Failed to load user into session with - node.js

Question

For some reason, testing my authentication, I created a user with the login 8===D, and password 123, and then passportjs says it fails to serialize that user when i try to login, however do it with any regular like username like bill#kentucky.com then it works fine and serializes the user on login. I can provide code as a example as well, but does it have do with it having strange characters(like '=')?
Also why can I serialize with just .id instead of ._id, why does that work? I use mongoDB and it always generates a _id instead.
exports.postLogin = function(req, res, next) {
// Do email and password validation for the server
passport.authenticate('local', function(err, user, info) {
if(err) return next(err);
if(!user) {
req.flash('errors', {msg: info.message});
console.log("ERROR BOYS");
}
// Passport exposes a login() function on req (also aliased as logIn()) that can be used to establish a login session
req.logIn(user, function(err) {
console.log("User: " +user + " has been logged in");
if(err) return next(err);
req.flash('success', { msg: 'Success! You are logged in'});
res.end('Success');
});
})(req, res, next);
};
/**
* GET /logout
*/
exports.getLogout = function(req, res, next) {
// Do email and password validation for the server
console.log("You have been logged out");
req.logout();
res.redirect('/');
};
/**
* POST /signup
* Create a new local account
*/
exports.postSignUp = function(req, res, next) {
var user = new User({
email: req.body.email,
password: req.body.password,
profile: {
firstName : req.body.firstName,
lastName : req.body.lastName,
section : req.body.section
}
});
User.findOne({email: req.body.email}, function(err, existingUser) {
if(existingUser) {
req.flash('errors', { msg: 'Account with that email address already exists' });
res.redirect('/sign');
}
user.save(function(err) {
if(err) return next(err);
req.logIn(user, function(err) {
if(err) return next(err);
console.log('Successfully created');
console.log('Printing user');
console.log(user);
console.log('Print our body from our request');
console.log(req.body);
res.redirect('/');
res.end();
});
});
});
};
And the serialize part:
/* Initializing passport.js */
var User = require('../models/user');
var local = require('./passport/local');
/*
* Expose
*/
module.exports = function(app, passport, config) {
// serialize sessions
passport.serializeUser(function(user, done) {
done(null, user.id);
});
passport.deserializeUser(function(id, done) {
User.findById(id, function(err, user) {
done(err, user);
});
});
//use the following strategies
passport.use(local);
};
Maybe it has to do with the login??::???
else {
renderedResult = (
<div>
<div className={styles['wrapper']}>
<div className={styles['container']}>
<h1 className={styles['welcomelogin']}>Welcome, If ya just signed up then go ahead and sign in</h1>
<fieldset className = {styles['loginSet']}>
<input type="text" className = {styles['form-control']} placeholder="Username" ref = "email" name = "email" />
<input type="password" className = {styles['form-control']} placeholder="Password" ref = "password" name = "password" />
<button type="submit" className={styles['login-button']} to = "dashboard" onClick={this._onLoginSubmit}>Login</button>
</fieldset>
<hr/>
<p>Need an account? <Link to="register">Signup</Link></p>
</div>
</div>
</div>
);
}}
return (
<div>
{renderedResult}
</div>
);
}
}
User Model:
/**
* Defining a User Model in mongoose
*
*/
var bcrypt = require('bcrypt-nodejs');
var mongoose = require('mongoose');
var crypto = require('crypto');
// Other oauthtypes to be added
/*
User Schema
*/
var UserSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
email: { type: String, unique: true},
password: String,
tokens: Array,
profile: {
firstName: { type: String, default: ''},
lastName: {type: String, default: ''},
gender: { type: String, default: ''},
location: { type: String, default: ''},
website: { type: String, default: ''},
picture: { type: String, default: ''},
section: { type: String, default: ''}
},
resetPasswordToken: String,
resetPasswordExpires: Date,
google: {},
isStaff : { type: Boolean, default: false}
});
/**
* Password hash middleware.
*/
UserSchema.pre('save', function(next) {
var user = this;
if (!user.isModified('password')) return next();
bcrypt.genSalt(5, function(err, salt) {
if (err) return next(err);
bcrypt.hash(user.password, salt, null, function(err, hash) {
if (err) return next(err);
user.password = hash;
next();
});
});
});
/*
Defining our own custom document instance method
*/
UserSchema.methods = {
comparePassword: function(candidatePassword, cb) {
bcrypt.compare(candidatePassword, this.password, function(err, isMatch) {
if(err) return cb(err);
cb(null, isMatch);
})
}
};
/**
* Statics
*/
UserSchema.statics = {}
module.exports = mongoose.model('User', UserSchema);

Answer 1

Serialize function determine what data from the user object should be stored in the session. The result of the serializeUser method is attached to the session as req.session.passport.user = {} here for instance it would be(as we provide id as key)
req.session.passport.user = {id:'xyz'}
Passport will serialize and deserialize user instances to and from the
session.
In this example, only the user ID is serialized to the session,
keeping the amount of data stored within the session small. When
subsequent requests are received, this ID is used to find the user,
which will be restored to req.user.
The serialization and deserialization logic is supplied by the
application, allowing the application to choose an appropriate
database and/or object mapper, without imposition by the
authentication layer.
http://passportjs.org/docs
Basically, you need to work around with this, transforming those =in html code or not allow these symbols. Just remember that the session is converted in strings with & and =. Like :
data=data&data2=data2