Enable Special Characters in Username

[thunderclap]

My main site is run on vBulletin, but I'm adding a reviews section using jReviews (and Joomla, obviously). In doing so I use jFusion to bridge vBulletin a Joomla users. The problem is some of the 13,000+ registered users have special characters in their username such as an apostrophe, something Joomla doesn't like.

I found some code that could be changed to allow for special characters but this is for Joomla 1.5. I can't find the files to alter in 2.5. So... is there a way?

[studiok]

Hi Thunderclap,

Did you ever find a way to allow special characters in Username in Joomla2.5.
I also have a database to import with usernames which have special characters ('&' in my case).

[thunderclap]

Hi Thunderclap,

Did you ever find a way to allow special characters in Username in Joomla2.5.
I also have a database to import with usernames which have special characters ('&' in my case).

Nope. Still stuck on this one.

[studiok]

I kept looking into this, as it continued to be an issue for me. I was using Community Builder 1.7.1 and CBjuice2 to import users from an old Joomla 1.0 site.

Because I was using Community Builder there seems to be a double validation of Username, the native Joomla2.5 one and a Community builder one.

The Joomla validation is controlled by 3 files:

libraries/joomla/database/table/user.php - line 197
media/system/js/validate.js - line 5
media/system/js/validate-uncompressed.js - line 33

In user.php you should see on line 197 this following code:

Code: Select all

if (preg_match("#[<>\"'%;()&]#i", $this->username) || strlen(utf8_decode($this->username)) < 2)
		{
			$this->setError(JText::sprintf('JLIB_DATABASE_ERROR_VALID_AZ09', 2));
			return false;
		}

In my case I just wanted to allow '&' be used so removed it from the first line. For my following example I am just removing & but you should be able to remove whichever character you want to allow.

The compressed javascript is the one I believe Joomla uses, the uncompressed is for development, but I changed both none the less.
In validate.js you will see on the 5th line:

Code: Select all

this.setHandler("username",function(a){regex=/[<|>|"|'|%|;|(|)|&]/i;return!regex.test(a)})

From here I removed the '|&' from the end of the regex condition.

In validate-uncompressed.js on line 33 (code shows 31-36):

Code: Select all

this.setHandler('username',
			function (value) {
				regex = new RegExp("[\<|\>|\"|\'|\%|\;|\(|\)|\&]", "i");
				return !regex.test(value);
			}
		);

I removed '|\&'
Changing those 3 files allows you to create a Username with an '&' in it, through the normal joomla User manager.


However I was using Community Builder and could still not use the &. With a lot of searching I found an old post using Joomla 1.0 and CB (http://forum.joomla.org/viewtopic.php?t=26472) which helped point me in the right direction.

If using Community Builder there are 2 files you must change.

1. components\com_comprofiler\comprofiler.html.php - lines 217, 225, 1224, 1232
You will see the RegExp like

Code: Select all

var r = new RegExp("[\<|\>|\"|\'|\%|\;|\(|\)|\&]", "i");

and should remove the |\& from it in all four lines.

2. administrator\components\com_comprofiler\view\view.user.php - line 100, 108
Again you will see the RegExp like

Code: Select all

var r = new RegExp("^[\<|\>|\"|\'|\%|\;|\(|\)|\&|\+|\-]*$", "i");

and should remove the |\& from both lines.

Note that this just allowed me upload users with CBjuice2 and allowed '&' in username, however if you try to change anything in the community builder interface it will still not allow special characters in the username.

There must be a javascript file checking the Username, I am yet to find it, possibly something to do with 'components\com_comprofiler\js\jquery-1.5.2\jquery.validate.js' as this file is called when editing a user in CB.

Hope this helps anyone with this problem.

[humvee]

[Mod note: Moved from Admin Forum to 2.5 Code Forum as this is specifically about trying to locate specific functionality of the core code;]
As a sideline be aware that any amendments to the core code may be subsequently overwritten during a future update thereby returning the site to its original restrictions and you might also look to introduce these changes by creating custom Extensions (if none already exist).

[francota]

Hello studiok
I need users are able to use & in their username.
First of all I modified the rule of joomla core to accept the character &.
Than I followed your suggestion to modify the file of CB, but sill I have the problem when I register user with &, infact CB answer me:"Please enter a valid Username:. No spaces, more than 2 characters and contain 0-9,a-z,A-Z"

I think the problem now is in the "components\com_comprofiler\js\jquery-1.5.2\jquery.validate.js" How you sayd
Did you find what to change in jquery.validate.js???
I opened that file but I didnt understand what change

I hope in your help
Thanks
Frank