# How to Access $user from a Page Model?

**URL:** <https://forum.getkirby.com/t/how-to-access-user-from-a-page-model/3888>\
**Category:** Questions\
**Tags:** v2\
**Created:** [April 17, 2016, 2:38am UTC](https://forum.getkirby.com/t/how-to-access-user-from-a-page-model/3888 "2016-04-17T02:38:46Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 9\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![luxlogica](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/forum.getkirby.com/luxlogica/32/437_2.png) [@luxlogica](https://forum.getkirby.com/u/luxlogica)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 2:38am UTC](https://forum.getkirby.com/t/how-to-access-user-from-a-page-model/3888/1 "2016-04-17T02:38:46Z")

</div>

I need to get the name of a user from inside a Page Model. Based on [a very helpful post](https://forum.getkirby.com/t/is-there-a-way-to-access-site-from-a-page-model/1557) from @texnixe, I tried this:

```auto
<?php
	
	class ArticlePage extends Page { 
		
		public function author_name(){
			if($user = kirby()->site()->user()){
				return $user->username();
			} else {
				return "USER UNKNOWN";
			}
		}
	} 

```

Unfortunately, this gives me “USER UNKNOWN” every time. I’ve also already tried: `$this->site()->user()`, and just `site()->user()`, they don’t work, either.

I know that it’s getting the `site` object without problems, because even if I try just `site()->title()`, it works. It seems it just can’t get the `user` object… Am I missing something obvious?

All guidance is much appreciated!

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![luxlogica](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/forum.getkirby.com/luxlogica/32/437_2.png) [@luxlogica](https://forum.getkirby.com/u/luxlogica)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 4:38am UTC](https://forum.getkirby.com/t/how-to-access-user-from-a-page-model/3888/2 "2016-04-17T04:38:53Z")

</div>

Ok, it seems I can get the `$users` collection, but not the currently logged-in `$user`:

```
<?php

class ArticlePage extends Page { 

    public function testdump(){
		
    $output = '';
		
        $user = site()->user();
	$usertype = gettype($user);
	$output .= isset($user) ? "<br>USER is set - it is type {$usertype}." : "<br>USER is NOT set.";
		
	$parentuser = parent::site()->user();
	$parentusertype = gettype($parentuser);
	$output .= isset($parentuser) ? "<br>PARENTUSER is set - it is type {$parentusertype}." : "<br>PARENTUSER is NOT set.";
		
	$users = site()->users();
	$userstype = gettype($users);
	$output .= isset($users) ? "<br>USERS is set - it is type {$userstype}." : "<br>USERS is NOT set.";
		
	$firstuser = site()->users()->first();
	$firstusertype = gettype($firstuser);
	$output .= isset($firstuser) ? "<br>FIRSTUSER is set - it is type {$firstusertype}." : "<br>FIRSTUSER is NOT set.";
		
	$curruser = site()->users()->first()->current();
	$currusertype = gettype($curruser);
	$output .= isset($curruser) ? "<br>CURRUSER is set - it is type {$currusertype}." : "<br>CURRUSER is NOT set.";
		
	$knownuser = site()->users()->find('administrator');
	$knownusertype = gettype($knownuser);
	$output .= isset($curruser) ? "<br>KNOWNUSER is set - it is type {$knownusertype}." : "<br>KNOWNUSER is NOT set.";
		
	$output .= "<br> KNOWNUSER NAME: {$knownuser->firstName()} {$knownuser->lastName()}.";
		
	return $output;
		
    }
}

```

The output is:

```auto
USER is set - it is type boolean.
PARENTUSER is set - it is type boolean.
USERS is set - it is type object.
FIRSTUSER is set - it is type object.
CURRUSER is set - it is type boolean.
KNOWNUSER is set - it is type object.
KNOWNUSER NAME: Site Administrator.

```

This is fine for my current purposes right now - I can easily use `site()->users()->find()` to get what I need - but I’m wondering whether the inability to get the current user inside a Page Model is by design, or by accident? Should it be reported as a bug? Am I missing something?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pedroborges](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/forum.getkirby.com/pedroborges/32/7038_2.png) [@pedroborges](https://forum.getkirby.com/u/pedroborges)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 9:46am UTC](https://forum.getkirby.com/t/how-to-access-user-from-a-page-model/3888/3 "2016-04-17T09:46:38Z")

</div>

`site()->user()` returns the currently logged in user, otherwise it will return `false`.

```php
if ($user = site()->user()) {
  return $user; // returns username when converted to string
} else {
  // no user logged in
}

```

I tried the above on a model and it worked.

What do you want to achieve?

