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## 3.11. User authentication and session handling

### 3.11.1. user_authenticate

This hooks gives modules a chance to handle the user authentication (for example to authenticate against an external source like an LDAP server).

Call time:

Just before Phorum runs its own user authentication.

Hook input:

An array containing the following fields:

- type: either PHORUM_FORUM_SESSION or PHORUM_ADMIN_SESSION;
- username: the username of the user to authenticate;
- password: the password of the user to authenticate;
- user_id: Always NULL on input. This field implements the authentication state.

Hook output:

The same array as the one that was used for the hook call argument, possibly with the user_id field updated. This field can be set to one of the following values by a module:

- NULL: let Phorum handle the authentication
- FALSE: the authentication credentials are rejected
- 1234: the numerical user_id of the authenticated user

Example code:

    function phorum_mod_foo_user_authenticate($auth)
    {
        // Only trust admin logins from IP addresses in 10.1.2.0/24.
        if ($auth["type"] == PHORUM_ADMIN_SESSION) {
            if (substr($_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'],0,7) != '10.1.2.') {
                $auth["user_id"] = FALSE;
                return $auth;
            }
        }

        // Let Phorum handle autentication for all users that
        // have a username starting with "bar" (not a really
        // useful feature, but it shows the use of the NULL
        // return value ;-).
        if (substr($auth["username"], 0, 3) == "bar") {
            $auth["user_id"] = NULL;
            return $auth;
        }

        // Authenticate other logins against an external source. Here
        // we call some made up function for checking the password,
        // which returns the user_id for the authenticated user.
        $user_id = some_func_that_checks_pw(
            $auth["username"],
            $auth["password"]
        );
        $auth["user_id"] = empty($user_id) ? FALSE : $user_id;
        return $auth;
    }

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