Login with Twitter using PHP

Nowadays, the big form is not a preferred way to register the user on the website. It’s always recommended to make the registration process short and simple for web users. The quick signup process helps to increase the subscriber number on your website. Login with Social media account is the quickest way to add a short sign-up process on the website. Twitter is one of the most popular social network on the internet and millions of users are registered with Twitter. Sign in with Twitter is a quick and simple way to integrate the user login system on the web application.

Twitter API allows the website visitors to log in with their Twitter account without register on your website. Twitter OAuth PHP Library helps the web developer to integrate Twitter login system in a quick, easy, and powerful way. In this tutorial, we’ll show how to implement user Login with Twitter API and store the user profile information into the MySQL database using PHP. In the example Twitter login script, we will go through the complete process to create Twitter Apps and implement sign in with twitter using PHP. The Twitter OAuth PHP library will be used in our script that supports OAuth for Twitter’s REST API.

Before you begin to integrate the Twitter OAuth login, take a look at the files structure.

twitter_login_php/
├── config.php
├── index.php
├── logout.php
├── User.class.php
├── twitter-oauth-php/
├── images/
│   ├── twitter-login-btn.png
└── css/
    └── style.css

Create Twitter App

To access Twitter API you need to create a Twitter App and specify the Consumer key & Consumer secret at the time of calling the Twitter API. If you haven’t already created a Twitter App, follow the below steps to create and configure a Twitter App from the Application Management page.

• Go to the Twitter Developer account and log in with your Twitter account.
• Click the Create an app button. Before creating a Twitter App you need to Apply for a Developer account. If you don’t have already a Twitter Developer account, provide the required details to apply. Once your developer account is approved by Twitter, create a New App.
  • Name: Your application Name. This is shown to the user in Twitter OAuth dialog.
  • Description: Your application Description. This is shown to the user while authorizing.
  • Website URL: Your web application URL.
  • Callback URL(*): After authorization, this URL is loaded with oauth_token.
• Change the apps permission to Read and Write or Read, Write and Access direct messages. For changing the apps permission, you need to add a mobile number to your twitter account.

Once Twitter App creation is completed, click on Test OAuth for testing OAuth. After testing you would be redirected to the OAuth Settings page. Switch to Keys and tokens tab, you’ll see the Consumer API keys are generated. Copy this API key (Consumer key) and API secret key (Consumer secret) for later use in the script.

Create Database Table

To store the user profile information from the Twitter account, a table needs to be created in the database. The following SQL creates a users table with some basic fields in the MySQL database.

CREATE TABLE `users` (
 `id` int(11) NOT NULL AUTO_INCREMENT,
 `oauth_provider` enum('','facebook','google','twitter') COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL DEFAULT 'twitter',
 `oauth_uid` varchar(50) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
 `first_name` varchar(25) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
 `last_name` varchar(25) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
 `email` varchar(25) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
 `gender` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci DEFAULT NULL,
 `locale` varchar(10) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
 `picture` varchar(200) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
 `username` varchar(50) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
 `link` varchar(100) COLLATE utf8_unicode_ci NOT NULL,
 `created` datetime NOT NULL,
 `modified` datetime NOT NULL,
 PRIMARY KEY (`id`)
) ENGINE=InnoDB DEFAULT CHARSET=utf8 COLLATE=utf8_unicode_ci;

Twitter OAuth Library for PHP

The twitter-oauth-php/ directory contains the Twitter OAuth library that helps to integrate Twitter API with PHP. You don’t need to download the Twitter PHP OAuth library separately, all the required files are included in our Twitter Login PHP source code.

User Class (User.class.php)

The User class handles the database related operations (connect, insert, and update) using PHP and MySQL. It used to connect the database and insert/update Twitter account data in the users table.

• __construct() – Connect to the MySQL database.
• checkUser() – Insert or update the user profile data based on the OAuth provider and ID. Returns the user’s account data as an array.

