PHP Class to autologin a user

rr1024

Hello,
First I have to say I enjoyed your article on classes at
Classes discribed

I have a site that users login to already and they wanted me to install a Forum. So, not to insult Vbulletin but I found phpbb which is a free one.

Problem is all these forum coders and companies some how think that the bulletin board MUST be the Main part of the site and everything else is secondary...lol...I don't think they have a clue...

Sorry to the point, I've created a php script that copies the user profile data from my exsisting tables on my already exsisting site to the phpbb user table. It works great however, users are still required to login to the forum.

I finally found a script that is suppose to handle the autologin for a user to phpbb, a great find. But of couse I can't get it to work.

I created a simple file just to test the code,

Junk.php code This is all there is to junk.php file

 

require_once( "PHPBB_Login.php" );

/* Example 1: Logging in */

session_start();

/* First, login the user using your own login system, for example; */
//$user = new User();

//-- This is my test user info which is already in my exsisting profile system and in phpbb data base user table.
$test="test";
$username="cfem1";
$password =md5($test);

// username and password are implied here,
// they will most likely be form variables
$user->login( $username, $password );

// Then login the user to the forum
$phpBB = new PHPBB_Login();

$phpbb->login( $user->id );

$phpbb->login( $user->id ); and I get this ERROR
Fatal error: Call to a member function on a non-object in /home/board/junk.php

The actual class php file i.e. is PHPBB_Login.php
Example PHPBB_Login.php file

class PHPBB_Login {

function PHPBB_Login() {
}

function login( $phpbb_user_id ) {
    global $db, $board_config;
    global $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS, $HTTP_GET_VARS, $SID;

    // Setup the phpbb environment and then
    // run through the phpbb login process

    // You may need to change the following line to reflect
    // your phpBB installation.
    require_once( 'config.php' );

    define('IN_PHPBB',true);

    // You may need to change the following line to reflect
    // your phpBB installation.
    $phpbb_root_path = "./forum/";

    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "extension.inc" );
    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "common.php" );

    return session_begin( $phpbb_user_id, $user_ip, PAGE_INDEX, FALSE, TRUE );

}

function logout( $session_id, $phpbb_user_id ) {
    global $db, $lang, $board_config;
    global $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS, $HTTP_GET_VARS, $SID;

    // Setup the phpbb environment and then
    // run through the phpbb login process

    // You may need to change the following line to reflect
    // your phpBB installation.
    require_once( './forum/config.php' );

    define('IN_PHPBB',true);

    // You may need to change the following line to reflect
    // your phpBB installation.
    $phpbb_root_path = "./forum/";

    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "extension.inc" );
    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "common.php" );

    session_end( $session_id, $phpbb_user_id );

    // session_end doesn't seem to get rid of these cookies,
    // so we'll do it here just in to make certain.
    setcookie( $board_config[ "cookie_name" ] . "_sid", "", time() - 3600, " " );
    setcookie( $board_config[ "cookie_name" ] . "_mysql", "", time() - 3600, " " );

}

}

I'm not using logout, I'm just trying to get login to send the session or cookie so the user doesn't have to login to use the forum.

Any help would be great!

FYI, this is my first experience with classes and I want to be a sponge so bring the info on.😃 Please keep in mind I'm working with a handycap of 1 single brain cell.

Thanks
Richard

wilsonodk

I think you problem is that you're calling [font=courier]login()[/font] before you've created an object...

Originally posted by rr1024

// username and password are implied here,
// they will most likely be form variables
$user->login( $username, $password );

// Then login the user to the forum
$phpBB = new PHPBB_Login();

$phpbb->login( $user->id );

Where did [font=courier]$user[/font] get defined? And, where is the second definition for the [FONT=courier]login()[/FONT] method?

rr1024

was a var or if it gets defined I would assume it was in phpbb forum files.

Well I just scanned all php files for phpbb and there is nothing for $user in phpbb they use $user_ip, $username and $userdata.

