Login does not work on redirected URL

pspencer · 19.03.2005, 18:47

I have a mambo site that I have developed and have working quite nicely, but only when I go to the trye url directly. Example: www.mysite.com/mambo

The problem now is that the domain name that I would like to use is a redirection from another site. The company hosting the Domain name is not hosting the Mambo site. The URL for the domain name is set up to redirect to the new site. The code apparently actually places it in a frame to hide the true URL. Why am I doing this? Well, the club that I developed the web site for has their own domain name and I have hosted the mambo site on my ISP.

Anyway, the problem is that when the user arrives at my site, they cannot log in. They fill in the login credentials and it just ignores them.

I believe it has to do with cookies because if I try logging in as above, and then I type in the real URL, I am already logged in. The other thing of interest is that this problem only occurs in IE. When I go to the site using Firefox it works perfectly.

I have tried 2 kinds of URL redirection, Meta Tags (<meta http-equiv="REFRESH" content="0;url=http://www.aerobaticscanada.ca">) and "You have been redirected, click here".

Anyone have any ideas how I can get Mambo to recognize a login on the site that is ACTUALLY hosting the mambo server?

twinstripe · 19.03.2005, 21:21

This might sound daft, but are you using EXACTLY the same login name and password on the new site? Are you just using the standard Mambo login? It might be down to a discrepancy in your SQL tables - check out the mos_users table in PHPMyAdmin and see if your user table contains all of their passwords, and not just the one that you used when you set the new install up.

I know it's a daft answer, and you're probably way more experienced than I, but then again, it's the stupid mistakes that always catch us out, yeah?

pspencer · 19.03.2005, 23:01

Thanks for the suggestion but the login works fine when I go to the URL directly. I am confident in my ID's and passwords. The problem only occurs when I am redirected to the URL from another site. Basically, the URL shown in the browser is not the URL that I am actually at. (This is common when the Domain Name is hosted at a site that simply redirects all calls to the real URL, so that you don't see the full ugly path of the real ISP.)
Also, If I attempt to log in, the refresh of the screen does not show the User Menu etc, but if I then simply type in the real URL I am in a valid logged in state. So the login must be working.
I suspect that the Mambo PHP code is somehow not finding or not seeing the cookie for the real site but is being fooled by the fact that it has been redirected.
I have done someinvestigating and found that the original HTML code from the original URL is actually returning a framed page with a 0byte frame and a nested 100% width frame that contains the called site. This effectively hides the true URL without giving away any real estate. The problem that I am seeing is that the URL in this frame is then also redirecting to the 3rd site (the mambo), again to hide the URL. Shouldn't be a problem unless nesting the 3 time is a problem.
Fundamentally this is an HTML question, but I am asking this on a Mambo forum because I suspect that others will run into this as well if they are installing Mambo in a subdirectory on a server and then redirecting as I have done.

pspencer · 20.03.2005, 06:30

I figured out a work-around for my problem.

In the first web site (the one that the original URL points to) I added this to the index.htm page.

<script lanaguage="JavaScript"></script>
</HEAD>
<BODY onLoad="redirect()">

Now, when the user is pointed to http://www.theoldURL.org, this simply redirects the parent (no more hidden frames) to the new, correct, URL.

This effectively overrides the framed page from the original domain. As a result, it changes the visible URL in the navigation bar.

webman · 14.04.2005, 17:45

have an even better solution, it 'll keep non users from seeing the actual url and acts only in case the page is framed...

in the index.php look for:

Code:

if ($option == "login") {
	$mainframe->login();

	// JS Popup message

I use mambelfish so line numbers are different: 141 or 116

and make it this:

Code:

if ($option == "login") {
	$mainframe->login();
	
		?>
		<script> 
 if(top.location != location) {
   top.location.href=document.location.href;
   }
		</script>
		<?php

	// JS Popup message

this works perfect for me (my server doesn't accept the url-redirect for security so I have to enter at the actual url)