All of the pages and modules in your site offer the ability to control who can see and edit them. While some sites are simply for browsing, without membership, other sites offer more of a "community" and may have many users of different types. User Accounts represent individual people that use or manage your site, while Security Roles determine what privileges are granted to groups of users.

User Accounts
To access this feature, go to your Admin menu and choose the User Accounts option. You will land on a page displaying the following:

From this page, you will see an alphabetical list of user accounts in your site (by default, the list starts by showing usernames starting with the letter "A" in this case I've clicked the "R" to jump to usernames beginning with "R"). Your site may only have one user, yourself, as the site administrator. This is common for simple websites. However, other sites may have extensive lists of user accounts.

Using this panel, you may browse the user accounts in the following ways:

• Search for a user account by Username or other account field using the Search tool at the top.
• Click any letter to see usernames beginning with the selected letter.
• Click All to see a list of all users.
• Click Online to see a list of users currently using the site.
• Click Unauthorized to see a list of users whose accounts have been "suspended."

Each user in the site is listed on the page with some basic information and tools:

• Edit. Click to edit the account.
• Delete. Click to delete the account.
• Manage Roles. Click to assign or unassign roles to the selected account.
• Username is the account name the user signs in as.
• Name, Address, and Telephone are displayed if your site gathers this information for users.
• Created Date indicates when the account was created.
• Authorized indicates if the account is active (authorized) or suspended (unauthorized, or unchecked).

If your site has enough users, there may be multiple pages of user listings. In this case, use the navigation options below the list to view the other pages of users.

At the bottom of the page are the following links:

• Add New User. Click to manually add a new user account (see below for details).
• Delete Unauthorized Users. Click permanently delete unauthorized users.
• Manage Profile Properties. Click to configure the data fields for user accounts (see below for details).
• User Settings. Click to configure security and other settings for user accounts (see below for details).

Adding New Users
To get to this page, go the User Accounts page and click the Add New User link at the bottom of the page. You will be presented with the following:

To add a user, fill in the following fields:

• User Name is the sign-in name the user will enter to access the site.
• First Name is optional, but should be the user's real first name.
• Last Name is optional, but should be the user's real last name.
• Display Name is how the user's name will be displayed on the site when it's visible, such as in the Blog module.
• Email Address should be entered with care, it must be the user's real email address (this is the way the site communicates with users, so accuracy is important).
• Authorize. Click to enable the account and permit the user to sign into the site. Unchecking will "block" or "suspend" the account.
• Notify . Click to have the system email the user with their login information.

To add a password for a user, use these fields:

• Random Password. Check to have the system assign the user a random password, best used in conjunction with the Notify option above.
• Password. Enter a password that meets the site requirements.
• Confirm Password. Re-enter the password.

To finish adding the account, click the Add New User link when all of the user's information has been entered.

Editing User Accounts
To edit a user account, go to the User Accounts page and click the pencil icon next to the user account you wish to edit. The following page will appear, defaulted to the "Manage User Credentials" options:

This first page of User Account options lets you do and see the following:

• User Name is the user's sign-in name. Once set, the User Name cannot be changed.
• First Name is the user's real first name.
• Last Name is the user's real last name.
• Display Name is like a nickname, this name is displayed wherever the user's name is visible within the site.
• Email Address is the user's real email address.
• Created Date indicates when the user account was created.
• Last Login date shows when the user last logged into the system.
• Last Activity Date shows the last time the user made a change on the site.
• Last Password Change shows when the user last changed his/her password.
• Last Lockout Date shows when the user was last locked out of the system (for trying to login with the wrong password too many times, if enabled for your site).
• User Is On Line will be checked if the user is currently logged into the site.
• Locked Out will be checked if the user is currently locked out (for trying to login with the wrong password too many times, if enabled for your site).
• Authorized will be checked if the user is authorized (if unauthorized, the user will be unable to perform the tasks their Security Roles usually enable).
• Update Password will be checked if the user needs to change their password (if password expiration is enabled for your site).
• The UnAuthorize User command will unauthorize (lock) the account, disabling the privileges the account enjoys.
• The Force Password Change command will force the user to change his/her password at next login.

Use the Delete command to delete the account. Click Update to save any changes you make. Click the Cancel link to abandon any changes you make.

Additionally, you may add a new user account by clicking the Add New User link at the bottom of the page. You may also Manage Profile Properties which lets you set the options enabled for all user accounts within the system.

