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Username and Password passed from ASP

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    Username and Password passed from ASP

    Hello Everyone.

    My Client has an existing website and want to keep it as is. He has a login section "Username" and "password" to get access to certain pages on the site.

    One of these pages opens up the login.a5w page of our A5 database, with security enabled. To gain access to the database section, the user has to login again , once from the client side, and once with the A5 login security.

    I would like to "automatically" log the user in to the database section based on the login details passed from the client login page.

    The Client could pass the username and password to the login page. For ex.
    Code:
    http://site.com/login.a5w?username=walter&password=alpha.

    My pseudocde so far:
    1. Test if values were passed to the login page
    2. Validate the values
    3. if OK, do the login and redirect to the main page
    4. else, do manual login

    My question:

    1. Can the login component created with a5v8 security accept these values or do we have to create a custom dialog login for this?

    I honestly do not know how to accept and validate these values. Any help will be much appreciated.

    Thanks
    Walter

    #2
    Re: Username and Password passed from ASP

    Did you ever resolve this? I tried the obvious too, as in login.a5w?Userid=steve&Password=12345 with no luck, the login dialog fields do not populate. Also, I don't think there is a way to achieve login without going through an official login dialog. There is no function like Log_In_User(userid,password) which might be executed from an A5W page and auto-log in the user based on passed parameters.
    Steve Wood
    See my profile on IADN

    Comment


      #3
      Re: Username and Password passed from ASP

      Walter,

      Another problem with passing the values through the URL, of course, is that it sends the login and password in the clear in a user readable form right in the address bar. Sort of defeats the security system.

      How 'bout doing it the other way around? Have the user log in to the alpha system and then move them to the current site.

      In order to work with the alpha security, you'll need to enter the current pages in the alpha page list and set up that security anyhow, so why not just bypass the current security altogether? Use the pages as is, but use the alpha security for them.

      Pat
      Pat Bremkamp
      MindKicks Consulting

      Comment


        #4
        Re: Username and Password passed from ASP

        Hi all,

        No luck either Steve.

        I convinced my client to move to Alpha. We are going to re-design all the pages with Alpha v8.

        Pat, I agree with you, what is the use if you can read the values in the address bar? You idea to swing the thing around is also workable. Thanks in any case.

        On another note:
        I do not know if there is something like this, but can we get some .a5w template pages somehow? Maybe add it to the wish list?

        It would be nice to choose a template and add your components and stuff to it! I think it would result in good looking pages, especially for beginners?

        Have a nice day and thanks for the replies.
        Walter

        Comment


          #5
          Re: Username and Password passed from ASP

          I like your idea of the a5w templates
          Cheers
          Mauricio

          Comment


            #6
            Re: Username and Password passed from ASP

            There really is not much to creating a template for web pages. Templates are mostly about deciding how the page will look, and putting it in cement using a template. Decide if your pages will be for 800x600 screens or higher 1024x768 and make your template match that. Templates are easier if you use horizontal menus since they can sit in an attached header page, resting on top of your main page. A vertical menu requies you to add the menu to the body of each page, since you cannot "include" a page to the left or right (unless you use frames, which causes other problems in A5).

            If you have grids that will be wider than the template borders, make your template flush left. Then it does not look as bad if one or two grids are too wide.

            I've attached a set of files that would constitute a template.

            header.a5w - sits on top of almost all pages. Included by adding a5w_include("header.a5w") as the first xbasic on each A5W page. Also has "Logged in: YourName" in upper right. You'll have to delete, modify or incorporate to make it work, but it won't cause the page to fail if you just ignore it.

            _template.a5w - mock page as a template. 720 px wide, three row table. Use the first row for the page title, middle for the component(s), and bottom for whatever.

            mainmenu.a5wcmp - a menu from one project. It is a component in the header.a5w. So, by including the header.a5w, it includes the menu on every page.

            reportlocal.gif - a graphic from a partiular project. Is embedded in the header.a5w page to give something attractive at the top of each page.
            Steve Wood
            See my profile on IADN

            Comment


              #7
              Re: Username and Password passed from ASP

              Steve, couldn't there be a workaround with vertical menus just inserting a table with a single row and 2 columns, then inserting the vertical menu with "a5w_include" to the left row and the component on the right row ?

              in the other hand, I'm glad you mentioned the problem with frames because i was planning on using them in some new pages, what are exactly the problems that they cause? can you mention them please
              Cheers
              Mauricio

              Comment


                #8
                Re: Username and Password passed from ASP

                Mauricio - That's what I do when I use vertical menus -- but that has to be placed on each page. The difference is the "header with the horiz menu" is ONE A5W page that sits on top of other pages using the a5w_include() function. With the virtical options, the menu must be added to each page seperately. They both work, the header is the easier method.

