Update!

A couple bug fixes (I guess no one is actually using this or else I would have heard from a disgruntled admin by now). We now have reg codes in production use on one of our servers so I stand behind the code 100% and believe it to be bug free.

Get the updated version at:

http://www.freeformsolutions.ca/reg_codes_1.1.zip

A new feature has been added. The Full Name is part of the registration page now, not just the username. The Full Name is an important part of our sites so we wanted it set on account creation and didn't want to make users do an extra step just to enter their Full Name once they're inside the system.

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Rossi, thanks for the offer! You're welcome to poke around in the code, if you add any features or mods, please get in touch with a PM so I can incorporate the changes. With a lot of projects on the go right now, I don't think I have time to coordinate with anyone else on changes to the module though. And frankly, unless the scope broadens considerably it's not a multi person task. It only took about 7 hours from blank screen to finished .zip file to build and test reg_codes (and miss the bugs that got fixed in 1.1, oops!).

Our plans right now seem to be headed in the direction of building a more full featured admin-add-on module that would include some user management and group management features (like a page to see a list of groups that a user is a member of, and adjust their group membership). If we build such a thing, reg codes would probably be subsumed inside it.

We just launched an intranet site with 60 groups and several hundred users. We'll see how it goes with the features XOOPS currently has. If the office floor is covered in pulled out hair a week from now, maybe module development will become a high priority!

--Julian

Quote:

Indeed!!! My 2 cents are completely behind this, it is sorely needed. In fact, I need it so badly that I was thinking of making a hack to do it in the next few days. Does such a hack already exist? Or Mith, can you elaborate on the timeline for releasing this feature? My company might be interested in paying for development of some key admin features like this. PM me if you want to talk about it.

--Julian

Having worked a bit more with the module, I feel I must add a caveat: the different group and user permission settings are indeed good, but there seem to be a few checks not being done here and there that ought to be done. To put it another way, without stating the problem outright: obscurity is not security.

Also, I found that if user submissions was turned off, but certain groups had been given permission to submit files, then the submit link below the a b c 1 2 3 browse links did disappear, but users of the specified groups did get a submit link in the menu, which all seemed to make sense to me, except when those users clicked on the submit link in the menu, they got a message saying they did not have permission to submit files. So if the "users cannot submit" setting overrides giving specific submit perms to a group (which I don't think it should by the way), then at least turn off drawing of the submit link in the menu to avoid confusing users.

As it stands, the only way I've found to restrict the users who can make submissions, is to hand out module admin rights to certain groups and make people upload files through the admin interface.

A problem we've encountered with that interface though: files don't automatically inherit the access permissions of the category you upload them to. You have to specify the permissions for each file you upload.

Nonetheless, it is a feature packed module and generally works as intended out of the box. With some polish and a bit of obscure bug fixing, it would indeed be perfect.

--Julian

Awesome! Thanks.

--Julian

Hi all,

I'm wondering if anyone can fill me in on how to turn off the autodetection of links? Maybe it's just a module specific thing, but what's happening on my site is that text that is an e-mail address is being extracted from the database and drawn on the screen. XOOPS is detecting that it's an e-mail address and wrapping <a href=mailto:address> </a> tags around the address so it's a clickable link.

In this instance, I really don't want it to do that. I don't think it's the module since I don't see any code in there that pays any attention to the presence of @ signs, so I think this is a XOOPS feature. But it's getting in the way, can I turn it off?

Thanks,

--Julian

In my limited experience so far, I have found modules only don't show up when there is a configuration problem in a file like xoops_version.php or when the folder name is wrong (different from what is specified in the module, which I think is something specified in the xoops_version.php).

Basically, something is probably wrong with the module, but what it is, sorry, can't tell you.

Check the folder name, check that all the files are there (ie: no FTP problem), check that everything referenced in the xoops_version file is correct....

Good luck,

--Julian

I am a founder and principal in a not-for-profit IT consulting and web hosting company called Freeform Solutions, based in Toronto, Canada. We use XOOPS as the platform of choice for intranet and portal solutions for our clients (other not-for-profits).

So yes, I would say you can successfully use XOOPS in business environments. Unfortunately I can't give you reference URLs or screenshots since the sites we have built are private sites for our clients.

There are some challenges to using XOOPS in complex intranets though, since the default approach of the system is to simply have all users either registered or anonymous. XOOPS is ahead of many competitors in that it lets you create lots of groups to manage your users, and the modules have group-based permission structures for the most part. But the big problem with having lots of groups in XOOPS is that managing those groups and the users in them can be a challenge.

For instance, there is no automatic way for new users to be made members of specific groups in your system. You have to manually assign group membership. There is a thread discussing this and some modules for fixing it (including one we wrote) here:

https://xoops.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?forum=14&topic_id=23504

Another example: if you want to give ten of your groups the ability to access your forums, you have to assign that permission individually to each group. You can't select the permission you want to assign (or remove) and then select the scope of groups to apply the permission to. I am optimistic that these sorts of improvements will come around in 2.2 or 2.4 (certainly by 3.0, right guys?!).

Fortunately, the backend of XOOPS is well enough organized that these kind of additions are not too hard to code yourself if you have decent knowledge of SQL and PHP.

One of the biggest drawbacks for potential commercial/business users of XOOPS is that it is difficut to get a handle on what modules are best for achieving what ends. Hopefully modules.xoops.org will be open soon and will solve this problem. But for now, a fair bit of patience and research is required to figure out what modules are available (and reliable) for meeting whatever need you have. I believe XOOPS could really take the business/intranet niche by storm if the marketing effort just moves up a couple notches and good promo material including module listings is made available.

--Julian

Hi there,

This is a very common question, and apparently XOOPS 2.2 will be able to do this. Until then, you can get info on a temporary measure here:

https://xoops.org/modules/newbb/viewtopic.php?topic_id=20250&forum=27

The third post has details on what files you can modify to customize the fields in the profile page.

--Julian

I see, you have a list of users who you want to give a code to, and they would have the option of using it or not. Yes, that is different from the situation I described where you assume all the people need to made members of the group, no choice.

I will probably be expanding this module soon to handle removing user accounts, and I might also add in this ability for users to use codes to sign up for groups. I'll keep you posted.

--Julian

Thanks! : )

No, I'm sorry to say that what you described is not something that this module can do (yet - might add it later, but it would probably require more core hacking).

Consider though, that in the situation you describe you would have to select the e-mail addresses of all the people you wanted to send the code to. You could instead just go into the modify group page for the group you wanted to add them to and select all their usernames and add them. It would be the same number of steps.

However if you wanted to add them to multiple groups, then you would have to repeat the process, so a code would simplify things in that case.

--Julian