Using email address to validate users...

Hi,

You know when you register with forums such as this one, they send you an e-mail address and ask you to click on a link to complete the registration. This is to filter out bogus registrations I imagine. I was just wondering how is this achieved in practice? What do you put into the link that you send the user so that you can know when they navigate back via the link that they are a valid user? I would like to add the same technique to my own web site.

Any ideas greatly appreciated.

/jlar

PHP 6 and MySQL 5 for Dynamic Web Sites: Visual QuickPro Guide by Larry Ullman has a very good tutorial on a register script with that feature.

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/218c4kzUJHL._SL500_BO2,204,203,200_PIlitb-dp-500-arrow,TopRight,45,-64_OU01_AA198_SH20_.jpg

No advertising please


------------------------------

This is a very simple method, may have some flaws, feel free to ask them-


After filling up the validated form for registration, link with some randomly generated characters(alphanumeric or special characters, decide your combination) could be sent to the user in email at email address specified.

That randomly generated combination of characters are to be stored in the database for that User.

If the link is being clicked which is passed in the email, and the character combination sent in that URL is same with database for that User then make that user active, by updating User table and 'user_active' column as 'Yes'.