Null returned for HttpFoundation/response - symfony

Question

I'm getting the error in Symfony 4:
Return value of
App\Controller\RegistrationCreatorController::register() must be an
instance of Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response, null returned
Within the RegistrationCreatorController I have this:
namespace App\Controller;
use App\Entity\User;
use App\Entity\Creator;
use App\Entity\CreatorApplication;
use App\Form\CreatorRegistrationForm;
use App\Security\UserAuthenticationAuthenticator;
use Symfony\Bundle\FrameworkBundle\Controller\AbstractController;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Response;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Core\Encoder\UserPasswordEncoderInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Guard\GuardAuthenticatorHandler;
class RegistrationCreatorController extends AbstractController
{
public function register(
Request $request,
UserPasswordEncoderInterface $passwordEncoder,
GuardAuthenticatorHandler $guardHandler,
UserAuthenticationAuthenticator $authenticator
): Response
{
$user = new User();
$creator = new Creator();
$application = new CreatorApplication();
$form = $this
->createForm(
CreatorRegistrationForm::class,
[$user, $creator, $application]
);
$form->handleRequest($request);
if ($form->isSubmitted() && $form->isValid()) {
$user
->setEmail(
$form->get('email')->getData()
)
->setPassword(
$passwordEncoder->encodePassword(
$user,
$form->get('password')->getData()
)
)
->setFirstName(
$form->get('firstname')->getData()
)
->setLastName(
$form->get('lastname')->getData()
)
->setBirthday(
$form->get('birthday')->getData()
);
$application->createApplication(
$form->get('question-1')->getData(),
$form->get('question-2')->getData(),
$form->get('question-3')->getData(),
$form->get('question-4')->getData()
);
$creator
->associateUser($user)
->associateApplication($application);
$entityManager = $this->getDoctrine()->getManager();
$entityManager->persist($user);
$entityManager->persist($creator);
$entityManager->persist($application);
$entityManager->flush(); //this is what inserts to db!
// do anything else you need here, like send an
return $guardHandler->authenticateUserAndHandleSuccess(
$user,
$request,
$authenticator,
'main' // This is the issue here //
);
}
return $this->render('registration/creator-register.html.twig', [
'creatorForm' => $form->createView(),
]);
}
}
The error specifically points to this:
return $guardHandler->authenticateUserAndHandleSuccess(
$user,
$request,
$authenticator,
'main' // This is the even more specific issue //
);
I'm not entirely sure what the problem is? When I look into the security.yaml file it points to the userAuthenticationAuthenticator which was auto generated from Symfony 4 when I called the make:registration-form.
UserAuthenticationAuthenticator:
<?php
namespace App\Security;
use App\Entity\User;
use Doctrine\ORM\EntityManagerInterface;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\RedirectResponse;
use Symfony\Component\HttpFoundation\Request;
use Symfony\Component\Routing\Generator\UrlGeneratorInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Core\Authentication\Token\TokenInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Core\Exception\CustomUserMessageAuthenticationException;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Core\Encoder\UserPasswordEncoderInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Core\Exception\InvalidCsrfTokenException;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Core\Security;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Core\User\UserInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Core\User\UserProviderInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Csrf\CsrfToken;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Csrf\CsrfTokenManagerInterface;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Guard\Authenticator\AbstractFormLoginAuthenticator;
use Symfony\Component\Security\Http\Util\TargetPathTrait;
class UserAuthenticationAuthenticator extends AbstractFormLoginAuthenticator
{
use TargetPathTrait;
private $entityManager;
private $urlGenerator;
private $csrfTokenManager;
private $passwordEncoder;
public function __construct(EntityManagerInterface $entityManager, UrlGeneratorInterface $urlGenerator, CsrfTokenManagerInterface $csrfTokenManager, UserPasswordEncoderInterface $passwordEncoder)
{
$this->entityManager = $entityManager;
$this->urlGenerator = $urlGenerator;
$this->csrfTokenManager = $csrfTokenManager;
$this->passwordEncoder = $passwordEncoder;
}
public function supports(Request $request)
{
return 'app_login' === $request->attributes->get('_route')
&& $request->isMethod('POST');
}
public function getCredentials(Request $request)
{
$credentials = [
'email' => $request->request->get('email'),
'password' => $request->request->get('password'),
'csrf_token' => $request->request->get('_csrf_token'),
];
$request->getSession()->set(
Security::LAST_USERNAME,
$credentials['email']
);
return $credentials;
}
public function getUser($credentials, UserProviderInterface $userProvider)
{
$token = new CsrfToken('authenticate', $credentials['csrf_token']);
if (!$this->csrfTokenManager->isTokenValid($token)) {
throw new InvalidCsrfTokenException();
}
$user = $this->entityManager->getRepository(User::class)->findOneBy(['email' => $credentials['email']]);
if (!$user) {
// fail authentication with a custom error
throw new CustomUserMessageAuthenticationException('Email could not be found.');
}
return $user;
}
public function checkCredentials($credentials, UserInterface $user)
{
return $this->passwordEncoder->isPasswordValid($user, $credentials['password']);
}
public function onAuthenticationSuccess(Request $request, TokenInterface $token, $providerKey)
{
if ($targetPath = $this->getTargetPath($request->getSession(), $providerKey)) {
return new RedirectResponse($targetPath);
}
// For example : return new RedirectResponse($this->urlGenerator->generate('some_route'));
//throw new \Exception('TODO: provide a valid redirect inside '.__FILE__);
}
protected function getLoginUrl()
{
return $this->urlGenerator->generate('app_login');
}
}
?>
I thought the guard handler would return a response, but I guess not?

Answer 1

the doc comment tells, that it returns a response if any
/**
* Convenience method for authenticating the user and returning the
* Response *if any* for success.
*/
https://github.com/symfony/symfony/blob/d97f9ab131ae1fbc3c4371f2a38b8c1e41eef499/src/Symfony/Component/Security/Guard/GuardAuthenticatorHandler.php#L84
and it might even throw an Exception...
So no, a Response is not necessarily the result. Especially if you read the AuthenticatorInterface
a pragmatic solution would be to just redirect to the index page (/) in case no Response object is returned:
return $guardhandler->authenticateUserAndHandleSuccess(...)
?: new RedirectResponse('/'); // fallback