How can I use a username and password to login with PHP?

Question

I have a custom page that checks if cUser->id is zero and, if it is, I pop up a login form. Now I can't seem to find any documentation on how to remotely log in to Joomla. Any ideas?

Answer 1

Found a solution that works for 3.x and up:

in PHP file that gets called through $.ajax:

define('_JEXEC', 1);
define('JPATH_BASE', '../../../');
defined('DS') or define('DS', DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR);
require_once ( JPATH_BASE . 'includes' . DS . 'defines.php' );
require_once ( JPATH_BASE . 'includes' . DS . 'framework.php' );
// connect to Joomla
$mainframe = & JFactory::getApplication('site');
jimport('joomla.plugin.helper');

$error = $mainframe->login([
    'username' => $login_username,
    'password' => $login_password,
]);
$user = JFactory::getUser();
echo $user->id

In Javascript file:

$("#submit-button").click(login);

function login(){
    $.ajax({
        method: "POST",
        url: "/my/path/to/php",
        data: {
            login_username: $("input[name=login_username]").val(),
            login_password: $("input[name=login_password]").val()
        }
    }).done(function(data){
        if(data != "0"){
            // success
        } else {
            // failed
        }
    });
}