<?php 
/* 
 * User Class 
 * This class is used for database related (connect, insert, and update) operations 
 * @author    CodexWorld.com 
 * @url        http://www.codexworld.com 
 * @license    http://www.codexworld.com/license 
 */ 
 
class User { 
    private $dbHost     = DB_HOST; 
    private $dbUsername = DB_USERNAME; 
    private $dbPassword = DB_PASSWORD; 
    private $dbName     = DB_NAME; 
    private $userTbl    = DB_USER_TBL; 
     
    function __construct(){ 
        if(!isset($this->db)){ 
            // Connect to the database 
            $conn = new mysqli($this->dbHost, $this->dbUsername, $this->dbPassword, $this->dbName); 
            if($conn->connect_error){ 
                die("Failed to connect with MySQL: " . $conn->connect_error); 
            }else{ 
                $this->db = $conn; 
            } 
        } 
    } 
     
    function checkUser($data = array()){  
        if(!empty($data)){  
            // Check whether the user already exists in the database  
            $checkQuery = "SELECT * FROM ".$this->userTbl." WHERE oauth_provider = '".$data['oauth_provider']."' AND oauth_uid = '".$data['oauth_uid']."'";  
            $checkResult = $this->db->query($checkQuery);  
              
            // Add modified time to the data array  
            if(!array_key_exists('modified',$data)){  
                $data['modified'] = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");  
            }  
              
            if($checkResult->num_rows > 0){  
                // Prepare column and value format  
                $colvalSet = '';  
                $i = 0;  
                foreach($data as $key=>$val){  
                    $pre = ($i > 0)?', ':'';  
                    $colvalSet .= $pre.$key."='".$this->db->real_escape_string($val)."'";  
                    $i++;  
                }  
                $whereSql = " WHERE oauth_provider = '".$data['oauth_provider']."' AND oauth_uid = '".$data['oauth_uid']."'";  
                  
                // Update user data in the database  
                $query = "UPDATE ".$this->userTbl." SET ".$colvalSet.$whereSql;  
                $update = $this->db->query($query);  
            }else{  
                // Add created time to the data array  
                if(!array_key_exists('created',$data)){  
                    $data['created'] = date("Y-m-d H:i:s");  
                }  
                  
                // Prepare column and value format  
                $columns = $values = '';  
                $i = 0;  
                foreach($data as $key=>$val){  
                    $pre = ($i > 0)?', ':'';  
                    $columns .= $pre.$key;  
                    $values  .= $pre."'".$this->db->real_escape_string($val)."'";  
                    $i++;  
                }  
                  
                // Insert user data in the database  
                $query = "INSERT INTO ".$this->userTbl." (".$columns.") VALUES (".$values.")";  
                $insert = $this->db->query($query);  
            }  
              
            // Get user data from the database  
            $result = $this->db->query($checkQuery);  
            $userData = $result->fetch_assoc();  
        }  
          
        // Return user data  
        return !empty($userData)?$userData:false;  
    } 
}

Site Settings and API Configuration (config.php)

In the config.php file, The constant variables are defined for database settings and Twitter API configuration.
Database Constants:

• DB_HOST – Specify the database host.
• DB_USERNAME – Specify the database username.
• DB_PASSWORD – Specify the database password.
• DB_NAME – Specify the database name.
• DB_USER_TBL – Specify the table name where the user’s account data will be stored.

Twitter API Constants:

• TW_CONSUMER_KEY – Specify the Twitter App ID.
• TW_CONSUMER_SECRET – Specify the Twitter App Secret.
• TW_REDIRECT_URL – Specify the Callback URL.

Call Twitter API:

• The PHP OAuth library is used to connect with Twitter API and working with OAuth client.

<?php 
/* 
 * Basic Site Settings and API Configuration 
 */ 
 
// Database configuration 
define('DB_HOST', 'MySQL_Database_Host'); 
define('DB_USERNAME', 'MySQL_Database_Username'); 
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'MySQL_Database_Password'); 
define('DB_NAME', 'MySQL_Database_Name'); 
define('DB_USER_TBL', 'users'); 
 
// Twitter API configuration 
define('TW_CONSUMER_KEY', 'Insert_Twitter_API_Key'); 
define('TW_CONSUMER_SECRET', 'Insert_Twitter_API_Secret'); 
define('TW_REDIRECT_URL', 'Callback_URL'); 
 
// Start session 
if(!session_id()){ 
    session_start(); 
} 
 
// Include Twitter client library  
require_once 'twitter-oauth-php/twitteroauth.php';

Note that: You’ll get the Consumer Key and Consumer Secret from Keys and tokens page of your Twitter App.

Login & Get Twitter Account Data (index.php)

This file handles the Twitter API authentication process using PHP.

