Basic Access Authentication

[SnS]

Hi

I'm new to the forum and need some help please.

I need to produce a website for public viewing (no problem), but I also need to build a Members Only section link with Basic Access Authentication (members login using common user name and common password).

Anyone have any suggestions how I do this please?

I'm using Xara Web Designer 6.0

Thanks.
SnS

[gwpriester]

Welcome to TalkGraphics SnS

Do a search in this forum for password protection. I am pretty sure this has been covered.

You cannot do this with Web Designer as such. But you can add this using a placeholder.

You will need to find a script (and I think you can find a link to such a script in some of the posts on this topic) and then add the script to Web Designer via a placeholder.

A placeholder is just a rectangle you add and then add the script in the Website Properties > Placeholder > Replace with HTML Code tabbed section. This adds the script to the published HTML page.

[slavelle]

I use the vAuthenticate script for this purpose: http://www.beanbug.net/vScripts.php

[SnS]

Hi Slavelle

The link provided doesn't appear to exist anymore.
Any other suggestions?
Was this html script that you used in the placeholder in Web Designer?

Hi GW

Can't find any other information on this forum that provides a solution to this.
I guessed that inserting script into the placeholder would be the answer but I need the script to do this.

Thanks
SnS

[gwpriester]

I know this has come up, but my rusted out brain cannot remember where.

Try doing a search on Google for password protection scripts.

[slavelle]

Wow - I was just there yesterday afternoon looking at the doc to see if there was a way to setup automatic password change requirements...

Here's another link where you can download the same script: http://scripts.ringsworld.com/user-a...onfig.php.html

Hope that helps - and hope he gets his site back out there.

In short, you need to download and unzip the script to the same folder where you export the Xara site. There is a readme.txt file in the zip file that tells you what to do to get it installed. Basically you configure a few settings, import the stuff to a mysql database and then follow the instructions on how to make a page check the login. This is the part that would be included in the placeholder. I figured my way around it in an hour or two - now I use it whenever I need some simple logins.

[jwhitham]

I suspect that, for a change, I've actually understood the original question, and the rest of you haven't!

For users to open a page using a common name and password simply requires protecting the directory containing you HTML with a .htaccess file. There are many tutorials available on setting up such a file, but they probably won't be necessary as virtually all hosting services provide a control panel with a section named "Protected Directories" that will set it up for you.

No form is required as a client browser will provide a username/password dialog when encountering a protected directory.

[gwpriester]

That's too easy jw and takes all the fun out of floundering through read me files and dealing with scripts, etc.

[slavelle]

Not all hosting accounts have the .htaccess capability, first of all. Using a script like the one I've suggested also allows per page access at the html code level - so when you code a new page, you can determine who has access to it at the time, without having to change the htaccess file. Also, this script allows for access groups and levels, has an admin interface, allows users to change their passwords and also uses mySQL for the user database, including built-in functions to be able to call methods directly from your code. You can also create a sitgnup form for users to be able to create an id automatically - or submit request to create one that would then be later approved by some sort of moderator. One minor point - this also allows you to style your login in whatever way you like.

.htaccess would certainly work to simply secure pages, but remember also that the security is at the folder level, not the individual file level. This may be fine for some things, but you will have to seperate your files into directories that are individually secured with an .htaccess file per directory. htaccess CAN be used for a number of other things as well, however, like 301 redirects and such - so it's definitely worth learning a bit of how it works.

Hope this adds something.

[SnS]

Thanks for your help.

Slavelle is right - to have a password protected area on my server I need to upgrade my web hosting package - which doubles the annual costs!

I was hoping there was an easy solution to this - it appears not.

SnS