Restricting access by referral
Posted: Thu Jun 04, 2009 4:43 am
Hi, I've built an aid program using PHP and MySQL for a browser game. It's not necessary to go into details of what the program does, but it involves the user creating a record in a database table and the program automatically finding resources based on their input.
My problem is that I only want certain people to be able to access the program. I'm not sure how to go about doing that without coding a complete login system, which I really want to avoid.
My initial thoughts were to have a link to the URL of the program on a secure forum (said secure forum already set up). The program would read the referral URL and if it coincides with the URL of the forum, then the user would be granted access. I suppose I must then use cookies or sessions to grant access for the user to the other pages on the program. I'm not sure how I would go about doing that.
Are there any other ways I should be doing this? Is using cookies the best way?
Cheers
My problem is that I only want certain people to be able to access the program. I'm not sure how to go about doing that without coding a complete login system, which I really want to avoid.
My initial thoughts were to have a link to the URL of the program on a secure forum (said secure forum already set up). The program would read the referral URL and if it coincides with the URL of the forum, then the user would be granted access. I suppose I must then use cookies or sessions to grant access for the user to the other pages on the program. I'm not sure how I would go about doing that.
Are there any other ways I should be doing this? Is using cookies the best way?
Cheers