Why doesn't Accounts.createUser create a user in MongoDB? - mongodb

Question

I'm using accounts-password package to manage my user accounts. I tried 2 ways to create account using Accounts.createUser() function.
1st way: Calling Accounts.createUser() from the client
register.js:
Template.register.events({
"submit form"(event){
event.preventDefault();
const email = event.target.email.value;
const password = event.target.password.value;
Accounts.createUser({
email: email,
password: password
});
}
});
2nd way: Calling Accounts.createUser() from the server method and calling that method from the client. Got the hint after going through: Meteor: Accounts.createUser() doesn't create user
register.js:
Template.register.events({
"submit form"(event){
event.preventDefault();
const email = event.target.email.value;
const password = event.target.password.value;
Meteor.call('createNewUser', email, password);
}
});
methods.js:(on server)
Meteor.methods({
'createNewUser'(email, password){
Accounts.createUser({
email: email,
password: password
});
}
});
In both the cases, no new collection is created in MongoDB. Neither is any old collection updated. My connection strings are proper. Why is this happening?
However, when I use the following on the server, a document is created:
Accounts.users = new Mongo.Collection("profiles", {
_preventAutopublish: true, _driver: dbConn
});
Meteor.users = Accounts.users;
I don't know why a new collection has to be created for this to work. Isn't accounts-password package supposed to create a collection by itself?

Answer 1

if you are just keen on getting a basic version up and running try adding the default {{>loginButtons}} to your html. This will also make sure the javascript is executed as it should be. Building the js manually only makes sense if you need more customizability.

Answer 2

Have you added the accounts-base package? Accounts.createUser comes from this package. (docs)
In the linked example you gave, the OP had set forbidClientAccountCreation: true in the Accounts.config(). That prevents the Accounts.createUser function from working on the client (which is useful in applications where users need an invitation to register). That is why the answers recommended to create the user account server side and isn't applicable to your application.
As a side note, in your second example you are passing an unencrypted password from the client to the server which is considered dangerous.
You can encrypt it before sending it to the server method like so:
const password = Accounts._hashPassword( event.target.password.value );

Answer 3

_driver: dbConn
That line is really concerning. Are you trying to manage your own database connection?
There's nothing wrong with the code you wrote, it's not your problem. Accounts.createUser is the correct method to call.
If you need to use a different database than the one initialized by default by running the meteor command from terminal, look at the documentation on using MONGO_URL.