[SOLVED] ACL usability in CBSubs?

Hello,

I am very interested in purchasing the CB Subs extension, but I still have a question first.

On my Joomla website, I work with two specific member groups (aside from admins and such):

- Registered users (free members)
- Upgraded members (users who pay a yearly fee for additional services)

The registered users are the "basic" users, using the ACL group "Registered Users" that is standard in Joomla. Using the NoixACL extension, I have created a second ACL group called "Upgraded Members". All "upgraded services" on my site are therefore put into that specific group (specific articles, menu links, specific components, Kunena forums, specific modules, specific aiContact forms, etc etc...).

Now my intention is that, when a "free member" wants to upgrade, they are automatically placed into the "Upgraded members" ACL group (which I configured with NoixACL) right after their payment is processed. And when their subscription expires (after e.g. 1 year or 2 years, depending on the plan they choose), they are automatically removed from the "Upgraded members" ACL group and back into the standard "Registered users" ACL group in Joomla.

Is this possible with CB Subs? I have roamed the forums a bit, and from some other topics I do get the impression that NoixACL groups are recognized and usable at CB Subs.

I have also read in other topics to be careful with ACL extensions that hack into the Joomla core - such as JACL Plus or JACL Pro. I have opted to use NoixACL because 1. it's free and 2. it doesn't hack the Joomla core! Additionally, the commercial JACL Pro is known to be half a scam (minimal support, and when JACL servers go down, your own Joomla breaks down too!). That is why I'm glad to have discovered NoixACL, and would like to keep using it (unless CB Subs were to allow such functionality, but I've already read that is not the case).

I know that NoixACL not in the "integrated" features list of CB Subs, so I understand that you will say that an official integration is not supported at this time. So a better way to phrase my question is: does anyone here know if it works or not?

And a few additional questions, aside from the ACL functionality:

1. Is it possible with CB Subs to send configurable and automated emails to my "upgraded members" to "remind" them that their subscription is almost about to end; and then again when their subscription actually expired?

2. Is it possible for a member to "renew" their subscription before his current one is expired? For example: a member has paid for 1 year upgraded membership. 10 days prior to expiration, he wants to renew already. The idea is that 1 more year will be added to his subscription period + the 10 days that he still had prior to the expiration of his current year. And is it also possible to combine plans like that? E.g. The member is currently subscribed for 1 year, and wants to renew prior to expiration, but chooses a 2 year plan (or vice versa)?

3. When I purchase CB Subs, do I get future upgrades and new versions for CB Subs included?

Thanks in advance!

Post edited by: krileon, at: 2010/01/28 19:11

1. You can send customized emails via Presentation tab or CBSubs Email integration, but it can not send in advanced. It must be sent for example on plan activation, expiration, deactivation, etc...
2. Yes users can renew in advance based on your settings for the plan; you can select how early users can renew. Yes users can combine it with other plans, but no there is no support to select duration; you need multiple plans to obtain multiple durations.
3. Yes, as long as your maintenance policy for your license is up to date (selected when you select your license to purchase).

Please note, CB nor CBSubs supports ACL modification extensions; we can NOT guarantee things will work as expected with such extensions. It also makes it nearly impossible to debug if an issue should arise.

Thanks for your response. I was already aware that there is no official support for making CB Subs work with NoixACL (maybe an integration might be worth considering by the developers for a next version? NoixACL seems to be the best solution for that out there at the moment). I was just wondering if it's known from the experience of others that CB Subs recognizes the manually made groups by NoixACL.

That brings me to another question, though.
Does CBSubs have a setting, so that when the subscription of a member expires, an email is automatically sent to the admin to notify him of that?

That way, if I have to set the user level to "Upgraded Members" manually, I will be able to know when the subscription expires and when I have to change the user back to "Registered".

Thanks!

Vorak wrote:

Thanks for your response. I was already aware that there is no official support for making CB Subs work with NoixACL (maybe an integration might be worth considering by the developers for a next version? NoixACL seems to be the best solution for that out there at the moment). I was just wondering if it's known from the experience of others that CB Subs recognizes the manually made groups by NoixACL.

If Joomla sees this new group (without hacking), then most likely CB and CBSubs will also.

That brings me to another question, though.
Does CBSubs have a setting, so that when the subscription of a member expires, an email is automatically sent to the admin to notify him of that?

That way, if I have to set the user level to "Upgraded Members" manually, I will be able to know when the subscription expires and when I have to change the user back to "Registered".

Thanks!

Yes CBSubs does this. CBSubs can also change ACL groups upon subscription expiration (provided of course these ACL groups are compatible with Joomla ACL groups).

However, if the only reason you want to use Joomla/extended ACL groups is to protect content based on subscription plans, then you dont need ACL group changes at all - CBSubs can handle most protection by itself.

Hello again,

thanks for your reply!

Joomla does see the new group everywhere, the only extension so far that can't see it is Docman, for as far as I've tested. According to the NoixACL manual, it's possible to work with Docman too but I haven't gotten that far yet, and at any rate, CBSubs works with that too I've seen. I don't know much of anything about actual coding, but the developers of NoixACL say that their extension does not hack Joomla core files - unlike JACLplus before.

When I test out the functionality of CBSubs I will most likely determine that the ACL group wasn't needed anyway, but I always get a better view on those things from practice.

So, my last question for now then:
How is the install policy of CBSubs? I have two installs of my Joomla: one in sandbox for myself, and one for the live site (or what's going to become the live site). Is it possible for me to install CBSubs on both the live site and the sandbox, or is there a restriction on that? After all, I don't mean to use it on more than one live site.

Thanks!

Vorak wrote:

So, my last question for now then:
How is the install policy of CBSubs? I have two installs of my Joomla: one in sandbox for myself, and one for the live site (or what's going to become the live site). Is it possible for me to install CBSubs on both the live site and the sandbox, or is there a restriction on that? After all, I don't mean to use it on more than one live site.

Thanks!

This is fine and permitted.