Custom Routing

When a user level has a secret_login_word, that word must be mapped to the correct controller method via custom routing. This keeps login URLs clean and secure.

Create or update config/custom_routing.php:

<?php
$routes = [

    // Member route through the login module
    "member-login"                 => "login/login/member-login",

    // Admin route through the admin controller (built-in)
    "tg-admin"                     => "trongate_administrators/login",
    "tg-admin/submit_login"        => "trongate_administrators/submit_login",
];
define('CUSTOM_ROUTES', $routes);

Understanding the Member Route

The member route member-login points to login/login/member-login. Let us break this down:

• login/login - The first login is the module name, the second login is the controller method. So this calls Login->login() in modules/login/Login.php.
• /member-login - This is the secret login word passed as a URL segment. The login module uses get_last_part(current_url(), '/') to extract it and compare against the configured secret words.

When a visitor navigates to /member-login, the following happens:

1. Custom routing forwards the request to login/login/member-login.
2. The login() method calls resolve_level(), which scans the URL segments for a matching secret word.
3. It finds member-login and matches it to user level 2 (Members).
4. If the member already has a valid token, they are redirected to members/welcome.
5. Otherwise, the login form is rendered.
6. The form submits to login/submit_login/member-login, which routes through the same custom routing pattern.

How Member Routing Differs from Admin Routing

Notice the difference between the two route patterns:

• Administrators route directly to trongate_administrators/login. This is because the admin controller has its own login() and submit_login() methods that handle the full authentication flow, rendered with the admin template.
• Members route through login/login/member-login, which goes directly to the login module's built-in login() method. Members use the default login module views rendered with the site's public template.

Why this difference? Because administrators are covered by the framework's built-in trongate_administrators module, which has its own view and controller. Members have a custom controller that delegates the authentication heavy lifting to the login module.

Critical Rule: Route Key Must Match Secret Login Word

The secret_login_word in config/login.php and the route key in config/custom_routing.php must match exactly. If the login word is member-login, the route key must be member-login. A mismatch here is the most common source of routing errors.

How It Looks in the Browser

After setting up custom routing, the login URLs are clean and intuitive:

Next, we will build the Members controller that handles the post-login experience.