User authentication...?

[influx]

Hello all,

I have a login page for my website, and I have a table at the very top of the login.php page for tiny icons for navigation WHEN THE USER IS LOGGED IN. So, on the login page...this is how it is set up:

<?php 
require 'database.php';
if($logged_in == 1){?> //If you are logged in, show these two icons.

<img src="img.gif" alt="Change address!" width="41" height="41" border="0"></a> 
<img src="img1.gif" alt="Log out!" width="41" height="41" border="0"></a> <?php }?>


//TONS OF HTML IN BETWEEN
//TONS MORE HTML

//now, more PHP

<?php

if($logged_in == 1) {
die('You are already logged in, '.$_SESSION['username'].'.');
}


if (isset($_POST['submit'])) { // if form has been submitted


// authenticate. check that passwords match username, and now to the members page

?>
<p>Welcome <strong><?php echo $_SESSION['username'];?></strong>! Now that you are logged in, you are able to choose from the following:<br>

//MEMBER'S PAGE NONSENSE
//MORE NONSENSE



<?php

} else { // Now, if form hasn't been submitted, give them two text fields to type username and password

?>
<form action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>" method="post">
Username: <input type="text" name="uname" maxlength="40">

Password: <input type="password" name="passwd" maxlength="50">

<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Login!"> //Login button

<?php
}
?> 

[cosminb]

so what's the question ???

[TTT]

right..... do you have some question too....???

[influx]

haha, yeah, sorry about that, I got a bit carried away.

My question is...after one would log in to the website, I would like to show the small icons at the very top of the page, but after submitting the form, PHP returns here:

if (isset($_POST['submit'])) { // if form has been submitted
?>

Now, my question is, how would I return PHP to the very top of the page, where the icons are, to reveal them ONCE the person has successfully logged in. If I do move the above if statement to the top of the page, everything gets messed up because of obvious conflicts. How on earth should I set this up is my question?

[leatherback]

Hi,

You could place the individual PhP query-outcomes into variables, that way creating page-blocks.

So if user logged in:
$navbox ="navbuttons";

Once you have done all the querying, you can start outputting all the elemtents in the right place. I personally store ALL my content in variables: I have a $body variable which gets filled:

$body = "blablabla";

if(user_is_logged_in)
{
$body .= "$navigationpane";
}

etcetc

and in the end you just echo out your individual blocks:

echo $head;
echo $navigation;
echo $body;
echo $footer;

Hope it helps?

J.

[tomwerner]

I see that once they are authenticated you add it to a session varaible. This means you are not depending on keeping values in GET/POST, so you should be able to refresh the page using a meta refresh

<meta http-equiv="refresh" content="5;URL=http://YOUR_NEW_SITE_ADDRESS">

Replace the 5 with a smaller number for a quicker redirect, obviously change the URL.

Also, $logged_in, where does it come from, if I was guessing it is in the session after being set after succesful authentication, if so then it should be $_SESSION['logged_in'] otherwise the icons will never appear and they will have their details checked everytime they visit the page in that session.

[leatherback]

Hi Tom, influx,

be a bit carefull with the meta-refresh tag. Especially when you rely on it for proper page functioning. Not all browser might accept it, as far as i know.. (you know standards are there to ignore..)

just a thought..

J.

[influx]

how about something like this...for now, I would only like trying to call the navigation pane, and nothing else, at the bottom of the script. Here is the code so far, please tell me if i should add anything and/or fix something:

<?php  

require 'database.php'; //includes database access instructions, and session_start() 

$navicons ="?><img src="img.gif" alt="Change address!" width="41" height="41" border="0"></a> 
<img src="img1.gif" alt="Log out!" width="41" height="41" border="0"></a> <?php ";?> 


//TONS OF HTML IN BETWEEN 
//TONS MORE HTML 

//now, more PHP 

<?php 

if($logged_in == 1) { 
die('You are already logged in, '.$_SESSION['username'].'.'); 
} 


if (isset($_POST['submit'])) { // if form has been submitted 


// authenticate. check that passwords match username, and now to the members page 

echo $navicons;

?> 
<p>Welcome <strong><?php echo $_SESSION['username'];?></strong>! Now that you are logged in, you are able to choose from the following:<br> 

//MEMBER'S PAGE NONSENSE 
//MORE NONSENSE 



<?php 

} else { // Now, if form hasn't been submitted, give them two text fields to type username and password 

?> 
<form action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>" method="post"> 
Username: <input type="text" name="uname" maxlength="40"> 

Password: <input type="password" name="passwd" maxlength="50"> 

<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Login!"> //Login button 

<?php 
} 
?> 

As you can see, I added the two pictures at the top into $navicons, and echoed $navicons right after the user is authenticated. However, I get an error on the line that says

"$navicons ="?><img src="img.gif" alt="Change address!" ........................."

I bet I have something petty wrong with the syntax, but I can't figure it out...thanks guys.

EDIT: Also, if you have any examples of something similar to this, could you please include it? I would be very grateful. Sorry guys, I'm kind of getting familiar with PHP.

[tomwerner]

You need to \ out the quotes in your variable like so:

$navicons ="?><img src=\"img.gif\" alt=\"Change address!\" width=\"41\" height=\"41\" border=\"0\"></a> 
<img src=\"img1.gif\" alt=\"Log out!\" width=\"41\" height=\"41\" border=\"0\"></a> <?php ";?>  

If you don't \ out the quotes php thinks the next " it meets is the end of the variable, then it meets some text and gives an error.

Also should <?php be there at the end of the variable?

[influx]

wow, thank you so much tomwerner.

