Simple Membership System With PHP MYSQL (Free Download)

Welcome to a tutorial on how to create a membership system with PHP and MySQL. Planning to open a “members only” section on your website? There are a couple of things that we need to cover – Database, registration, login, and more. Read on for the step-by-step guide!

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

EXAMPLE CODE DOWNLOAD

Source code on GitHub Gist

Just click on “download zip” or do a git clone. I have released it under the MIT license, so feel free to build on top of it or use it in your own project.

 

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TUTORIAL VIDEO

 

STEP 1) MEMBERS DATABASE

CREATE TABLE `members` (
  `id` bigint(20) NOT NULL,
  `name` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `email` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `password` varchar(255) NOT NULL,
  `start` datetime NOT NULL DEFAULT current_timestamp(),
  `till` datetime DEFAULT NULL
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8mb4;
 
ALTER TABLE `members`
  ADD PRIMARY KEY (`id`),
  ADD UNIQUE KEY `email` (`email`),
  ADD KEY `name` (`name`);
 
ALTER TABLE `members`
  MODIFY `id` bigint(20) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT;

First, we start by creating a table to store all the members:

• id Member ID, primary key.
• name Member’s name.
• email Member’s email, unique to prevent duplicates.
• password Login password.
• start Member since.
• till Membership expiry date, optional.

Feel free to add more fields as required – Maybe a “member level” if you offer different tiers.

 

 

STEP 2) PHP MEMBERSHIP LIBRARY

<?php
class Member {
  // (A) CONSTRUCTOR - CONNECT TO THE DATABASE
  private $pdo = null;
  private $stmt = null;
  public $error;
  function __construct () {
    $this->pdo = new PDO(
      "mysql:host=".DB_HOST.";dbname=".DB_NAME.";charset=".DB_CHARSET,
      DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, [
      PDO::ATTR_ERRMODE => PDO::ERRMODE_EXCEPTION,
      PDO::ATTR_DEFAULT_FETCH_MODE => PDO::FETCH_ASSOC
    ]);
  }

  // (B) DESTRUCTOR - CLOSE DATABASE CONNECTION
  function __destruct () {
    if ($this->stmt !== null) { $this->stmt = null; }
    if ($this->pdo !== null) { $this->pdo = null; }
  }

  // (C) HELPER - RUN SQL QUERY
  function query ($sql, $data=null) : void {
    $this->stmt = $this->pdo->prepare($sql);
    $this->stmt->execute($data);
  }

  // (D) GET MEMBER BY ID OR EMAIL
  function get ($id) {
    $this->query(sprintf("SELECT * FROM `members` WHERE `%s`=?",
      is_numeric($id) ? "id" : "email"
    ), [$id]);
    return $this->stmt->fetch();
  }

  // (E) ADD MEMBER
  function add ($name, $email, $password, $till=null) {
    // (E1) CHECK IF EMAIL ALREADY REGISTERED
    if ($this->get($email)) {
      $this->error = "$email is already registered";
      return false;
    }

    // (E2) SAVE MEMBER DATA
    $this->query(
      "INSERT INTO `members` (`name`, `email`, `password`, `till`) VALUES (?,?,?,?)",
      [$name, $email, password_hash($password, PASSWORD_DEFAULT), $till]
    );
    return true;
  }

  // (F) VERIFICATION
  function verify ($email, $password) {
    // (F1) GET MEMBER
    $member = $this->get($email);
    $pass = is_array($member);

    // (F2) CHECK MEMBERSHIP EXPIRY
    if ($pass && $member["till"]!="") {
      if (strtotime("now") >= strtotime($member["till"])) {
        $pass = false;
      }
    }
 
    // (F3) CHECK PASSWORD
    if ($pass) { $pass = password_verify($password, $member["password"]); }

    // (F4) REGISTER MEMBER INTO SESSION
    if ($pass) {
      foreach ($member as $k=>$v) { $_SESSION["member"][$k] = $v; }
      unset($_SESSION["member"]["password"]);
    }

    // (F5) RESULT
    if (!$pass) { $this->error = "Invalid email/password"; }
    return $pass;
  }
}

// (G) DATABASE SETTINGS - CHANGE TO YOUR OWN!
define("DB_HOST", "localhost");
define("DB_NAME", "test");
define("DB_CHARSET", "utf8mb4");
define("DB_USER", "root");
define("DB_PASSWORD", "");

// (H) START
session_start();
$_MEM = new Member();

This library looks difficult at first, but keep calm and study carefully:

• (A, B, H) When $_MEM = new Member() is created, the constructor automatically connects to the database. The destructor closes the connection.
• (C) query() A helper function to run an SQL statement.
• (E & F) The actual membership functions.
  • add() Add a new member.
  • verify() Verify the user credentials, register user information into $_SESSION["member"].
• (G) Database settings – Change to your own.
• (H) Start the session and “engine”.

