How to hide a page based on the logged-in user in CQ5?

Question

I want to hide a page in navigation component based on the logged in user. I have two approaches in mind. Set permissions on the page's node in CRX-DE; denying it for all users; and then allowing it for specific groups. I have been trying it; not found much success. Else; I can get the id of the logged in user in the jsp and based on the user group; I can set the page's property 'Hide in Navigation' . But I am not able to find how to set that property in jsp. Please suggest.

Edit: I am using the default authentication.I wanted to hide a page from navigation in the default 'list' component. If I use CUG; the users belonging to that group will still be able to see that particular page's link in the list component; and would be asked for login on clicking on that page.I want the link itself to be hidden if the user belonged to a particular group Thanks.

Answer 1

I agree with ryanluka that going for JCR permissions should be avoided when the problem can be solved by much simpler approach. I modified the list.jsp of the default list component. Extracted the login user's id using Userpropertiesutil; and based on the group; wrote the code in jQuery to remove that particular page's div from list component.

Answer 2

If you are using the default authentication features in AEM (like Geometrixx), which rely on users that exist in AEM, you can use Closed User Groups. CUG allows you to set what users or groups can or cannot see a specific page. You can see where to set CUGs in the page properties dialog for each page. I'm pretty sure CUG settings inherit down the page hierarchy as well.

Using the JCR permissions for this is a good deal more complex, because it's such a low-level architectural thing. However, for more complex solutions, sometimes it's a necessary part of the equation.