Most interactive websites nowadays would require a user to log in into the website's system in order to provide a customized experience for the user. Once the user has logged in, the website will be able to provide a presentation that is tailored to the user's preferences.
A basic login system typically contains 3 components:
1. The component that allows a user to register his preferred login id and password
2. The component that allows the system to verify and authenticate the user when he subsequently logs in
3. The component that sends the user's password to his registered email address if the user forgets his password
Such a system can be easily created using PHP and MySQL.
================================================================
Component 1 ? Registration
Component 1 is typically implemented using a simple HTML form that contains 3 fields and 2 buttons:
1. A preferred login id field
 2. A preferred password field
 3. A valid email address field
 4. A Submit button
 5. A Reset button
Assume that such a form is coded into a file named register.html. The following HTML code excerpt is a typical example. When the user has filled in all the fields, the register.php page is called when the user clicks on the Submit button.
[form name="register" method="post" action="register.php"]
[input name="login id" type="text" value="loginid" size="20"/][br]
[input name="password" type="text" value="password" size="20"/][br]
[input name="email" type="text" value="email" size="50"/][br]
[input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit"/]
[input type="reset" name="reset" value="reset"/] [/form]
The following code excerpt can be used as part of register.php to process the registration. It connects to the MySQL database and inserts a line of data into the table used to store the registration information.
@mysql_connect("localhost", "mysql_login", "mysql_pwd") or die("Cannot connect to DB!"); @mysql_select_db("tbl_login") or die("Cannot select DB!"); $sql="INSERT INTO login_tbl (loginid, password and email) VALUES (".$loginid.",".$password.",".$email.")"; $r = mysql_query($sql); if(!$r) {
$err=mysql_error();
print $err;
exit(); }
The code excerpt assumes that the MySQL table that is used to store the registration data is named tbl_login and contains 3 fields ? the loginid, password and email fields. The values of the $loginid, $password and $email variables are passed in from the form in register.html using the post method.
================================================================
Component 2 ? Verification and Authentication
A registered user will want to log into the system to access the functionality provided by the website. The user will have to provide his login id and password for the system to verify and authenticate.
This is typically done through a simple HTML form. This HTML form typically contains 2 fields and 2 buttons:
1. A login id field
 2. A password field
 3. A Submit button
 4. A Reset button
Assume that such a form is coded into a file named authenticate.html. The following HTML code excerpt is a typical example. When the user has filled in all the fields, the authenticate.php page is called when the user clicks on the Submit button.
[form name="authenticate" method="post" action="authenticate.php"]
[input name="login id" type="text" value="loginid" size="20"/][br]
[input name="password" type="text" value="password" size="20"/][br]
[input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit"/]
[input type="reset" name="reset" value="reset"/] [/form]
The following code excerpt can be used as part of authenticate.php to process the login request. It connects to the MySQL database and queries the table used to store the registration information.
@mysql_connect("localhost", "mysql_login", "mysql_pwd") or die("Cannot connect to DB!"); @mysql_select_db("tbl_login") or die("Cannot select DB!"); $sql="SELECT loginid FROM login_tbl WHERE loginid='".$loginid."' and password='".$password."'"; $r = mysql_query($sql); if(!$r) {
$err=mysql_error();
print $err;
exit(); } if(mysql_affected_rows()==0){
print "no such login in the system. please try again.";
exit(); } else{
print "successfully logged into system.";
//proceed to perform website's functionality ? e.g. present information to the user }
As in component 1, the code excerpt assumes that the MySQL table that is used to store the registration data is named tbl_login and contains 3 fields ? the loginid, password and email fields. The values of the $loginid and $password variables are passed in from the form in authenticate.html using the post method.
================================================================
Component 3 ? Forgot Password
A registered user may forget his password to log into the website's system. In this case, the user will need to supply his loginid for the system to retrieve his password and send the password to the user's registered email address.
This is typically done through a simple HTML form. This HTML form typically contains 1 field and 2 buttons:
1. A login id field
 2. A Submit button
 3. A Reset button
Assume that such a form is coded into a file named forgot.html. The following HTML code excerpt is a typical example. When the user has filled in all the fields, the forgot.php page is called when the user clicks on the Submit button.
