Codeigniter 4 allow user to login using either username or email - codeigniter-4

Question

Currently I have a login feature and I have only set user can login using username. How do I make it for user to login either using username or email and check with my database if username exist when users login with their username and if email exist when users login with their email? Below is my current code:
Controller
public function login()
{
$data = [];
helper(['form']);
$validation = \Config\Services::validation();
if($this->request->getMethod() == 'post'){
//validations
$rules = [
'username' => 'required',
'password' => 'required|validateUser[username, password]'
];
$errors = [
'password' => [
'validateUser' => 'Username or Password don\'t match'
]
];
if(!$this->validate($rules, $errors)){
$data['validation'] = $this->validator;
}else{
$model = new AccountModel();
$user = $model->where('username', $this->request->getVar('username'))
->first();
$this->setUserSession($user);
return redirect()->to('/account/profile');
}
}
echo view('templates/header', $data);
echo view('account/login');
echo view('templates/footer');
}
My validation rules
<?php
namespace App\Validation;
use App\Models\AccountModel;
class UserRules
{
public function validateUser(string $str, string $fields, array $data)
{
$model = new AccountModel();
$user = $model->where('username', $data['username'])
->first();
if(!$user)
return false;
return password_verify($data['password'], $user['password']);
}
}
?>
Thanks in advance guys!

Answer 1

First, the username and the email must be unique.
So, when the user enters an input either email or username
you can check if the user enters email using the following code
$email = $this->request->getPost('email');
if(substr_count($email , '#') > 0) // this is an email
check for the email if its exists in the database
else // not an email which means it is username
check for the username if its exists in the database
You can find this function substr_count()
Edit: You can use orWhere function so for example
$model->where('username' , $username)->orWhere('email',$email)->find()
so this will produce this statement
select * from tablename where username='' or email =''

Answer 2

In Codeigniter 4, there's a built in checker for email format validity and if email exists already in database without creating a database query. You just setup a Model and use the validations like
protected $validationRules = [
'username' => 'required|alpha_numeric_space|min_length[3]',
'email' => 'required|valid_email|is_unique[users.email]',
'password' => 'required|min_length[8]',
'pass_confirm' => 'required_with[password]|matches[password]'
];
more samples here, https://codeigniter.com/user_guide/models/model.html?highlight=valid_email