Managing Security Roles
To manage the security roles granted to an account, find the account and click the Manage Roles for this User link at the top of the panel. The following page appears:

To assign a security role, you must choose from the dropdown an available Security Role. You may then choose to make the role permanent or temporary. To make the role permanent, simply click the Update User Role command. To assign the role temporarily, enter or choose an Effective Date (start) and an Expiry Date (end), then click theUpdate User Role command. In that case, the role doesn't work before the Effective Date, nor after the Expiry Date.

To remove a security role, click the red X to the left of the security roles listed below.

Check the Send Notification? command if you would like the system to automatically email the user to inform them of the new security role(s).

When an account is created, it is automatically assigned the Registered Users and Subscribers Security Roles, which are quite limited, but do permit signing into the site. Assign the Administrators role only to users that will be allowed to edit the content of the site.

You can read more about Security Roles by following this link.

Managing Passwords
To manage the password for a user account, click the Manage Password link at the top of the screen and the following page appears:

At the top of the Manage Password page you will see:

• Password Last Changed displays the date of the last password change.
• Password Expires displays the date of the next password change, or "Password does not Expire" if no expiration date has been set.

To change the account password, enter a password into the New Password field, and then repeat the password in the Confirm Password field. Click Change Password to save your change.

To reset the password to a random value (which is emailed to the user), click the Reset Password link.

Managing Profiles
If your site uses account profiles (users must sign into the site to view all content), then you can use the Manage Profile command to fill in all of the available account profile fields. The following screen appears:

Many customizable fields are available for profiles, so the screen capture has been sliced in the middle to save space. Everything from full name and address through a formatted biography field and Time Zone are available. Fill in whichever fields you want, and click the Update link at the bottom to save your changes.

Managing Profile Properties
You can control which fields appear for user profiles by clicking the Manage Profile Properties link at the bottom of the Manage User Credentials page. The following screen appears:

The list on this page contains each of the fields that make up the User Profile. You may completely customize which fields appear. From this screen, you can perform the following tasks:

• Add a new profile property by clicking the Add New Profile Property link at the bottom of the page
• Edit an existing profile property by clicking the blue pencil to the left of any of the fields in the list.
• Delete an existing profile property by clicking the red X in the second column of the list.
• Change the display order of the fields by using the up/down arrow buttons.
• Make the field required entry (cannot be left blank) or optional by checking/unchecking the box in the Required column.
• Show or hide the field by checking/unchecking the box in the Visible column.
• Cancel changes by clicking the Cancel link at the bottom of the list.
• Save your changes by clicking the Apply Changes link near the bottom of the list.
• Refresh the display if you believe your page is out of date by clicking the Refresh Grid command near the bottom of the list.

When you click the Add New Profile Property link, the following page appears:

From this page, you may define the new field as follows:

• Enter a Property Name (such as "First Name" or "Street Address") that is displayed in your field list.
• In the Data Type field, choose the type of data (text, numbers, etc.) that the field will contain.
• Enter a Property Category, which is a label that allows related properties to be grouped when displayed to the user.
• Enter the maximum Length (in characters) that the field will contain. Note that this applies only to some of the Data Types.
• If applicable, enter a Default Value (a value that is prefilled in the field).
• Enter a Regular Expression into the Validation Expression field that can be used to validate the field data (to insure that the user enters a valid value into the field). Note that Regular Expressions are highly technical and are beyond the scope of this document.
• Check the box next to Required if this field must be filled in.
• Check the Visible box if this field will be shown to the users.
• Choose a number from the View Order dropdown to set the display order of the field.
• Click Next to proceed to the next step.
• You may also Return to Profile Properties List to abandon any changes.

After clicking Next, you will be presented with the Manage Localization page:

This step is necessary if your site uses more than one language. This page presents you with the opportunity to enter the visible aspects of the property in each of the languages supported by your site (if applicable). You may:

• Start by choosing a language in the Choose Language dropdown (if available; note that in the screen capture above no language choice is available).
• Enter the Property Name (the label next to the field that is visible to the user) in the selected language.
• Enter a helpful instruction in the Property Help field in the selected language (this instruction becomes visible if the user clicks the blue question mark Help icon next to the field).
• Enter the Category Name in the selected language.
• Click Save Localized Text to save the current language; the page reloads ready for you to choose a different language and repeat the process.
• When you're done, click the Return to Profile Properties List link at the bottom of the page (not shown in the illustration).

