And there is also a XOOPs module {url="http://products.thirdeyesoftware.com/modules/content/?id=13"]from ThirdEye for subscriptions[/url]

Lots of options, each with its own capabilities.

Quote:

We're talking about being able to bill users to maintain a certain level (group) of membership on a XOOPs site.

Just a quick report - we're making great progress with SmartFactory on this newsletter mailer - now known as "SmartMail"

The development team is just incredible.

SmartMail will have support for:

- Multiple newsletters
- Automatic rules for periodic dispatches
- Flexible content generation
- Bounce checking
- Throttle checking
- Scalability
- Paid subscriptions via additional XOOPS modules

Stay tuned for more developments.

PS: If you'd like to help sponsor this much needed addition to the XOOPS toolbox, please PM me.

Status report:

We have the development team lined up - SmartFactory.ca.

The features list is outlined.

And we are doing a proof of concept over the next two weeks.

Then we will start programming.

If you'd like to contribute to the success of this much needed module, please PM me.

I inquired about an integrated subscription/billing module - for levels of paid membership.

Marcan pointed me in the direction of "Subscription" Module from ThirdEye -http://products.thirdeyesoftware.com.

The current version is decent, but they are working on the next version which should make it great.

Perhaps there is a solution to some of the payment issues. Permissions for certain XOOPS access or functionality gets tied to User Groups. Membership to the Group is controlled by the Subscription module. With recurring billing by the Susbscription Module's gateway.

The subscription module has a plug-in architecture for payment gateways. Think they have PayPal working at the moment.

Actually, we need sponsors more than we need testers at this point.

We have funding arranged for about 2/3 of the projected development costs.

We need to come up with the balance.

So, fellow XOOPsters, now's the time to make your committment.

We'll follow up shortly with details on where to send the donations....

Thanks for keeping the conversation moving.

Following is a proposed features list for an integrated newsletter module for XOOPS 2.0.13.x

One minor question is whether or not to put any effort into the ability to send newsletters in both text and html format, or in multi-part mime.

My feeling is that almost all current email clients are HTML capable, so we should not bother with offering a preference or text only options. Just send HTML messages. It will simplify things a bit.

SmartFactory is working on developing an estimate to build a newsletter module based on the below features.

Subscriptions/List Options
Integrate with XOOPS membership module
Support multiple mailing lists (categories) unlimited number.
Ability for users to opt-in and opt-out of subscriptions
Ability to batch import email with a default password(?) via cvs
HTML//Text preference (optional feature. Maybe we just do HTML)
Language preference(?)
Support for hidden lists
Support for closed lists (based on subscriber count, or admin control)

Membership Module Expansions Required
Additional custom (admin defined) fields. See alternate membership module. What’s required, optional etc.

Public View of Newsletters
Auto Archive – view permissions controlled by XOOPS groups
Printer friendly format
Email to a friend
PDF creation
RSS feeds

Authoring
Templates for publishing, (header, footer)
Default template for each list
HTML editor.
Text version of content (auto generated,with manual ability)
Authoring (Submit) permissions controlled by XOOPS groups
Set date to publish/send (future issues)
Content fields: Title, date, issue, volume, summary, body, file attachment, Option to have the “read more” be a link to the full article on the XOOPS website, instead of in the email sent.
Ability to include XOOPS variables (member field info) in newsletter to personalize.

Sending
Select list to email message to
Subscription list over-ride (send to all lists)
Send in packets (admin defined) – batch quantity and pause interval, batch and throttle.
Auto resume if sending fails at one point
Ability to pause, resume, cancel mailing in progress
Open tracking
Send multipart email messages (text/html) – (Optional, maybe we just do HTML)
Bounce tracking – count, threshold to remove from subscription.
Auto-responder for automatically sending pre-defined messages at set intervals based on subscription sign up date

Admin
“Display in archive?” has (admin) control by individual newsletter issue.
Subscription list management – add, edit, delete, search, view, bounce monitoring
Archived message block display control – sort by weight, sort by date. Limit number displayed.

XOOPS Integration
Membership Module
Multi-language capable(?)
What’s New module plug in
Blocks – subscribe, recent issue, categories, etc. Need some more info here.
Opt in preferences (single or double) is controlled by XOOPS user pref. If already a XOOPS member, no need to opt-in

Still not convinced.

What if the "membership" module was expanded in capability.

So that you could include unlimited custom fields. Deciding which were optional and which were mandatory.

And what if the membership list was tied to the newsletter mailing list subscription categories.

And subscription categories were tied to groups.

In this case your user could "register" on the XOOPS site, provide their name, their desire to be on the "dog" list, but not the "cat" list. Or none at all.

You then target a dog newletter to the "dog" list and insert XOOPs membership profile data into the email automatically.

And what if you could batch import users into the membership list, giving them the ability to opt-out if they so chose.

Then users could control everything themselves, XOOPS notifications, newsletter subscriptions, etc from their profile.

If you are going to have a separate database structure for the contact list (that's not part of the membership module) why bother making it a XOOPS module at all? Why not just use an external solution like bMail, PHPList, etc. There are a zillion external, stand alone mailing list options to choose from.

Scratching my head...

I have a first draft of a features list for the newsletter module.

I'm going to review it with Marcan to see what might be problematic from a programming point of view, then will post it for public review and comment

But one big question that came into view during the development of the features list, is:

Why try to make this an address/contact manager as well as a newsletter module? Then one ends up with at least two lists of contacts - the XOOPS registered users list, plus the newsletter module list. Then you have to constantly reconcile the two, or be checking for duplicates etc.

Why not make the newsletter module work with the existing (or maybe expanded) membership module? That way: all the contact info will be centralized; users can manage their subscriptions much like they manage "notifications"

I know the existing 2.0.13 standard membership module is limited in the ability to easily add custom fields, etc, but there is an alternate membership module -https://xoops.org/modules/repository/singlefile.php?cid=101&lid=1488 - that (with a bit of clean up) could be useful. I am not familiar with 2.2.x's membership capabilities.

Am I missing something here?

Quote:

Where can we download the latest version of Xmail?

Even beta of 2.5 would be fine for review.