Wish to restrict some access to paid members only

[adesigninteractive]

hello. my partner and i feel that our Joomla! web site is ready to become a paid-for service for those members who wish to purchase the "V.I.P." access.

In terms of controlling Joomla to disallow from specified areas those members who haven't purchased a subscription, what must i consider in order to make this transfer to a "paid" zones site? i've already setup a paypal account which will handle our credit card and paypal transactions for the subscription purchase. now i just need to know what to tell Joomla about it.

while experimenting w/ this in Mambo, i restricted certain areas or content to the user level "Special" i believe it was called. That sort of functioned as i wanted, except that if i used that technique, i wouldn't know how to let Joomla know if a member is of the "special" category once he or she have purchased a subscription. in other words, it might work, and it could be that simple if i can figure out how to get joomla to recognize "paid" members, and automatically assign them to a "special" user group.

however, even if i have to do it manually, i suppose it's acceptable for now-- heck considering that i'm asking our members to pay! (the least i could do is process the membership)-- but there will come a time when i might simply be  overwhelmed and not have time to monitor and process the VIP members manually, so ideally it should be an "automatic" function.
am i on the wrong track altogether in thinking about the "special" groups, or is that the only way to restrict access?

suggestions? how would you do it?

thanks!!!

[boesh]

I would do it this way: http://www.byostech.com/content/view/8/12/

[adesigninteractive]

WOW! thanks VERY MUCH. is this thing free? (i'm in the process of registering... waiting for that member email)

indeed, as they state on the byostech.com site, it is a weakness-- but, i simply thought i didn't know what i was doing!!

[Hackwar]

correct ACL support will come soon with an official Joomla-addon and will be integrated into Joomla core from 1.2 onwards.
The solution from byostech will be somewhat incompatible with this core ACL.

[boesh]

.... will come soon

Yes, ik know, a lot of things will come soon... Joom!Fish, Joomla 1.1, ACL support. Soon as in within a couple of ....

[Hackwar]

.... will come soon

Yes, ik know, a lot of things will come soon... Joom!Fish, Joomla 1.1, ACL support. Soon as in within a couple of ....

If everything plays out as planned, you should have an ACL add-on/hack at the end of january.

[adesigninteractive]

cool-- well, now that i installed JACLPlus 1.04, am i going to encounter problems w/ new versions of the core? or will i just uninstall the component?

hey-- now that i have this thing installed and working properly, do you happen to have any suggestions on where to start in terms of integrating a payment system such that registered members can upgrade to a "VIP" paid account, and (in some way, either via registration code dispatch, or automatic recognition of UID) proceed to paid-restricted zones of the site w/out any intervention from me?

is something like that even possible w/out writing my own code? i've never worked w/ e-commerce at all before-- let alone an intangible product-- and one in which the purchased service should ideally be granted to the user immediately (or close to it).

my partner, a banker, has already taken care of creating the LLC and setting up our checking account into which the funds from pay-pal will be deposited, so we've already got that end established-- now it's up to me, the resident "Joomla Admin" to make the magic happen.

i appreciate anything you might have-- URL's for more info, suggested techniques-- anything-- because i really don't know where to begin at this point.

thanks so much!!

[adesigninteractive]

anyone who reads this thread my also be interested in how to control payments received by your subscribers--
the Account Expiration Control component, although i haven't tried it yet, is supposedly a fine solution for integrating PayPal into the payment process along w/ the PayPal IPN.


commentary about this web site:
in a way, this is what i was looking for also, yesterday when i first posted this thread. i came back to say that i felt silly for not using the search feature as i should have-- but, then i realized that it's sort of two different issures really-- the point is-- i wanted to testify that i think the SEARCH feature here at the Joomla forum works rather well-- and for those of you who debate using it vs posting first-- please try the search feature as you will likely be satisfied by the results!

i also wanted to be sure to mention how MUCH MORE USEFUL this community is than the one i used to use for mambo-- which i guess was the main forum. everyone here seems to be much more involved, and more friendly-- perhaps that's why i was so lonely over there at mamboo's-- i guess i was one of the last to find out about the impending change on the horizon...

edit: oh, and i also want to mention-- i've learned a TON since i've been coming here. i used to feel very lost and frustrated w/ Mambo-- but ever since Joomla, and my joining this community-- things have gotten better. i'm no longer apprehensive about getting in there and going to work. it used to be very frustrating-- now it's an exciting challenge, and i want to investigate components and all kinds of cool stuff-- it's like i have such an "ooohhhh.... i GET IT NOW!!" moment!