How does a non-registered user become a member of a closed group?

Hi
I've just bought (been donated the funds to buy) CB - I wanted the GroupJive add-on so that we can utilise CB for our volunteer groups.

But I have a couple of questions/issues which I haven't been able to find answers for yet.

Our volunteer groups book either direct through us, or through agencies. I would like, particularly, the groups created by one agency to be hidden from other agencies - which hasn't been a problem, up to a point. The ACL has been set up correctly, and nothing that should be seen can be seen.

However, the next stage is membership of the groups - I want the group moderator, who will be a staff member of the relevant agency, to either invite (via email) or notify a non-registered user (via email) that they can join the group. I think giving the moderator 'create user' access is too much of a security issue.

My question is, how do I get the notification/link/invite to the non-registered user, AND have them be able to join the group, WITHOUT other non-group members seeing the group page?

Is it even possible? Can a non-registered user receive an invite and join at the registration process automatically?

If there's no other way, can a moderator create a user ONLY for their group without having access to other users?

This whole GDPR thing as well as agencies not wanting others seeing their group's details is a pain, but we have to find a way to do it

Thanks

For Invite group types users are simply invited to join the group. No one can see Invite group types unless they are a member of the group or have been invited to it. Invites can be sent to non-members of your site by inviting them by email address. After they register they'll automatically be accepted in the group(s) they were invited to.

CB Moderators are of course exempt from the access checks though and will always see all groups so be sure to test with a regular Registered user to see what the majority of users will be seeing.

To make it work I've had to set the category access to public (I have one for each agency, and had set it so only members of the agency group + superuser could access). This is because the new user's default group when they register is 'registered'. Makes sense, but not what I would like to happen.

When the invite is sent, is it possible to recognise the email address on registration and set the user's group to the one associated with the category (ie agency), or is there another option for doing this, or must this be done manually by someone with user details access?

I also would like to change the text for the invite email, so I can explain that the user needs to register first and then where to go to see their group...

As I said, CB is new to me so I'm not sure what is and isn't possible yet, and whether I can achieve what I want through configuration/access changes only.

Thanks from rainy Thailand

To make it work I've had to set the category access to public (I have one for each agency, and had set it so only members of the agency group + superuser could access). This is because the new user's default group when they register is 'registered'. Makes sense, but not what I would like to happen.

The category needs to be accessible to the person being invited to the group so yes you'll need to ensure the category is set to Public.

When the invite is sent, is it possible to recognise the email address on registration and set the user's group to the one associated with the category (ie agency), or is there another option for doing this, or must this be done manually by someone with user details access?

It already does this if they were invited to the group. If the registering users email address matches the email address an invite was sent to then the invite will automatically be accepted and they'll be in the group.

I also would like to change the text for the invite email, so I can explain that the user needs to register first and then where to go to see their group...

It's a language string so you can use CBs built in language override functionality below to override it. A language key and string finder can be found below the overrides to assist in finding language strings to override.

www.joomlapolis.com/blog/kyle/18701-language-overrides-have-arrived