Topic: login, uploading, yabbse, public viewing, etc.

[xenon2000]

   I am using album.pl 6.1 as of 3-15-03 and the latest Yabbse 1.51RC1update45.
   Since if I have album.pl set to auth=4 for database, then if they login from album.pl first and then go to yabbse, the user then has to login again to use Yabbse. SO, to prevent this, I have auth=0 in album.pl and users have to login via Yabbse first for the whole site, so that there is only ONE login system going on. But I can't seem to figure out how to have it setup like that, and have public photo galleries that both guests and members can view, but that only I and 2 other ADMIN-type people to have access to UPLOAD so that niether guests or normal members would be able to upload. I only want admins to be able to upload and alter the albums. But I want both guests and normal members to be able to browse the galleries. So far I have search this forum like crazy and have tried many different things on my local setup to see what I could figure out.
   Also, is there a reason why there is logon authentication options for album.pl, but no logout option and no way to login as ADMIN using authentication? If I am incorrect, I would like to know how to enable these features. Thanks. Hopefully that wasn't too confusing.

[Mike Bobbitt]

Hi xenon,

If you're using authentication_type=0, you're not using any authentication, so everyone can upload and no-one can be an admin. (You have to invoke the admin menu by using the ?function=admin code.)

Your best bet is to use authentication_type=4, as you suggested. Unfortunately, album.pl doesn't set Yabb SE (or YaBB/UBB/Threads/Ikonboard/etc) cookies, so logging intoalbum.pl will not log you into your forums. However, logging into your forums will log you in to the album, so I would encourage people to log in there first.

If they happen to log in to your album first, then they'll have to log into your forums the first time they visit them too, just to set your forum cookies.

Hope that makes sense.

Cheers

[xenon2000]

Yeah, that makes sense. That is exactly what I was trying to explain in my post as well. I am just wondering why there is not an actual way to setup an admin account that uses authentication instead of accessing the admin functions using the album.pl?function=admin method, and why there are no logout features.
    At this point I am trying to have only ONE way to login and out, and also want only me and 2 other remote admins to be able to upload images and have those images show up in the "recent uploads" section and have them also show up and viewable by everyone without authentication required for viewing. If that made more sense this time.

[Mike Bobbitt]

It does make sense. If you want only one way to log in, you should use YaBB SE, as that has full featured cookie handling (deleting, etc). Set authentication_type=4 so album.pl can piggyback off of your YaBB SE logins, so you only need one system.

Then just define your 2 admins as "default_admins" in your album and you should be all set.

Hope that makes sense...

Cheers

[xenon2000]

Makes sense, but how do I get rid of the login button within album.pl that shows up when using auth=4? Since my site will be mostly "guests" and some members, I don't want to have 2 possible ways to login. What would be the easiest way to remove the album.pl login button? Thanks.

[xenon2000]

Hmmm, I set auth=4, and even when I login to yabbse, it still thinks I am not logged in when I go to the gallery. I have both the authentication section and database section filled out. Any ideas for this issue?

[Mike Bobbitt]

You can remove the login button by editing album_header.tml and removing the line for it. As for logins not working, there may be an issue with YaBB SE cookies (they're set kinda funny). I'll have to check it out...

[xenon2000]

yeah, I think that it worked with Album.pl v6.0 and Yabbse 1.51 non-RC, but I am now using Album.pl v6.1 and Yabbse 1.51RC1update45. So not sure if they changed thier cookie or not. Thanks for the help. I will check back again.

[xenon2000]

Well, I decided to continue on and try to at least see if the admin only uploading would work. I set auth=4 and set upload=0 and listed the admin users; and even if I use the album.pl login, I can't upload. If I set upload=1, then anyone can upload. Not seeing what I am doing wrong.

[Mike Bobbitt]

Actually, that's completely correct. The "upload" config item isn't overridden by admins, so when it's disabled, no-one can upload. Your only real option is to put no_upload.txt into all your albums, preventing normal users from uploading, but still allowing admins...

I may do something in the future to allow guest wildcarding, so that everyone is a guest by default...

[xenon2000]

K, I will add the no_upload.txt file, enable downloads, and try that.

[xenon2000]

Well, added a txt file names no_upload.txt to my album folder and yet even after deleting cookies to do proper testing, I can still upload as users other than the 1 admin user I have defined in the album config. Am I missing something? Trying to get it so that I can upload only and no other users or guests. I really love the photo features of your script, just having a hard time getting the login/authentication/upload features to work the way I want. Thanks again for your help.

[Mike Bobbitt]

What does the debug output say? I know there's lots to see there, but search for all occurrances of "auth" and it should show you if you're still logging in as someone.

Also search for "no_upload.txt" and see if you get any "skipping" lines...

[xenon2000]

hmm, not figuring out how to get the debug output. How exactly am I supposed to do that?

[xenon2000]

ah, I see... figured it out on my own. debug=2 to get the output... Odd that I didn't see those instructions or details listed anywhere.
As for the debug code, "no_upload.txt" is no where in the debug code at all. Auth=4 is there.