How to build a login page in Dreamweaver

Note:

The user interface has been simplified in Dreamweaver CC and later. As a result, you may not find some of the options described in this article in Dreamweaver CC and later. For more information, see this article.

Your web application can contain a page that lets registered users log in to the site.

A login page is made up of the following building blocks:

A database table of registered users
An HTML form to let users enter a user name and password
A Log In User server behavior to make sure the entered user name and password are valid
A session variable consisting of the user name is created for the user when the user logs in successfully.

You need a database table of registered users to verify that the user name and password entered in the login page are valid.

Use your database application and a registration page to create the table. For instructions, see the related topic link below.

The next step in building a login page is to add an HTML form to the page to let users log in. See the next topic for instructions.

You add an HTML form to the page to let users log in by entering a user name and password.

Create a page (File > New > Blank Page), and lay out your login page using the Dreamweaver design tools.

Add an HTML form by placing the insertion point where you want the form to appear and choosing Form from the Insert menu.

An empty form is created on the page. You may have to enable Invisible Elements (View > Visual Aids > Invisible Elements) to see the form’s boundaries, which are represented by thin red lines.

Name the HTML form by clicking the <form> tag at the bottom of the Document window to select the form, opening the Property inspector (Window > Properties), and entering a name in the Form Name box.

You don’t have to specify an action or method attribute for the form to tell it where and how to send the record data when the user clicks the Submit button. The Log In User server behavior sets these attributes for you.

Add a user name and a password text field (Insert > Form > Text Field) to the form.

Add labels (either as text or images) beside each text field, and line up the text fields by placing them inside an HTML table and setting the table’s border attribute to 0.

Add a Submit button to the form (Insert > Form > Button).

You can change the label of the Submit button by selecting the button, opening the Property inspector (Window > Properties), and entering a new value in the Label box.

The next step in building a login page is to add the Log In User server behavior to verify that the entered user name and password are valid.

You must add a Log In User server behavior to the login page to ensure that the user name and password that a user enters are valid.

When a user clicks the Submit button on the login page, the Log In User server behavior compares the values entered by the user against the values for registered users. If the values match, the server behavior opens one page (usually the site’s Welcome screen). If the values do not match, the server behavior opens another page (usually a page alerting the user that the login attempt failed).

In the Server Behaviors panel (Window > Server Behaviors), click the Plus (+) button and select User Authentication > Log In User from the pop‑up menu.

Specify the form and the form objects that visitors use to enter their user name and password.

(ColdFusion) Enter your user name and password if applicable.

Specify the database table and columns that contain the user names and passwords of all the registered users.

The server behavior compares the user name and password a visitor enters on the login page against the values in these columns.

Specify a page to open if the login process succeeds.

The specified page is usually the site’s Welcome screen.

Specify a page to open if the login process fails.

The specified page usually alerts the user that the login process failed and lets the user try again.

If you want users forwarded to the login page after attempting to access a restricted page to return to that restricted page after logging in, select the Go To Previous URL option.

If a user tries to access your site by opening a restricted page without first logging in, the restricted page can forward the user to the login page. After the user logs in successfully, the login page redirects the user to the restricted page that forwarded them to the login page in the first place.

Note:

When you complete the dialog box for the Restrict Access To Page server behavior on these pages, ensure that you specify your login page in the If Access Denied, Go To box.

Specify whether to grant access to the page based on user name and password alone, or based on authorization level too, and click OK.

A server behavior is added to the login page that ensures the user name and password entered by a visitor are valid.

Twitter™ and Facebook posts are not covered under the terms of Creative Commons.

Legal Notices | Online Privacy Policy

Build a login page

About login pages

Create a database table of registered users

Add an HTML form to let users log in

Verify the user name and password

Ask the Community

Contact Us

About login pages

Create a database table of registered users

Add an HTML form to let users log in

Verify the user name and password

More like this