How to add more information to Yii::app()->user

Tutorials

CWebUser, authentication

By default, the expression Yii::app()->user returns a [CWebUser] [application component](http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/guide/basics.application#application-component) which can be used to storrepresents the information that are closely related with the current user and should. Some information can be persistent throughout the current user session. For example, [CWebUser] already comes with a [name|CWebUser::name] property that stores the username of the current user. In order to store more information, we need to modify the [identity|ICUserIdentity] class used together with [CWebUser]. Each application may have one or several identity classes which are mainly responsible to provide ways of performing user [authentication](http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/guide/topics.auth).

Here we use the `UserIdentity` class included in the `testdrive` application as an example, assuming our goal is to add the ID and the last login time of the user to [CWebUser]. We would modify `UserIdentity` as follows,{
$this->_id=$user->id;
$this->setState('lastLoginTime=', $user->lastLoginTime);
$this->errorCode=self::ERROR_NONE;
}return $this->_id;
}
} public function getLastLoginTime()
 
{
 
return $this->getState('```
 
 
In the above, during authentication we retrieve the ID and the lastL loginT time');
 
}
 

 
public function setLastLoginTime($value)
 
{
 
return $this->setState('lastLoginTime',$value);
 
}
 
}
 
```
 
 
In the above we define a `lastLoginTime` property with getter/setter methods. We also override the `getId()` method to return a private variable. The reason that the `id` property is not defined like information of the authenticated user. We save the ID in a private variable `$_id` and save `lastLoginTime` in a state by calling `setState()`. The reason that we use different approaches to save `id` and `lastLoginTime` is because `id` is a pre-defined property in [CUserIdentity] andthat is recognized by [CWebUser]. If we need to addwant to store more information, we should follow the way of defining `lastLoginTime`.
 
 
In the `authenticate()` method, we retrieve the user record according to the provided username. We populate thuse `setState()`, like we do with `lastLoginTime`.
 
 
We also override the `getId()` method to return the private variable `$_id` and `lastLoginTime` properties if we find such a user record whose password matches the provided password (meaning successful authentication). The parent implementation is to return the username.

That's all we need. Now if we want to retrieve the `id` or `lastLoginTime` information in our code, we can do the following:```php
$id=Yii::app()->user->id;
$lastLoginTime=Yii::app()->user->getState('lastLoginTime'); // starting from 1.0.3 you can use the following:
 
// $lastLoginTime=Yii::app()->user->lastLoginTime;
 
``````
 
 
> Note: When cookie-based authentication is enabled (by setting [CWebUser::allowAutoLogin] to be true), these persistent information will be stored in cookie. Therefore, you should NOT store sensitive information (e.g. password) like we do in the above.
 
 
**Related article**  
 
The method explained above stores the user data into session or cookies when the user authenticates, there is another method of retrieveing user information from database directly:  
 
[Add information to Yii::app()->user by extending CWebUser](http://www.yiiframework.com/doc/cookbook/60/)