Rules for usernames

[suntrop]

I need to import a list of users my client sends me. He wants to know what rules make a valid username. Sounds easy, but I need to make it bulletproof, when I tell my client, because he sends a lot of print letters with those usernames

When I look at the name (aka username) filed it says:

Any combination of letters (a-z), numbers (0-9), dashes or underscores (no spaces).

As I think, those are pagenames and thus the sanitizer->pageName() is applied? This one says something different:

Page names by default support lowercase ASCII letters, digits, underscore, hyphen and period.

Usernames with periods apparently are ok. ASCII letters, however, sounds a bit ambiguous. @ or $ is in some manner a letter too. Perhaps I am wrong, but haven't studied english linguistic  And I think it only counts for the 128-ASCII table, not the extended one.

Seriously, I don't want to make it more complicated than it needs to be, but the docs made me think of it. Thanks!

[adrian]

Usernames are also sanitized in real time via JS - try adding an uppercase letter or a $ or @ and they will be converted/removed as soon as you unfocus the field.

I agree that when adding a user or normal page (both are effectively the same) it should note that periods are allowed.

OT a little - if you are adding users by a batch import, be sure to check out the Create Users Batcher action in the AdminActions module.

[suntrop]

Thanks for your quick help.

Since I need to import the CSV via API, I wouldn't just trust the backend/JS. Other parts (like password, I think) don't match the UI rules.

And I need to create other related pages and more in the same run. Anyway, your module is on my list  Thanks!

[adrian]

14 minutes ago, suntrop said:

Since I need to import the CSV via API, I wouldn't just trust the backend/JS

Not suggesting to trust it, just using it to give you a quick idea of what happens with various characters.

15 minutes ago, suntrop said:

And I need to create other related pages and more in the same run.

Depending on how you are doing things regarding the password, you might find these useful for automatic password generation and emailing the user with their username and temporary password:

http://modules.processwire.com/modules/email-new-user/
http://modules.processwire.com/modules/password-force-change/