Changing the default page for unathenticated users?

dan39 · March 2007

If you have a private forum, and you want the unauthenticated users to be forwarded to an "about" page, for example, (rather than the sign-in page, which is currently the default behavior), how do you set that up? I feel like this should be pretty easy, but I don't want to do it incorrectly. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Mr Do · March 2007

I bet its pretty easy too. I think you can make an extention and add just this tiny code to it: <code> if ($Context->Session->UserID == 0 ) // not logged in goto url </code> sorry for the pseudo code on the 2nd line, but im omw out and im sure you can find it if u look it up

dan39 · March 2007

Won't that interfere with the redirect that's being initiated by Vanilla's core? or would that override Vanilla's redirect?

I think I found the part of the Vanilla Core that handles this (in library/People/People.Class.Session.php):

function Check(&$Context) {
  if (($this->UserID == 0 && !$Context->Configuration['PUBLIC_BROWSING']) || ($this->UserID > 0 && !$this->User->PERMISSION_SIGN_IN)) {
    if ($this->UserID > 0 && !$this->User->PERMISSION_SIGN_IN) $this->End($Context->Authenticator);
    header('location: '.AppendUrlParameters($Context->Configuration['SAFE_REDIRECT'], 'ReturnUrl='.GetRequestUri()));
    die();
  }
}

How exactly does one modify that and turn that into a sound extension? (Or is that not the way to go.)

Wanderer · April 2007

OK, this is how I did it...

1. Using PageManager, make the 2 pages, we'll call them MEMBER and GUEST.

2. Using PageManager make another page we'll call it DOOR

The PageManager DOOR contains this...

<?php
if ($this->Context->Session->UserID > 0)
{
$URL="http://path.to/forum/?Page=MEMBER";
header ("Location: $URL");
} 
else 
{
$URL="http://path.to/forum/?Page=GUEST";
header ("Location: $URL");
}
?>

3. One more step, in your .htaccess file put this...

RewriteEngine On
Options +FollowSymLinks -Multiviews
RewriteCond %{QUERY_STRING} ^$
RewriteRule ^$ ?Page=DOOR [L]

How does it work?
The .htaccess file makes the PageManager page DOOR the default, it then discriminates between MEMBER or GUEST and re-directs accordingly.

Simple enough?

Posted: Sunday, 1 April 2007 at 3:37PM

dan39 · April 2007

Thanks Wanderer,

But, your solution is a bit more than I needed. I already had an html page handy, so I just needed a simple redirect. I used Mr. Do's approach, but I used the logic from the People.Class.Session file to do a check to see if the forum was set to "Private" before performing the redirect on users that weren't logged in. I also allowed people.php to be exempt from the redirect so that users would be allowed to login.

The addon is now available here for anyone who wants it.

Mr Do · April 2007

gj Dan :)

robertpateii · August 2007

this .htaccess business just flat out never works for me. . .

Massive edit:
I don't have mod_rewrite installed, apparently.

This guide has a good paragraph on how to check to see if it's installed or not:
http://www.workingwith.me.uk/articles/scripting/mod_rewrite

serafino · September 2007

Can I use Wanderer's method to get Categories to be the default page on login (its a private forum). Any simpler method to do this?

Wanderer · September 2007

This the the only method that worked for me (and I tried everything), simple if you understand it and very powerful and flexible too.

Posted: Sunday, 9 September 2007 at 11:59AM

miquel · May 2008

Wanderer, does this method work with friendly urls?
thanks

sirlancelot · May 2008

All you really should need to do is change the $Context->Configuration['SAFE_REDIRECT'] to whatever URL you desire...

The downside is that if your forum is public, SAFE_REDIRECT will never be used, but given the scenario that was set-up in the first post, we're dealing with private forum anyway.

miquel · May 2008

ok, in my particular case, the forum is public and have to main starting pages (one for guests, another for logged users) both built over PageManager so i thought that Wanderer's solution could do the chance, but i can't manage it to work properly

i have tried the default page extension, but i have a couple of issues with it

(i' ve added the lines wanderer suggested in the .htaccess file that dinoboff showed somewhere here)

Wanderer · May 2008

If you have followed my instructions properly this method does work.
It's been in use on my forum for over a year and it works flawlessly.

Changing the default page for unathenticated users? # 4

Posted: Thursday, 29 May 2008 at 6:32AM

miquel · May 2008

yes, it worked on my local test server, but on the external one didn't

i'll try again tomorrow (1 a.m. here :P) to see if it's some incompatibility between the configuration in the httpd.conf and the .htaccess or what

Changing the default page for unathenticated users?

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