Greetings! Today, we'll unlock the world of Authorization, with a focus on user roles, Role-Based Access Control (RBAC), and authorization middleware.

To illustrate Authorization simply—it's like a space mission, where only authorized astronauts can enter restricted areas. Now that we understand Authorization, let's implement it in our applications!

Authorization comes into play post-authentication, deciding what actions authenticated users can perform. To break it down, Authentication is a spaceship's identity check, while Authorization is the spacesuit that guides users to access the various compartments of the spaceship.

Imagine a space facility with scientists and engineers, each having defined roles and access levels. Similarly, the Role-Based Access Control (RBAC) system assigns permissions based on roles.

Take an e-commerce system as an example:

• Buyer views products.
• Seller manages their products.
• Admin controls the complete system.

RBAC is essential for managing large system!

In an authorization system, user roles dictate their system access. With MongoDB and Mongoose, we can manage user roles.

1. Creating User Roles: Consider 'User' and 'Admin' roles. To oversee our system, we design a user schema with role as a property.

JavaScript
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1import mongoose from 'mongoose';
2
3const UserSchema = mongoose.Schema({
4    username: String,
5    password: String,
6    role: {
7        type: String,
8        default: 'User',
9    },
10});

1. Assigning Permissions to Roles: Each role is given permissions. For instance, the 'User' role only allows the 'Read' operation, while the 'Admin' role can 'Read', 'Write', and 'Delete'.
2. Assigning Users to Roles: Users are assigned roles upon signing up.

Middleware in Express.js are vital functions that have access to the request and response objects, as well as the next middleware function in the application’s request-response cycle.

In the context of authorization, middleware come in particularly handy to check and verify the roles of users, in order to manage access rights to certain routes. Let's build an authorization middleware that will only allow 'Admin' role users to access a specific route.

JavaScript
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1const users = [
2  { username: 'Alice', role: 'Admin' },
3  { username: 'Bob', role: 'User' }
4]; // An imaginary list of users for demonstration purpose
5
6function checkifLoggedin(req) {
7  return users[0];  // For the simplicity of this demo, we return the first user from our list, assuming they are logged in
8} // Fake function just for the demonstration
9
10function checkUserRole(req, res, next) {
11  const user = checkifLoggedin(req);
12  if (user.role !== 'Admin') {
13    return res.status(403).send('You are not authorized to access this resource');
14  }
15  req.user = user; 
16  return next(); 
17}; // Middleware function to validate user roles
18
19app.use('/admin', checkUserRole); // only apply this middleware to '/admin' route
20app.get('/admin', function (req, res) {
21  res.send(`Welcome ${req.user.username}! You are inside the Admin route`);
22});

The checkUserRole middleware function checks if the logged-in user's role is 'Admin'. If so, it then transfers control to the next middleware function in the queue, which in this case is the route handler for '/admin'. If the user role isn't 'Admin', the server responds with a '403 Forbidden' status message.

Now, if you navigate to the /admin endpoint, only 'Admin' users will be able to access it. Anyone else will get a '403 Forbidden' message. As you continue building more complex applications, this mechanism of using middleware for role-based access control will become an essential aspect of maintaining application security. Welcome to an essential part of managing authorization in your web applications!

We have already set up an authorization middleware earlier. However, in real life applications, user data including roles are typically stored in a database. For this, we can use MongoDB and Mongoose.

1. Creating User Roles in MongoDB: First, let's create a user model with Mongoose which includes user roles.

JavaScript
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1import mongoose from 'mongoose';
2
3const UserSchema = new mongoose.Schema({
4  username: String,
5  password: String,
6  role: {
7    type: String,
8    default: 'User'
9  },
10});
11
12const User = mongoose.model('User', UserSchema);

1. Setting up Authorization Middleware with MongoDB models: Then, let's set up a middleware to authorize different user roles. The middleware will retrieve user information from the database and verify before granting the access:

JavaScript
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1import express from 'express';
2const app = express();
3
4// Middleware function to authorize user roles
5function verifyUserRole(req, res, next) {
6  User.findById(req.user._id)
7    .then(user => {
8      // Check if user role is 'Admin'
9      if (user.role === 'Admin') {
10        next();
11      } else {
12        res.status(403).send('You are not authorized to access this resource');
13      }
14    })
15    .catch(err => {
16      console.error(err);
17      res.status(500).send('Internal Server Error');
18    });
19}
20
21app.use(verifyUserRole);

In the provided example, verifyUserRole is a middleware function that checks the role of the authenticated user stored in the MongoDB database. If the user's role is 'Admin', the middleware calls next(), which passes control to the next middleware function. Otherwise, it sends the 403 status code (representing 'Forbidden'). Additionally, if there is an error during this process, such as a failure to connect with the database, it handles the error gracefully by returning a 500 Internal Server Error response.

As a result, our Express.js application, armed with MongoDB and Mongoose, becomes more adept at authorizing different user roles based on database data. This empowers us to manage user permissions more diversely and effectively.

Our journey into the Authorization galaxy was thrilling. We explored the concepts of authorization, role-based access control systems, managing user roles, and creating authorization middleware.

Looking ahead, we're preparing to delve into error handling. Filled with hands-on practice, our journey continues to impart skills and take us deeper into the Universe of Authorization! Until next time, farewell!