If you came from search engine, I bet you have read this guide “phpBB 3 cross-site session integration” at phpBB website. If you haven’t, please read if you need to understand the codes better (more descriptions at the page).

NOTE : if you need to integrate session for a custom file in the same folder as the forum, read this guide instead.

Recently I looked into this matter because I need to integrate the forum’s session with my premium themes area (which should be up in 24-48 hours).

This tutorial has 2 parts:

• Session Integration for phpBB 3 in Different Folders
• Session Integration for phpBB 3 in Different Subdomains

You need to follow session integration for Different Folders first before going for Different Subdomains.

Session Integration in Different Folders

Create a custom php file

Let’s look into “Different Folder” first. In my case, I created a new folder outside the forums folder. In other words, my forum directory is public_html/mysite/forums and my new folder is at public_html/mysite/testing.

Create a file called ‘index.php’ inside ‘testing’ folder and paste the following codes into the file:

<?php
 
define('IN_PHPBB', true);
define('ROOT_PATH', "../forums");
$forumurl = 'http://mysite.com/forums';
$newurl = 'http://mysite.com/testing';
 
if (!defined('IN_PHPBB') || !defined('ROOT_PATH')) {
    exit();
}
 
$phpEx = "php";
$phpbb_root_path = (defined('PHPBB_ROOT_PATH')) ? PHPBB_ROOT_PATH : ROOT_PATH . '/';
include($phpbb_root_path . 'common.' . $phpEx);
 
$user->session_begin();
$auth->acl($user->data);
 
?>

If you want to show all your stored user data variable, use this :

echo '<pre>'; var_dump($user); echo '</pre>';

Edit line 4 with the path to forums folder. In my case, it is ../forums.
Edit line 5 with the URL to the forum.
Edit line 6 with the URL to the new folder.

Identify logged-in users and guest

The codes below explain it all.

<?php if ($user->data['user_id'] == ANONYMOUS) { ?>
// content for guests
<?php } else { ?>
// content for members
<?php } ?>

Login directly at your new folder

This is where I stopped following the guide because the login and logout method does not work for me. I added a login form myself:

<form action="<?php echo $forumurl; ?>ucp.php?mode=login" method="post">
<input type="text" name="username" value="" /><br />
<input type="password" name="password" value="" /><br />
<input type="checkbox" name="autologin" value="1" /> Remember Me<br />
<input type="hidden" name="redirect" value="<?php echo $newurl; ?>" />
<input type="submit" name="login" value="Login" /> </form>
Not a member? <a href="<?php echo $forumurl; ?>ucp.php?mode=register">Register now</a>!

Note that the form has a username field and a password field, a checkbox with “remember me” option, a link to register and it redirects back to the new folder after login.

Logout link

Logging out would need your session id. You can get that id from $user->data['session_id']. This is the logout link :

<a href="<?php echo $forumurl; ?>ucp.php?mode=logout&sid=<?php echo $user->data['session_id']; ?>&redirect=<?php echo $newurl; ?>">Log Out</a>

Suming up (up to here)

So until here, I have this codes in my public_html/mysite/testing/index.php.

<?php 
 
define('IN_PHPBB', true);
define('ROOT_PATH', "../forums");
$forumurl = 'http://mysite.com/forums';
$newurl = 'http://mysite.com/testing';
 
if (!defined('IN_PHPBB') || !defined('ROOT_PATH')) {
    exit();
}
 
$phpEx = "php";
$phpbb_root_path = (defined('PHPBB_ROOT_PATH')) ? PHPBB_ROOT_PATH : ROOT_PATH . '/';
include($phpbb_root_path . 'common.' . $phpEx);
 
$user->session_begin();
$auth->acl($user->data);
 
?>
 
<?php if ($user->data['user_id'] == ANONYMOUS) { ?>
// content for guests - login form
<form action="<?php echo $forumurl; ?>ucp.php?mode=login" method="post">
<input type="text" name="username" value="" /><br />
<input type="password" name="password" value="" /><br />
<input type="checkbox" name="autologin" value="1" /> Remember Me<br />
<input type="hidden" name="redirect" value="<?php echo $newurl; ?>" />
<input type="submit" name="login" value="Login" /> </form>
Not a member? <a href="<?php echo $forumurl; ?>ucp.php?mode=register">Register now</a>!
 
<?php } else { ?>
// content for members - logout link
 
<a href="<?php echo $forumurl; ?>ucp.php?mode=logout&sid=<?php echo $user->data['session_id']; ?>&redirect=<?php echo $newurl; ?>">Log Out</a>
 
<?php } ?>

It displays a login form for guest and a logout link for member.

Redirect after login and logout

Login redirect is already done if you followed my codes above. It was done using a hidden input with name “redirect”. However, logout redirect need some tweaks to work.

Open ucp.php from your forum’s main folder and look for:

meta_refresh(3, append_sid("{$phpbb_root_path}index.$phpEx"));

Replace with :

meta_refresh(3, append_sid(request_var('redirect', "{$phpbb_root_path}index.$phpEx")));

Look for :

$message = $message . '<br /><br />' . sprintf($user->lang['RETURN_INDEX'], '<a href="' . append_sid("{$phpbb_root_path}index.$phpEx") . '">', '</a> ');

Replace with :

$message = $message . '<br /><br />' . sprintf($user->lang['RETURN_INDEX'], '<a href="' . append_sid(request_var('redirect', "{$phpbb_root_path}index.$phpEx")) . '">', '</a> ');

Explaination : The meta refresh now check for $_GET['redirect'] and use the value if it is found.

Session Integration in Different Subdomains

You need to follow the guide above for the edits in ucp.php.

This is the guide to use same session for different subdomains. EG: your forum URL is http://forums.mysite.com and new subdomain is http://testing.mysite.com

Based on the codes above, I changed line 5 and 6 to my new URL:

$forumurl = 'http://forums.mysite.com/';
$newurl = 'http://testing.mysite.com/';

Change Cookie domain

This step is a must for different subdomains.

Login into admin panel > Server configuration > Cookie settings

Change the cookie domain to your main domain with a dot in front. In my case, my cookie domain is

.mysite.com

This edit makes cookie visible on all subdomains of mysite.com

Redirection after login and logout don’t work!

If you noticed, the redirect after login or logout does not work anymore. This is because the redirect() and meta_refresh() functions in phpBB do not allow external redirect by default.

Open includes/functions.php from forum’s folder :

Look for :

function redirect($url, $return = false, $disable_cd_check = false)

Replace with :

function redirect($url, $return = false, $disable_cd_check = true)

Look for :

function meta_refresh($time, $url, $disable_cd_check = false)

Replace with :

function meta_refresh($time, $url, $disable_cd_check = true)

EXPLAINATION : Why don’t I add third argument with value of “boolean true” in the redirect() function in ucp.php?
I tried but it doesn’t work. Maybe it is a bug? To achieve what I want, I have to edit the third argument’s default value in functions.php.

End.

Hope this helps you. All comments are appreciated. If I missed something, tell me.