chore: throw error if user puts { or " at the start of username, password, url, or iam_apikey

Author: dpopp07

lib/base_service.ts

@@ -89,6 +89,30 @@ function usesBasicForIam(obj: any): boolean {
   return obj.username === 'apikey' && !obj.password.startsWith('icp-');
 }
 
+// returns true if the string has a { or " as the first character
+// these are common user-issues that we should handle before they get a network error
+function badFirstChar(value: string): boolean {
+  return value.startsWith('{') || value.startsWith('"');
+}
+
+// checks credentials for common user mistakes of copying { or " characters from the documentation
+function checkCredentials(obj: any) {
+  let errorMessage = '';
+  const credsToCheck = ['url', 'username', 'password', 'iam_apikey'];
+  credsToCheck.forEach(cred => {
+    if (obj[cred] && badFirstChar(obj[cred])) {
+      errorMessage += `${cred} starts with a bad character. `;
+    }
+  });
+
+  if (errorMessage.length) {
+    errorMessage += 'Revise these credentials - they should not start with a { or "';
+    return errorMessage;
+  } else {
+    return null;
+  }
+}
+
 export class BaseService {
   static URL: string;
   name: string;
@@ -309,6 +333,11 @@ export class BaseService {
         }
       }
     }
+    // check credentials for common user errors
+    const credentialProblems = checkCredentials(_options);
+    if (credentialProblems) {
+      throw new Error(credentialProblems);
+    }
     return _options;
   }
   /**

test/unit/baseService.test.js

@@ -335,4 +335,76 @@ describe('BaseService', function() {
     });
     expect(instance._options.rejectUnauthorized).toBe(true);
   });
+
+  describe('check credentials for common problems', function() {
+    function assertConstructorThrows(params) {
+      expect(() => {
+        new TestService(params);
+      }).toThrowError('Revise these credentials - they should not start with a { or "');
+    }
+
+    it('should throw when username starts with {', function() {
+      assertConstructorThrows({
+        username: '{batman}',
+        password: 'goodpass',
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should throw when username starts with "', function() {
+      assertConstructorThrows({
+        username: '"<batman">',
+        password: 'goodpass',
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should throw when password starts with {', function() {
+      assertConstructorThrows({
+        username: 'batman',
+        password: '{badpass}',
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should throw when password starts with "', function() {
+      assertConstructorThrows({
+        username: 'batman',
+        password: '"badpass"',
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should throw when iam_apikey starts with {', function() {
+      assertConstructorThrows({
+        iam_apikey: '{abc123}',
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should throw when iam_apikey starts with "', function() {
+      assertConstructorThrows({
+        iam_apikey: '"<abc123',
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should throw when url starts with {', function() {
+      assertConstructorThrows({
+        username: 'batman',
+        password: 'goodpass',
+        url: '{watson-url}/some-api/v1/endpoint',
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should throw when url starts with "', function() {
+      assertConstructorThrows({
+        username: 'batman',
+        password: 'goodpass',
+        url: '"watson-url.com/some-api/v1/endpoint',
+      });
+    });
+
+    it('should throw when mutiple creds are bad', function() {
+      assertConstructorThrows({
+        username: '{batman}',
+        password: '"<badpass>"',
+        url: '{watson-url}/some-api/v1/endpoint',
+      });
+    });
+  });
 });