Laravel Auth: Login with username instead of Email

Setup Project

Update the .env file with your desired database details.

Run the following command to create the scaffold for authentication pages.

Next, we want to add our new field, username to our database migration structure.

Open this file database/migrations/create_users_table.php. Add the username field in the up() function after the name field.

So the final function will look like below.

public function up()
{
    Schema::create('users', function (Blueprint $table) {
        $table->increments('id');
        $table->string('name');
        $table->string('username');
        $table->string('email')->unique();
        $table->string('password');
        $table->rememberToken();
        $table->timestamps();
    });
}

Now migrate the database by using the following command.

Registering New User

We need to add username field to our registration form,  to save username for a user. Go to file resources/views/auth/register.blade.php

Add the following code after the name row to display the username field.

<div class="form-group row">
    <label for="username" class="col-md-4 col-form-label text-md-right">
        {{ __('Username') }}
    </label>

    <div class="col-md-6">
        <input id="username" type="text"
               class="form-control{{ $errors->has('username') ? ' is-invalid' : '' }}"
               name="username" value="{{ old('username') }}" required>

        @if ($errors->has('username'))
        <span class="invalid-feedback">
                <strong>{{ $errors->first('username') }}</strong>
            </span>
        @endif
    </div>
</div>

Registration controller

Now let’s focus on the register controller part, this is where the backend action starts.

Go to the file RegisterController.php in app/Http/Controllers/Auth directory. Find the validator method and add the username line after name validation entry. It should have unique entry validation too.

protected function validator(array $data)
{
    return Validator::make($data, [
        'name' => 'required|string|max:255',
        'username' => 'required|string|max:255|unique:users',
        'email' => 'required|string|email|max:255|unique:users',
        'password' => 'required|string|min:6|confirmed',
    ]);
}

The validation goes like this, username should be a string, not more than 255 characters, and unique value.

Let’s move to the create function in the same file. Add the username field after name field in the eloquent query.

protected function create(array $data)
{
    return User::create([
        'name' => $data['name'],
        'username' => $data['username'],
        'email' => $data['email'],
        'password' => Hash::make($data['password']),
        ]);
}

Now we have added the username in the fillable field in the User model. Otherwise, even if you fill the username in the form, it will save as blank. Not yet encountered with fillable, please read this article.

class User extends Authenticatable
{
    use Notifiable;

    /**
    * The attributes that are mass assignable.
    *
    * @var array
    */
    protected $fillable = [
        'name', 'username', 'email', 'password',
    ];

Now we have done with the registration part. Let’s start the login part of our application.

Log in with username or email

First, we will add the username field to login view.

Go to this file resources/views/auth/login.blade.php

And update the email field to username field.

<div class="form-group row">
    <label for="email" class="col-md-4 col-form-label text-md-right">{{ __('Username') }}</label>

    <div class="col-md-6">
        <input id="username" type="text" class="form-control{{ $errors->has('username') ? ' is-invalid' : '' }}" name="username" value="{{ old('username') }}" required autofocus>

        @if ($errors->has('username'))
        <span class="invalid-feedback" role="alert">
            <strong>{{ $errors->first('username') }}</strong>
        </span>
        @endif
    </div>
</div>

Login Controller

Let’s move to the final bit of code, the LoginController.php

Add a protected field username, in order to change the validation field to the username. We will add the username method to return the fieldType. Rest other things Laravel auth lib will take care.

<?php

namespace App\Http\Controllers\Auth;

use App\Http\Controllers\Controller;
use Illuminate\Foundation\Auth\AuthenticatesUsers;

class LoginController extends Controller
{
    /*
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    | Login Controller
    |--------------------------------------------------------------------------
    |
    | This controller handles authenticating users for the application and
    | redirecting them to your home screen. The controller uses a trait
    | to conveniently provide its functionality to your applications.
    |
    */

    use AuthenticatesUsers;

    /**
     * Where to redirect users after login.
     *
     * @var string
     */
    protected $redirectTo = '/home';


    protected $username;

    /**
     * Create a new controller instance.
     *
     * @return void
     */
    public function __construct()
    {
        $this->middleware('guest')->except('logout');
        $this->username = 'username';
    }

    /**
     * Get username property.
     *
     * @return string
     */
    public function username()
    {
        return $this->username;
    }
}

That’s it!. I hope you have learned a new thing. Please feel free to contact me at contact us page in case of any doubts.