 

 

STEP 3) MEMBER REGISTRATION PAGE

<?php
// (A) LOAD LIBRARY + REDIRECT IF SIGNED IN
require "2-lib-member.php";
if (isset($_SESSION["member"])) {
  header("Location: 5-protected.php");
  exit();
}
 
// (B) PROCESS FORM SUBMISSION
// redirect to a "nice welcome page" in your own project
// this demo will redirect to login page directly
if (count($_POST)!=0) {
  if ($_MEM->add($_POST["name"], $_POST["email"], $_POST["password"])) {
    header("Location: 4-login.php");
    exit();
  }
} ?>
 
<!-- (C) REGISTRATION FORM -->
<?php
if ($_MEM->error!="") { echo "<div class='error'>".$_MEM->error."</div>"; }
?>
<form method="post">
  <h1>REGISTRATION</h1>
  <label>Name</label>
  <input type="text" name="name" required>
  <label>Email</label>
  <input type="email" name="email" required>
  <label>Password</label>
  <input type="password" name="password" required>
  <input type="submit" value="Register">
</form>

Now that the database and system settings are in place, let us build the registration page. It is easier to study this page from the bottom up:

• (C) HTML registration form.
• (B) When the form is submitted, we will use the library to process the registration.
  • If successful, we redirect the user to the login page.
  • If it fails, we show the error message.
• (A) Members who are already signed in will be redirected to the “members only” page.

 

 

STEP 4) MEMBER LOGIN PAGE

<?php
// (A) LOAD LIBRARY
require "2-lib-member.php";

// (B) CHECK LOGIN CREDENTIALS
if (count($_POST)!=0) {
  $_MEM->verify($_POST["email"], $_POST["password"]);
}

// (C) REDIRECT IF SIGNED IN
if (isset($_SESSION["member"])) {
  header("Location: 5-protected.php");
  exit();
} ?>
 
<!-- (D) LOGIN FORM -->
<?php
if ($_MEM->error!="") { echo "<div class='error'>".$_MEM->error."</div>"; }
?>
<form method="post">
  <h1>LOGIN</h1>
  <label>Email</label>
  <input type="email" name="email" required>
  <label>Password</label>
  <input type="password" name="password" required>
  <input type="submit" value="Login">
</form>

With the registration complete, the next obvious step is to deal with the login. Again, it is easier to start from the bottom:

• (D) A good old login form.
• (A & B) When the login form is submitted, we load the library and do a verification check.
• (C) On a valid sign-in, we redirect the user to the “members only” section; Users who are already signed in will be redirected, and they won’t get to see the login page.

 

STEP 5) PROTECTED MEMBER PAGES & LOGOUT

<?php
// (A) LOAD LIBRARY
require "2-lib-member.php";

// (B) SIGN OUT
if (isset($_POST["out"])) {
  unset($_SESSION["member"]);
}

// (C) NOT SIGNED IN - BACK TO LOGIN PAGE
if (!isset($_SESSION["member"])) {
  header("Location: 4-login.php");
  exit();
} ?>

<form method="post">
  <h1>MEMBER PAGE</h1>
  <p>You are in!</p>
  <input type="hidden" name="out" value="1">
  <input type="submit" value="Sign Out">
</form>

• (A & C) In all your “members-only” pages, simply redirect users back to the login page if they are not signed in.
• (B) To logout, simply unset($_SESSION["member"]).

 

 

 

IMPROVEMENT IDEAS

This is only a simple barebones membership system, a lot can be done to make it better:

• Add role column to the members table. Differentiate between admin and members, maybe even add different membership levels.
• Add an admin panel to manage the members and content.
• Complete your own “nice registration process” – Send an email, redirect to a welcome page, etc…
• For paid memberships, integrate with your payment processor – Paypal, Stripe, Apple Pay, Google Pay, etc…
• Secure your “members only” content. An easy way is to put the contents outside of the public HTTP folder and use PHP to read them.
• Complete your own PHP library – Add an “edit member” function, get expiring memberships, reports, etc…

The possibilities are endless, and I cannot offer free consultations to everyone. The rest is up to you to complete.

 

LINKS & REFERENCES

• PHP Forgotten Password Recovery – Code Boxx
• Registration With Email Confirmation – Code Boxx
• User Role Management – Code Boxx
• Simple Admin Panel – Code Boxx
• PHP Email With Template – Code Boxx
• Simple Comment System – Code Boxx