This is an advanced topic  for site bulders and the site administrator.
Topics

Background:

  • The display of a page may need to change depending on whether the visitor has signed in or not.  For example a link to a page to enter a Promo Code or to Sign in will need to be replaced by a You are Signed In.  For this the |.Is_Auth:##:##.| tag was created.   The contents of the first are substituted for the tag if the visitor has signed in.  If the visitor has not signed in the contents of the second page will be used.  Note: for simple cases the |.Logout.| tag can be used instead as this also kills off the session on the server.
  • While whole categories can be restricted, it may be needed to restrict part of the display Product on either the list of products under a Category (e.g., prodcatC) or detailed product listing (e.g., proddisp).   Thus a product could be displayed but some of the information suppressed.   For this prupose the |.PR_AUTH.| tag was created. 
  • On a content page |.PR_AUTH.| displays the value that the user entered when they logged in.   Remember to use |.LogOut.| or |.LogOut:#.| tags on restricted pages to provide a reliable mechanism for the visitor to log out since modern browsers do not follow Internet standards and erase session information when a visitor closes their browser.

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Using the Is_Auth tag:

  • The tag is replaced by the contents of either of two page's primary content.  So the first step is to create those pages.
    • Content can be pure HTML , an image tag or a bit of content.  Note: the editor in the default mode may add paragraph tags before and at the end of any content.  If this is not desirable use the "HTML" button to examine the HTML produced by the editor or work in the HTML mode directly. 
    • For example to hide a section of a page use two Is_Auth tags and have the first one start an HTML comment and have the second one stop it.  In both cases the first page ID can be the same and point to a page which has no content (i.e, don't insert anything. just remove the tag.)
  • A use of this tag can be to create two hidden pages which contain either the request to sign in or to log out.
    • The first page contains words like "Click here to sign in."  Where  here is linked to a page which is restricted to a group that all authorized visitors belong.   This will force the signing form to display. This page can even just be a hidden page which redirects the visitor back to a common page which is the top of the restricted area (in the example below  page ID is 15).
    • The second page is a hidden page page which just contains |.LogOut.| tag  (in the example below page ID is 16.
    • Place |.Is_Auth:16:15.| where you want the visitor to have the option of signing in or signing out.   It will either display "Log Out" or "Click here to sign in." depending whether the visitor is logged in or logged out.
  • Either in the template or within a content area on a page insert the tag(s) where you wish the alternate content to appear.
  • Pages with this tag cannot be cached which may slow page display on busy sites.

Modifying Product Display:

  • The |.PR_AUTH.| tag can be used anywhere inside of the Product Line Template.  If will normally be used as part of a ||.if:Pr_Auth.|| ....||.ENDIF.||  or ||.ifnot:Pr_Auth.|| ....||.ENDIF.||construct
    • .... is any HTML.  If the visitor has signed in then the first set of HTML will be used and if not then the second set will be used.  
  • The actual value of PR_AUTH is the visitor's name so it can a very fine grained display is possible.
  • Please see here for more details on the Product Line template.
This background is for site bulders and the site administrator.