SolarPHP Basic User Authentication Example

Here's another short tutorial for solar php in which I'm going to try to explain how to achieve a simple authentication system in SolarPHP.

User Roles and ACL's will follow in another tutorial.

Let's get started:
I'm using the SQL adapter for the authentication system. I'm assuming you're already have the config file setup for connecting to the sql server.

The config file is as follows:

1. // Specify our authentication adapter
2. $config['Solar_Auth']['adapter']= 'Solar_Auth_Adapter_Sql';
3.  
4. // authentication adapter information
5. $config['Solar_Auth_Adapter_Sql'] = array(
6.     'table'     => 'users',
7.     'uid_col'   => 'id',
8.     'email_col' => 'email',
9.     'passwd_col'=> 'password',
10.     'handle_col'=> 'username',
11.     'source_handle' => 'username',
12.     'source_passwd' => 'password',
13.     'process_login' => 'login',
14.     'process_logout'=> 'logout',
15. );
16.  
17. $config['Solar']['registry_set']['user'] = 'Solar_User';

The code is mostly self-explanatory with the following clarification:
source_handle and source_passwd represent the post keys on which the authentication happens.
The process_login represents the type of process sent by the form, based on which the authentication happens.

Also, notice the last line that sets the Solar_User meta class in our registry. Solar_User is a wrapper for the auth / role / access classes.

1. class Webland_App_User extends Webland_Controller_Page
2. {
3.     /**
4.      *
5.      * The default action when no action is specified.
6.      *
7.      * @var string
8.      *
9.      */
10.     protected $_action_default = 'login';
11.    
12.     protected $_model;
13.     protected $_user;
14.    
15.     public $form;
16.    
17.     protected function _setup()
18.     {
19.         parent::_setup();
20.         $this->_user  = Solar_Registry::get('user');
21.     }
22.    
23.     /**
24.      *
25.      * Generic login action.
26.      *
27.      * @return void
28.      *
29.      */
30.     public function actionLogin()
31.     {
32.         //check to see if the user is authenticated, if so redirect him somewhere
33.         if ($this->_user->auth->isValid()) {
34.             $uri = "/{$this->_controller}/details";
35.             $this->_redirectNoCache($uri);  
36.         }
37.        
38.         $this->form = Solar::factory('Solar_Form');        
39.        
40.         $this->form->setElements(array(
41.             'username' => array(
42.                 'type'   => 'text',
43.                 'label'  => 'LABEL_LOGIN_FORM_USERNAME',
44.                 'require'=> true,
45.                 'valid'  => array(
46.                     array('notBlank','Please enter a username!'),
47.                 ),
48.             ),
49.             'password' => array(
50.                 'type'   => 'password',
51.                 'label'  => 'LABEL_LOGIN_FORM_PASSWORD',
52.                 'require'=> true,
53.                 'valid'  => array(
54.                     array('notBlank','Please enter a password!'),
55.                 ),
56.             ),
57.         ));
58.        
59.         // did the user click the save button?
60.         if ($this->_isProcess('login')) {
61.             $this->_user->auth->processLogin();
62.             $this->form->populate();
63.            
64.             if ($this->form->validate() && $this->_user->auth->isValid()) {
65.                 print 'login valid';        
66.             } else {
67.                 print 'login invalid';
68.             }
69.         }  
70.     }
71.    
72.     public function actionLogout()
73.     {
74.         $this->_view = null;
75.         $this->_user->auth->processLogout();
76.         $uri = "/{$this->_controller}/login";
77.         $this->_redirectNoCache($uri);  
78.     }
79. }

1. <h3>Login Form</h3>
2. <?php
3.     echo $this->form()
4.               ->auto($this->form)
5.               ->addProcess('login')
6.               ->fetch();
7. ?>

We're loading the Solar_User from the registry and setting it to the $_user variable in the _setup() method.

actionLogin is pretty straightforward as well:
- we're checking to see if the user is already logged in using the isValid() function, and if so redirecting him to another action
- we're creating a login form loading the Solar_Form using the factory
- the process for the login form is set in the view (i'm open for cleaner solutions)
- we're checking to see if the process request is login, if so we're calling the processLogin() function to start the authentication check.
- if the form is valid (no missing required fields) and the isValid function returns true (because the user is logged in now) we're displaying a login valid message (or better yet, we should redirect him somewhere).
- else we're displaying login invalid and the "magic" behind the scenes notifies the user about the required fields.

For suggestions for improvements use the comments box below :).