Go to main content

Textpattern CMS support forum

You are not logged in. Register | Login | Help

#1 2009-05-28 13:00:53

jstubbs
Moderator
From: Hong Kong
Registered: 2004-12-13
Posts: 2,395
Website

Membership management tool

I have a site that uses some of the plugins that currently allow one to create a membership section in a TXP powered site – mem_form, mem_moderate glz_custom_fields and ign_password_protect.

What I am looking for in this site is a plugin that puts all these features together in a friendly way for the developer and user – with features like:

  1. Allow image uploads from a classifieds posting form. Manfre has a plugin for this but there is no documentation so its hard to get it going
  2. Image uploads should be attached to the article once it is moderated. When the article expires (I use a custom field for this now) the image should also be removed from the folder and DB.
  3. ign_password_protect is used for registered users – those who register in order to post classifieds. I cannot at the moment find a user because there is no search feature which is frustrating.
  4. Essentially what I am looking for is a proper user management tool – perhaps a combination of ign_ and mem_ plugins.
  5. The end user experience should be painless and attractive – perhaps using jQuery or Ajax.

I have contacted two TXP developers privately to see if they are interested, one is unable to currently and I am waiting for a response from the other one. If there is a developer interested in this project, can you please email me to discuss further.

Also I would like to check with other TXP users to see if you are interested in a plugin that allows for a better member management. If the costs of development are high, it would be helpful and cost effective to pool financial resources, and also possibly add extra features to the plugin.

Thoughts?

Last edited by jstubbs (2009-05-28 13:01:20)

Offline

#2 2009-05-28 13:45:47

lee
Member
From: Normandy, France
Registered: 2004-06-17
Posts: 831

Re: Membership management tool

If member management was going to be built into the core I’d make a donation and I expect others would as well. For now I use ExpressionEngine for sites that need member management.

Offline

#3 2009-05-28 13:58:07

net-carver
Archived Plugin Author
Registered: 2006-03-08
Posts: 1,648

Re: Membership management tool

Jonathan, Lee

care to expand a little more on what ‘member/user management’ entails, in your experiences? Would something like Txp’s existing multi-select pages (eg content > articles or content > comments) work if there were suitable “management” options in the select box at the foot of the list and if the filter at the top could be applied against user nick/full name/email etc?


Steve

Offline

#4 2009-05-28 14:15:16

lee
Member
From: Normandy, France
Registered: 2004-06-17
Posts: 831

Re: Membership management tool

Hi Steve, see Member Management at http://expressionengine.com/overview/features/

Offline

#5 2009-05-28 14:46:17

net-carver
Archived Plugin Author
Registered: 2006-03-08
Posts: 1,648

Re: Membership management tool

lee wrote:

Hi Steve, see Member Management at http://expressionengine.com/overview/features/

That’s quite a list. Could you email me one of your site URLs (pref a dev/test site) where I can join as a member to see it for myself?


Steve

Offline

#6 2009-05-28 15:09:53

lee
Member
From: Normandy, France
Registered: 2004-06-17
Posts: 831

Re: Membership management tool

This is a default install of EE, you are welcome to the admin login if you want – let me know: http://www.leeaston.com

Offline

#7 2009-05-28 16:54:39

renobird
Member
From: Gainesville, Florida
Registered: 2005-03-02
Posts: 786
Website

Re: Membership management tool

jstubbs,

I’m with you on all that. I’ve hacked my way through creating a good portion of what your after – but it’s not clean and is pretty much specific to a particular site (I’m not a coder by any means – so what I’ve created is a beast).

I’d definitely thrown down to make this happen.


Tom

Offline

#8 2009-05-28 18:30:39

jstubbs
Moderator
From: Hong Kong
Registered: 2004-12-13
Posts: 2,395
Website

Re: Membership management tool

I am not sure we need all the bells and whistles of the EE module, but its quite close. A list of things might include:

  1. Easy way to register
  2. Member page where user can edit own details (email, password)
  3. Easy forms for posting an article (like mem_moderation), with the option to moderate or not
  4. Forms should allow for image/file uploads
  5. Backend ease of use – when an article expires delete the article and any content associated with it
  6. Ability to search for members’ details – email/real name/login
  7. Option to email members if they opted in, OR ability to export list to an external list like Campaign Monitor
  8. Forms should allow for additions of custom fields (TXP custom fields or glz_custom_fields)

There is probably more, but that’s a list for now.

