,
      IonItem,
      IonLabel,
      IonInput,
      IonButton,
    },
    setup() {
      const email = ref('')
      const handleLogin = async () => {
        const loader = await loadingController.create({})
        const toast = await toastController.create({ duration: 5000 })

        try {
          await loader.present()
          const { error } = await supabase.auth.signIn({ email: email.value })

          if (error) throw error

          toast.message = 'Check your email for the login link!'
          await toast.present()
        } catch (error: any) {
          toast.message = error.error_description || error.message
          await toast.present()
        } finally {
          await loader.dismiss()
        }
      }
      return { handleLogin, email }
    },
  })
</script>

Account page#

After a user is signed in we can allow them to edit their profile details and manage their account.

Let's create a new component for that called Account.vue.

<template>
  <ion-page>
    <ion-header>
      <ion-toolbar>
        <ion-title>Account</ion-title>
      </ion-toolbar>
    </ion-header>

    <ion-content>
      <form @submit.prevent="updateProfile">
        <ion-item>
          <ion-label>
            <p>Email</p>
            <p>{{ session?.user?.email }}</p>
          </ion-label>
        </ion-item>

        <ion-item>
          <ion-label position="stacked">Name</ion-label>
          <ion-input type="text" name="username" v-model="profile.username"></ion-input>
        </ion-item>

        <ion-item>
          <ion-label position="stacked">Website</ion-label>
          <ion-input type="url" name="website" v-model="profile.website"></ion-input>
        </ion-item>
        <div class="ion-text-center">
          <ion-button fill="clear" type="submit">Update Profile</ion-button>
        </div>
      </form>

      <div class="ion-text-center">
        <ion-button fill="clear" @click="signOut">Log Out</ion-button>
      </div>
    </ion-content>
  </ion-page>
</template>

<script lang="ts">
  import { store } from '@/store'
  import { supabase } from '@/supabase'
  import {
    IonContent,
    IonHeader,
    IonPage,
    IonTitle,
    IonToolbar,
    toastController,
    loadingController,
    IonInput,
    IonItem,
    IonButton,
    IonLabel,
  } from '@ionic/vue'
  import { User } from '@supabase/supabase-js'
  import { defineComponent, onMounted, ref } from 'vue'
  export default defineComponent({
    name: 'AccountPage',
    components: {
      IonContent,
      IonHeader,
      IonPage,
      IonTitle,
      IonToolbar,
      IonInput,
      IonItem,
      IonButton,
      IonLabel,
    },
    setup() {
      const session = ref(supabase.auth.session())
      const profile = ref({
        username: '',
        website: '',
        avatar_url: '',
      })
      const user = store.user as User
      async function getProfile() {
        const loader = await loadingController.create({})
        const toast = await toastController.create({ duration: 5000 })
        await loader.present()
        try {
          let { data, error, status } = await supabase
            .from('profiles')
            .select(`username, website, avatar_url`)
            .eq('id', user.id)
            .single()

          if (error && status !== 406) throw error

          if (data) {
            console.log(data)
            profile.value = {
              username: data.username,
              website: data.website,
              avatar_url: data.avatar_url,
            }
          }
        } catch (error: any) {
          toast.message = error.message
          await toast.present()
        } finally {
          await loader.dismiss()
        }
      }

      const updateProfile = async () => {
        const loader = await loadingController.create({})
        const toast = await toastController.create({ duration: 5000 })
        try {
          await loader.present()
          const updates = {
            id: user.id,
            ...profile.value,
            updated_at: new Date(),
          }
          //
          let { error } = await supabase.from('profiles').upsert(updates, {
            returning: 'minimal', // Don't return the value after inserting
          })
          //
          if (error) throw error
        } catch (error: any) {
          toast.message = error.message
          await toast.present()
        } finally {
          await loader.dismiss()
        }
      }

      async function signOut() {
        const loader = await loadingController.create({})
        const toast = await toastController.create({ duration: 5000 })
        await loader.present()
        try {
          let { error } = await supabase.auth.signOut()
          if (error) throw error
        } catch (error: any) {
          toast.message = error.message
          await toast.present()
        } finally {
          await loader.dismiss()
        }
      }

      onMounted(() => {
        getProfile()
      })
      return { signOut, profile, session, updateProfile }
    },
  })
</script>

