When addressing the need to authenticate a web page (and subsequent pages/resources), integrating user authentication directly into the design of the web application logic is both convenient (in the sense that additional layers of communication is unnecessary) and flexible (in the sense that it is easier to integrate into other applications/scripts when contained in one location). PHP allows three types of authentication: Hard-coded, file-based and database authentication. Authentication Variables Within PHP, there are two pre-defined variables that are used in the authentication of users: • $_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_USER'] - This variable holds the username that is needed for authentication. • $_SERVER['PHP_AUTH_PW'] - This variable holds the password that is needed for authentication. Limitations of Authentication Variables When using the predefined authentication variables, it is important to keep in mind the following limitations: • Both variables must ...
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