CodeIgniter Web App + Public Site - php

Question

I'm working on a project where the following are in development:
public info website with protected resource areas
web application
Both will be on the same server, under the same domain.
The web application is login protected. If a member logs into the web application, they can also access the protected resource areas on the public site and visa versa.
Q. Both are being developed using CodeIgniter. Because there is need for this shared login, is it advisable to keep both as one project/one big site structure? or 2 separate CI projects/structures with a means of sharing the login.
One developer is tackling the web app and one (me) is tackling the public site - so my feeling is that it would be easier to keep them separate structures with some cross-over for the login/session management.

Answer 1

You might want to consider using a modular system and sharing resources. Codeigniter doesn't have built in modular support, but there are a few packages that will enable it. I've been using the Modular Extensions package for years, and can't imagine using CI without it.
https://bitbucket.org/wiredesignz/codeigniter-modular-extensions-hmvc/wiki/Home
You may be familiar with the concept already: Each module is basically it's own mini application. It follows the same structure you would see in the Codeigniter application folder. You can even have multiple module directories to separate your application structure even further.
Any shared resources (libraries, helpers, etc) can stay in the default application directory, but if needed you can still cross-load them from other modules. Even if you were working alone, I still would recommend it because it really keeps things organized.
Using modules, you can both work on the application independently, without stepping on each other's toes or even seeing any files that you aren't working with, while having access to the same shared resources (like your Login/Auth model), keeping things extremely organized, and without the hassle of creating two separate applications.

Answer 2

I see no reason why you can't have one shared CI application and just separate the private and public portions within the app. This could be easily accomplished through folder structure within the Controller, Model and View areas. And then, when managing users, you can have a permissions field or table setup to give rights and privileges to the user.
So, for example, you would imagine your sub folders under either Controller, Model or View being: Public, Private and Admin.
Then your users table would have field called "permission" and you can have various levels (i.e. 1, 2, or 3).
Then, in your controller for admin (or whatever) you could have:
function index()
{
if (!this->auth->is_logged_in()) {
redirect('/auth/login');
}
else {
if (!this->auth->is_level(1)){
redirect('/user/notallowed);
}
}
You get the idea.