[form name="forgot" method="post" action="forgot.php"]
[input name="login id" type="text" value="loginid" size="20"/][br]
[input type="submit" name="submit" value="submit"/]
[input type="reset" name="reset" value="reset"/] [/form]
The following code excerpt can be used as part of forgot.php to process the login request. It connects to the MySQL database and queries the table used to store the registration information.
@mysql_connect("localhost", "mysql_login", "mysql_pwd") or die("Cannot connect to DB!"); @mysql_select_db("tbl_login") or die("Cannot select DB!"); $sql="SELECT password, email FROM login_tbl WHERE loginid='".$loginid."'"; $r = mysql_query($sql); if(!$r) {
$err=mysql_error();
print $err;
exit(); } if(mysql_affected_rows()==0){
print "no such login in the system. please try again.";
exit(); } else {
$row=mysql_fetch_array($r);
$password=$row["password"];
$email=$row["email"];
$subject="your password";
$header="from:you@yourdomain.com";
$content="your password is ".$password;
mail($email, $subject, $row, $header);
print "An email containing the password has been sent to you";
}
As in component 1, the code excerpt assumes that the MySQL table that is used to store the registration data is named tbl_login and contains 3 fields ? the loginid, password and email fields. The value of the $loginid variable is passed from the form in forgot.html using the post method.
================================================================
Conclusion
< p>The above example is to illustrate how a very basic login system can be implemented. The example can be enhanced to include password encryption and additional functionality ? e.g. to allow users to edit their login information.Used with the author's permission.
 This article is written by John L. 
John L is the Webmaster of designer banners (designer banners).
1. The first page appears quickly.It's a good way to... Read More
1. Address your targeted audience on your business site. Example:... Read More
1) Word of Mouth The single most powerful form of... Read More
1) A marketing necessityI still hear it said from time... Read More
In 1995 a new era of accessibility for disabled people... Read More
The "robots" meta tag, when used properly, will tell the... Read More
Making a web site is easy. Making a good web... Read More
In this day and age most businesses consider having their... Read More
The growth in Internet usage around the world is astounding... Read More
Absolutely everything stems from the purpose of your website -... Read More
What to do if you are an artist after you... Read More
Today it seems everyone is jumping on the entrepreneur bandwagon,... Read More
Q. Hey, Cathy: I'm just setting up a website. What... Read More
The Internet car buyer is an elusive animal. Trying to... Read More
You know exactly what your organisation does and what your... Read More
Even though the Internet has been around for a long... Read More
What is the point of having a website, you may... Read More
If you are living in a country that its native... Read More
Wow, we`ve already taken a domain and chosen a web... Read More
While it may seem like a "quick and easy" task,... Read More
Spend time planning your Web site. Before you design a... Read More
To the starting internet entrepreneur, there is nothing more discouraging... Read More
People like to get immediate responses to requests. Autoresponders are... Read More
Understanding and using web analytics.In recent years, website marketers were... Read More
Setting up a website is the very first step of... Read More
custom home cleaning Arlington Heights ..Simply ensuring your website is accessible to screen reader users... Read More
Designing an E-commerce Web site is not as simple as... Read More
Understanding and using web analytics.In recent years, website marketers were... Read More
If you don't have a web site yet, are thinking... Read More
When web content gets discussed on webmaster bulletin boards, the... Read More
Every small business owner knows that they need a website,... Read More
Every business needs to know how it is doing. That's... Read More
Creating a content management system either from scratch,... Read More
The needs of screen magnifier users are overlooked when implementing... Read More
In a previous ezinearticles.com article,"I Need real visitors, Not Search... Read More
QUESTION: Should I build and maintain my business Web... Read More
There are many different traffic analysis tools, ranging from simple... Read More
I can't think of any business alive today that couldn't... Read More
A website is the most versatile and cost-effective marketing tool... Read More
Like any area of business your website needs some effort... Read More
Optimize your time. How much time each day must you... Read More
Thinking about starting up a business? The web is the... Read More
--------------------------------Why Should You Create a website?--------------------------------A. What do you want... Read More
With search engines putting a damper on direct reciprocal links,... Read More
After having decided to start a business, the next thing... Read More
Have you ever wondered what challenges are faced by other... Read More
So you've decided to start an online work at home... Read More
Internet has opened a whole new world for web developers... Read More
D.zigns dzignerwebs The Basics Before starting on... Read More
"I don't sell anything online, I don't advertise online, in... Read More
		            Web Development |