Protecting access to .php files

[#1]

I have just read the posting at
  http://community.plus.net/forum/index.php?topic=465.0
that tells me I cannot use .htaccess/.htpasswd to protect .php files.
Is there any other way of restricting access to .php files or am I stuck with them being publicly accessible?

[#2]

There is no way to protect access to php files on the ccgi server.
The only option you have is to add some form of authentication protection at the beginning of each file so it will only be run if say the user is logged in.

[#3]

Quote from: Peter

There is no way to protect access to php files on the ccgi server. The only option you have is to add some form of authentication protection at the beginning of each file so it will only be run if say the user is logged in.

Thanks - can you point me to a reference on how to do this? (I'm a PHP beginner.)

[#4]

Are you writing your own code or trying to install an existing package like a forum?
If you own code, do a google search for php authentication or look at www.hotscripts.com for authentication scripts. They should then have a method to protect php files.
If you are installing someone elses code then I suspect you will not be in a position to modify it without a lot of php experience.

[#5]

Quote from: Peter

Are you writing your own code or trying to install an existing package like a forum? If you own code, do a google search for php authentication or look at www.hotscripts.com for authentication scripts. They should then have a method to protect php files. If you are installing someone elses code then I suspect you will not be in a position to modify it without a lot of php experience.

Thanks for that.  I am writing my own code - learning to use php as I go. That sounds like a useful site to know about. I'll take a look there and see if I can find something suitably simple.