Clarify masquerade mode in docs

[NicolasCwy]

The docs on masquerade mode is unclear on what username is on the development server

When logged in as administrator, masquerade mode can also be used to impersonate instructors and students by adding user=username to the URL e.g http://localhost:8080/web/student/home?user=johnKent.

Developers who want to use masquerade mode have to ensure that theusername is the email address used to verify the user e.g (person@x.com) when signing up mock instructors. Username such as jack (for google id jack@example.com) would not work as the username.

Signed up jack@example.com as instructor, which is also used as google id

Incorrect username used (jack)

Correct username used (jack@example.com)

[wkurniawan07]

Remnant of #11586.

Now that I see this page again, we might need to reword "Google ID" in places where they are used, because once Firebase is integrated (it already is, but not actually used yet) that term will stop making sense.

But don't let that be a distraction; this issue simply calls for documentation update.

[VishnuRameshbabu]

Hello there,

I have suggestion regarding this. Maybe we can rename the term 'Google ID' to 'Gmail ID' wherever applicable so people can refer it as their gmail address and not the other way?

[zhaojj2209]

Maybe we can rename the term 'Google ID' to 'Gmail ID' wherever applicable so people can refer it as their gmail address and not the other way?

Thanks for the effort, but that's not what we meant by rewording "Google ID". As mentioned above, we have recently integrated Firebase for authentication, so emails used for accounts are no longer limited to Google emails. We should avoid using the terms "Google"/"Gmail" altogether when referring to user account emails.

[domlimm]

Should we also add steps to how one can use the masquerade feature? There was a recent discussion here.

[NicolasCwy]

Should we also add steps to how one can use the masquerade feature? There was a recent discussion here.

Yup this sounds like a good idea, it has always been a point of confusion for me. Perhaps we can add the instructions in a new section and link the existing reference in this post to it

[domlimm]

@NicolasCwy alright! Should we do it in the same PR that solves this current issue?

[NicolasCwy]

@domlimm Yup if possible, it would be good

[domlimm]

Apologies for spamming up this issue.

@NicolasCwy On second thought, let's open up another issue as a good first one. It might be rather complex for the current author of the PR to try it out and add the docs. If you're good with this, I can make the issue.

Do you reckon we should add a new sub-section between Logging in to a TEAMMATES instance and Logging in without UI?

[NicolasCwy]

@domlimm Ok sounds good to me. I think we can put it after the login without UI, so we can group the login docs together. Then we can link the current snippet on masquerade to the new section which elaborates on how to use masquerade

Made an issue #12473

[jasonqiu212]

Hi @vimalJD, Yes this issue is still open! Feel free to submit a PR for it :)

Just to reiterate the main problem in this issue:

When logged in as administrator, masquerade mode can also be used to impersonate instructors and students by adding user=username to the URL e.g http://localhost:8080/web/student/home?user=johnKent.

The above line in the docs (Under the "As administrator" dropdown panel) is unclear on what username is.

Since we now have a section dedicated to explaining how to use masquerade mode in detail (#12506), a simple solution to this issue is:

• Replace the problematic line above with a link to the new section:
  • When logged in as administrator, masquerade mode can be used to impersonate instructors and students. For more information, refer to Masquerading as another user.