It works, but it is showing in the wrong spot, and I really want it to be at the top of the page, but it appears where I 'echo $navicons;'

my code looks like this:

<?php   

require 'database.php'; //includes database access instructions, and session_start() 

$navicons ="?><img src=\"img.gif\" alt=\"Change address!\" width=\"41\" height=\"41\" border=\"0\"></a> 
<img src=\"img1.gif\" alt=\"Log out!\" width=\"41\" height=\"41\" border=\"0\"></a> <?php ";?> 

//TONS OF HTML IN BETWEEN 
//TONS MORE HTML 

//now, more PHP 

<?php  

if($logged_in == 1) {  

die('You are already logged in, '.$_SESSION['username'].'.');  

}  


if (isset($_POST['submit'])) { // if form has been submitted 


// authenticate. check that passwords match username, and now to the members page 

echo $navicons; //HERE IS WHERE THE PROBLEM IS...I REALLY NEED THE TWO ICONS TO BE AT THE TOP OF THE PAGE, NOT HERE, SO I JUST NEED TO HAVE A STATEMENT THAT SAYS "GO AND RUN $NAVICONS AT THE TOP, NOT DOWN HERE"

?>  

<p>Welcome <strong><?php echo $_SESSION['username'];?></strong>! Now that you are logged in, you are able to choose from the following:<br> 

is there anyway you can fix the echo $navicons; problem I am having? I dont think I should use echo, i may need to just point to the top of the page where the $navicons is placed. (read the commend next to my "echo $navicons;" statement if you're confused)

[tomwerner]

As far as I know you can't get php to go back on itself. So I think you need to put echo $navicons; below $navicons = blahblah and refresh the page with either the way suggested above or using javascript.

[influx]

hrm, there has to be a way other than redirecting to a new site. Is there any possible way?

[Weedpacket]

Can't you just have

$navicons ='<img src="img.gif" alt="Change address!" width="41" height="41" border="0"></a>
<img src="img1.gif" alt="Log out!" width="41" height="41" border="0"></a>';

And put "echo $navicons;" where you want it?

More generally, get all the figuring out whether or not someone is logged in or not done first, before serving up any output.

[influx]

Thanks weedpacket... here is what I did, but now I have encountered another tiny problem that I hope is fixable:

i will comment where the problem is:

<?php 
							require 'db.php';  //connection to database, session_start(), and $logged_in all in this file
							if($logged_in == 1) {
	die($already_logged_in = 'You are already logged in, '.$_SESSION['username'].'.');  //Hmm, for this, if they aren't logged in, I want it to save this output text so I can 'echo $already_logged_in;' later at the bottom of the page, not here...is this written correctly?  Same goes with all the others after this.

}


if (isset($_POST['submit'])) { // if form has been submitted


/* check they filled in what they were supposed to and authenticate */
if(!$_POST['uname'] | !$_POST['passwd']) {
	die($missing_field = 'You did not fill in a required field.');
}

// authenticate.

if (!get_magic_quotes_gpc()) {
	$_POST['uname'] = addslashes($_POST['uname']);
}

$check = $db_object->query("SELECT username, password FROM users WHERE username = '".$_POST['uname']."'");

if (DB::isError($check)) {
	die($no_username = 'That username does not exist in our database.');
}

$info = $check->fetchRow();

// check passwords match

$_POST['passwd'] = stripslashes($_POST['passwd']);
$info['password'] = stripslashes($info['password']);
$_POST['passwd'] = md5($_POST['passwd']);

if ($_POST['passwd'] != $info['password']) {
	$failed_password = die($incorrect_password = 'Incorrect password, please try again.');
}

// if we get here username and password are correct, 
//register session variables and set last login time.

$date = date('m d, Y');

$update_login = $db_object->query("UPDATE users SET last_login = '$date' WHERE username = '".$_POST['uname']."'");
$_POST['uname'] = stripslashes($_POST['uname']);
$_SESSION['username'] = $_POST['uname'];
$_SESSION['password'] = $_POST['passwd'];?>							
<img src="img.gif" alt="Change address!" width="41" height="41" border="0"></a> 
<img src="img1.gif" alt="Log out!" width="41" height="41" border="0"></a>  //both navigation icons in between php code (if logged in, it appears in the correct place.

//LOTS OF NECESSARY HTML FOR LAYOUT
//MORE HTML
//MORE HTML

<?php if($logged_in == 1) { //IT DOESNT EXECUTE THIS WHOLE SECTION BECAUSE IT ALREADY DID THE SAME COMMAND AT THE TOP, AND WONT DO IT AGAIN...IS THERE ANY WAY I CAN TELL THE COMMAND IF COMMAND AT THE TOP TO SKIP THE NECESSARY HTML RIGHT ABOVE THIS IF STATEMENT, AND CONTINUE HERE?
//HAD I NOT ENDED THE IF STATEMENT ABOVE, IT WOULD ONLY SHOW ALL THE NECESSARY HTML IF THEY WERE LOGGED IN!
	echo $failed;
	echo $failed_password;
	echo $incorrect_password;
	echo $no_username;
	echo $missing_field;
	echo $already_logged_in;?>
<?php echo $_SESSION['username'];?></strong></span>! Now that you are logged in, you are able to choose from the following:

//MEMBER PAGE STUFF

<?php }} else {	// if form hasn't been submitted

?>
<form action="<?php echo $_SERVER['PHP_SELF']?>" method="post">

<input type="text" name="uname" maxlength="40">

<input type="password" name="passwd" maxlength="50">

<input type="submit" name="submit" value="Log in!">

}

thanks guys!