[IPB 2.1] Log In Authentication

I've almost finished this section of IPB off (the last major feature before the first alpha "technology preview" release) and I'm fairly pleased with its implementation.

In a nutshell, it allows one to add different methods of authenticating the username / password combo when a member logs in. There are two options available. Pass-Through and On-Fail.

Pass-Through simply queries the non-IPB authentication modules for each log in attempt. If the username and password doesn't authorise, we return a fail and the member is told their log in attempt failed. If the authentication was approved and a member (linked via username) is found in the IPB database, the member is loaded and returned. If a member is not found in the IPB database, then (assuming this log in auth module allows member creation) IPB starts the process of creating the member in the IPB DB which is finished when the member completes their (First log in) form.

On-Fail will attempt to authorise via IPBs database first. If a member is found and the authorisation is processed, then the member is returned. If there is no member found, then the non-IPB module is queried as per pass-through.

In addition, one can replace the log in form with their own HTML or add HTML to the log in form (for alternative log in methods, such as PassPort). One can also enter a URL for the member to manage their account (changing password, etc) and a URL to register. This is ideal if you want to keep all your registrations in an existing site / CMS.

Each log in module comes with three files: "auth.php" which is the module which performs the authentication. "conf.php" a configuration file to accept SQL details and such (didn't think that it was wise to use the settings database to store sensitive info ) and "acp.php" a file which manages the installation and other ACP tasks relating to that log in module suite.

All in all, I think this is a very flexible system and will open IPB right up for use on large corporate sites with an existing membership database and small sites where an existing product is already being used.

Of course, it also allows us to complete our "Converge" project - although this has gone through several key changes over the past six months or so. Expect more Converge news soon.

First movie: This shows a phpBB user (from a test DB I had installed) logging into IPB for the first time. Note how they are asked to complete a "Your first log in" form.
abs-login.mov (Quicktime .mov 1.1mb)

Second movie: Not terribly exciting, but shows the ACP controls for the different pre-installed log in types. Note several are flagged as "not installed" this is because the install script hasn't been run which asks for LDAP and SQL details and thus are not able to be selected until the install program has been run.
acp-loginauth.mov (Quicktime .mov 4.8mb)