These are great resources Herko...thanks for the link. I'm going to study this closer and see if I can hack something.

For me, the two most needed modules are:

1) A newsletter module with content hooks to news, forums, wf-sections, FAQ, etc. That would automagically generate a newsletter using a pseudo-CRON or something and send it out.

2) Subscription module.

Then XOOPS would be complete ... for me!

Dan

After some discussion at fantasyasylum.com, we've decided to contribute our time to this project instead of paying Draven to develop it and then struggling with the decision whether to release it to the community or not. XOOPS has done a lot for fantasyasylum.com and it's now time to pay the community back.

I am willing to do the development of this module, but as it will be my first actual module (as opposed to hacks I've done in the past), it's going to take me just a smidge of time to get off the ground. That said, this project will be seen to completion because this module is something we desperately need.

The first version of this module will be quite simple: it will accept PayPal payments and change the user's group. After that is working and clean, I will work on the rest of the suggestions mentioned here.

If anyone has any additional thoughts or suggestions for a mod dev newbie, please let me know. Any suggestions on how to incorporate Draven's idea of a general membership module with vendor-specific submodules (modules are bad enough, but submodules?!?) would be appreciated. I'm sure there will be plenty of beta testers available when I'm ready :)

Don

I look forward to seeing and testing any progress you make.

Although it is impossible to state a date are we talking months?

Tim

Quote:

I would certainly hope not, unless you're talking one or two.

This is my biggest "free-time" priority, so it's just a matter of how much of that free time pops up. I don't think the actual PayPal piece will be all that difficult, it will be more putting the module together that will give me a headache.

For the XOOPS (for Business) community.

Thank you in advance for the time you will put into this. As you say this is desperately needed.

SB

<aol>What dlh said.</aol>

I can certainly see there must be some progress. (The main XOOPS.org screen has a different paypal look - I like it!)

Gnik

::PING::

So like who did the work on the Paypay block on the front page?

Gnik

gniknalu,

I think (and I emphasize think) all they've done on the front page is use the PayPal functions that you can find here or here. That's just a simple system you can build into any webpage.

What we're discussing here is an installable module that will perform many of the functions listed by above. I'm trying to create that module now.

I'm going to use all of you as a sounding board for building the base of this. That way, anything that I miss is caught early.

Two screens: user and admin
ADMIN
PayPal account: ______________
Text to display for thanking user: _________________
Subscription option 1 name: _______________
Subscription option 1 description: _______________
Subscription option 1 price: ______________
Length of subscription option 1: number units (days, months, etc.)
Which group will the member be promoted to: {Drop-down with groups}
<Loop last five lines to create multiple options>

USER
(some configurable text thanking the user for choosing to subscribe)
{Drop-down box box with subscription options}
Check box for auto-renew

The databases that will support this module will be:
MEMBERS
uid - integer; foreign key to XOOPS uid
subscription_type - integer; foreign key to subscriptions DB
start_date - timestamp of this subscription being approved
expiry_date - timestamp of when this subscription will end
auto_renew - integer; 0 for no, 1 for yes

SUBSCRIPTIONS
subscription_type - integer; autoincrement
subscription_name - varchar(80); name of subscription
subscription_description - text
subscription_length_number - integer
subscription_length_units - choice of days, weeks, months, years

ACCOUNTS
vendor - choice of PayPal, NoChex, etc.
account - varchar (80)
password - encrypted password field

That's where I am right now. All comments, suggestions, and criticisms are welcome.

One question I had while doing this post: where do I store the "thank you" text? Is it worth another table just for that or am I missing a more obvious answer, like a simple text file?