When you choose to Edit a Profile Property, the following page appears:

Like the Add New Profile Property page, here you may redefine the field as follows:

• The Property Name field cannot be edited.
• In the Data Type field, choose the type of data (text, numbers, etc.) that the field will contain.
• Enter a Property Category, which is a label that allows related properties to be grouped when displayed to the user.
• Enter the maximum Length (in characters) that the field will contain. Note that this applies only to some of the Data Types.
• If applicable, enter a Default Value (a value that is prefilled in the field).
• Enter a Regular Expression into the Validation Expression field that can be used to validate the field data (to insure that the user enters a valid value into the field). Note that Regular Expressions are highly technical and are beyond the scope of this document.
• Check the box next to Required if this field must be filled in.
• Check the Visible box if this field will be shown to the users.
• Choose a number from the View Order dropdown to set the display order of the field.
• Click Next to proceed to the next step (which is the Localization Settings for the field).
• You may also Return to Profile Properties List to abandon any changes.

User Settings
There are extensive options for managing user accounts in the Content Manager. Depending on your site's configuration, some of the options presented in this section may not be editable. To reach the User Settings page, click the User Settings link on the User Accounts page.

 The first group of options will be locked and cannot be changed for your site. The following are the settings enabled within this group:

• RequiresUniqueEmail forces each user account to have a unique email address. This value is set to false, so an email address can be used for more than one account.
• Password Format determines how the password is stored in the database. In the Content Manager, this option is set to encrypt the passwords when they are stored in the database.
• Password Retrieval Enabled is turned on, so there is an option on the Login screen to retrieve a forgotten password.
• Password Reset Enabled is turned on, so administrators can reset user passwords.
• Minimum Password Length is set to 7 characters.
• Minimum No. of Non AlphaNumeric Characters (such as punctuation symbols) is set to 0, so none are required in the password.
• Requires Question and Answer is disabled, so the system does not require a security question for password retrieval.
• Password Regular Expression is not set, so no special password requirements are defined.
• Maximum No. of Invalid Attempts is set to 5, so accounts will be locked if 5 failed password attempts are tried for account access.
• Invalid Attempt Window (in mins) is set to 10 minutes, so the user gets 5 failed password tries within 10 minutes before an account lockout occurs.

Further down the page are the Password Aging Settings:

You may edit the following:

• Password Expiry (in days) is the number of days that elapses before the account password must be changed (and 0 means never). For enhanced security, we would recommend expiring the passwords approximately every 120 days.
• Password Expiry Reminder will remind the user in advance that they must choose a new password. Enter the number of days warning you would like to provide the user.

The final group of settings are the User Accounts Settings:

.You may change the following:

• Show xyz Column shows the named column in your list of users. Clear the checkboxes to hide columns that are not useful.
• The Default Display Mode lets you choose which group of users to see when the page first opens. Your choices are All users, First Letter users (the first alpabetical group), or None.
• Suppress Pager? lets you choose whether or not to display the paging mechanism when there aren't enough users to require it.
• Default Profile Visibility Mode determines who can see user profiles. Your choices are All Users, Members Only (registered site users), or Admin Only (site administrators).
• Display Profile Visibility allows you to determine if the user is able to hide their profile from other users (not administrators).
• Display Manage Services allows you to determine if the user is able to manage their own services (such as newsletter subscriptions).
• Users per Page allows you to determine how many users are displayed in your list per page.
• Redirect After Login lets you choose which page to send users to after they log in.
• Redirect After Logout lets you choose which page to send users to after they log out.
• Redirect After Registration lets you choose which page to send users to after they register for a new account on your site.
• Use CAPTCHA For Login lets you enable a special feature that makes Logins work only for humans.
• Use CAPTCHA For Registration lets you enable a special feature that makes Registration possible only for humans.
• In the Display Name Format field you may enter special instructions on how to show the Display Name for each account.
• Email Address Validation contains a Regular Expression that allows the system to determine if the value entered is the correct format for an email address. Note that Regular Expressions are highly technical and are beyond the scope of this document.
• Require a valid Profile for Registration lets you decide if users must fill in completely their User Profile in order to register on your site.
• Require a valid Profile for Login lets you decide if users must fill in completely their User Profile in order to login to your site.
• Users display mode in Manage Roles lets you decide to use a Combo Box (recommended) or a Text Box on the Manage Roles page.

