Avoiding redirect and perssisting the session - cakephp

Question

I am trying to finish this website in cake php that was previously in regular php, but as newbie in the cakephp world.. I have found some difficulties such as these.
1) .When I click on login, it transfers me to another page although i have specified no redirects in app controller except when there is a registration. The login is at the top and its viewable through out all the pages, but if i click login, it redirects me to the login page (which i do not want).
2.) After I login, it brings in the session with the user name saying welcome 'username' but then if I go to another page, it seems like it forgets the session and brings back the inputs for the login form at the top of the page.
Here is my code
app_controller
<?php
class AppController extends Controller {
var $helpers = array('Html', 'Form', 'Javascript', 'Session');
var $components = array('Auth', 'Session');
function beforeFilter() {
$this->Auth->allow('add','get_categories','get_home', 'get_others', 'pages');
$this->Auth->autoRedirect = false;
}
}
?>
UsersController
<?php
class UsersController extends AppController {
var $uses = array("User");
var $components = array('Auth', 'Session');
function index()
{
$this->set('users', $this->User->find('all'));
$this->layout = 'master_layout';
}
function add() {
if (!empty($this->data)) {
//pass is hashed already
//->data['User']['password'] = $this->Auth->password($this->data['User']['password']);
if ($this->User->save($this->data)) {
$this->Session->setFlash('Your were registered!.');
$this->redirect(array('action' => 'get_home'));
}
}
$this->layout = 'master_layout';
}
//IF THE DATABASE IS SET UP CORRECTLY CAKE AUTHENTICATES AUTOMATICALLY NO
//LOGIC IS NEEDED FOR LOGIN http://book.cakephp.org/view/1250/Authentication
function login() {
$this->layout = 'master_layout';
if ($this->data) {
if ($this->Auth->login($this->data)) {
// Retrieve user data
$results = $this->User->find(array('User.username' => $this->data['User']['username']), array('User.active'), null, false);
$this->redirect(array('controller' => 'users', 'action' => 'login'));
}
}
$this->data['User']['password'] = '';
}
function logout() {
$this->redirect($this->Auth->logout());
}
}
?>
elements/loginform.ctp
<?php
if ($this->Session->read('Auth.User.username')):?>
<?php
echo "Welcome".' ' ;
echo $this->Session->read('Auth.User.username');
echo " ";
echo $html->link('logout', array('action'=>'logout'));
?>
<?php else : ?>
<div class="types form">
<?php echo $form->create('User', array('controller' => 'Users','action' => 'login')); ?>
<?php echo $form->input('username', array('label' => 'username')); ?>
<?php echo $form->input('password',array('type'=>'password', 'label' => 'password')) ?>
<?php echo $form->submit('Submit'); ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>
UPDATE
I added the following to the app_controller
<?php
class AppController extends Controller {
var $helpers = array('Html', 'Form', 'Javascript', 'Session');
var $components = array('Auth', 'Session');
function beforeFilter() {
//new addition
$this->set('userData', $this->Session->read());
$this->Auth->allow('add','get_categories','get_home', 'get_others', 'pages', '*');
$this->Auth->autoRedirect = false;
}
}
?>
WHEN I LOGIN I GET THIS ARRAY
Array ( [Config] => Array
( [userAgent] => 8f12200c2d48fa7955465842befe1c9e
[time] => 1323562284 [timeout] => 10 )
[Auth] => Array (
[User] => Array (
[id] => 63
[user_role] => 2 [
[user_fname] => test
[user_lname] => test
[user_email] => test#test.com
[user_phone] => 677-988-7777
[user_cellphone] => 555-456-9999
[user_address1] => 1st Avenue
[user_address2] =>
[user_city] => Citiland FL
[user_zip] => 55555
[username] => admin2 ) ) )
BUT WHEN I NAVIGATE TO A NEW PAGE
Array ( [Config] => Array (
[userAgent] => 8f12200c2d48fa7955465842befe1c9e
[time] => 1323562591 [timeout] => 10 ) )
ADDED PRINT_R TO elements/loginform TO SEE THE VARIABLE CONTENTS ACROSS ALL PAGES
<?php
print_r($userData);
if ($this->Session->read('Auth.User.username')):?>
<?php
echo "Welcome".' ' ;
echo $this->Session->read('Auth.User.username');
echo " ";
echo $html->link('logout', array('action'=>'logout'));
?>
<?php else : ?>
<div class="types form">
<?php echo $form->create('User', array('controller' => 'Users','action' => 'login')); ?>
<?php echo $form->input('username', array('label' => 'username')); ?>
<?php echo $form->input('password',array('type'=>'password', 'label' => 'password')) ?>
<?php echo $form->submit('Submit'); ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>

Answer 1

1) This is because in your UsersController you have a redirect after the user is logged in.
Your login function should instead read:
function login() {
$this->layout = 'master_layout';
if ($this->data) {
if ($this->Auth->login($this->data)) {
// Retrieve user data
$results = $this->User->find(array('User.username' => $this->data['User']['username']), array('User.active'), null, false);
/*This is the offending line, I've commented it out, but you could have it redirect somewhere else (it might be a good idea to redirect to the index action, for example, or just delete it:*/
//$this->redirect(array('controller' => 'users', 'action' => 'login'));
}
}
$this->data['User']['password'] = '';
}
As for 2), I believe it may be because you are not setting the data afterwards, so that while it exists in a tmp directory on the server (using the Session component) it is not actually being passed along to the view. So basically I think it's because you can't call Session methods in the view. Even if I'm not entirely correct about that, what I'm suggesting to do should work: Instead of calling session methods in the view, call them in the controller, set them in a variable for the view to access using $this->set();, then test against that variable in the view.
If you need to do this for ton of views and actions, you could consider adding something like this to your controller or even your app controller:
function beforeFilter() {
// Get session data for appllication use
$this->appuserstuff = $this->Session->read();
}
function beforeRender() {
// Make app variables available to view
$this->set('userData', $this->appuserstuff);
}
Alternatively, if you just need this in a couple actions, you could just set the user data in those actions with a:
$this->set('userData', $this->Session->read());
Now I'd recommend that you do a <?php debug($userData); ?> in one of your views so you can see how the data is structured in the array when it is set, so that you can user or test conditionals against. Finally, you could replace the direct calls to Session in your view with instead checks against the array of data:
Please note that I'm not sure how your specific array is structured so do a debug as recommended above and plug in your own keys for it to work:
<?php
if (!empty($userData['User'])):?>
<?php
echo "Welcome".' ' ;
echo $userData['User']['username'];
echo " ";
echo $html->link('logout', array('action'=>'logout'));
?>
<?php else : ?>
<div class="types form">
<?php echo $form->create('User', array('controller' => 'Users','action' => 'login')); ?>
<?php echo $form->input('username', array('label' => 'username')); ?>
<?php echo $form->input('password',array('type'=>'password', 'label' => 'password')) ?>
<?php echo $form->submit('Submit'); ?>
</div>
<?php endif; ?>