how to configure config.inc.php to have a loginform in phpmyadmin

First of all, you do not have to develop any form yourself : phpMyAdmin, depending on its configuration (i.e. config.inc.php) will display an identification form, asking for a login and password.

To get that form, you should not use :

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'config';

But you should use :

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'cookie';

(At least, that's what I have on a server which prompts for login/password, using a form)

For more informations, you can take a look at the documentation :

• Using authentication modes
• Configuration, which states (quoting) :

'config' authentication ($auth_type = 'config') is the plain old way: username and password are stored in config.inc.php.

'cookie' authentication mode ($auth_type = 'cookie') as introduced in 2.2.3 allows you to log in as any valid MySQL user with the help of cookies.
Username and password are stored in cookies during the session and password is deleted when it ends.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['auth_type'] = 'cookie';

should work.

From the manual:

auth_type = 'cookie' prompts for a MySQL username and password in a friendly HTML form. This is also the only way by which one can log in to an arbitrary server (if $cfg['AllowArbitraryServer'] is enabled). Cookie is good for most installations (default in pma 3.1+), it provides security over config and allows multiple users to use the same phpMyAdmin installation. For IIS users, cookie is often easier to configure than http.

$cfg['Servers'][$i]['AllowNoPassword'] = false;