Custom Hooks for User Creation (integrator module for forums, etc)

Monday 21 February 2005 4:25:21 pm

Hi,

I'm developing a authentication integrator for eZPublish, and so am building in a number of custom hooks into the kernel to catch events such as user creation, deletion, password change, logon, etc. This will then call the integrator code to make appropriate changes to the other software's user table and session variables. I intend to use the code to integrate phpBB, but pretty much any other software that has a database user table and uses cookies/sessions for login should work.

All's going reasonably well, and I hope to have a working phpBB solution pretty soon - and I'll post the code here, no worries.

I'm having a few problems hooking into the ezuser creation process though. There isn't an obvious function in ezuzer that's called on user registration, so I've been doing it through the code in kernel/user/register.php. However, none of this code is run if a user is added through the admin interface - it's only called for a self-registration process.

<b>How can I spot content class creation</b> and spawn custom code based on this? Are workflows the best thing for this? Or is there another function that's run if a user object is created through the admin interface?

One other thing - while the rest of my hooks have access to the details of the current user logged on, my logout hook can never see the currently logged in user - even if I put my

$currentUser =& eZUser::currentUser();

code right at the start of the logoutCurrent() function of eZUser. The code's being run, but I'm always getting an anonymous user returned - and this is before the logout code has been processed. Any ideas on how to find the user being logged out? I've tried almost <b>everything</b>!

Thanks,
Simon

Monday 21 February 2005 8:01:22 pm

The topic of integrating forum solutions like phpBB is an interesting one that I've been pondering of late. It seems to me that while you would get a more mature forum system you are then departing from some of the benefits by retaining a centralised content framework. Data relationships weaken, search integration and all the complex permissions get bypassed, unless that is you can find a way for phpBB to actual utilise eZ publish classes which seems absurd.

I've compared a few forum systems and found that eZ publish is capable of "mostly" matching everything that they do and perhaps even offer more in other ways. However the default forum templates do need to be developed a lot further before we see the fuller possibilities been utilised.

The same applies with newsletter systems IMHO, there has been some positive movement of late but still nothing that is able to persuade users to not intergrate things like MailGust.

It's certainly great to development in these areas, wether you prefer 3rd party intregration or recreation.

www.dbinformatics.com.au

We are always interested in hearing from experienced eZ PHP programmers and eZ template designers interested in contract work.

Tuesday 22 February 2005 7:49:27 pm

I'm having a few problems hooking into the ezuser creation process
though. There isn't an obvious function in ezuzer that's called on user
registration, so I've been doing it through the code in
kernel/user/register.php. However, none of this code is run if a user is added
 through the admin interface - it's only called for a self-registration process.

How can I spot content class creation and spawn custom code based on this? Are
 workflows the best thing for this? Or is there another function that's run if
 a user object is created through the admin interface?

Had a brief look at kernel/user/register.php and it ends up creating a user object just it is done via the admin interface but with some limitations (a good place to look at the code for genrating an object).

Because it uses the same method as for the admin interface it will be subject to the same workflows.

I'd create a workflow that was run after publishig of the object that did the usersetup for the 3rd party app. That way it would work for users created via
the admin interface and via the user/register url.

Cheers
Bruce

My Blog: http://www.stuffandcontent.com/
Follow me on twitter: http://twitter.com/brucemorrison
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Sunday 01 July 2007 8:39:57 am

Whilst in agreeance with the points made by Brendan regarding retaining a centralised framework we have recently migrated a client to phpBB at their request and subsequently have had to integrate logins between phpBB and eZ publish.

For our implementation we have utilised eZ publish as the user control system and implemented authentication hooks into the upcoming phpBB3 to allow you to authorise users against the eZ publish system and still be able to maintain user profiles/signatures etc within the phpBB system if required. User signup is forced via eZ publish even from within the phpBB instances.

This code is a work in progress and is undergoing modification at the moment to suit additional requested functionality. If anyone is interested give me a buzz and we may be able to release the code.

Andrew Duck, Executive Director, Quiqcorp Limited
eZ Certified Developer and Trainer.
Member of the Community Project Board
http://quiqcorp.com | http://twitter.com/andrewduck