Create a User Area

Question

I'm wondering how i can create a User Area for users to login and gain access to a user panel (where user can update their info and specfic/custom actions). Because the Joomla user login functionality actually doesn't do much (as far as i know, if someone can make more clarifications on how this works...).

I mean i don't think Joomla can provide what i need so i have to create a new MVC for that, right?

So my question is:

1. The correct way to do it should be creating/extending a component using MVC (with login view, panel view, etc)?

2. If so, can i take advantage of the Joomla user login system using the same username and password previously set by the user or i should create a new table for users to signup/login?

Or is there any other way to get it done? And what are the best practices for it.

So in short, what i want is: a user logs in then has access to an exclusive and customizable user area. Is this possible by, somewhow, extending the core's Joomla login/registration system or i have to create a new MVC (in a custom component) for that? If so, should i create a new table or use Joomla's users table?

Answer 1

Two questions:

• Do you want your users log in front or backend of your site?
  The workflow is a little different for each scenario.
• What user functionality you want?, or want to extend?, once the user has logged in.

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To provide this to your users you need already establish your user groups.

The first case: if you want to provide a "user menu" in the front-end:

1. Create a new menu in Menus > Manage > Add new Menu
   Here you need to select if the menu is for front or backend.
2. Create the menu items for the user menu.
   Here you can see the available options:

3. Now, you need to establish the access level, assign each menu item to your user group.

4. Assign you user menu to one menu module.
   Create a new menu module in Extensions > Modules > New > Menu, inside select the user menu, select the position in your template and select the access level for your user group.

5. Extend the user profile.
   Go to Extensions > Plugins > User - Profile, From here you can find more options available, let's say that I need a Zip Code or Country info from my users, well, here you have this options, let's say that I need to know their favorite star wars movie, well, you also can override the text string to the info you want.

Hope this helps as a starting point.