So, do I define $user as a var or is that what the $user = new User(); is suppose to be?

or do I just do
$user array();

If I use their "define then don't I have to creat a function somewhere for $user = new User();

i.e Function User($nickname,$password)
{
$nickname = "nickname";
$password = md5("password");
}

I guess I'm confused about the whole define thing with these classes.

rr1024

Ok, so I un commented $user = new User, then added the User Class below it and then found I had to had another function, I couldn't just add the two vars for the login.

Now the script runs ??? LOL until it actually tries to login the person, i.e. cFemailforfun
But now I get a new error,
Fatal error: Call to undefined function: login() in /home/board/junk.php on line 17

but login function is in the PHPBB_login.php??

<?php

           require_once( './PHPBB_login.php');
                   //include( "./login.php");
           session_start();

           /* First, login the user using your own login system, for example; */
           $user = new User();
           //$arr_iamembers['Password'] = "test";
           //$arr_iamembers['NickName'] = "cFemailforfun";

           // username and password are implied here,       cFemailforfun
           // they will most likely be form variables
           $password = md5( $arr_iamembers[Password] );
           $username = $arr_iamembers[NickName];

           $user->login( $username, $password );

           // Then login the user to the forum
           $phpBB = new PHPBB_Login();

           $phpbb->login( $user->id );

           echo $username ." ". $arr_iamembers['Password'];
           echo "<br>";
           echo $password;
class User
{

function pwlogininfo(){
               $arr_iamembers['Password'] = "test";
               $arr_iamembers['NickName'] = "cFemailforfun";
               }
}

?>

Here is the PHPBB_login.php

<?php

class PHPBB_Login {

function PHPBB_Login() {
}

function login( $phpbb_user_id ) {
    global $db, $board_config;
    global $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS, $HTTP_GET_VARS, $SID;

    // Setup the phpbb environment and then
    // run through the phpbb login process

    // You may need to change the following line to reflect
    // your phpBB installation.
    require_once( 'config.php' );

    define('IN_PHPBB',true);

    // You may need to change the following line to reflect
    // your phpBB installation.               home/iczlhuk/public_html/swingers/swingers-board/
    $phpbb_root_path = "";

    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "extension.inc" );
    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "common.php" );

    return session_begin( $phpbb_user_id, $user_ip, PAGE_INDEX, FALSE, TRUE );

}

function logout( $session_id, $phpbb_user_id ) {
    global $db, $lang, $board_config;
    global $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS, $HTTP_GET_VARS, $SID;

    // Setup the phpbb environment and then
    // run through the phpbb login process

    // You may need to change the following line to reflect
    // your phpBB installation.
    require_once( './forum/config.php' );

    define('IN_PHPBB',true);

    // You may need to change the following line to reflect
    // your phpBB installation.
    $phpbb_root_path = "./swingers-board/";

    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "extension.inc" );
    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "common.php" );

    session_end( $session_id, $phpbb_user_id );

    // session_end doesn't seem to get rid of these cookies,
    // so we'll do it here just in to make certain.
    setcookie( $board_config[ "cookie_name" ] . "_sid", "", time() - 3600, " " );
    setcookie( $board_config[ "cookie_name" ] . "_mysql", "", time() - 3600, " " );

}

}

?>

And thank you for your help above seems each time someone answers a post I manage to gain a little ground on this...lol
Hopefully the next post I'll actually have something that works and be on my way to understanding this class thing...

Shrike

PHP variables are case-sensitive :rolleyes:

wilsonodk

Okay, I think we're still having a problem with the [font=courier]login()[/font] method of the class [font=courier]User[/font]. Somewhere in the code you're going to need a class like this...

// Define my User class
// User has a method called login
class User {
    var $id;

function User() {
    // Some initialization code here
    // Maybe $id is set here?
}

function login($username,$password) {
    // Process $username and $password
    // Maybe $id is set here?
    // This is a likely way to set it...
   $this->id = $user_id;
}
}

In your code you've got to pass the phpbb_user_id to the PHPBB_Login->login method. You're also calling a property, id, of the User class. However, your User class doesn't define a login method, nor does it define a the property 'id'.

You could set the property 'id' with either the constructor function (User()) or with a method (i.e. login), but that will be determined by your User class.

