Username and Password on Every Page

Well, not really, as that would be bad. However, I’ve often wondered how to include a field for the username and password on every public page, making the sign on process one less click. Well, there’s nothing like learning how to do something like having a customer requirement!

A current client wants a largely public site – that is, you do not need to authenticate to see most of it. Simple enough – just set the Page Attributes Security to Page is Public. However, the client also wanted the username and password field to appear on each and every public page.

From a developer point of view, I didn’t want to have to put any items on any page aside from Page Zero. Thus, every time that I add a page to the application, the login region would simply show up. This required a bit more thought.

Here’s what I came up with: I created a region on Page Zero which holds my username and password fields, as well as a Login button. The button is not an item button, but rather a true button which submits the page when clicked. I also set this region to only display when the user was unauthenticated.

In order to accommodate authenticated users, I also created an HTML region on Page Zero which only renders when the user is authenticated. This region simply displays a welcome message to the user.

Next, I created 2 application level processes to handle the actual authentication process. These two processes are copies of the Set Username Cookie & Login processes which are typically found on Page 101 of your HTML DB Application. These processes are set to run only when the REQUEST = P0_LOGIN, which is the name of my button on Page Zero.

Thus, when you enter a valid username and password and click the Login button on any public page in my application, you are authenticated and returned to the page from which you came. All without any code or items on any page aside from Page Zero!

Steps to Implement

1. Create Page 0
   
   
2. Create an HTML Region on Page 0 called Login
   
   
3. Set condition of that region to User is the Public User (user has not authenticated)
   
   
4. In that region, create two items:
   P0_USERNAME - Text
   P0_PASSWORD - Password
   
   
5. Create an HTML Region on Page 0 called Welcome
   
   
6. In the source of that region, enter a simple welcome message, such as Welcome, &APP_USER.
   
   
7. Set condition of that region to User is Authenticated (user has not authenticated)
   
   
8. Create a Button named P0_LOGIN on Page 0 in the Login region
   - Select Create Button in a Region Position when prompted
   - Leave Branch to Page blank
   
   
9. Create an Application Level Process:
   Sequence: 1
   Process Point: On Submit: After Page Submission – After Computations and Values
   Name: Set Cookie
   Type: PL/SQL Procedure
   Process Text:
   begin
   owa_util.mime_header('text/html', FALSE);
   owa_cookie.send(
   name => 'LOGIN_USERNAME_COOKIE',
   value => lower(:P0_USERNAME));
   exception
   when others then null;
   end;
   
   Process Error Message: An Error Has Occured
   Condition Type: Request = Expression 1
   Expression 1: P0_LOGIN
   
   
10. Create an Application Level Process:
    Sequence: 2
    Process Point: On Submit: After Page Submission – After Computations and Values
    Name: Login
    Type: PL/SQL Procedure
    Process Text:
    begin
    wwv_flow_custom_auth_std.login(
    P_UNAME => :P0_USERNAME,
    P_PASSWORD => :P0_PASSWORD,
    P_SESSION_ID => v('APP_SESSION'),
    P_FLOW_PAGE => :APP_ID||':&APP_PAGE_ID.');
    :P0_USERNAME := null;
    :P0_PASSWORD := null;
    end;
    
    Process Error Message: An Error Has Occured
    Condition Type: Request = Expression 1
    Expression 1: P0_LOGIN
    
    
11. Edit your current Authentication Scheme, and set the Logout URL to redirect to a public page, not page 101.
    
    
12. Set the Security - Authentication to at least one page in your application to Page is Public.
    

You should now be able to sign on from any public page in your applicaion.