DotAdmin User Guide

The Login / Logout Template

The Login Template

The login page can be presented to the visitor for a number of reasons. The visitor may request the Login page directly, or it may be shown because the visitor requested a page in a protected area which he does not have access to. The Login template also displays messages for a successful login attempt, and a “logged out” message.

Because this template has to display so many different messages, it uses a lot of conditional instructions to only display the appropriate messages each time it is displayed. Below, we will cover each condition in turn, and any placeholders relevant to those conditions.

Logout Messages

At the top of the Login template are the Logout messages. The Login form is also displayed immediately following a successful logout.

Restricted Access Messages

If the user tries to view a page which he/she is not permitted to view, the Login page is called to inform the user exactly why he/she couldn't view that page. The login form may also be displayed if the visitor is not already logged-in.

If the requested page is within a “Privileged” zone, we can display a different form to logged-in users, allowing them to apply for access to that zone.

<!-- IF {privileged} -->

  <!-- BLOCK {priv_apply} -->
    <form method="post" action="/content/{ref}">
      <input type="hidden" name="form" value="apply" />

      <input type="checkbox" name="priv_{ref}" /> I would like
      to apply for access to the content within the {ref_title}
      section of this site.
      <input type="submit" name="Submit" value="apply" />

    </form>
  <!-- /BLOCK {priv_apply} -->

  <!-- BLOCK {priv_applied} -->
    <p>Your access request has been received.</p>
  <!-- /BLOCK {priv_applied} -->
<!-- /IF {privileged} -->

A Privilege Application Form.

Note that the the name of the form is “apply” and the name of the checkbox is “priv_{ref}”. These names must always be used, to tell the Login page that it is processing an application, not a login attempt.

Note also that there are two placeholders in use in the example above. The first, {ref}, is the ID (url) of the page the user is requesting access to. The second, {ref_title} is, predictably, the title of that page.

Login Messages

Finally we come to the standard Login form and its messages. The basic Login section is at the end of the template because the Login form is often required to be displayed after the messages covered in the previous sections.

Important! The form field names in a login template must not be changed.

<form method="post" action="/content/{ref}">
  <input type="hidden" name="form" value="login">
  <input type="hidden" name="nextpage" value="{nextpage}">

  Username: <input type="text" name="input_uname" maxlength="12">
  Password: <input type="password" name="input_pword"><br>
  (<a href="/content/recover_pwd/">Forgotten your password</a>?)

  <b>Remember Me: </b><input type="checkbox" name="remember">

  <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Login">
</form>

The Login Form.

The login form, shown above, has the same action attribute as the privilege application form: “/content/{ref}”. It also has two required fields which pass the name of the form being submitted (“login”), and the page to be displayed following a successful login (filled in by the system using the placeholder {nextpage})

There are of course also a handful of conditional instructions to display various messages to the user during the login process. These and all other login-related template elements are described in the table below.