Joomla! Discussion Forums

Been reading these forums most the day trying to find a solution.  I think it is a common problem that apparently many of us are trying to find.  All pretty much similar with slight tweaks...


Here is what I need:

Users pay a monthly subscription to register.  Acctexp does that.  But the problem is,  if a user doesnot finish the paypal subscribe portion,  then tries to log in they get a msg saying they are blocked.  I tried the hack to comment out


But that still doesnt work.

If a member registers but does not complete the paypall process,  they should be taken to a subscription page when they try to log in...  But not be given access to site content.  Do I need to make all content only available to Authors,  and all registered users are only available to see a subscription page???

What can I do to fix this problem?  Only registered users can log in,  and only paying members can be registered.

Any help is greatly appreciated

I've got all of this working great, finally, with the CBE hack posted at mamboforge by scubaguy. I've added an upgrade membership button to the user menu. It all works great. There are three things I'd like to do, however, that I haven't been able to figure out how to do:

1. I'd like a button or link or something that I can put on the payment options page to allow free registration. I have all registrations set to exclude initially, so people can still access the registered content if they don't continue through the payment process, but they are getting confused, and irritated that it seems I'm saying they can register for free but then am forcing them to pay. They don't realize that they will have access to the content even if they don't pay the membership fee, they just can't see the premium content. So, my question is this, what file controls the display of the payment options page in acctexp so that I can add the link to it? (Correct me if I'm wrong but, simply linking back to the home page should accomplish my objective as the user is technically already registered and set on the exclude list at the prior step, so they'll at least know they are not being charged.)

2. Is there a way that I can display the account status, with the expiration date if applicable, along with an upgrade membership button on a tab in the users CBE profile? If so, how?

3. Lastly, I'd like to offer an offline payment option, where a user can send me a check in the mail instead of paying with paypal. I see that I can add payment instructions for this, which is great, but is there a way that I can give them access that will expire say in 10 days unless I manually set thier expiration date for the length of their membership? Ideally, this option will tell them when they log in after the 10 day window that their check was not received, and not allow them access to the premium content.

Options 2 and 3 are not necessities, just something I'd like to do, but the first one is rather important. Any help at all will be appreciated. (I have no php experience at all)

Thanks in advance!

Deb

Hi all;
I think this has been an experience for everyone. I am trying to use CBE and AEC to create a membership system. After reading all I could on this subject I feel I have either done something wrong or ..... er ..... well actually that’s probably it

Will it be possible for someone that has this working, to write a quick step by step guide? A little clarification on the subject would be appreciated by many people including myself.

I am finding that the link back to the site from paypal is not creating the database entry to setup the user in the 'Active Subscriptions' anyway I think the step by step should include:

1.) The initial sandbox setup.

2.) Any Instillation preferences required to make the system work correctly. (i.e. enable disable email activation or whatever).

3.) Instillation of CBE and AEC on the site.

4.) Patches that may need applying. (Variations for the people wanting free subscription, and other functions already discussed in the forum)

5.) Any other hints or tips to help

I would do this myself but I am not confident enough on these components to write a satisfactory guide.


Thanks for any comments you may make

Chris

It appears that our stalwarts of AEC/CB/PHP/Whatever else have left us hanging.  I'm anxious to try to incorporate these items, but haven't got the feeling that things are truely ironed out.  I am unfortunately not in a position to mess with things too much, since I have an active site I'd like to integrate with.

There are three  problems I see, at this point.  All points addressed seem to be intermingled so that a common user might be trying to add a PHPShop hack to a CB site, or similar.  Second, I see that there isn't any implementation to a third party biller, no matter the biller, it would at least be nice to write a script that AEC might check for say IBill or another to validate users.  PayPal suggests a lower end user/site and I refuse to pay EBay's bills. (Personal rant).  Lastly, there is a mention of the joomla development, but no link that I've found.  Maybe someone could point me that direction.  By configuring the details here, it would be helpful to the newbies, and even some of us that have been Joomla'ing before Joomla was Joomed.

I appreciate things, and wish I were a better coder so that I could be more active to the third party issue.  I'm still struggling to make heads or tales of a couple of the billers requirements for validation.  Frustrating.

One last thing...more of a question.  The https accomodations of the forthcoming Joomla release, will it be any kind of a roadblock to everyone's particular excursions?  I sense it will be easier on the phpshop sites, and those running ecommerce, but wonder if it has any effect on this (once little) project.

