Custom login block that redirects to password protected page that is not published otherwise

Question

I realize that there are many ways and modules to accomplish this with, but this is the one particular way I need it and I'm having trouble finding a good solution. So here is what I'd like to achieve:

A custom block on a page with username and password fields. After entering the right combination (it'll be just one pair probably), the form would redirect the visitor to a content page that is unpublished.

Logged in visitors should not be Drupal users, nor should they go through a registration process. Certain people will know the right user/pass combo and only they should be able to access the protected page.

The Protected Pages module doesn't create a login block, password input only possible on the actual page that is protected.

I tought about creating a custom module with a form that would redirect after entering the right user/pass combo, but if the destination node is unpublished, it won't work anyway.

Do you have any good ideas for this one?

Thank you, Bálint

Answer 1

Giving users permission to view unpublished content could potentially be a security risk, and it's not (easily) possible to restrict it to just viewing a particular content type.

Why not publish the node, but only allow users with a certain role be able to view them using the Content Access module.

Then create a few accounts with this role, setting the usernames and passwords yourself.

Then just use the standard Drupal login form but then alter the redirect once logged in with hook_user_login:

function hook_user_login(&$edit, $account) {
    if (in_array('your_role', $account->roles)) {
        $edit['redirect'] = 'node/123';
    }
}

By creating the accounts this way it means you can use the main Drupal authentication system so reducing the amount of work that you need to do...