netlifyIdentity.currentUser() always returns null unless in on event handler

[SteveALee]

The only time I get a non null value back from netlifyIdentity.currentUser() is in an .on() handler when it is redundant as user is passed to the function anyway.

how do we get the current user info any other time? Other than doing a deep copy of the user object.

[jlengstorf]

@SteveALee the widget needs to be instantiated before it can return anything, so .currentUser() can't be called before the init event has completed

it should work as expected in event handlers or other functions that are called after the page has loaded, though

if you need the user on page load, using .on('init') is probably the more straightforward approach

hopefully that helps — let me know if you have additional questions!

[SteveALee]

@jlengstorf thanks. Would you believe I just figured that in a VERY long thread with Jon Sully on the Netlify forums.

We were figuring out best place to put the token refresh() call. I'm using the global script in a plain paged site, he is using modules in SPA and I guess there are differences.

For your info here is my identity widget abstraction

if you need the user on page load, using .on('init') is probably the more straightforward approach

Yes, I spent a time exploring the various state permutations including browser refresh to understand when init and login are raised. All very sensible :)