Plugin/Events/User

In a standard installation of Joomla! we have several predefined User events which, when triggered, call functions in the associated plugins.

onUserLogin

Description

This event is triggered after the user is authenticated against the Joomla! user-base.

If you need to abort the login process (authentication), you will need to use onUserAuthenticate instead.

Parameters

• $user - an associative array of JAuthenticateResponse type (see link for array keys)
• $options - an associative array containing these keys: ["remember"] => bool, ["return"] => string, ["entry_url"] => string

Return Value

Boolean

Used in files

• libraries/joomla/application/application.php
• plugins/user/joomla.php

Example

• plugins/user/example.php

onUserLogout

Description

This event is triggered before the user is logged out of the system.

If any plugin returns false, the global logout fails and the onUserLogoutFailure event is fired; if it succeeds, onUserAfterLogout event is triggered instead.

NOTE: as of 3.3.6, returning false does not work correctly, because stock components perform their logout operation during the onUserLogout event. So even if your plugin returns false, the stock ones have already run anyway. Thus, the user will be "mostly" logged out even if you return false. There is no actual way to cleanly abort logout.

Parameters

• $credentials - an associative array containing these keys: ["username"] => string, ["id"] => int
• $options - an associative array containing this key: ["clientid"] => int

Return Value

Boolean

Used in files

• libraries/cms/application/cms.php
• plugins/user/joomla/joomla.php
• plugins/system/logout.php
• plugins/system/remember/remember.php

Example

• plugins/user/example.php

onUserAuthenticate

Description

This event is triggered to verify that a set of login credentials is valid.

Parameters

Array of credentials. Structure:\\ ['username']\\ ['password']\\ Alternative authentication mechanisms can supply additional credentials.

Return Value

An array of JAuthenticateResponse objects detailing the results of each called plugin, including success or failure.

Used in files

• libraries/joomla/user/authentication.php
• plugins/authentication/gmail.php
• plugins/authentication/joomla.php
• plugins/authentication/ldap.php

Example

• plugins/authentication/example.php

onUserLoginFailure

Description

This event is triggered whenever a user authentication request is failed by any plugin.

Parameters

Two parameters. The credentials array for the user (see onAuthenticate), and the JAuthenticateResponse that caused the failure.

Return Value

Unknown. The return value appears to be ignored in any case.

Used in file

• libraries/joomla/application/user/authentication.php

onUserAfterLogin

Description

This event is triggered whenever a user is successfully logged in.

Parameters

Options is array with:

• remember
• return
• entry_url
• action
• user - JUser Object
• responseType

Return Value

Boolean

Used in files

• libraries/legacy/application/application.php
• libraries/cms/application/cms.php
• plugins/authentication/cookie/cookie.php

onUserBeforeSave

Description

This event is triggered before an update of a user record.

The old and new user parameters are provided; commonly-used members are: username, name, email, password, password_clear.

The password array entry is the hashed password value. If the user has just changed the password, you may retrieve the cleartext password from $newUser['password_clear']. (It will be set to "" if the password has not been changed.)

Parameters

• $oldUser - An associative array of the columns in the user table (current values).
• $isnew - Boolean to identify if this is a new user (true - insert) or an existing one (false - update)
• $newUser - An associative array of the columns in the user table (new values).

Return Value

Boolean. Whether the user-save should proceed or not. Any plugin that returns false aborts the save.

Used in file

• libraries/joomla/user/user.php

Example

• plugins/user/example.php

onUserAfterSave

Description

This event is triggered after an update of a user record, or when a new user has been stored in the database.

Password in $user array is already hashed at this point. You may retrieve the cleartext password using $_POST['password'].

Parameters

• $user - An associative array of the columns in the user table.
• $isnew - Boolean to identify if this is a new user (true - insert) or an existing one (false - update)
• $success - Boolean to identify if the store was successful
• $msg - Error message if store failed

Note: The old values that were just updated are not available here or afterwards. In case you need the old values, use onBeforeStoreUser().

Return Value

None

Used in file

• libraries/joomla/user/user.php

Example

• plugins/user/example.php

onUserBeforeDelete

Description

The event is triggered when a user is about to be deleted from the system.

Parameters

• $user - An associative array of the columns in the user table.

Return Value

None.

Used in files

• libraries/joomla/user/user.php
• plugins/user/joomla.php

Example

• plugins/user/example.php

onUserAfterDelete

Description

The event is triggered after a user has been deleted from the system.

Parameters

• $user - An associative array of the columns in the user table.
• $succes - Boolean to identify if the deletion was successful
• $msg - Error message if delete failed (JError object detailing the error, if any)

Return Value

None.

Used in files

• libraries/joomla/user/user.php
• plugins/user/joomla.php

Example

• plugins/user/example.php

Order of execution

To modify Joomla! login process upon your needs (e.g. creating AJAX output for login), it may be useful to know the order of the events to be fired.

Wrong credentials	CORRECT CREDENTIALS and the user is not blocked (is activated)	CORRECT CREDENTIALS and the user is blocked (is not activated)
onUserAuthenticate returns TRUE or FALSE | | \ / onUserLoginFailure	onUserAuthenticate returns TRUE or FALSE | | \ / onUserLogin returns FALSE -> END returns TRUE | | \ / onUserAfterLogin	onUserAuthenticate returns TRUE or FALSE | | \ / onUserLogin returns TRUE or FALSE | | \ / END

Example idea Let's assume you want to preform Ajax login. You have already overriden a mod_login form so it's posted to Joomla! via an AJAX call. You added a field named ajax to the form. So when the form is posted and authentication is failed, your custom plugin must return some JSON data.

public function onUserLoginFailure($response)
{
	$input  = JFactory::getApplication()->input;

	// If a non-ajax form was posted, we do not modify the behavior
	if (!$input->post->get('ajax', false))
	{
		return;
	}

	$app = JFactory::getApplication();
	$task_failed = false; 

	// Fill this array with the data you want to return, e.g. $response['status'] may be useful
	// Check libraries/joomla/user/authentication.php for available status codes 
	$data = array('status' => $response['status']);
        
        // At least here in the plugin it's a must to send proper headers
        JFactory::getApplication()->setHeader('Content-Type', 'application/json', true)->sendHeaders();
	echo new JResponseJson($data, $response['error_message'], $task_failed);

	// Closing app is a must here to return JSON immideately
	$app->close();
}