BackendPro User Guide Version 0.3.1

User Authentication

BackendPro has built in user authentication from the start. If you have used systems like FreakAuth before then you will be at home with BackendPro, but it offers even more. Unless you want to change the way people log in or the logic behind user authentication I would just quickly skim this page to get the basics.

Note:  This class is initialized automatically by the system so there is no need to do it manually.

Features:

Important:  The user authentication class stores passwords using an additional salt (More infomation here). The salt used is that of the encryption_key defined in the file system/application/config/config.php. Changing the key after user accounts have been created will corupt their passwords requiring the user to request a new password.

Configuration Settings

All configuration settings for the Userlib Class can be found in modules/auth/config/userlib.php

Preference Default Value Options Description
userlib_action_login NULL None The CodeIgniter URI string to redirect the user to upon login
userlib_action_logout NULL None The CodeIgniter URI string to redirect the user to upon logout
userlib_action_register NULL None The CodeIgniter URI string to redirect the user to upon registration
userlib_action_activation NULL None The CodeIgniter URI string to redirect the user to upon activation
userlib_action_forgotten_password auth/login None The CodeIgniter URI string to redirect the user to upon completion of a forgotten password form
userlib_action_admin_login admin None The CodeIgniter URI string to redirect the user to upon login IF they have access to the control panel resource
userlib_action_admin_logout NULL None The CodeIgniter URI string to redirect the user to upon logout IF they had access to the control panel resource
userlib_profile_fields None An associative array of custom user profile field columns to their matching full names
userlib_profile_rules None An associative array of custom user profile field columns to their matching validation rules

Custom User Profiles

BackendPro comes with the ability to create extra user profile fields for registered users. I will say now that unlike other systems, mine dosn't hold your hand along the way to implement extra profile fields. If you want the functionallity you have to provide it. The reason for going along this kind of path is I decided a system which assumes to much is too restrictive. Its fine for a CMS but not for developers. I will explain what you need to change to implement a basic user field, I'm not that cruel.

  1. Update the database
    This is the first step you must take, locate the table be_user_profiles (unless you have changed the table prefix value in the backendpro config file). Create your new column with its required settings. For this example I will create a column called gender.
  2. Update the Userlib config file
    Locate the file modules/auth/config/userlib.php and scroll down to the bottom. There you will find two arrays, userlib_profile_fields and userlib_profile_rules. Here you want to update them to suit your new field. $config['userlib_profile_fields'] = array('gender' => 'Gender');
    $config['userlib_profile_rules'] = array('gender' => 'required|alpha');
  3. Allow User Profiles
    Log into the control panel and go to the Settings -> Member Settings page. On there make sure the setting Allow User Profiles is set to yes. If you do not do this all it means is the administrators will not be able to change a users profile values.
  4. Update the Member area in the Control Panel
    We want to allow administrators to now manage this new field for all users. Locate the file modules/auth/controllers/admin/members.php, this file contains all the logic to manage a users account. There are several functions we must update so the form knows how to handle our new field.

    _set_profile_defaults() : This method is used when a new user is being created. In here you want to specify what value your custom fields should be set to by default. So for our example I will make set gender to female. $this->validation->set_default_value('gender','female');
    _get_profile_details() : This method is used to extract the data submitted from a form and prepare it to be submiited to the database. There is an example in the method of what is expected.

    The last thing we must do is update the form which data can be entered into, locate and open the file modules/auth/views/admin/members/form_member.php, scroll to the bottom and you will find an area for your custom profile fields (The format the form is layed out in is disscused here). For our example I will add a simple radio button, <li>
        <?=form_label('Gender','gender')?>
        Male <?=form_radio('gender','male',$this->validation->set_radio('gender','male'))?>
        Female <?=form_radio('gender','female',$this->validation->set_radio('gender','female'))?>
    </li>
  5. Optional: Update the registration form
    For this you must extend the User Authentication library, please see the next section how to do this.

Extending the User Authentication System

As said above if you want to add/change the way authentication is performed, maybe collect extra information from the user on registration then you must extend the current userlib.php class file.

This is rather simple, just create a new file called MY_Userlib.php in the modules/auth/libraries directory. Then you can overwrite any methods to achive the desired effect.

Method Description
login_form() This method is called to create and display the login form, no login logic should be included in here.
_login() This method provides all login logic and checks once the login form has been submitted.
register_form() This method is called to create and display the registration form, no registration logic should be included in here.
_register() This method provides all registration logic and checks once the registration form has been submitted.

Please if possible extend base libraries since this will mean your changes will not be overwritten if you apply an update.

Userlib Library

The Userlib.php library is found in the modules\auth\libraries directory. Here is a list of the available functions.

Custom Notes

When a user logs in all their details are stored in a session cookie, to to get their user_id it should be something along the lines of $this->session->userdata('id');