Verification Helper

VerificationHelper provides view-layer utilities for the verification plugin. It is automatically available in all views once the plugin is loaded — no explicit $this->loadHelper() call is needed.

Helper methods

Method	Returns	Description
qrCode(string $data)	string	Renders a QR code SVG for the given payload, or a plain <div> fallback if bacon/bacon-qr-code is not installed
lastSmsCode()	string|null	Returns the last SMS OTP code from the cache (debug mode only)

---

qrCode(string $data): string

Renders the otpauth://totp/ URI as an inline SVG QR code. Used in the TOTP enrollment view.

Dependencies: Requires bacon/bacon-qr-code (BaconQrCode\Writer). If the package is not installed, a plain <div class="qrcode"> containing the raw URI string is returned instead — useful as a fallback during development.

Output

<!-- bacon/bacon-qr-code installed -->
<div class="qrcode"><svg ...>...</svg></div>

<!-- fallback (package not installed) -->
<div class="qrcode">otpauth://totp/...</div>

Usage in enroll view

The $qrData variable is set automatically by handleEnroll():

<!-- templates/Users/enroll.php -->
<?php if (!empty($qrData)) : ?>
    <?= $this->Verification->qrCode($qrData) ?>
<?php endif; ?>

<?php if (!empty($secret)) : ?>
    <p>Manual secret: <code><?= h($secret) ?></code></p>
<?php endif; ?>

To style the output, target .qrcode in your CSS:

.qrcode svg {
    width: 200px;
    height: 200px;
}

---

lastSmsCode(): ?string

Returns the numeric OTP code from the last SMS sent via DummyTransport. Returns null outside of debug mode or when no SMS has been sent yet.

Only available in debug mode. Always returns null in production.

Purpose

During development, when the real SMS gateway is replaced with DummyTransport, the sent code is stored in the CakePHP default cache under the key verification_last_sms. This method extracts the numeric digits from that cached message and trims them to the configured OTP length (Verification.otp.length, default 6).

Use it in a development layout or debug toolbar to display the code without checking logs or the cache manually.

Usage

<!-- layouts/default.php or a debug-only partial -->
<?php if (\Cake\Core\Configure::read('debug')) : ?>
    <?php $code = $this->Verification->lastSmsCode() ?>
    <?php if ($code !== null) : ?>
        <div class="debug-sms-code">Last SMS code: <strong><?= h($code) ?></strong></div>
    <?php endif; ?>
<?php endif; ?>

---

Loading the helper manually

The helper is auto-loaded by the plugin when you add $this->loadComponent('CakeVerification.Verification') in AppController. If you need it in a controller that does not load the component, load it explicitly in the view class:

// src/View/AppView.php
public function initialize(): void
{
    parent::initialize();
    $this->loadHelper('CakeVerification.Verification');
}

---

Documentation

Full documentation index: index.md