Shrike

Just to clarify, the following code caused the first error.

$phpBB = new PHPBB_Login();
$phpbb->login( $user->id );

Since PHP variables are case sensitive.

rr1024

So I guess I'm going to be very embarrassed for asking where is my typo because I keep going over it and I don't see where my case sensitive problem is....LOL

I'm usually very careful about that, maybe I'm just having a senior moment....LOL but I don't see my case sensitive problem.

Shrike

Err - I showed it to you. You declare the object as $phpBB then use it as $phpbb.

rr1024

For what every reason when I viewed your post about the case senitive the code didn't show up in the post so all I saw was

"Just to clarify, the following code caused the first error"
"Since PHP variables are case sensitive."

and nothing in between...Maybe the page was taking too long to finish loading or something because I went back to my code and starting looking and looking and looking and didn't see it. Either that or I didn't have enough coffee...lol

Well, I fixt that case senitive code problem and added the function/class as indicated above..

Thanks agian for all your help so far. Here are the errors I got in case anyone knows anything about phpbb

There is some success at least the script ran completely...
There seems to be some errors when I run junk.php

Warning: message_die(language/lang_english/lang_main.): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/board/includes/functions.php on line 664

Warning: message_die(): Failed opening 'language/lang_english/lang_main.' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/board/includes/functions.php on line 664
phpBB :

Could not obtain lastvisit data from user table

DEBUG MODE

SQL Error : 1064 You have an error in your SQL syntax. Check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near '' at line 3

SELECT * FROM zphpbb_users WHERE user_id =

Line : 68
File : /home/board/includes/sessions.php

I think I can track these problems down. But could always use help!!!!

..If I actually get this script to log someone in I'll post the code here for future reference

wilsonodk

Start with the first error message, make it go away—the other ones might follow.

So, the first one is stating that it can't include the file it's trying to because it doesn't exist. Somewhere it's looking to include file /home/board/includes/functions.php. I'd double check that there is a file there. If it is, then you may need to go to line 664 of your file, and see if there is any thing weird in the few lines above it.

rr1024

So here is the working code

<?php
/* Example 1: Logging in place in your pages

*/

require_once( '/home/public_html/forum-board/PHPBB_login.php');
                       //include( "./login.php");
              session_start();

           /* First, login the user using your own login system, for example; */
          $user = new User();

           // Then login the user to the forum
          $phpBB = new PHPBB_Login();

          $user->login( $username, $password );

          $phpBB->login( $user->id );

          header("Location: ". "index.php");

/* Example 2: Logging out
I do not use a logout so this code is untested and I'm not sure if it works or not
you may play with it to get it to work?
*/
require_once( '/home/public_html/forum-board/PHPBB_login.php');

session_id();

$user = new User();

/* First, logout the user from the forum */
$phpBB = new PHPBB_Login();

$phpBB->logout( session_id(), $user->id) ;

/* Then logout the user from your own login system */
$user->logout( $user->id );

?>

Here are the classes to be called

<?php

// Define Your User class
// User has a method called login
class User {

function login($username,$password) {
    /*
    Process $username, $password  and ID here

     Note that phpbb is currently using md5 encryption for passwords
     If your members area is not encrypted then you can do a straight replacement
     of "password" with your value or var.
     Otherwise you will need to decrypt your password and convert it to md5 hash.
     other encryption types are sha1, mhash and md5

    */


   $password = md5( "password" );
   $username = "cFemailforfun";
   $user_id = 19;
   $this->id = $user_id;
}
}

class PHPBB_Login {

function PHPBB_Login() {
}

function login( $phpbb_user_id ) {

    define('IN_PHPBB',true);

    // You may need to change the following line to reflect
    // your phpBB installation.
    $phpbb_root_path = "./";

    global $db, $board_config;
    global $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS, $HTTP_GET_VARS, $SID;


    // Setup the phpbb environment and then
    // run through the phpbb login process

    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "config.php" );

    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "extension.inc" );

    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "common.php" );

    return session_begin( $phpbb_user_id, $user_ip, PAGE_INDEX, FALSE, TRUE );