Security Roles
In the content manager, Security Roles define sets of privileges granted to a user. There are two categories of Security Roles:

• Public Roles are subscription-based, where users can opt in or out at any time.
• Private Roles are assignable only by administrators.

There are three built-in Security Roles that fit into the two categories:

• Administrators have full access to add, edit, and delete all modules and pages. These users also have full access to your site's administrative pages. This is a private role.
• Registered Users must log into the site to see content (but not change it) that is reserved for signed-in users. When a new user is registered, they are added to this group by default. This is also a private role.
• Subscribers are Registered Users that are also, by default, automatically assigned upon registration. This is a public role.

In addition, there are five so-called "Virtual Roles" that user accounts fit into. Virtual roles are implied, not assigned:

• All Users includes everyone who visits your website, whether an anonymous user or yourself, everyone fits into this role.
• Unauthenticated Users are those site visitors that are not signed in, just browsing.
• Authenticated Users are those users that have signed into the site, regardless of the security roles they are assigned.
• Module Editors describes any user granted privileges to edit the content of one or more modules. This term does not appear within the application anywhere.
• Page Editors describes any user granted privileges to edit the content of one of more pages. This term does not appear within the application anywhere.

To access the Security Roles features, choose the Security Roles command on the Admin menu or click the Roles icon in your site's Control Panel. The following page appears:

This page presents a list of all defined Security Roles. The following actions can be taken here:

• Edit a role by clicking the blue pencil in the first column.
• Manage the users within the role by clicking the user group icon in the second column.
• Add a new Role Group by clicking the Add New Role Group link at the bottom of the page.
• Add a new Role by clicking the Add New Role link at the bottom of the page.
• Edit User Settings by clicking the User Settings link at the bottom of the page.

Adding a New Role Group
A Role Group is a collection of Security Roles organized under a label, called a Group Name. In more complex scenarios where you have numerous Security Roles, it is helpful to use Role Groups to organize the roles and make them easier to assign in groups, as you can later assign a Role Group to a user, granting that user all of its privileges at once. To create a Role Group, click the Add New Role Group link at the bottom of the Security Roles page. The following page appears:

Creating a new Role Group is quite simple, just fill in the following two fields:

• Group Name is the label that names the group. Each Group Name must be unique.
• Description is a textual description of the role, primarily for your own benefit.

When you're done, click the Update link to save your changes or the Cancel link to abandon them.

You will be returned to the list of roles on the Security Roles page. From there, you can filter the list to show your new Role Group. Just above the roles list you will see the following:

From the dropdown, choose your new role. The list will now display the roles assigned to your new role (there will be none to start with). You may then add roles by clicking theAdd New Role link at the bottom of the list.

Adding and Editing Roles
To edit an existing role, click the Add New Role at the bottom of the Security Roles page. To edit an existing role, click the blue pencil in the second column of the Security Roles list. The following page appears:

To define a new role (or edit an existing one), complete the following fields on the form:

• Role Name is the label you provide that clarifies the purpose of the role.
• Description is the textual description of the role. This description is visible to Authenticated Users if the Role is public.
• Choose a Role Group other than < Global Roles > if you'd like to assign this role to a specific Role Group.
• The Public Role? option lets you choose if the role is public. Users can opt-in and -out of public roles, while only administrators can assign private roles.
• The Auto Assignment? checkbox lets you choose if the role is assigned automatically upon new user registration.

There are also a variety of Advanced Settings that are available for Roles. These settings are beyond the scope of this document.

To save your new or edited role, click the Update link; to abandon your changes, click the Cancel link.

Managing Users in Roles
To add or remove users from Security Roles, click the user group icon (circled in the illustration below) next to the appropriate role on the Security Roles page. The following page appears:

 

 After clicking the icon, you will be presented with the following page:

Using this page, you can perform the following tasks:

• Add a new user to the role by choosing the user from the User Name list and click the Add User to Role link.
• You may optionally assign an Effective Date and Expiry Date for the role if the assignment is temporary.
• Check the Send Notification? checkbox to have the system email a notification of role changes.
• In public optional roles, you can remove users from the role by clicking the red x (not pictured in the illustration) to the left of the User Name.