Offline

#9 2009-05-28 18:57:41

Bloke
Developer
From: Leeds, UK
Registered: 2006-01-29
Posts: 11,250
Website GitHub

Re: Membership management tool

jstubbs

Holy cow! Moon on a stick time :-) I’ve posted my thoughts about this kind of project before but for the record…

Easy way to register / Member page where user can edit own details (email, password)

What fields do you want? Fore+Surname, email, type of user (=priv level?), phone numbers, street address, office extension, yahde yahde. Making a system that worked for many clients would involve copious configuration on your behalf to set the fields you want and to create the database tables to store the stuff. And if you then decide to add/delete a column at a later date…

Easy forms for posting an article (like mem_moderation), with the option to moderate or not

Fair enough. But can you really write one form in a plugin / the core that fits all possible scenarios and potential markup that you might want to use?

Forms should allow for image/file uploads

Not always applicable but an option, sure. Any more meta data about each image/file? Or do they go into the current tables?

Backend ease of use – when an article expires delete the article and any content associated with it

This is specific to your scenario. If using the existing TXP database tables to store images/files there are no assumed links between articles and these items so you will have no way of knowing unless you use custom fields to store the IDs of the images/files. Thus you need to configure a CF or two up front to store this info or use your own tables.

Ability to search for members’ details – email/real name/login

Fair enough. If using ign_pw_protect and storing stuff in the existing TXP table, this should already be available in the core or as a simple plugin. I’d champion this for core. After all, search/filtering ability — as net-carver said — is on other tabs.

Option to email members if they opted in, OR ability to export list to an external list like Campaign Monitor

So a complete CRM solution? Like postmaster but better, with export facility. Yowzers!

Forms should allow for additions of custom fields (TXP custom fields or glz_custom_fields)

Fair enough. Tricky to implement but a fair request.

In short there are so many variables and ways of doing this for endless applications, that to write a one-stop plugin is (imho) foolish. Also, to put it in the core means you’d have hundreds of management screens to configure it all and you end up with Drupal or Joomla or something equally bloated. Having a suite of plugins where you can pick and choose the bits and customise it to your liking is the most flexible route.

I’m not saying it can’t be done, but if it can it’s going to be a) big, b) difficult, c) someone’ll want more…

My 2p.


The smd plugin menagerie — for when you need one more gribble of power from Textpattern. Bleeding-edge code available on GitHub.

Txp Builders – finely-crafted code, design and Txp

Offline

#10 2009-05-28 19:03:25

jstubbs
Moderator
From: Hong Kong
Registered: 2004-12-13
Posts: 2,395
Website

Re: Membership management tool

Stef, I already have most of this functionality in place on my site Snoooz Tennis – what I am looking for is a better an easier way to manage everything – a way to put it all together, and the means to add more options.

Offline

#11 2009-05-28 19:28:24

Bloke
Developer
From: Leeds, UK
Registered: 2006-01-29
Posts: 11,250
Website GitHub

Re: Membership management tool

jstubbs wrote:

I already have most of this functionality in place on my site

Yes. That’s one mean site! I wouldn’t even know where to begin. And the desire to make it easier to manage / more integrated would really help, I bet. It would be fab to be able to do all the stuff — and as a one-off exercise for your site it may well be worth it. It’s just that my brain always thinks in terms of “if someone’s going through the pain of doing it, then it should at least be made more generic so it is applicable to hundreds of other situations”. As you well know by the majority of my ‘jack of all trades’ plugins :-)

Hope you find a way to integrate it all. If you need anything specific for part of it and think I might be able to help, just shout.


The smd plugin menagerie — for when you need one more gribble of power from Textpattern. Bleeding-edge code available on GitHub.

Txp Builders – finely-crafted code, design and Txp

Offline

#12 2009-05-28 19:33:44

jstubbs
Moderator
From: Hong Kong
Registered: 2004-12-13
Posts: 2,395
Website

Re: Membership management tool

I don’t think it should be complicated nor very difficult to put together – the hard work on my site is performed by glz_custom_fields, ign_password_protect, mem_moderation and mem_form, plus some JS for the classifieds form submission.

Manfre added support for file uploads in a plugin called mem_moderation_image which I have.

What I am looking for is a developer to put a nicer package together using all the bits and pieces already in existence.

Offline

Board footer

Powered by FluxBB