}

function logout( $session_id, $phpbb_user_id ) {

    define('IN_PHPBB',true);

    // You may need to change the following line to reflect
    // your phpBB installation.
    $phpbb_root_path = "./";

    global $db, $lang, $board_config;
    global $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS, $HTTP_GET_VARS, $SID;

    // Setup the phpbb environment and then
    // run through the phpbb login process

    // You may need to change the following line to reflect
    // your phpBB installation.
    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "config.php" );

    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "extension.inc" );

    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "common.php" );

    session_end( $session_id, $phpbb_user_id );

    // session_end doesn't seem to get rid of these cookies,
    // so we'll do it here just in to make certain.
    setcookie( $board_config[ "cookie_name" ] . "_sid", "", time() - 3600, " " );
    setcookie( $board_config[ "cookie_name" ] . "_mysql", "", time() - 3600, " " );

}

}//-- END of All Classed needed to loging / logout a user
/*
             // The following is for reference only to move a user to setup
             //a basic user so he or she can be automatically logged in with the classes
             //above the phpbb_users table will need to be stuffed with some basic
             //information.

         $phpbb_Password = md5( $arr_iamembers['Password'] );
         $phpbb_user_timezone = "-8.00" ;
         $phpbb_user_lang = "english";
         $phpbb_user_dateformat = "D M d, Y g:i a";
         $Zero = "0";
         $One = "1";

//-- Note: this is my dbres function to insert a new user in to phpbb_user table with
//some basic default values, you may have to do a std mysql query.
             $res = db_res( "INSERT INTO zphpbb_users (
                                                           user_id,
                                                           user_active,
                                                           username,
                                                           user_password,
                                                           user_regdate,
                                                           user_level,
                                                           user_posts,
                                                           user_timezone,
                                                           user_style,
                                                           user_lang,
                                                           user_dateformat,
                                                           user_new_privmsg,
                                                           user_unread_privmsg,
                                                           user_last_privmsg,
                                                           user_viewemail,
                                                           user_attachsig,
                                                           user_allowhtml,
                                                           user_allowbbcode,
                                                           user_allowsmile,
                                                           user_allowavatar,
                                                           user_allow_pm,
                                                           user_allow_viewonline,
                                                           user_notify,
                                                           user_notify_pm,
                                                           user_popup_pm,
                                                           user_rank,
                                                           user_avatar,
                                                           user_avatar_type,
                                                           user_email,
                                                           user_sig
                                                      )
                                                VALUES
                                                      (
                                                           '$arr_iamembers[ID]',
                                                           '$One',
                                                           '$arr_iamembers[NickName]',
                                                           '$phpbb_Password',
                                                           NOW(),
                                                           '$Zero',
                                                           '$Zero',
                                                           '$phpbb_user_timezone',
                                                           '$One',
                                                           '$phpbb_user_lang',
                                                           '$phpbb_user_dateformat',
                                                           '$Zero',
                                                           '$Zero',
                                                           '$Zero',
                                                           '$Zero',
                                                           '$Zero',
                                                           '$One',
                                                           '$One',
                                                           '$One',
                                                           '$One',
                                                           '$One',
                                                           '$One',
                                                           '$One',
                                                           '$One',
                                                           '$One',
                                                           '$Zero',
                                                           '$phpbb_user_avatar',
                                                           '$phpbb_user_avatar_type',
                                                           '$arr_iamembers[Email]',
                                                           '$arr_iamembers[Headline]'

                                                  )"
                      );
*/
?>

rr1024

I wanted to thank everyone very much for helping me with this.

Note that the classes should be kept in a file called PHPBB_login.php

The person who created the code that actually didn't work very well and was unavailible for questions was
Duncan Gough

If you plan or know someone who needs this snipit please ask them to add his header to the files so he gets credit and complies with his LGPL license which you can get from me on this board.

I don't want to post the guys email and suject him to spam bots.

Thank you all again and I think I'm starting to figure out classes now but still a bit confused.😕

mickoc

Hi there,

I am trying to implement the above working script and am still getting
problems with header files.. I'm sure its simple maybe someone could take a look?

