Question

What is the difference between setIdentity and setCredential in Zend Framework?

$authAdapter->setIdentityColumn('username')
       ->setCredentialColumn('password');

$authAdapter->setIdentity($data['username'])
        ->setCredential($data['password']);

Please help me I need some detailed explanation.

Answer 1

identityColumn: This is the name of the database table column used to represent the identity. The identity column must contain unique values, such as a username or e-mail address.

credentialColumn: This is the name of the database table column used to represent the credential. Under a simple identity and password authentication scheme, the credential value corresponds to the password. See also the credentialTreatment option.

Basically, setIdentity tells the system to set a username and setCredential tells the system to set the provided password for authentication.

Hope it helps.
Ref: Zend Table