Hide links to level x content to no users?

[shawnblog]

I want to have all users join free, but be shown certain content only once they have joined as level 0 or whatever... then I want them to pay per use of the content. So, they wouldn't ever use Paypal to join the site, only to use the content on a per use basis. I bought this pro version thinking it would be a simple solution for my task and it may still be, but from what I am reading, it looks like I'd have to have the user pay in order to classify them as a certain type of user and show them protected content, etc.

Also, is there a way to hide links that go to protected content? Right now, even when logged out completely, I am seeing menu links to my protected content. Nothing loads when I click through, but the link should not be shown to non users. Is there a way to hide the link?

I'm using Buddy Press and S2Member Pro currently (open to all advice and suggestions).

[Cristián Lávaque]

Hi Shawn.

s2Member doesn't have a per-use, per-view, counter type of feature at the moment. You could create --or have someone create for you-- a customization that does it, though.

About the navigation, that is not something that happens automatically yet. You could edit the template with your navigation to exclude links to content the current user doesn't have access to. WP Admin -> s2Member -> API / Scripting -> Advanced/PHP Conditionals

You could also just remove those pages from the navigation with a plugin like Exclude Pages https://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/exclude-pages/ and have a text widget with a conditional to show the protected links when appropriate, or add them to the menu following Bob's example here viewtopic.php?f=4&t=10273&p=21606#p21606

I hope that helps.

[shawnblog]

Thanks for that info.

So, I guess my workaround for the per use (other than creating a customization for s2Member) could be to hide/show the content as indicated and then make a normal payment link outside of s2Member with that content. It's a web form where the user will be able to submit work to be done (by another level of user) that I then want an admin user to be able to "assign" (display only to) another user.

[Cristián Lávaque]

Hmm... I'm afraid I'm not sure I understand the setup, or what to suggest.

Is it a kind of bidding for freelance work thing?

[shawnblog]

In essence, it is something like that. A company with work to be done will post. An admin will actually assign the "job" (post) to somewhat of a freelancer (nothing to do with web work or anything typical).

The "freelancer" (not really what the person is) will take the info from the post and come back with a file to upload that is to be returned to the company that originally made the post.

[Cristián Lávaque]

I see. No, I don't know what to suggest off the top of my head.

I'll let you know if something comes to mind.

[shawnblog]

One more question on this... sorry if this should be a new thread (?)

Since I want the users to pay as they go instead of having a paid membership, can I use S2Member Pro to let users select a user level and pay nothing (I know, that seems stupid to me now also) so that I can take advantage of the other features here?

Ideally, they would join free and be shown certain content based on the user type. There will be two premium type members, but neither of them pay to join. I only want to show and hide content selectively by user type.

So, can a user go through the S2Member Pro signup process, not actually pay anything, but still be processed and classified as a certain level of membership by the plugin?

[Cristián Lávaque]

Yeah, you can use s2Member Pro's free registration pro-form, that'll let you set the level or custom capabilities you want to give him for free. WP Admin -> s2Member -> PayPal Pro-Forms -> Free Registration

Even lets you set an EOT time if you want that, at which moment the auto-EOT behavior would happen. WP Admin -> s2Member -> PayPal Options -> Auto-EOT Behavior

I suggest you user custom capabilities to classify the users, levels have an incremental quality that may not be exactly what you want for this. http://www.s2member.com/custom-capabilities-video/

I hope that helps.

[shawnblog]

I'm not seeing this path: PayPal Pro-Forms -> Free Registration

I see PayPal® EOT Behavior and believe I understand the idea here, but the only thing I see under PayPal that resembles "forms" is the button options menu. Is that it? I don't see anything labeled "free registration" in any of the (2) PayPal menus under S2Member.

[Cristián Lávaque]

Ah, you need s2Member Pro for that, pro-forms are one of s2Member Pro's features.

[shawnblog]

That's what I purchased. There was a recent update. Maybe I did it wrong? I noticed when I did the update, that my registration logo was erased and the S2Member logo was back.

How do I update S2Member Pro or make sure I have it?

UPDATE... I guess I needed to set the deactivation safeguards before I updated recently (?)

In any case, I think I've added the Pro module back successfully since it says Pro in the dash now and the PayPal Free Registration option now exists.

Is my vague understanding correct that I am to enable deactivation safeguards before updating the core version of this plugin and that this will keep my logos and other tweaks I make from within the pro module when I make such an upgrade?

[Cristián Lávaque]

Ah yes, you need to have Deactivation Safeguards enabled if you want to keep anything you did with s2Member. This is crucial when you update too, since the plugin actually gets deactivated by WordPress before the update and then re-activated after it.

[shawnblog]

... edited

Actually, I just went into the dash to set it accordingly and it was already set to Yes (safeguard all data/options), so I'm now wondering if that is even working (?)

[Cristián Lávaque]

That is weird. Could you try to reproduce it (losing your settings although you had Deactivation Safeguards on)? If it really happened that way, we'd like to find what caused it to fix any potential problem.

If you reproduce it, please provide the steps you followed so I reproduce it on my end, please.

[shawnblog]

There was a recent dash notification of a new plugin version for S2Member. I did the dashboard update method (because I'm lazy like that).

I do remember an error, but I didn't write anything down. It was the kind where the whole page is white and there is no Wordpress dash or anything, like a database error message... but I had another tab open with the dash, so I click on the main link for Dashboard and it was all intact. In retrospect, I'm now almost certain that something got borked at that moment.

The only way I could possibly reproduce this is if there is a new update to S2Member.

When I get a Dashboard notification for an S2Member plugin update, should I update it that way or do I need to download the update and manually update it? And then, do I need to reinstall the pro module again each time? s2member-pro was simply not present in the folder today when I discovered that I was no longer Pro, but I definitely added it per the instructions when I first installed the plugin.

Is it possible the plugin update somehow removed the pro module folder? That seems like it would be impossible or at least highly unlikely. I'm pretty confused now. Again, I definitely installed the pro module previously (pro coupon codes and paypal pro menus were there before).

I'm perplexed here.

* also, I just noticed the membership levels/labels I had previously customized are, in fact, intact.

So, this seems like something went very wrong in my database, right?

[Cristián Lávaque]

If your settings are still there after that, it's because you had Deactivation Safeguards on.

I always do an automatic update of s2Member and never had a problem so far, but I've seen others have trouble for some odd reason I don't know, probably a server thing.

To do a manual update of s2Member, follow the instructions here please: viewtopic.php?f=36&t=247

[shawnblog]

But it did kill the logo I had uploaded.

I wonder if the "server thing" that is probably is would rear it's... thing again if I were to automatically update again. Now, I really wish I had taken a screen shot of the error.

[shawnblog]

That is weird. Could you try to reproduce it (losing your settings although you had Deactivation Safeguards on)? If it really happened that way, we'd like to find what caused it to fix any potential problem.

If you reproduce it, please provide the steps you followed so I reproduce it on my end, please.

No excitement (errors) on this update. If it happens again, I'll post screen shots. This time everything went smoothly as far as I can tell now.

[Cristián Lávaque]

That is good news.