Code is as follows:
Index3.html: -> Where i'm taking in the username and password
Login3.php -> Where i'm calling the PHPBB_Login classes
PHPBB_Login3.php -> The modified PHPBB_Login class as posted here..

Getting the following errors

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at c:\easyphp\www\test\includes\PHPBB_login2.php:172) in c:\easyphp\www\test\forum\includes\sessions.php on line 258

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at c:\easyphp\www\test\includes\PHPBB_login2.php:172) in c:\easyphp\www\test\forum\includes\sessions.php on line 259

Warning: Cannot modify header information - headers already sent by (output started at c:\easyphp\www\test\includes\PHPBB_login2.php:172) in c:\easyphp\www\test\login_test\login3.php on line 26

Any help greatly appreciated..

Ps. I've tryed commenting out the header line in login3.php but i still get the same errors...

index3.html

<!DOCTYPE HTML PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD HTML 4.01 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/html4/loose.dtd">
<html>
<? 
include '../includes/header.php';
?>
<table border="0" cellspacing="5" cellpadding="5">

  <tr>
    <td class="left" width="114" height="22" align="left" valign="top"><? include '../includes/menu.php'; ?></p></td>
    <td class="centrearea" width="598" align="left" valign="top">

<div id='middle'>

<?php



?>
<p>Please login using your BlastBeat Login below:</p></h3>
<form action="login3.php" method="POST">
<table align="center" border="0">
 <tr>
  <th><div align="left">
  Username:
  </div></th>
  <th>
    <div align="left">
      <input name="username" type="text" id="username">      

      <br>
    </div></th>
 </tr>
 <tr>
  <th>
    <p align="left">Password<em> (case sensitive)</em>:</p>
    </th>
  <th>
    <div align="left">
      <input name="user_password" type="password" id="user_password">
</div></th>
 </tr>
 <tr>
  <th colspan="2" align="right">
    <div align="left">
      <input type="submit" value="Submit">
    </div>
</form>
  <p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
</body>
</html>

login3.php

<?php 
/* Example 1: Logging in place in your pages 

*/ 

$username = $_POST['username'];
$user_password = $_POST['user_password'];

require_once( '../includes/PHPBB_login2.php'); 
              //include( "./login.php"); 
              //session_start(); 

           /* First, login the user using your own login system, for example; */ 
          $user = new User(); 

           // Then login the user to the forum 
          $phpBB = new PHPBB_Login(); 

		  $user->login( $username, $user_password ); 

          $phpBB->login( $user->id ); 

          header("Location: ". "./includes/header.php"); 

?>

And finally PHPBB_Login2.php

<?php 

// Define Your User class 
// User has a method called login 
class User { 

function login($username,$password) { 
    /* 
    Process $username, $password  and ID here 

     Note that phpbb is currently using md5 encryption for passwords 
     If your members area is not encrypted then you can do a straight replacement 
     of "password" with your value or var. 
     Otherwise you will need to decrypt your password and convert it to md5 hash. 
     other encryption types are sha1, mhash and md5 

    */ 


   $password = md5( "password" ); 
   $username = "cFemailforfun"; 
   $user_id = 19; 
   $this->id = $user_id; 
} 
} 

class PHPBB_Login { 

function PHPBB_Login() { 
} 

function login( $phpbb_user_id ) { 

    define('IN_PHPBB',true); 

    // You may need to change the following line to reflect 
    // your phpBB installation. 
    $phpbb_root_path = "../forum/"; 

    global $db, $board_config; 
    global $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS, $HTTP_GET_VARS, $SID; 


    // Setup the phpbb environment and then 
    // run through the phpbb login process 

    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "config.php" ); 

    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "extension.inc" ); 

    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "common.php" ); 

    return session_begin( $phpbb_user_id, $user_ip, PAGE_INDEX, FALSE, TRUE ); 

} 

function logout( $session_id, $phpbb_user_id ) { 

    define('IN_PHPBB',true); 

    // You may need to change the following line to reflect 
    // your phpBB installation. 
    $phpbb_root_path = "../forum/"; 

    global $db, $lang, $board_config; 
    global $HTTP_COOKIE_VARS, $HTTP_GET_VARS, $SID; 

