New to PHP, need pointers... :)

[wisteria456]

I found some canned code and tried to use it to authenticate users on my three computer network at work, unfortunately, it didn't work. So, I went back to basics. 🙂

This is the logical structure I want for my code.

But, I need some help getting started. For example, how do I use the name of the form element (ie. textbox, ect) to assign value to a variable? (Username=UsernameFormFieldValue)

Please help me find direction. I need pointers on this.

<pre>

<?php
$link = mysql_connect();
mysql_select_db("shp", $link);

while (username variable != empty) and (password variable != empty)

display login html form

query = locate username variable in db

if username variable valid

check password against it's password entry

if password valid

  login
  redirect to start page for user

else

  invalid password       

else username does not exist

?>

</pre>

[wisteria456]

Let's rearrange these lines, shall we?

display login html form

while (username variable != empty) and (password variable != empty)

[Weedpacket]

The while() loop doesn't need to be written explicitly, of course; that will be hidden in the client-server interactions.

if(username and password are submitted)
{   validate username and password (ensure only allowable characters are present)
    query database with username and password
    If(match is found)
    {   mark the login as successful (e.g., create session variables)
        redirect client to start page
        exit
    }
    else
    {   Bad username/password combination.
        Note the error.
    }
}
else
{   Username or password were missing.
    Note the error.
}
Display the login form. If an error was noted, now's a good time to display it.

On subsequent pages, you'll need to check if the client requesting it has logged in. How this is managed depends on how the login was marked.

Retrieve login details if any.
if( ! login confirmed)
{   redirect client to login page.
    exit
}
Rest of the page