php redirect and login

[eracha]

hi,
can anyone please tell me what this script does. Thanks

     if ($ok)
            {
            $thisUser->loadFromSession();
            $userName  = getFromSession('user_name');

        $filterClause   = " AND user_name like '$userName'";
           $info['table']  = CANDIDATE_TBL;
         $info['where']  = '1 '.$filterClause;
         $info['debug']  = false;

         $candidateOtherData = select($info);   

         $candidateId         = $candidateOtherData[0]->resume_id;
        $fname         = $candidateOtherData[0]->fname;
         $lname         = $candidateOtherData[0]->lname;
         $name = $fname;

       $data["name"] = $name;

         unset($info);
         unset($filterClause);

         $filterClause   = "1 AND resume_id = $candidateId";


        $data['password']             = getUserField('pword');             

        if($data['password'] == '' or $data['password'] == NULL){
        $data['password']=getFromSession('pass');
      }
         unset($info);
         unset($filterClause);

         $data['username']=getFromSession('user_name');

           $cm = getUserField('cm');

       else{ 
          $userType = NULL;
           resetSessionKey('user_type');
           insertIntoSession('user_type', $userType);
        $msg1 = 's';
       $thisUser->goLogin($msg1);
       }
     }
    else if($home != 'yes')
      {
         if (!$thisUser->isAuthenticated()){
             $userType = NULL;
              resetSessionKey('user_type');
             insertIntoSession('user_type', $userType);
            $thisUser->goLogin();

           }


         $thisUser->loadFromSession();
     }
     else
     {
        $userType = null;
        resetSessionKey('user_type');
        insertIntoSession('user_type', $userType);
     }   
      $template = getHomeTemplate($userType);
      $data = array();
      $contents = null;
     if($home == 'yes')
     {

I want to use it with the script below in allowing users who are logged in to navigate my website or be redirected tot he login page if they are not signed in

   1.  session_start();
   2.  if(isset($_SESSION['$userName'])) {
   3. # //user logged in
   4.  header("Location: thepageIwanttosee.php");
   5.  } else {
   6.  header("Location: myloginpage.php");
   7.  }

Thanks

[Piranha]

If you don't know what the script does you should not use it. Period.

Why not? Because it may contain dangerous code that for example allow users to view your database, or even change it. Or send spam. Or spread malware. If you don't understand the script you simply don't know.

Apart from that, why would you want to use code that you don't know what it does? Instead make sure to know what you need and find (or create) code for that.

Sorry for being a bit harsh. But better to be safe than sorry 😉

[bradgrafelman]

In addition to what Piranha said above, there is another reason we can't explain the code for you: we aren't psychic. Who knows what the method loadFromSession() does, or which class $thisUser is an instance of, or how that class even looks. Nor do we know where $ok came from at the very start of the script, so we don't know how the logic flow works, or... etc.

Ultimately, it would probably take a long time for you to go through all of this foreign code, try to learn what every little piece does, and then customize/tweak it in order to do what you want it to do. In fact, it would probably take less time if you instead started with what you do know and wrote a script from scratch (possibly using another pre-written script, like the one you have above, as a guide).

Minus frameworks, this is often true; it's hard to find a "one-size-fits-all" type of script that's easy to understand/use for your exact purposes.