PhpBB's external login script thinks user is anonymous even when logged into forums

[TurdPile]

Support Request Template
What version of phpBB are you using? phpBB 3.0.12
Do you have any MODs installed? Yes
Do you have any extensions installed? No
What styles do you currently have installed? prosilver
What language(s) is your board currently using? English
Which database type/version are you using? MySQL 5
What is your level of experience? Experienced in PHP, not PhpBB
What actions did you take (updating your board; installing a MOD, style or extension; etc.) prior to this problem becoming noticeable? As with most coding issues, lots of debugging and tweaking code.. but not PhpBB's
Please describe your problem.
I am utilizing PhpBB's ability to authenticate login on external pages outside of the forums. However, there is an intermittent issue (intermittent as in it comes and goes randomly to only a subset of users) where, even though the user logs into the forums fine, they are considered as a guest (eg Anonymous) via the external script that checks if they are logged in. I have used the standard script that everyone seems to be using, including the PhpBB help pages (see: How to create a custom page) which makes me think that this is a PhpBB issue.

Regardless, could use some guidance as to why this occurs.

Attached script:

Code: Select all

	define('IN_PHPBB', true);
	
	$phpbb_root_path = (defined('PHPBB_ROOT_PATH')) ? PHPBB_ROOT_PATH : '../phpbb/';
	$phpEx = substr(strrchr(__FILE__, '.'), 1);
	
	include($phpbb_root_path . 'common.' . $phpEx);

	// Start session management
	$user->session_begin();
	var_dump($user->data['username']);
	

Just this simple code, with nothing else, is producing random "Anonymous" or (is_registered = false) values.
Thanks!

[RMcGirr83]

root path is probably wrong.

[TurdPile]

I'm pretty certain if that was the case $user would be undefined. Also if this was the case, the problem wouldn't be intermittent.

[TurdPile]

Anything?

[AmigoJack]

even though the user logs into the forums fine, they are considered as a guest (eg Anonymous) via the external script that checks if they are logged in

The SID is important - it must either be passed directly (via GET or POST parameter) or indirectly (via cookie). I suspect those handful of users turn off cookies and you're not using append_sid() to publish URIs to your custom script.