Authentication

You can extend the AuthenticateWithBasicAuth and use your desired field:

<?php namespace App\Http\Middleware;

use Closure;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Routing\Middleware;
use Illuminate\Auth\Middleware\AuthenticateWithBasicAuth;

class MyBasicAuth extends AuthenticateWithBasicAuth implements Middleware
{
    /**
     * Handle an incoming request.
     *
     * @param  \Illuminate\Http\Request  $request
     * @param  \Closure  $next
     * @return mixed
     */
    public function handle($request, Closure $next)
    {
        // pass the desired field as the argument
        return $this->auth->basic('username') ?: $next($request); 
    }
}

And then update you app\Http\Kernel.php file:

    protected $routeMiddleware = [
        'auth'          => 'App\Http\Middleware\Authenticate',
        'auth.basic'    => 'App\Http\Middleware\MyBasicAuth', // UPDATED!!!
        'guest'         => 'App\Http\Middleware\RedirectIfAuthenticated',
    ];

EDIT: corrected the extends in the middleware

Ok, so I've implemented that but it's not working. The page waits for the server to respond and it never does, but I don't have any errors in my laravel log. The 'password' field is named something different as well. Can I define that here too or do I have to use auth?

Just tried and it worked... But my password field is named password.

Looked into the source, and the password field should be named password:

https://github.com/laravel/framework/blob/e2314aab84623d0ad434305526d4dbeb5efd9acd/src/Illuminate/Auth/Guard.php#L332

If you need the password field to be named differently you'll have or to extend Guard and provide it, or to use custom Auth, changing your App\Http\Middleware\Authenticate middleware.

Can't the password field be named password?

I could rename the field, but it's actually an auth_token. Now this is really just semantics, but since my application has it in it already I might as well try to extend the class before I rename it, just for naming convention consistency. I've only recently been comfortable enough to delve into Laravel's code base and I want to make sure that I have the right procedure for this.

<?php namespace App\Http\Middleware;

// classes I need to use will go here

class MyGuard extends Guard implements GuardContract
{
    // overriding the method from the Guard class
    protected function getBasicCredentials(Request $request, $field)
    {
        // change password to auth_token
        return [$field => $request->getUser(), 'auth_token' => $request->getPassword()];
    }
}

And then in Kernel.php, I add 'myguard' => 'App\Http\Middleware\MyGuard' to $routeMiddleware. Then in routes.php, I add myguard to the middleware like so:

Route::get('path', ['middleware' => ['auth.basic', 'myguard'], 'uses' => 'Controller@method']);

Did it work?

You can override the constructor in MyBasicAuth and pass your Guard implementation to its parent class:

<?php namespace App\Http\Middleware;

use Closure;
use Illuminate\Contracts\Routing\Middleware;
use Illuminate\Auth\Middleware\AuthenticateWithBasicAuth;

use App\Namespace\To\MyGuard;

class MyBasicAuth extends AuthenticateWithBasicAuth implements Middleware
{
    public function __construct(MyGuard $auth)
    {
        parent::__construct( $auth );
    }

    public function handle($request, Closure $next)
    {
        // pass the desired field as the argument
        return $this->auth->basic('username') ?: $next($request); 
    }
}

No, it didn't work. I put it in the constructor but still nothing. Nothing in my laravel logs either as far as errors go. I guess now is the time to just change the name of the field. Thanks.

EloquentUserProvider's retrieveByCredentials method also expects the password field to be called password...

I think it is better to change you field name... Doing so many changes may break your app in a future framework update.

Alright, so I've changed my field name but now I'm getting an error. It's trying to look in my 'users' table instead of my 'accounts' table. How do I change this behavior?

in your User model add this attribute:

class User extends Model {
    protected $table = 'accounts';

    // omitted for brevity
}

Of course. I didn't even think of that. Thanks so much.