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!

ⓘ I have included a zip file with all the source code at the start of this tutorial, so you don’t have to copy-paste everything… Or if you just want to dive straight in.

 

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

 

QUICK NOTES

• Create a database and import 1-members.sql.
• Open 2-lib-member.php and change the database settings to your own.
• Launch 3-register.php to register a new user, 4-login.php to sign in.

If you spot a bug, feel free to comment below. I try to answer short questions too, but it is one person versus the entire world… If you need answers urgently, please check out my list of websites to get help with programming.

 

EXAMPLE CODE DOWNLOAD

Click here to download all the example source code, I have released it under the MIT license, so feel free to build on top of it or use it in your own project.

 

 

 

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) {
    $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 management to differentiate between admin and members (maybe even 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
• User Role Management – Code Boxx
• Simple Admin Panel – Code Boxx
• Simple Send Email In PHP – Code Boxx
• Simple Comment System – Code Boxx

 

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