Joomalie Yours

Wolf.

hi,

I was wondering if this is possible? when the user signs up initially, he would be presented with a special promo plan which is for a year. Then when the expiration kicks in, he will be shown the renewal page notice that funkymunky made, now if the user wants to renew, he will be presented with a regular plan instead of the promo plan before.  Is it possible to make different pages for different plan options?

bedlam

Sweet, looks like things are still progressing here 

I would love to make a paypal donation if possible to contribute to whoever can give me a working copy of this thing and all these hacks as options.  I want to use it on some sites but I want all these updates discussed here in it.  Let me know and I will get this thing going.  I can pay you for a bit of your time if you like if thats what you need.  I just really like the sounds of this and am willing to help you complete it by providing you with a financial contribution to fill in your time gap.

Please let me know 

Thanks,

Ryan

Ditto!  Could use this in many ways for many clients.

Wolf.

Greets People

is this AEC done and dusted, or is there more to be done on it

As I posted above, I have this working (finally) in CBE, however, there's a couple of more things I'd like to do, and haven't been able to figure out how.

1. I'd like a button or link or something that I can put on the payment options page to allow free registration. I have all registrations set to exclude initially, so people can still access the registered content if they don't continue through the payment process, but they are getting confused, and irritated that it seems I'm saying they can register for free but then am forcing them to pay. They don't realize that they will have access to the content even if they don't pay the membership fee, they just can't see the premium content. So, my question is this, what file controls the display of the payment options page in acctexp so that I can add the link to it? (Correct me if I'm wrong but, simply linking back to the home page should accomplish my objective as the user is technically already registered and set on the exclude list at the prior step, so they'll at least know they are not being charged.)

2. Is there a way that I can display the account status, with the expiration date if applicable, along with an upgrade membership button on a tab in the users CBE profile? If so, how?

3. Lastly, I'm offerimg an offline payment option, where a user can send me a check in the mail instead of paying with paypal. I see that I can add payment instructions for this, which is great, but it shows up on the content page as instructions for a "Bank Transfer". Can someone tell me what file controls that output so I can change the wording? Also, there appears to be a character limit for the offline payment instructions, is there a way I can increase this limit so all of my instructions will display?

Option 2 is not a necessity, just something I'd like to do, but 1 and 3 are pretty important in order toimprove the "user experience" on my site. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. (I have no php experience at all)

Deb

I for one think there is going to be more done to it and will pay someone to help me make it.  Seems as though nobody wants that though which is kind of odd.  oh well.  what can ya do?

It's not a matter of want, but time.  I need to fix it for my own site, but have been swamped with other projects lately.  I'm going to try to dig out a little time this week, but no guarantees. Sorry.

Totally agree with scuba.

Ah, I understand.  Well I am sorry.  Im not trying to be pushy, I am just wondering why, even after offering to pay someone, nobody can do it.  But it obviously is not a priority even still so thats ok.  I can and will have to wait like everyone else.  But if it motivates you even a little, I can pay yoouuuuu 

Hello,

also got it working .. but not perfectly... using scubaquys CBE Hack and funkymunkys expiration page link .... only thing that doesnt work is the users are still excluded and I have to set the the expiration manually, seems funkymunkys hack doesnt work with CBE  .... but thats not a biggy.

Anyway ... thanks for all the contributions, in due time this system will rock!

cheers!

Good news is key developers are busy$$$
Bad news is... we are waiting!!!

Well, the final solution can be as follows:
Funkymunky can reimplement changes based on last hack provided by Scubaguy
or
Scubyguy can reimplement changes based on last hack provided by Funkymonky.

Then, all changes can be updated in cvs, and we will look forward to next issue.

Keep the train moving.

Thanks, Darly

Hi bedlam;
OK I was having exactly the same problems as you. Can you check 3 things for me:-

1.) That your sandbox testing USER account has a credit card associated with it.
2.) That you have an email activation link used in CBE selected.
3.) The business account is set to accept all payments.

Hope fully if you get these set you'll find it should work if not send me the email activation link and I'll see if it matches up

Oh and just to say, I think everyone that has worked on this are worth there wait in gold.

Chris

Been following this thread and I'm running into a couple of problems.  I know the future version(s) of Joomla are going to incorporate what I believe to be different Groups per Member, or something of that sort.  What I need to do is the following:

• Allow multiple subscription levels, each level being completely independent
• Allow a subscription term (length of subscription) per the desired subscription

To try to describe the situation in more detail, I want to be able to charge for certain sections of the page but want users to be able to choose multiple areas if desired and later if they decide to choose another section they can at the pre-determined price.  Certainly seems like a hard task to accomplish, but would probably only require one extra DB field per user to define permissions.  I have limited knowledge of Joomla, but from what I'm wanting to do would probably require a bot (no access, then display a page to purchase access) and etc.. 

