How to get URL parameters values inside access callback

Question

I have a link looking like this:

members/get-certificate/<user_id>/<group_id>/<pass date>

The access callback should work like this:

if($user->uid == <user_id>)
{
    //any user can get his own certificate
    <generate certificate>
}
else
{
    //user with low admin priviledges can generate a certificate for any user
    if (user_access('low admin task'))
    {
        <generate certificate>
    }
    else
    {
        print "Access denied";
    }
}

In hook_menu I wrote this:

$items['members/get-certificate'] = array(
    'page callback'    => 'members_get_certificate',
    'access callback' => 'members_access_get_certificate',
    'access arguments' => array('access content', $user_id),
    'type' => MENU_CALLBACK,
    );

Access callback

function members_access_get_certificate($permission, $user_id)
{
    global $user;

    if ($user_id != $user->uid)
    {
        if (!user_access('low admin task'))
        {
            return false;
        }
    }

    return true;
}

Page callback

function members_get_certificate($user_id, $group_id, $pass_date)
{
    //generate certificate
}

Problem

Unfortunately, $user_id is undefined in members_access_get_certificate and I am unable to do the validation. How can I pass the parameter from URL into the callback?

Answer 1

You can specify arguments in the URL path you are registering by using the "%" character:

$items['members/get-certificate/%'] = array( ... );

You can then pass the argument value to your page callback and/or your access callback by specifying which segment of the URL path to pass. The segments are the parts of the path separated by "/" characters, and you start counting them from 0. So to pass the value of '%' from the above example, you will specify the integer value 2 in your 'access arguments' value:

  'access arguments' => array('access content', 2),

So when a user attempts to access the path 'members/get-certificate/30', the access callback will be passed the argument values 'access content' and '30'. The callback you provided would then have the correct intended values.

Here then is your hook_menu item definition, corrected as outlined above:

$items['members/get-certificate/%'] = array(
    'page callback'    => 'members_get_certificate',
    'access callback' => 'members_access_get_certificate',
    'access arguments' => array('access content', 2),
    'type' => MENU_CALLBACK,
    );