Launch!#

Now that we have all the components in place, let's update App.vue and our routes:

import { createRouter, createWebHistory } from '@ionic/vue-router'
import { RouteRecordRaw } from 'vue-router'
import LoginPage from '../views/Login.vue'
import AccountPage from '../views/Account.vue'
const routes: Array<RouteRecordRaw> = [
  {
    path: '/',
    name: 'Login',
    component: LoginPage,
  },
  {
    path: '/account',
    name: 'Account',
    component: AccountPage,
  },
]

const router = createRouter({
  history: createWebHistory(process.env.BASE_URL),
  routes,
})

export default router

<template>
  <ion-app>
    <ion-router-outlet />
  </ion-app>
</template>

<script lang="ts">
  import { IonApp, IonRouterOutlet, useIonRouter } from '@ionic/vue'
  import { defineComponent } from 'vue'

  import { store } from './store'
  import { supabase } from './supabase'

  export default defineComponent({
    name: 'App',
    components: {
      IonApp,
      IonRouterOutlet,
    },
    setup() {
      const router = useIonRouter()
      store.user = supabase.auth.user() ?? {}
      supabase.auth.onAuthStateChange((_, session) => {
        store.user = session?.user ?? {}
        if (session?.user) {
          router.replace('/account')
        }
      })
    },
  })
</script>

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

1ionic serve

And then open the browser to localhost:3000 and you should see the completed app.

Bonus: Profile photos#

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

Create an upload widget#

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 { createApp } from 'vue'
import App from './App.vue'
import router from './router'

import { IonicVue } from '@ionic/vue'
/* Core CSS required for Ionic components to work properly */
import '@ionic/vue/css/ionic.bundle.css'

/* Theme variables */
import './theme/variables.css'

import { defineCustomElements } from '@ionic/pwa-elements/loader'
defineCustomElements(window)
const app = createApp(App).use(IonicVue).use(router)

router.isReady().then(() => {
  app.mount('#app')
})

Then create an AvatarComponent.

<template>
  <div class="avatar">
    <div class="avatar_wrapper" @click="uploadAvatar">
      <img v-if="avatarUrl" :src="avatarUrl" />
      <ion-icon v-else name="person" class="no-avatar"></ion-icon>
    </div>
  </div>
</template>

<script lang="ts">
  import { ref, toRefs, watch, defineComponent } from 'vue'
  import { supabase } from '../supabase'
  import { Camera, CameraResultType } from '@capacitor/camera'
  import { IonIcon } from '@ionic/vue'
  import { person } from 'ionicons/icons'
  export default defineComponent({
    name: 'AppAvatar',
    props: { path: String },
    emits: ['upload', 'update:path'],
    components: { IonIcon },
    setup(prop, { emit }) {
      const { path } = toRefs(prop)
      const avatarUrl = ref('')

      const downloadImage = async () => {
        try {
          const { data, error } = await supabase.storage.from('avatars').download(path.value)
          if (error) throw error
          avatarUrl.value = URL.createObjectURL(data!)
        } catch (error: any) {
          console.error('Error downloading image: ', error.message)
        }
      }

      const uploadAvatar = async () => {
        try {
          const photo = await Camera.getPhoto({
            resultType: CameraResultType.DataUrl,
          })
          if (photo.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}`
            let { error: uploadError } = await supabase.storage
              .from('avatars')
              .upload(fileName, file)
            if (uploadError) {
              throw uploadError
            }
            emit('update:path', fileName)
            emit('upload')
          }
        } catch (error) {
          console.log(error)
        }
      }

      watch(path, () => {
        if (path.value) downloadImage()
      })

      return { avatarUrl, uploadAvatar, person }
    },
  })
</script>
<style>
  .avatar {
    display: block;
    margin: auto;
    min-height: 150px;
  }
  .avatar .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);
  }
  .avatar .avatar_wrapper:hover {
    cursor: pointer;
  }
  .avatar .avatar_wrapper ion-icon.no-avatar {
    width: 100%;
    height: 115%;
  }
  .avatar img {
    display: block;
    object-fit: cover;
    width: 100%;
    height: 100%;
  }
</style>

Add the new widget#

And then we can add the widget to the Account page:

<template>
  <ion-page>
    <ion-header>
      <ion-toolbar>
        <ion-title>Account</ion-title>
      </ion-toolbar>
    </ion-header>

    <ion-content>
      <avatar v-model:path="profile.avatar_url" @upload="updateProfile"></avatar>
...
</template>
<script lang="ts">
import Avatar from '../components/Avatar.vue';
export default defineComponent({
  name: 'AccountPage',
  components: {
    Avatar,
    ....
  }

</script>

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!