Member Link

[Chmex21]

Just a quick question, I am building a site with a admin backend. On the menu I have standard links, but I would like some links on the menu to olny to show up with admins and mods. Is there a way to setup the menu to only activate certain menu links by user title or group?

Thanks in advance

[kellog]

Originally posted by Chmex21
Just a quick question, I am building a site with a admin backend. On the menu I have standard links, but I would like some links on the menu to olny to show up with admins and mods. Is there a way to setup the menu to only activate certain menu links by user title or group?

Thanks in advance

The way I've handled this in the past is to set a session variable for users, then test for tthat variable. For instance, lets say you have a graphic that's a link to a page, and you only want certain users to have access to it. First, when the users log in, you should set the variable:

session_register("PrivUser");

$_SESSION["PrivUser"] = True;

Then for the link:

if ($_SESSION["PrivUser"])
{
echo "<a href='some page'><img src='some images'></a>";
}
\\Then, if needed you can plug the whole in your interface with a dummy graphic if needed by doing this

else
{
echo "<img src='some image'>";

[Chmex21]

Thanks for the quick response and info. But just one quick question, how would I hid that link so it would not come up unless a certain user was logged in. Example:

Admin logs in and has these choices on the menu:

Home
Downloads
Forums
Admin Menu
Contact

But lets say a regular member logs in, then this would be his choices:

Home
Forums
Contact

How would I make those 2 missing links in the menu only appear according to the user that is logged in. I hope I explanned this good enough. Thanks for the help.

Thanks

[drawmack]

If you have a database this solution is much more robust and can be maintained through the admin area even allowing different levels of administration.

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS users (
  ID BIGINT NOT NULL auto_increment,
  UserName VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,
  Password VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,
  AccessLevel TINYINY NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (ID),
  UNIQUE UserName (UserName),
  INDEX Password (Password),
  INDEX AccessLevel (AccessLevel)
)

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS menu (
  ID BIGINT NOT NULL auto_increment,
  MenuText VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
  URL          VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
  AccessLevel TINYINT NOT NULL,
  DispOrder     INT NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (ID),
  UNIQUE MenuText (MenuText),
  INDEX AccessLevel (AccessLevel),
  INDEX DispOrder (DispOrder)
)

then you do this in php

<?php
  //assumption, the person's accesslevel has been set in
  //the $al variable
  $sql  = "SELECT MenuText,URL \n";
  $sql .= "FROM menu \n";
  $sql .= "WHERE AccessLevel <= $al \n";
  $sql .= "ORDER BY DispOrder";
  $menuOptions = @mysql_query($sql);
  while($link = mysql_fetch_assoc($menuOptions)) {
    echo "<a href=\"" . $link['URL'] . "\">";
    echo $link['MenuText'] . "</a><br />\n";
  }
?>

This will generate the menu on the fly for each user based on their access level. Each user will see all the menu option at or below their access level.

[drawmack]

If you have a database this solution is much more robust and can be maintained through the admin area even allowing different levels of administration.

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS users (
  ID BIGINT NOT NULL auto_increment,
  UserName VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,
  Password VARCHAR(20) NOT NULL,
  AccessLevel TINYINY NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (ID),
  UNIQUE UserName (UserName),
  INDEX Password (Password),
  INDEX AccessLevel (AccessLevel)
)

CREATE TABLE IF NOT EXISTS menu (
  ID BIGINT NOT NULL auto_increment,
  MenuText VARCHAR(50) NOT NULL,
  URL          VARCHAR(100) NOT NULL,
  AccessLevel TINYINT NOT NULL,
  DispOrder     INT NOT NULL,
  PRIMARY KEY (ID),
  UNIQUE MenuText (MenuText),
  INDEX AccessLevel (AccessLevel),
  INDEX DispOrder (DispOrder)
)

then you do this in php

<?php
  //assumption, the person's accesslevel has been set in
  //the $al variable
  $sql  = "SELECT MenuText,URL \n";
  $sql .= "FROM menu \n";
  $sql .= "WHERE AccessLevel <= $al \n";
  $sql .= "ORDER BY DispOrder";
  $menuOptions = @mysql_query($sql);
  while($link = mysql_fetch_assoc($menuOptions)) {
    echo "<a href=\"" . $link['URL'] . "\">";
    echo $link['MenuText'] . "</a><br />\n";
  }
?>

This will generate the menu on the fly for each user based on their access level. Each user will see all the menu option at or below their access level.

[Chmex21]

drawmack, thank you very much for the help. I am going to play with this tonight.

Thanks again for the help