• Initially, the authentication URL is generated using getAuthorizeURL() method of TwitterOAuth class and Sign in with Twitter button is displayed on the web page.
• If the user authenticates with their Twitter account, the following happens:
  • The profile information is fetched from the Twitter account using Twitter API.
  • The account data is inserted into the database using checkUser() function of the User class.
  • The user’s account information is stored in the SESSION.
  • The Twitter profile details (First name, Last name, Username, Locale, Picture, and Profile link) is displayed on the webpage.
• Also, the latest tweets and tweet posting form will be displayed.
  • Using the Tweet form, the logged-in user will be able to post Tweet from the website to their Twitter account.

<?php 
// Include configuration file 
require_once 'config.php'; 
 
// Include User class 
require_once 'User.class.php'; 
 
// If OAuth token not matched 
if(isset($_REQUEST['oauth_token']) && $_SESSION['token'] !== $_REQUEST['oauth_token']){ 
    //Remove token from session 
    unset($_SESSION['token']); 
    unset($_SESSION['token_secret']); 
} 
 
// If user already verified  
if(isset($_SESSION['status']) && $_SESSION['status'] == 'verified' && !empty($_SESSION['request_vars'])){ 
    //Retrive variables from session 
    $username         = $_SESSION['request_vars']['screen_name']; 
    $twitterId        = $_SESSION['request_vars']['user_id']; 
    $oauthToken       = $_SESSION['request_vars']['oauth_token']; 
    $oauthTokenSecret = $_SESSION['request_vars']['oauth_token_secret']; 
    $name             = $_SESSION['userData']['first_name'].' '.$_SESSION['userData']['last_name']; 
    $profilePicture   = $_SESSION['userData']['picture']; 
     
    /* 
     * Prepare output to show to the user 
     */ 
    $twClient = new TwitterOAuth(TW_CONSUMER_KEY, TW_CONSUMER_SECRET, $oauthToken, $oauthTokenSecret); 
     
    //If user submits a tweet to post to twitter 
    if(isset($_POST["updateme"])){ 
        $my_update = $twClient->post('statuses/update', array('status' => $_POST["updateme"])); 
    } 
     
    // Display username and logout link 
    $output = '<div class="welcome_txt">Welcome <strong>'.$username.'</strong> (Twitter ID : '.$twitterId.'). <a href="logout.php">Logout</a>!</div>'; 
     
    // Display profile iamge and tweet form 
    $output .= '<div class="tweet_box">'; 
    $output .= '<div class="left">'; 
    $output .= '<img src="'.$profilePicture.'" width="120" height="110"/>'; 
    $output .= '<p>'.$name.'</p>'; 
    $output .= '</div>'; 
    $output .= '<form method="post" action=""><table width="200" border="0" cellpadding="3">'; 
    $output .= '<tr>'; 
    $output .= '<td><textarea name="updateme" cols="60" rows="4"></textarea></td>'; 
    $output .= '</tr>'; 
    $output .= '<tr>'; 
    $output .= '<td><input type="submit" value="Tweet" /></td>'; 
    $output .= '</tr></table></form>'; 
    $output .= '</div>'; 
     
    // Get latest tweets 
    $myTweets = $twClient->get('statuses/user_timeline', array('screen_name' => $username, 'count' => 5)); 
     
    // Display the latest tweets 
    $output .= '<div class="tweet_list"><strong>Latest Tweets : </strong>'; 
    $output .= '<ul>'; 
    foreach($myTweets  as $tweet){ 
        $output .= '<li>'.$tweet->text.' <br />-<i>'.$tweet->created_at.'</i></li>'; 
    } 
    $output .= '</ul></div>'; 
}elseif(isset($_REQUEST['oauth_token']) && $_SESSION['token'] == $_REQUEST['oauth_token']){ 
    // Call Twitter API 
    $twClient = new TwitterOAuth(TW_CONSUMER_KEY, TW_CONSUMER_SECRET, $_SESSION['token'] , $_SESSION['token_secret']); 
     
    // Get OAuth token 
    $access_token = $twClient->getAccessToken($_REQUEST['oauth_verifier']); 
     
    // If returns success 
    if($twClient->http_code == '200'){ 
        // Storing access token data into session 
        $_SESSION['status'] = 'verified'; 
        $_SESSION['request_vars'] = $access_token; 
         
        // Get user profile data from twitter 
        $userInfo = $twClient->get('account/verify_credentials'); 
         
        // Initialize User class 
        $user = new User(); 
         
