Yii: How to set up a non-public site (ie. users must log in to see content)

I’m making several small web pages containing sensitive information that should only be accessed by registered users. This is how I did it using the PHP based Yii framework. My example starts right after you have run through the Creating First Yii Application tutorial.

First you have to make a new controller called BaseController (or whatever you prefer), so create the file protected/components/BaseController.php:

class BaseController extends CController {

  protected function beforeAction($action) {
    if (Yii::app()->user->isGuest && $this->id.'/'.$action->id !== 'site/login') {
      Yii::app()->user->loginRequired();
    }
    return true;
  }//function
}//class

Then in the file protected/controllers/SiteController.php you want to change the class that SiteController extends from CController to BaseController so that you end up with a class that starts like this:

class SiteController extends BaseController {
...

That’s it!

Note! Remember to make all of your future controllers extend BaseController and not CController.