    // Setup the phpbb environment and then 
    // run through the phpbb login process 

    // You may need to change the following line to reflect 
    // your phpBB installation. 
    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "config.php" ); 

    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "extension.inc" ); 

    require_once( $phpbb_root_path . "common.php" ); 

    session_end( $session_id, $phpbb_user_id ); 

    // session_end doesn't seem to get rid of these cookies, 
    // so we'll do it here just in to make certain. 
    setcookie( $board_config[ "cookie_name" ] . "_sid", "", time() - 3600, " " ); 
    setcookie( $board_config[ "cookie_name" ] . "_mysql", "", time() - 3600, " " ); 

} 

}//-- END of All Classed needed to loging / logout a user 
?>

hcamelion

Here is my error:

Warning: message_die(language/lang_english/lang_main.): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/weismann/public_html/cgcc/forum/includes/functions.php on line 719

Warning: message_die(): Failed opening 'language/lang_english/lang_main.' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/lib/php:/usr/local/lib/php') in /home/weismann/public_html/cgcc/forum/includes/functions.php on line 719
phpBB :

Could not obtain ban information

DEBUG MODE

SQL Error : 1064 You have an error in your SQL syntax. Check the manual that corresponds to your MySQL server version for the right syntax to use near 'OR ban_email LIKE 'todd@weismannwebservices.com' OR ban_em

SELECT ban_ip, ban_userid, ban_email FROM phpbb_banlist WHERE ban_ip IN ('1869c2bc', '1869c2ff', '1869ffff', '18ffffff') OR ban_userid = OR ban_email LIKE 'todd@weismannwebservices.com' OR ban_email LIKE '@weismannwebservices.com'

Line : 163
File : sessions.php

Here is the php giving the problem:

class User {

function login($username,$password) {

    //Process $username, $password  and ID here

   if(isset($_POST["password"]) && isset($_POST["username"])){

  require_once("functions.php");
  require_once($home."mysqlinfo.php");

  if(checkpass($username,$password)){
    $_SESSION["handle"]=$username;
    $_SESSION["pass"]=$password;
    $login=TRUE;



  }

  {
    $login=FALSE;
	$failed=TRUE;
    //session_unset();
    //session_destroy();
  }

}
else
{
  $failed=FALSE;
}



   $password = md5( "password" );
   //get user_id from phpbb users table using the allready known handle variable
   //$handle = $_SESSION['handle'];
   require_once($home."mysqlinfo.php");
   $sql = "SELECT user_id FROM phpbb_users WHERE (username = 'handle')"; 
   $result = mysql_query($sql);
   $rs = mysql_fetch_array($result);
   $user_id = $rs['user_id'];
//if I uncomment below it works but ofcourse I need to set thatvariable   
    //$user_id = -1;
   $this->id = $user_id;


  /* nevermind this just for testing purposes

   if(isset($_SESSION['userid']))
   echo ("userid is set");
   else echo ("userid not set");*/
}

 function logout()
 {
 session_destroy(); $_SESSION['handle']='';
 }

}

When I uncomment user_id = -1; (for anonymous user with phpbb) the script works and works with any user I enter the user id for. I have the user id variable being populated by the database using the handle stored in the session. handle is used for my website and username for phpbb anyway I guess it has something to do with populating the user id variable I think the errors are because the variable is empty and the other calls to that variable are messing up because of it. But Im not sure I am pretty confused. I am very new to php and could really use the help and even newer to sessions and cookies.

UPDATE: I looked at that line in functions.php and determened the extension.inc was not being included so i added phpbb_root_path = 'forum/'; and also include($phpbb_root_path . 'extension.inc'); then it worked and displayed hacking attempt...I guess phpbb thinks I am hacking it why would it show hacking attempt something to do with sessions but im not sure what exactly.

hcamelion

I finnally got it to work for me my sql query was incorrect...after I fixed that I

$handle = $_SESSION['handle'];
       	if ($handle=='')
		$handle= 'Anonymous';

then I was able to set user to anonymous and use the anonymous user id if handle variable was empty.