Six Methods to Show the Current Username in Your Mendix Application

Suppose you need to show the current user name in your Mendix-made application. How can you achieve this goal? There are some methods to get this result, and I’ll show you six of them in this article.

Method 1

• [M1-1] Open the Domain Model, create a Non-persistent Entity called CurrentUsername, and define one String attribute called Name. Set the access rules as shown below:

• [M1-2] Create a Microflow called DS_MF_CurrentUsername_Create and add to this microflow a Create activity, defining the Name attribute as $currentUser/Name. Set the entity created as the microflow’s result:

• [M1-3] In your page, create a Dataview using the DS_MF_CurrentUsername_Create as context and add a Text combining a fixed text and a parameter pointing to the Name attribute:

• [M1–4] The final result will be like below:

Method 2

• [M2–1] Create a Nanoflow called DS_NF_CurrentUser and define a Retrieve activity to get the current User using the XPath [id='[%CurrentUser%]'] as XPath constraint. Also, get only the First result in Options/Range. Define User as nanoflow’s result:

• [M2–2] In your page, create a Dataview using the DS_NF_CurrentUser as context and add a Text combining a fixed text and a parameter pointing to the Name attribute:

• [M2–3] The final result will be like below:

Method 3

• [M3–1] Create a Javascript action called JSA_CurrentUser with no parameters that return a System.User object, as shown below:

import "mx-global";
import { Big } from "big.js";

/**
 * @returns {Promise.<MxObject>}
 */
export async function JSA_CurrentUser() {
 // BEGIN USER CODE
 return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
  mx.data.get({
   guid: mx.session.getUserId(),
   callback: resolve,
   error: reject
  });
 });
 // END USER CODE
}

• [M3–2] Create a Nanoflow called DS_NF_CurrentUser_2. Call the Javascript action created earlier and return the object retrieved as the result:

JSAction to retrieve the current user: credits to Andrej Gajduk

• [M3–3] In your page, create a Dataview using the DS_NF_CurrentUser_2 as context and add a Text combining a fixed text and a parameter pointing to the Name attribute:

• [M3–4] The final result will be like below:

Method 4

• [M4–1] Install the HTML Snippet widget from the Market Place.
• [M4–2] In your page, drop a Text that you want to show the user name and also the HTML Snippet, as shown below:

• [M4–3] Open the HTML Snippet properties and select Javascript in Content type.
• [M4–4] Then, use the javascript snippet below in Contents:

var elemUser = document.getElementsByClassName('mx-name-text15')[0];
elemUser.innerHTML = mx.session.getUserName();

• [M4–5] In addition, define the additional properties as shown below:

• This script uses the Mendix JavaScript API, more specifically the mx session Namespace.
• Observe that text15 used as a parameter in the method getElementsByClassName is the Text widget’s name in which you want to show the current user name, with the prefix 'mx-name-'.
• [M4–6] The final result will be like below:

Method 5

• This is a creative variation of the Method 1, in which we use the $currentUser variable to get the Current User. Why not return the current user by itself?
• [M5–1] Create a Microflow called DS_MF_CurrentUser and define the variable $currentUseras return value:

• [M5–2] In your page, create a Dataview using the DS_MF_CurrentUser as context and add a Text combining a fixed text and a parameter pointing to the Name attribute:

• [M5–3] The final result will be like below:

Method 6

• [M6–1] Install the Events widget from the Market Place.
• [M6–2] In your page, drop a Text that you want to show the user name and also the Events widget, as shown below:

• [M6–3] Create a JavaScript Action that requires a Name(String) as input. Use the code shown below:

/**
 * @param {string} name
 * @returns {Promise.<void>}
 */
export async function JSA_ChangeTextToCurrentUsername(name) {
 // BEGIN USER CODE
 var elemUser = document.getElementsByClassName(`mx-name-${name}`)[0];
 elemUser.innerHTML = mx.session.getUserName();
 // END USER CODE
}

• [M6–4] Create a Nanoflow called IVK_OnPageLoad that calls the JavaScript Action created earlier (with the Name parameter pointing to the name of the Text widget you want to replace with the current user name):

• [M6–5] Double-click on the Events widget to edit the properties. Change the Component load action to Call a Nanoflow, pointing to the Nanoflow we've created in step M6–4.

• [M6–6] The final result, showing all methods is shown below:

Comments & Conclusions

• These are very simple methods to get the current user name. They can be easily integrated with your business logic.
• I personally prefer the 4th method or the 6th method (mostly this one), as they don’t require a DataView or Object/Entity.
• You can encapsulate your preferred method in a Snippet associated with a Nanoflow/Microflow and organize them in a Layout inside a style module called YourCompany_Theme.
• Do you have another method to get the user name? Could you spot any flaws in the above methods? Please share in the comments!

See Also

Retrieving the Current User with a Microflow

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