                You can use Frames and any HTML code in an A5W page, but you can't open a page in the A5 WYSIWYG HTML Editor, the code will disappear. If you always open/save those pages using the Source tab, you're alright. Using Fames does make the pages load faster since it does not have to reload all pages if only one has a Submit button in it. I'm too lazy to keep track of which ones have frames, so I wait for Alpha to add that to the editor.
                Steve Wood
                See my profile on IADN

                Comment


                  #9
                  Re: Username and Password passed from ASP

                  Here's the attachment I forgot two posts ago.
                  Steve Wood
                  See my profile on IADN

                  Comment


                    #10
                    Re: Username and Password passed from ASP

                    Steve,

                    This is only partially on track, but in working with the security framework, were you able to figure out how to let someone sign up for a user id and password and then be logged in without having to go through the login again?

                    In my situation, I have people who sign up for events and prepay on line with a credit card. So, currently, the sequence for a new person is
                    1. view the event list
                    2. select an event they want to attend
                    3. enter some personal data - I create a 'person' record and assign a person id
                    4. choose a user id and password - I create a login account and assign a group and start page
                    5. now, they have to go through the login using that user id and password before they can sign up and pay.

                    Do you know how to combine steps 4 and 5 to eliminate that extra login?

                    Also, at the conference, someone (I don't remember who but my memory is that they should have known what they were talking about...maybe Jerry?) said that the include actually has the page code combined with the main page code. So, you can end up with a page that has two head and two body sections. Their recommendation was to not include a header that contained a component.

                    At the time, I was using a header that contained two menus. Mostly it worked, but I was having trouble with some features like hide/show and calculations. Based on that comment, I figured that was due to the two header section problem. So, now I'm back to putting the components and pretty pictures on every page. Have you had any trouble with the include?

                    Pat
                    Pat Bremkamp
                    MindKicks Consulting

                    Comment


                      #11
                      Re: Username and Password passed from ASP

                      I'd have to ask Jerry, but as far as I can tell, they have to use the Login component to be logged in. There is no log_in_user() function that I can see. I know I could create a log in based on URL parameters, but not actually log that person in. I have a feeling this is a purposeful omission to require a human being, rather than a web-bot, performing the login.

                      The login dialog seems to have special qualities. I can't fill the userid/password fields from a URL using parameters. Normally, if you have a field named NAME, and a &NAME=Steve in the URL, it would drop in my name. But that does not work on the login dialog.

                      I was on the conversation about the double head/body tags. I forget who proposed the solution, but it was to create a header page and purposely remove the head/body tags from that page. So when it was included it would not cause the double up action. However, I've not done that and so all my pages probably have double occurences of head/body.
                      Steve Wood
                      See my profile on IADN

                      Comment


                        #12
                        Re: Username and Password passed from ASP

                        Pat in my opinion steps 4 and 5 have a very common behaivior
                        for example when you open a new hotmail acount the same happens (if my memory isnt wrong). you are redirected to their login page.

                        i have too expirienced probles with a5w_include and show/hide options
                        i tought that the problem was caused because the combination of a menu component and a dialog with those options but apparently i was wrong and the problem is the a5w_include based on your posts.
                        Cheers
                        Mauricio

                        Comment


                          #13
                          Re: Username and Password passed from ASP

                          The most recent v8 patch changes the conclusion on this discussion. They added a new function that DOES allow you to log a user in using xbasic. So, now you could pass information from ASP, in a URL or POST for example, and log someone in.

                          I know its up the developer, but I will be cautious using this feature.
                          Steve Wood
                          See my profile on IADN

                          Comment

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