Merdok Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 Hi Guys, I'm setting up a shortURL generator for my blog, at the moment it just uses the articles ID number but obviously that is not secure so before I put it out into the real world I want to convert it into a code (eg: 3sF428EDD3 or something like that), the code needs to be unique for each article and preferably needs to be something that can be converted back into the ID. Although if thats too much of a pain then I don't mind it being one way as I can always just add a 'shortcode' field to the database. Any ideas? Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/198224-generate-an-random-string-from-a-numeric-id/ Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mchl Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 at the moment it just uses the articles ID number but obviously that is not secure Why not? Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/198224-generate-an-random-string-from-a-numeric-id/#findComment-1040027 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merdok Posted April 11, 2010 Author Share Posted April 11, 2010 Just assumed showing the world the ID from the database would be a bad idea. Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/198224-generate-an-random-string-from-a-numeric-id/#findComment-1040029 Share on other sites More sharing options...
PFMaBiSmAd Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 I have the same question. What makes you think that is not secure? Edit: Just assumed showing the world the ID from the database would be a bad idea In programming, you cannot assume anything. You must have a state-able problem before you can solve it. What about showing the world the ID do you think makes it not secure? Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/198224-generate-an-random-string-from-a-numeric-id/#findComment-1040032 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merdok Posted April 11, 2010 Author Share Posted April 11, 2010 To be honest I don't know. I learned PHP at university and my tutor always said not to show people the primary key but now I think about it, he never really told us why. I guess thats my problem solved then Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/198224-generate-an-random-string-from-a-numeric-id/#findComment-1040045 Share on other sites More sharing options...
the182guy Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 To be honest I don't know. I learned PHP at university and my tutor always said not to show people the primary key but now I think about it, he never really told us why. I guess thats my problem solved then The reason your tutor told you that was most likely so if anybody found a vulnerability in your application, they at least may not know the PK of your articles, they may need to work a bit harder to find those out (if you used another mechanism). IMO that is not a good enough reason to justify using a different mechanism for identifying records. Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/198224-generate-an-random-string-from-a-numeric-id/#findComment-1040046 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mchl Posted April 11, 2010 Share Posted April 11, 2010 What he probably was trying to say, is that database IDs should not be on users' interest. You shouldn't have your login form asking for 'User's ID' instead of 'Username' etc. As long as you take precautions against SQL injections, and have proper access control in place, there's no harm in showing these IDs to the world. Look at the url bar on this forums. It will show you a topic id, and also possibly a message id. Click on any users nickname, to see their ID. Is there anything you can do with these numbers? I doubt it. Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/198224-generate-an-random-string-from-a-numeric-id/#findComment-1040047 Share on other sites More sharing options...
Merdok Posted April 11, 2010 Author Share Posted April 11, 2010 Cheers guys, you just made my life easier Link to comment https://forums.phpfreaks.com/topic/198224-generate-an-random-string-from-a-numeric-id/#findComment-1040049 Share on other sites More sharing options...
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