How to get current Joomla user with external PHP script

Question

I have a couple PHP scripts used for AJAX queries, but I want them to be able to operate under the umbrella of Joomla's authentication system. Is the following safe? Are there any unnecessary lines?

joomla-auth.php (located in the same directory as Joomla's index.php):

<?php

define( '_JEXEC', 1 );
define('JPATH_BASE', dirname(__FILE__));
define( 'DS', DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR );
require_once ( JPATH_BASE .DS.'includes'.DS.'defines.php' );
require_once ( JPATH_BASE .DS.'includes'.DS.'framework.php' );

/* Create the Application */
$mainframe =& JFactory::getApplication('site');

/* Make sure we are logged in at all. */
if (JFactory::getUser()->id == 0)
    die("Access denied: login required.");

?>

test.php:

<?php

include 'joomla-auth.php';

echo 'Logged in as "' . JFactory::getUser()->username . '"';

/* We then proceed to access things only the user
   of that name has access to. */
?>

Ammieammine

It doesn't work if you call that script from a different directory – From

even if the script itself is in the joomla root directory (Joomla 1.7) – From

Answer 1

While I don't see anything in the code that's unsafe, it's best to make your AJAX/JSON calls to a standard Joomla component. There's a good article on how to do this here: http://blog.syncleon.com/2009/05/ajax-ify-your-joomla-website.html I've also written about JavaScript, Joomla, and asynchronous requests in my book http://www.packtpub.com/files/learning-joomla-1-5-extension-development-sample-chapter-8-using-javascript-effects.pdf (skip down to page 168).

Essentially, what you do is create a view for the output of your AJAX call, then create a view.xml.php (or view.json.php) file instead of a view.html.php. When you add &format=xml to the end of your request URL, it will pull from view.xml.php instead of view.html.php.

Uzbek

What's the best practice for modules and not components? Is it possible to create a proxy-module instead of proxy-component? – Hulen

@Hulen You can't make AJAX calls to modules. You have to have the JavaScript in your module call a component. – Uzbek

Answer 2

sure does work , you need to get session data for users

jimport( 'joomla.session.session' );
$session                =& JFactory::getSession();

print the session to see what comes out

Fertile