Front End Authentication

• Version: 1.0
• Author: Alistair Kearney (alistair@symphony21.com)
• Build Date: 25th Sept 2008
• Requirements: Latest Symphony 2 Beta (See here for earliest compatible tree)

This extension is useful for protecting specific pages of your Symphony powered site. Based on either Sessions or Cookies

INSTALLATION

** Note: The latest version can alway be grabbed with git clone git://github.com/pointybeard/frontend_authentication.git

1. Upload the 'frontend_authentication' folder in this archive to your Symphony 'extensions' folder.
2. Enable it by selecting the "Front End Authentication", choose Enable from the with-selected menu, then click Apply.
3. Visit the preferences area to begin configuration

USAGE

• Create a new section with 1 field for the username and 1 for the password
• Create a login page with a form resembling the following:

	
	<form method="POST" action="">

		<xsl:if test="//front-end-authentication/@status = 'invalid'">
			<h1>Authentication Failed! Please check your details</h1>
		</xsl:if>

		<xsl:if test="//front-end-authentication/@password-retrieval-email-status = 'sent'">
			<h1>Email sent. Please check your inbox.</h1>
		</xsl:if>

		<label>Username: <input name="front-end-authentication[username]" type="text"/></label>
		<label>Password: <input name="front-end-authentication[password]" type="password"/></label>
		<input type="submit" name="action[front-end-authentication][login]" value="Login"/>
		<p>Forgot your password? <a href="{$root}/login/forgot/">Forgot your password?</a></p>
	</form>
	

• Go to system preferences and be sure to select the username and password fields appropriately
• On the system preferences page, choose this page as your login page from the drop box
• Any page with the same type as the one you specified in the system preferences will auto-magically display the login page contents instead
• To log out, add ?front-end-authentication-logout=true to any URL

TIPS

• If you wish for your users to be able to retrieve passwords, ensure that your usernames are email addresses, then create a forgot password page with a form similar to:

	
	<form method="POST" action="{$root}/login/">
		<p>Enter your email address below and you will be sent an email containing your password</p>
  		<label>Email Address: <input name="front-end-authentication[username]" type="text" /></label>
	  	<input type="submit" name="action[front-end-authentication][forgot]" value="Go" />
	</form>
	

You can customise the email on the preferences page

• It is recommended that you use the "Unique Input" field for the username. This can be found at http://beta.overture21.com/forum/comments.php?DiscussionID=269
• Setting this extension to use Sessions instead of Cookies (found in the system preferences) will mean the user is logged out as soon as the browser is closed.