Forgot to mention that I've pretty much successfully included scuba's hacks for Acctexp ...  Mainly needing multiple level subscriptions and permissions ..  Working on the process now, but if anyone has already included something similiar I would appreciate knowing to save me the time of re-coding the current code I have now..

I've had these modifications working in Mambo 452 for quite some time, however, due to an unrelated problem, I was forced to migrate to Joomla a bit before I was ready to. I was fully expecting the migration to break my user registration because of all of the changes made.

Much to my surprise, it still works like a charm! Just wanted to let those of you who are contemplating a migration and using these hacks that you shouldn't have a problem when and if you're ready to do so. (Of course, you should always do a full site back up first .... but you know that already  )

Deb

Ok so now I'm totally lost. 

Where are we at with this subscription component?

What other components / modules does this all work with? 

I'm after something that gives people the opportunity to make two access options

Standard and Premium. Obviously 2 difference price points.

I'd like the Standard payment access process to be automatic, the premium one I'm not fussed if it's just a buy button and I manually make the access alterations.

• MamboCharge appears to be way to complex for what I need
• MamboPal requires additional server installs and I'm on a shared hosting site so that's a no go. This appears to be what I want but it appears a dead duck
• AcctExpiration is ... I dunno where it's at
• BigApe button ... not sure as this doesn't provide automatic access to registration

I'm also a bit lost. However, I was wondering if anyone has successfully integrated CCBill into Joomla!

Is this possible-  where would one start? There is a thread on mambo and someone says they patched aMember to work with Mambo - but no other information on it.

Thanks very much in advance!

I know there is a new component that allows you to create multiple levels of users (ie silver, gold, platinum, etc..). I have also seen where Hackwar is working on something like this. (http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,17822.0.html) and (http://www.byostech.com/).

Also, there is a new version of Community Builder out now (RC2). As well as a new version of phpShop (VirtueMart).

The new Community Builder has a plugin API, so I assume a lot of new user / membership plugins are on the way. You can check their site out: http://www.joomlapolis.com/.

Chuck

thanks chucktruck but what we're looking for and this thread started out discussing, was having a system where people paid to get access and that it was automatic, at least for the first level.

byostech is an group access component which you can implement after the event, but has no payment gatewaywhich we really would love.

yerg,

That's what I am looking for also. I had a membership plan setup through VirtueMart and Community Builder. But the user was upgraded author.

If you are wanting to have one or more user groups (without them being author, etc.), then maybe byostech would help. It would not be the full solution. But it might be a part.

The way I thought it could work:
1) Create multiple user groups through byostech
2) Create Paypal IPN (or VirtueMart or other gateway)
    a) when IPN is validated, user is upgraded to specific user group
    b) when subscription is cancelled, user is downgraded to regular user
3) Use byostech to allow this content for this user group, not this content for this user group, etc.

Chuck

Create the PayPal IPN and getting that to automatically upgrade is the issue.

I'm an implementer and tormeter of clients who use the system, as my coding skills are on the limited side.

I'm checking out MamboPal and byostech as a combo

Would this work?

Use byostech to setup a "paid membership" level. Then use VirtueMart's Paypal IPN to do the payment. Here are 2 links describing this:
- (Official Howto - http://mambo-phpshop.net/index.php?opti ... ic=11167.0)
- (Hacks - http://virtuemart.net/index.php?option= ... pic=9271.0)

In the Paypal IPN code (supplied with VirtueMart), under:

Place the sql statements to upgrade the user to "Paid"?

I was able to use VirtueMart to upgrade a user to Author (when payment was completed via Linkpoint). I think this could solve the problem. I could supply the code I used to upgrade the user if needed.

Chuck

I am using JaclPlus, and it seems to be a great solution to adding different membership levels.  I think it would help out a lot ChuckTrukk if you could post the code (and good instructions  ) on how to use VirtueMart for a paid membership alternative.  I have a Paid Membership category setup and a Dealer membership set up with JaclPlus, I just need a way to get members to be automatically added to those categories when they pay a membership.  If your hack does this, then please do help us out.  Thanks.

Charles

We need it.

Thanks! Darly

Would also be interested!

I'm totally lost! after discussion over, can anyone make a tutorial and put this public? i make a lot of scripts out from joomla and this works very well (without automated payment, i'm not ready to put this script in joomla yet, because i'm very new on joomla dev, and i not want to do any errors now

I have no idea what's going on either. There seems to be nothing clear cut answer yet - I think people are piecing together code to form certain solutions.

Are these solutions only involving ONLY paypal?

What are the current working solutions?