I set up a new install of w3t in my demo area, and installed the plug-in. It prevented me from creating a user in Links... but the template needs to be changed to hot-link to the w3t log in, or even take you there.

When I created a new user in the w3t area, and validated it, I moved to the Links area, and was already logged in as expected.

Pretty smooth :)

I'm sure there will be bugs, and I still need to create a central user registry. To do that properly probably means hacking w3t to use it as well. All the programs need to be modified to use the same central registry.

For sites that just have Links and w3t or VB, this is a good solution. But other sites will have multiple points of entry, and will require a more globally usable user registration system. There's no easy answer, but it probably means coming up with a central system, and creating "plug-ins" for each of the programs that want to use it. The central system does the authentication and returns a cookie that the modified versions of the various other programs can use to log the user in. And vice versa. Slow but steady progress. At least figuring out the basics of the plug-ins was a major step forward.



PUGDOG®
PUGDOG® Enterprises, Inc.
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Hi,

Yes, your right. A central registry is required, however you don't want multiple entry points. You want a single login, a single signup, a single password lookup, etc. All registrations go through that point, then you need to modify your applications to work off the single registry. Links SQL would be easy enough to create a plugin that would work off that table, but modifying all the other applications would not be fun.

The reason it doesn't let you add a user from Links is that I didn't have handy the code needed to insert a user into WWWThreads. But the goal is to move the user management into a single place, Links SQL doesn't manage the users anymore with this plugin.

Cheers,

Alex

--
Gossamer Threads Inc.

>> The reason it doesn't let you add a user from Links is that I didn't have
>> handy the code needed to insert a user into WWWThreads. But the goal is to
>> move the user management into a single place, Links SQL doesn't manage the
>> users anymore with this plugin.

Does that mean you are working on it?? :)

I think I was vague when I said multiple entry points. Each program requring authentication would make a call to the central registry. The registry would return the central cookie and the application specific cookie. What I meant by multiple entry points, I guess, is really a layered interface. Sort of the user registration/authentication system looking like a "star" with each "point" being an application specific connection point. Application authors could develop the "point" for their application, or 3rd party developers/integrators could.

When a user attempted to use another application in the "cluster" that application would connect to the star via it's "hook" and the registry would see the central cookie, and set the user up with a cookie for that currently requested application.

In that way, the registry system has to be "smart" and the application only has to be modified in such a way that it's authentication/registration calls go to the registry. What is returned from the registry is exactly what the program "expects" plus the extra "central registry cookie" which the application can safely ignore.

Ambitious :)


PUGDOG®
PUGDOG® Enterprises, Inc.
FAQ: http://pugdog.com/FAQ