        // Getting user's profile data 
        $name = explode(" ",$userInfo->name); 
        $fname = isset($name[0])?$name[0]:''; 
        $lname = isset($name[1])?$name[1]:''; 
        $profileLink = 'https://twitter.com/'.$userInfo->screen_name; 
        $twUserData = array( 
            'oauth_uid'     => $userInfo->id, 
            'first_name'    => $fname, 
            'last_name'     => $lname, 
            'locale'        => $userInfo->lang, 
            'picture'       => $userInfo->profile_image_url, 
            'link'          => $profileLink, 
            'username'      => $userInfo->screen_name 
        ); 
         
        // Insert or update user data to the database 
        $twUserData['oauth_provider'] = 'twitter'; 
        $userData = $user->checkUser($twUserData); 
         
        // Storing user data into session 
        $_SESSION['userData'] = $userData; 
         
        // Remove oauth token and secret from session 
        unset($_SESSION['token']); 
        unset($_SESSION['token_secret']); 
         
        // Redirect the user back to the same page 
        header('Location: ./'); 
    }else{ 
        $output = '<h3 style="color:red">Some problem occurred, please try again.</h3>'; 
    } 
}else{ 
    // Fresh authentication 
    $twClient = new TwitterOAuth(TW_CONSUMER_KEY, TW_CONSUMER_SECRET); 
    $request_token = $twClient->getRequestToken(TW_REDIRECT_URL); 
     
    // Received token info from twitter 
    $_SESSION['token']         = $request_token['oauth_token']; 
    $_SESSION['token_secret']= $request_token['oauth_token_secret']; 
     
    // If authentication returns success 
    if($twClient->http_code == '200'){ 
        // Get twitter oauth url 
        $authUrl = $twClient->getAuthorizeURL($request_token['oauth_token']); 
         
        // Display twitter login button 
        $output = '<a href="'.filter_var($authUrl, FILTER_SANITIZE_URL).'"><img src="images/twitter-login-btn.png" /></a>'; 
    }else{ 
        $output = '<h3 style="color:red">Error connecting to Twitter! Try again later!</h3>'; 
    } 
} 
?>

<!DOCTYPE html>
<html lang="en-US">
<head>
<title>Login with Twitter using PHP by CodexWorld</title>
<meta charset="utf-8">
</head>
<body>
<div class="container">
    <!-- Display login button / Twitter profile information -->
    <?php echo $output; ?>
</div>
</body>
</html>

Logout (logout.php)

The logout.php file is used to log the user out from the Twitter account.

• Remove access token, token secret and user data from the SESSION.
• Redirect the user to the homepage.

<?php 
// Start session 
if(!session_id()){ 
    session_start(); 
} 
 
// Remove user data from session 
unset($_SESSION['userData']); 
 
// Destroy all session data 
session_destroy(); 
 
// Redirect to the homepage 
header("Location:index.php"); 
?>

Retrieve User Email from Twitter Account

Generally, Twitter doesn’t return the user’s email after authentication. To get the user’s Email Address with Twitter API, your application needs to be whitelisted by Twitter. To get and store the user email address, follow the below steps.

• Use this form to submit your request. It will take some times please be patient.
• Once whitelisted, the Request email addresses from users checkbox will be available under Additional permissions section on Permissions tab.
  • You need to add a Terms of Service URL and Privacy Policy URL in App details to enable additional permissions.
  
• In the index.php file, add include_email parameter in get() function. To do that, replace the $userInfo variable value with the following line of code.

  $userInfo = $twClient->get('account/verify_credentials', ['include_email' => 'true']);

• Now you will be able to get the user email address from Twitter using $userInfo->email. Add the user’s email ($userInfo->email) in $twUserData array.

  $twUserData = array(
      'oauth_uid'     => $userInfo->id,
      'first_name'    => $fname,
      'last_name'     => $lname,
      'email'         => $userInfo->email,
      'locale'        => $userInfo->lang,
      'picture'       => $userInfo->profile_image_url,
      'link'          => $profileLink,
      'username'      => $userInfo->screen_name
  );

The email field already added to the users table, so, you don’t need to alter the database table structure.

Login with Twitter in CodeIgniter

Conclusion

We’ve tried to make the Twitter login integration process simple as much as possible. Using our script, you can easily add Twitter login system to your website using PHP and MySQL. All the required files are included in our source code including Twitter OAuth Library. You only need to configure some minimal settings to integrate Sign in with Twitter using OAuth client and PHP.