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lukasbestle](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/forum.getkirby.com/lukasbestle/32/11437_2.png) [@lukasbestle](https://forum.getkirby.com/u/lukasbestle)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 10:47am UTC](https://forum.getkirby.com/t/how-to-access-user-from-a-page-model/3888/4 "2016-04-17T10:47:36Z")

</div>

Given that you are creating a model for an article template, wouldn’t you want to store the author in a field from the Panel? Your code would always return the currently logged in user, which will mean that every visitor will see no author.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![luxlogica](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/forum.getkirby.com/luxlogica/32/437_2.png) [@luxlogica](https://forum.getkirby.com/u/luxlogica)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 3:19pm UTC](https://forum.getkirby.com/t/how-to-access-user-from-a-page-model/3888/5 "2016-04-17T15:19:00Z")

</div>

@lukasbestle Indeed, that is what I’m doing: storing the username - but for display on the article page and blogroll, I’d like to show firstName & lastName instead.

@pedroborges if you have a look at my test code above, you’ll see that I’ve already tried `site()->user()`, and it didn’t work - I get a Boolean instead of the current user.

For my current scenario, the solution I came across was fine - I’ve been able to get firstName & lastName from the stored username. But I found it strange that you cannot get the current user inside the model - there would be other types of models (which might deal with private access content) that might have computed properties that need to check the current user. I guess this type of code in most cases might be better either in a controller, or plugin, but I still find it odd you can’t do it from the model.

Unless I’ve missed something…

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![lukasbestle](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/forum.getkirby.com/lukasbestle/32/11437_2.png) [@lukasbestle](https://forum.getkirby.com/u/lukasbestle)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 3:56pm UTC](https://forum.getkirby.com/t/how-to-access-user-from-a-page-model/3888/6 "2016-04-17T15:56:28Z")

</div>

But then you don’t want to get the current user but the user object of the username that was stored for the article:

```auto
<?php

class ArticlePage extends Page { 
  public $author;
  
  public function author() {
    if($this->author !== null) return $this->author;
    
    try {
      $user = new User(parent::author());
    } catch(\Exception $e) {
      $user = false;
    }
    
    return $this->author = $user;
  }
}

```

This solution requires that the author’s username is stored in the `author` field. The model method will then return the appropriate user object so that you can output the name of the user.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![pedroborges](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/forum.getkirby.com/pedroborges/32/7038_2.png) [@pedroborges](https://forum.getkirby.com/u/pedroborges)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 4:37pm UTC](https://forum.getkirby.com/t/how-to-access-user-from-a-page-model/3888/7 "2016-04-17T16:37:32Z")

</div>

> [@luxlogica](#):
>
> I get a Boolean instead of the current user.

That’s because there was no user authenticated. With an authenticated user you would get an object that return `true` inside a conditional statement. That’s why I asked what specifically you were trying to achieve, @lukasbestle has the answer above.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![luxlogica](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/forum.getkirby.com/luxlogica/32/437_2.png) [@luxlogica](https://forum.getkirby.com/u/luxlogica)\
**Post date:** [April 17, 2016, 11:02pm UTC](https://forum.getkirby.com/t/how-to-access-user-from-a-page-model/3888/8 "2016-04-17T23:02:17Z")

</div>

@lukasbestle thank you for your solution, but as I’d shown in my second post above, I had already found a single-line solution using:

```auto
$useraccount = site()->users()->find($this->author());

```

This is the test for `KNOWNUSER` above, and it works in this scenario, because I have the username stored. It’s a single-line solution, which will always work in this case, as the “author” field is a required User field. The entire function inside the model then becomes just:

```
public function authorname(){
  $useraccount = site()->users()->find($this->author());
  return $useraccount->firstName() . ' ' . $useraccount->lastName();
}

```

@pedroborges I am, indeed, already authenticated. If I put code in the _controller_ to get `site()->user()`, it gets an object. If the same code is put into the _model_, it gets a boolean (a falsy value, I assume). I’m calling the code from the same situation: _while I’m logged in_.

As I explained above, the model seems to be able to get `site()->users()`, but not `site()->user()`. If I’m indeed doing something wrong, please feel free to point it out to me.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![distantnative](https://dub1.discourse-cdn.com/flex017/user_avatar/forum.getkirby.com/distantnative/32/11319_2.png) [@distantnative](https://forum.getkirby.com/u/distantnative)\
**Post date:** [February 6, 2025, 4:59pm UTC](https://forum.getkirby.com/t/how-to-access-user-from-a-page-model/3888/9 "2025-02-06T16:59:46Z")

</div>