BotDetect CodeIgniter 3 CAPTCHA Integration Quickstart

Unlike Recaptcha the Stalker -- BotDetect CAPTCHA works in China! Licensable source-code; self-hosted -- doesn't stalk -- nor does it slurp your form-data! Think: GDPR & LGPD!

1. Copy CodeIgniter Captcha Library Files

Path Aliases Used Throughout This Guide

<MYCIAPP>: location of your working CodeIgniter application directory
<BDCIPACK>: the downloaded and extracted contents of the BotDetect Captcha CodeIgniter Package

Download the BotDetect Captcha CodeIgniter integration package and copy <BDCIPACK>/plugin/codeigniter-3/ libraries/botdetect
to:
<MYCIAPP>/application/libraries/botdetect
Copy:
<BDCIPACK>/plugin/codeigniter-3/ controllers/botdetect
to:
<MYCIAPP>/application/controllers/botdetect
Copy BotDetect PHP Captcha library from:
<BDCIPACK>/lib
to:
<MYCIAPP>/application/libraries/botdetect/lib

2. Show a Captcha Challenge on the Form

a) If CodeIgniter is a backend for your js-based frontend, perhaps you should start with a guide that describes integration from js-framework point of view: jQuery, Angular, AngularJS, or React.

b) If you are using CodeIgniter forms, here is how to configure Captcha options, and display Captcha in your CodeIgniter form:

Register default route of the Captcha library:

$route['botdetect/captcha-handler'] = 'botdetect/captcha_handler/index';

Captcha configuration options (application/config/captcha.php):

<?php
// BotDetect PHP Captcha configuration options

$config = array(
  // Captcha configuration for example page
  'ExampleCaptcha' => array(
    'UserInputID' => 'CaptchaCode',
    'ImageWidth' => 250,
    'ImageHeight' => 50,
  ),

);

Load the BotDetect CodeIgniter library and generate the Captcha markup in your Controller:

public function index() // Your controller
{
  // load the BotDetect Captcha library and set its parameter
  $this->load->library('botdetect/BotDetectCaptcha', array(
    'captchaConfig' => 'ExampleCaptcha'
  ));

  // make Captcha Html accessible to View code
  $data['captchaHtml'] = $this->botdetectcaptcha->Html();

Show the Captcha challenge in the View:

  <link type="text/css" rel="Stylesheet" 
    href="<?php echo CaptchaUrls::LayoutStylesheetUrl() ?>" />
</head>
 
 […]
 
  <?php echo $captchaHtml; ?>
  <input type="text" name="CaptchaCode" id="CaptchaCode" value="" />

3. Check User Input During Form Submission

When the form is submitted, the Captcha validation result must be checked in Controller code:

if ($_POST) {
  // validate the user-entered Captcha code when the form is submitted
  $code = $this->input->post('CaptchaCode');
  $isHuman = $this->botdetectcaptcha->Validate($code);

  if (!$isHuman) {
    // TODO: Captcha validation failed, show error message
  } else {
    // TODO: Captcha validation passed, perform protected action
  }