Updating the email address in Meteor.js user accounts - meteor

Question

I've been troubleshooting a lot of user errors today, using Meteor.js and the Accounts-ui-bootstrap3 package. So far my favorite error is the 'Token Expired' on a password reset, but the one that really causes issues is 'User Not Found' when the correct email address is entered in. It took a while to work out, but the problem is caused by accounts created with the email address in all caps. Apparently Accounts is case sensitive for email addresses.
Now while I have since updated all of my code to lowercase incoming user emails, I still have to fix the existing users. I created a server method to deal with this:
Meteor.methods({
sanitizeEmails: function() {
Meteor.users.find({
'emails.address': /[A-Z]{1,}/
}).map(function(user) {
console.log(user.emails[0].address);
Meteor.users.update({
_id: user._id
}, {
$set: {
'emails.0.address': user.emails[0].address.toLowerCase()
}
});
});
}
});
Which should go through, find any names with an upper case letter, and update the email address to a lower case version. It doesn't work, it throws an index error in the MongoDB driver:
I20150904-01:30:23.322(-7)? Exception while invoking method 'normalizeEmails' MongoError: E11000 duplicate key error index: meteor.users.$emails.address_1 dup key: { : "usedtobetaller#fixemandhow.com" }
I20150904-01:30:23.322(-7)? at Object.Future.wait (/home/mowgli/.meteor/packages/meteor-tool/.1.1.4.70jrul++os.linux.x86_64+web.browser+web.cordova/mt-os.linux.x86_64/dev_bundle/server-lib/node_modules/fibers/future.js:398:15)
I20150904-01:30:23.323(-7)? at [object Object].<anonymous> (packages/meteor/helpers.js:119:1)
I20150904-01:30:23.323(-7)? at [object Object].MongoConnection.(anonymous function) [as update] (packages/mongo/mongo_driver.js:678:1)
I20150904-01:30:23.323(-7)? at [object Object].Mongo.Collection.(anonymous function) [as update] (packages/mongo/collection.js:575:1)
I20150904-01:30:23.323(-7)? at server/main.invitePub.coffee:320:22
I20150904-01:30:23.323(-7)? at packages/mongo/mongo_driver.js:974:1
I20150904-01:30:23.323(-7)? at [object Object]._.extend.forEach (packages/mongo/mongo_driver.js:965:1)
I20150904-01:30:23.323(-7)? at [object Object]._.extend.map (packages/mongo/mongo_driver.js:973:1)
I20150904-01:30:23.323(-7)? at [object Object].Cursor.(anonymous function) [as map] (packages/mongo/mongo_driver.js:812:1)
I20150904-01:30:23.324(-7)? at [object Object].Meteor.methods.normalizeEmails (server/main.invites.coffee:317:56)
I20150904-01:30:23.324(-7)? - - - - -
I20150904-01:30:23.324(-7)? at Object.toError (/home/mowgli/.meteor/packages/mongo/.1.1.0.zb7oxo++os+web.browser+web.cordova/npm/node_modules/mongodb/lib/mongodb/utils.js:114:11)
I20150904-01:30:23.324(-7)? at /home/mowgli/.meteor/packages/mongo/.1.1.0.zb7oxo++os+web.browser+web.cordova/npm/node_modules/mongodb/lib/mongodb/collection/core.js:577:27
I20150904-01:30:23.324(-7)? at /home/mowgli/.meteor/packages/mongo/.1.1.0.zb7oxo++os+web.browser+web.cordova/npm/node_modules/mongodb/lib/mongodb/db.js:1195:7
I20150904-01:30:23.324(-7)? at /home/mowgli/.meteor/packages/mongo/.1.1.0.zb7oxo++os+web.browser+web.cordova/npm/node_modules/mongodb/lib/mongodb/db.js:1903:9
I20150904-01:30:23.324(-7)? at Server.Base._callHandler (/home/mowgli/.meteor/packages/mongo/.1.1.0.zb7oxo++os+web.browser+web.cordova/npm/node_modules/mongodb/lib/mongodb/connection/base.js:453:41)
I20150904-01:30:23.324(-7)? at /home/mowgli/.meteor/packages/mongo/.1.1.0.zb7oxo++os+web.browser+web.cordova/npm/node_modules/mongodb/lib/mongodb/connection/server.js:487:18
I20150904-01:30:23.324(-7)? at [object Object].MongoReply.parseBody (/home/mowgli/.meteor/packages/mongo/.1.1.0.zb7oxo++os+web.browser+web.cordova/npm/node_modules/mongodb/lib/mongodb/responses/mongo_reply.js:68:5)
I20150904-01:30:23.325(-7)? at [object Object].<anonymous> (/home/mowgli/.meteor/packages/mongo/.1.1.0.zb7oxo++os+web.browser+web.cordova/npm/node_modules/mongodb/lib/mongodb/connection/server.js:445:20)
I20150904-01:30:23.325(-7)? at [object Object].emit (events.js:95:17)
I20150904-01:30:23.325(-7)? at [object Object].<anonymous> (/home/mowgli/.meteor/packages/mongo/.1.1.0.zb7oxo++os+web.browser+web.cordova/npm/node_modules/mongodb/lib/mongodb/connection/connection_pool.js:207:13)
EDIT:
Apparently I have duplicate emails, so Accounts-UI emails are case sensitive. It's entirely possible to end up with three users bob#email.com, Bob#email.com, and BOB#email.com.
I'm leaving this up as a cautionary tale and a simple example of updating email addresses in Meteor

Answer 1

This is a little hardcore for this issue, however this code will keep ANY account from getting created (even on the server) with caps in the email address:
if (Meteor.isServer) {
Accounts.validateNewUser(function(user) {
if (user.emails[0].address.match(/[A-Z]{1,}/) {
throw new Meteor.Error(403, "Emails may only be lowercase.");
return false;
}
return true;
});
}

Answer 2

I did some testing and accounts package do not let you create two users with the same email (it's not case-sensitive).
I've tried creating two users: "alex#email.com" and "Alex#email.com"
On the second try I get: "Email already exists."
I think that your mongo search is not correct:
Meteor.users.find({
'emails.address': /[A-Z]{1,}/
})
'emails.address' is not a valid key for searching, 'emails' is an array.
I think the correct syntax would be:
Meteor.users.find({
emails: {
$elemMatch: {
address: /[A-Z]{1,}/
}
}
})