Parse: Create/Save New User without signUp

Question

It seems Parse does not let me create new users, unless the sign up block is called.

It also seems that Parse doesn't let you edit username/password unless that user is currentUser logged in.

The goal is to create a new user, save him, and when they sign up at a later point, I can recognize their previous user account, or create one if that does not exist.

Signup/Login block methods are not the answer, I do not want to change the current user.

                   PFQuery *query = [PFUser query];
                  PFUser *userAgain = (PFUser *)[query getObjectWithId:user.objectId];
                  userAgain.username = "another_username";
 // This will throw an exception, since the PFUser is not authenticated
                  [userAgain save]

P.S. Here's the elevator pitch. This is a chat app (signup w/ phone#). I want to invite users in my contacts (but not on app) to a "chatroom". So i create a user account for their phone#. When they signup, I login that previously created user (checking phone#s) , and they see my "chatroom" in their inbox.

could you not use an anonymous user? : parse.com/docs/ios_guide#users-anonymous/iOS — JayDev
Yes! I think i will. I have to check for isVerified against the phone number txt message. Then dispose of any unwanted automatic users (if there are any). Then! I may be able to create accounts for people who aren't on the app yet. — benjaminhallock
Let me know if this ended up as the answer for you and I will put it into an answer :) — JayDev

benjaminhallock benjaminhallock · Accepted Answer · 2015-02-10T19:03:04

Okay, here's the steps I had to take.

On the Signin End

Enable enableAutomaticUser for anonymous user.
PFQuery for user registering to make sure his account doesn't exist based on his phoneNumber
If PFQuery has an object, save this PFUser, we will login with his credentials AFTER and IF the text message verification is true.

On Signup End

For each phoneNumber, make sure a user doesn't already exist. If it does, forget that phoneNumber, add the PFuser

Enumerate each phoneNumber for Register using the REST API

- (void) saveNewUserWithPhoneNumber:(NSString *)phoneNumber
 {
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"https://api.parse.com/1/users"];
NSMutableURLRequest *request = [NSMutableURLRequest requestWithURL:url];
  [request setURL:url];
  [request setHTTPMethod:@"POST"];
 [request setValue:@"application/json" forHTTPHeaderField:@"Content-Type"];
 [request setValue:API KEY forHTTPHeaderField:@"X-Parse-REST-API-Key"];
 [request setValue:APP ID forHTTPHeaderField:@"X-Parse-Application-Id"];

NSDictionary *dict = @{@"username":phoneNumber,@"password":phoneNumber,PF_USER_PHONENUMBER:phoneNumber, PF_USER_ISVERIFIED: @NO};
 NSError *error;
 NSData *postBody = [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:dict options:NSJSONWritingPrettyPrinted error:&error];
[request setHTTPBody:postBody];

 // Send request to Parse and parse returned data
 [NSURLConnection sendAsynchronousRequest:request
                               queue:[NSOperationQueue mainQueue]
                   completionHandler:^(NSURLResponse *response, NSData *data, NSError *connectionError) {
                       if (!connectionError) {
                           NSDictionary *responseDictionary = [NSJSONSerialization JSONObjectWithData:data options:0 error:nil];

                           NSString *objectId = [responseDictionary valueForKey:@"objectId"];
                           [_arrayOfSelectedUsers addObject:[PFUser objectWithoutDataWithObjectId:objectId]];
                           x--;
                           //If we finished all the phone numbers, create the chatroom;
                           if (x == 0){
                               [self actionSend];
                           }

                       } else {

                       }
                   }];
  }

Parse: Create/Save New User without signUp

3 Answers