In a new entry on his blog today, Matthew looks to answer and help those once and for all wondering how to handle user authentication and persistence in their Zend Framework applications.

The typical issue is that they're unsure how to combine: an authentication adapter, a login form, a controller for login/logout actions and checking for an authenticated user in subsequent requests. It's not terribly difficult, but it does require knowing how the various pieces of the MVC fit together, and how to use Zend_Auth. Let's take a look.

He gives the complete code for a loin controller to cover most of that functionality and an example showing how to check for and keep track of which users have been authenticated.