The mgiAuthenticateDB Tag Tag Behavior The mgiAuthenticateDB tag password-protects individual pages by groups of users with database-driven administration. Tag Syntax The mgiAuthenticateDB tag has no required parameters and five optional parameters. In addition, the mgiAuthenticateDB tag has required and optional parameters for specific modes. The tag form is: <mgiAuthenticateDB group="Name" mode="Mode" useCookies="Yes/No" expireDate="Date" expireTime="Time"> Required Parameters: None. Optional Parameters: group="Name" where "Name" is the name of the user group that has login and password access to the page. All other groups and users will be denied access, even if they have a correct login and password in the database with another group. If no group is specified, then all groups are granted password access to the page. mode="Mode" where "Mode" is "Admin", "AddRecord" or "ValidateLogin". The "Admin" mode creates a web administration interface for adding, modifying and deleting records from the authentication database. (When the "Admin" mode parameter is present, all other parameters are ignored.) The "AddRecord" mode adds records to the authentication database. (If the mode parameter is set to "AddRecord", then the login, password, and group parameters are required - see parameter descriptions below.) The "ValidateLogin" mode checks a login against those in the authentication database. If a login is already present in the authentication database (and is NOT unique), then the value "Yes" is displayed. If a login is not present in the authentication database (and is unique), then the value "No" is displayed. (If the mode parameter is set to "ValidateLogin", then the login parameter is required - see parameter description below.) useCookies="Yes" or "No" where "Yes" indicates that cookies containing a user's Login and Password are automatically set and retrieved and "No" indicates that cookies are not set and retrieved. The default is "No". If the useCookie parameter is "Yes", then the expireDate and expireTime parameters are required. expireDate="Date" where "Date" is the expiration Date of the cookie in the format mm-dd-yyyy (e.g. 12-31-2001). expireTime="Time" where "Time" is the expiration Time of the cookie in military format hh:mm (e.g. 14:30). AddRecord Mode Required Parameters: login="Name" where "Name" is the case-sensitive login ID that is added to the authentication database. password="Password" where "Password" is the case-sensitive alpha-numeric password for the specified login. AddRecord Mode Optional Parameters: group="Group" where "Group" is the authentication group that the specified login belongs to. startDate="Date" where "Date" is the first day the specified login and password is valid. The syntax of the date must be 4-digit year, 2-digit month, 2-digit day (yyyymmdd). For example, 19991101 is 1 November 1999. The startDate parameter can be used in conjunction with the endDate parameter to specify a definite time frame or entered alone to specify a start date without an expiration. If the startDate parameter is not included, the login and password will be valid immediately. Note: this parameter will only function with Authentication databases created using or after MGI version 1.4. All databases created under previous versions will continue to function, but will not include this option. endDate="Date" where "Date" is the last day the specified login and password is valid. The syntax of the date must be 4-digit year, 2-digit month, 2-digit day (yyyymmdd). For example, 20001101 is 1 November 2000. The endDate parameter can be used in conjunction with the startDate parameter to specify a definite time frame or entered alone to specify an expiration with an immediate start date. If the endDate parameter is not included, the login and password do not expire. Note: this parameter will only function with Authentication databases created using or after MGI version 1.4. All databases created under previous versions will continue to function, but will not include this option. ValidateLogin Mode Required Parameter: login="Name" where "Name" is the case-sensitive login ID that is checked for uniqueness against the existing logins in the specified authentication group. ValidateLogin Mode Optional Parameter: group="Group" where "Group" is the authentication group to use for validating logins. If the group parameter is not included, the login is validated for all groups. Example Usage and Output <mgiAuthenticateDB group="Web"> In this example, a visitor will log in to the page containing the mgiAuthenticateDB tag and enter his login and password in an authentication dialogue box. After the correct login and password are entered, the page is displayed. If the incorrect login and password are entered, an error page is displayed. Example Admin Mode Usage and Output: <mgiAuthenticateDB mode="Admin"> The administration mode of the authentication database presents a simple interface for entering logins, passwords, and groups. The database administration includes search, add, modify, and delete options. When entering multiple groups for a user, separate the groups by commas. Example ValidateLogin Mode Usage and Output: In this example, subscribers to a web-based service are allowed to choose their own login and password. Visiting subscribers enter their login and password choices in a subscription form, then the login is checked for uniqueness (using an embedded mgiFieldContent tag in the mgiAuthenticateDB tag) and the returned value ("Yes" or "No") is set in a page variable. Finally, an mgiIf tag checks the value of the cookie and displays the appropriate message. <mgiset name="Validate"> <mgiAuthenticateDB mode="validateLogin" login={mgiPostArgument name="Username"} group="Subscriber"> </mgiset> <mgiConditional lhs={mgiGet name="Validate"} relationship="equals" rhs="yes"> <P>Your username already exists. Please choose another username. Both the Username and Password are case-sensitive, therefore you may want to try the same username with different capitalization. <mgiElse> <form action="register.html" method="post"> <P>Your username has been accepted. Please click the button below to complete your registration. <input type="hidden" name="Login" value="<mgiPostArgument name="Username">"> <input type="hidden" name="Password" value="<mgiPostArgument name="Password">"> <mgiButton name="Register"> </form> </mgiConditional> If a login is not unique, then a subscriber will see the following: Your username already exists. Please choose another username. Both the Username and Password are case-sensitive, therefore you may want to try the same username with different capitalization. If a login is unique, then a subscriber will see the following: Your username has been accepted. Please click the button below to complete your registration. Example AddRecord Mode Usage and Output: <mgiAuthenticateDB mode="addRecord" login={mgiFieldContent name="Login"} password={mgiFieldContent name="Password"} group="Subscriber"> In this example, subscribers to a web-based service have chosen a unique login and password using a form (as in the example above for the ValidateLogin mode). Subscribers' logins and passwords are dynamically added to the authentication database (using embedded mgiFieldContent tags) with access to the "Subscriber" group. When parsed, the AddRecord mode of the mgiAuthenticateDB tag does not display any text on the page. Suggested Usage Password Protection Subscription Services