Laravel Sentry 2 with multiple user types.md

Sentry is an amazing auth system. But I really need a feature: multiple user types in the same app. And I cannot separate those in groups, because they have different table columns. After 2 days burning my head, I think I found a good solution. The magic is duplicate SentryServiceProvider with new different settings.

Lets suppose we have a fresh Sentry install with default User ambient. Now we want another ambient called Admin, with new model and different settings. How to do:

1. One model, one ambient

Let's create one model called Admin for our new ambient. Just create an empty model and extend it to the Sentry user. Look here: http://paste.laravel.com/BgH

2. Duplicate Sentry ServiceProvider.

Create a folder called app/lib and add in composer autoload. In this folder, create this structure:

/app/lib
    /SentryMods
        SentryAdmin.php
        SentryAdminServiceProvider.php

######SentryAdmin.php

http://paste.laravel.com/Bci

This file is just a Facade to the new service provider.

######SentryAdminServiceProvider.php http://paste.laravel.com/Bgv

This file the same original provider, just with some sentry.admin names included.

3. Set configurations for the new ambient

In the file app/config/cartalyst/sentry/config.php, add this lines. Here is the magic. Here we can choose settings for the new sentry provider. You can change anything, but I've tested only changing the user model.

	'admin'=>array(
		'driver' => 'eloquent',
		'hasher' => 'native',
		'groups' => array(
			'model' => 'Cartalyst\Sentry\Groups\Eloquent\Group',
		),
		'cookie' => array(
			'key' => 'cartalyst_sentry',
	 	),
		'users' => array(
			'model' => 'App\Models\Admin',
			'login_attribute' => 'login',
		),
		'throttling' => array(
			'enabled' => true,
			'model' => 'Cartalyst\Sentry\Throttling\Eloquent\Throttle',
			'attempt_limit' => 5,
			'suspension_time' => 15,
		),
	),

4. Prepare database

I created a migration to run after the migrate of sentry package. This is called sentrymods and copies original tables for the new ambient. This migration can resolves too some adjustments for sentry tables, like adding new columns.

public function up()
{
	DB::statement('CREATE TABLE admins LIKE users');
	DB::statement('CREATE TABLE admins_groups LIKE users_groups');

	Schema::table('admins', function($table){
		$table->string('login')->nullable();
		$table->softDeletes();
	});

	Schema::table('admins_groups', function($table){
		$table->renameColumn('user_id', 'admin_id');
	});
}

5. Lets see this working.

Now you have two Sentry ambients working. Then, just use SentryAdmin when you want :) Try this little test:

print_r(Sentry::getUserProvider());
print_r(SentryAdmin::getUserProvider());

The new one prints the default sentry. It will show the default settings. The second will shows our new sentry ambient with different settings. Something like:

// Cartalyst\Sentry\Users\Eloquent\Provider
// Object (
//     [model:protected] => App\Models\Admin
//     [hasher:protected] => Cartalyst\Sentry\Hashing\NativeHasher
// )

Want a seeder file? try this

<?php

use App\Models\User;
use Lib\SentryMods\SentryAdmin;
use Lib\SentryMods\SentryAdminServiceProvider;

class SentryTableSeeder extends Seeder {

	public function run()
	{
		$group_admin = SentryAdmin::getGroupProvider()->create(array('name'=>'Admins', 'permissions'=>array('admin'=>1)));

		$user = SentryAdmin::getUserProvider()->create(array(
			'email'		=> 'admin@admin.com',
			'login'		=> 'admin',
			'password'	=> 'admin',
			'first_name'=>'Leandro', 'last_name'=>'Abdalla', 'activated'=>1,
		));
		$user->addGroup($group_admin);
	}

}
````

**More than 2 ambients?** Just follow the same steps :)

#### Better solution?

Let me know! I'm including this feature in many projects!

Thanks for Ben of Cartalyst staff with the initial help here: http://help.cartalyst.com/discussions/questions/110-how-to-use-multiple-configurations-of-sentry-in-the-same-laravel-4-app-one-for-public-and-one-for-admin-area