Free web host - User AuthenticationUser data management is a core function
User AuthenticationUser data management is a core function of many Web sites. However, it s more difficult than it may seem to design a good, secure, extensible way to register, log in, and change user informa- tion. Even harder is architecting a toolkit for your administrators andeditors. In this chapter, we walk you through a complete user regis- tration and administrator authentication system, with notes on thefine points to keep in mind as you implement such a system for yourself. Designing a User-Authentication SystemBy now, you re probably sick and tired of us telling you to thinkthrough your needs and write up some specs before you design anyfeature. Well, too bad; we re not going to let up on you now because it s never more relevant advice than when you re dealingwith user data. There are quite a few common decisions that you should make beforeyou write any code. Do you plan to use full names or just usernames? If you re going to collect full names, always collect separate first andlast names. If you ve ever had to write a program to split a bunch ofnames (like the following) into first and last names, you ll know whykeeping them separate is so important: .Thomas St. John, Jr. .Lee Min .Michael de la Cruz .Arantxa Sanchez Vicario .David Ben Gurion .M. Abu IbrahimAs you can immediately see, there is no simple algorithm that can beimmediately applied to names like these that will infallibly split them. Who will choose the passwords? Do you allow your users to set theirown? Or do you generate passwords programmatically and e-mailthem to your users? The former is easier for the user, but the latterallows you to more easily weed out users who give false e-mailaddresses. 4444CHAPTER …In This ChapterDesigning a user- authentication systemAvoiding commonsecurity issuesRegistrationLogin/LogoutUser toolsAdministrator tools …
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