Required fields problems

[boldplans]

Hi guys - I just purchased the pro version and hope that what I'm about to ask is possible and rather surprised that I can't figure out how to do this.

1) Optional First and Last Name fields. I'm trying to give users the option of having first and last name fields filled out that go right into wordpress. Right now I'm finding that if you choose to have these in the form, S2 assumes that they are required? This should not be the case. I was wondering if I could create a custom field with the same name and field as the stock wordpress, make that optional and bypass this unfortunate limitation.

2) Is there a way to have users be logged in immediately after they enter their registration information, e.g. username, password and email address? I'd prefer not to have the extra step of logging in again with the same information they entered.

3) Does every additional S2 membership level require payment? I don't need to have that at times, e.g. I have barter exchanges. I'm assuming that I can use the other Wordpress permissions to set something comparable but I was hoping to have s2m be able to have custom membership levels for a variety of purposes and the virtually unlimited number of types meant some flexibility. One level free account just isn't enough, IMHO.

Otherwise, this is a great value. Just hope I can clear up the above and thank you!

[Raam Dev]

1) Optional First and Last Name fields. I'm trying to give users the option of having first and last name fields filled out that go right into wordpress. Right now I'm finding that if you choose to have these in the form, S2 assumes that they are required? This should not be the case. I was wondering if I could create a custom field with the same name and field as the stock wordpress, make that optional and bypass this unfortunate limitation.

In WP Admin -> s2Member -> General Options -> Registration/Profile Fields & Options you can set Collect First/Last Names during Registration? to No and then create custom fields to collect the First/Last name, however unless you write some custom PHP code, those custom fields won't automatically fill in the WordPress First/Last name fields.

2) Is there a way to have users be logged in immediately after they enter their registration information, e.g. username, password and email address? I'd prefer not to have the extra step of logging in again with the same information they entered.

This isn't a built-in feature, but it is possible. See here for the solution: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=14211&p=29918#p31548

3) Does every additional S2 membership level require payment? I don't need to have that at times, e.g. I have barter exchanges. I'm assuming that I can use the other Wordpress permissions to set something comparable but I was hoping to have s2m be able to have custom membership levels for a variety of purposes and the virtually unlimited number of types meant some flexibility. One level free account just isn't enough, IMHO.

If you're using s2Member Pro, you can create a Free Registration form and configure it with any level you'd like, that way payment is not required. Please see WP Admin -> s2Member -> PayPal Pro Forms -> PayPal Pro / Free Registration Forms.

[boldplans]

Raam -

1. I would think this is a very popular and desired option (I am coming from another registration plugin and they ultimately changed their system to allow this option.) Wouldn't it be easier to just include this in the code instead of requiring users to custom program this simple flag? I'm hoping it can be set in the app itself (I'm considering seeing what adding an option to the dropdown might do.) Could you please include this option in one of the next releases? Honestly, this is one of those fields that I cannot require everyone to fill out, especially if they are choosing an optional free registration. Thanks for considering it in advance.

2. THANK YOU!

3. I am assuming this means you can create a couple of free registration forms and configure them. Thank you again!

[boldplans]

Raam - the more I use S2Member the more I like the layout but the less useful it becomes to me and it shouldn't be that way. Here's the problem.

Wordpress makes it very simple to access a post author's basic metadata such as bio, website, first and last name and a couple of other fields. Unfortunately it appears that S2Member just took some and ignored the others. For example, let's say I'm using the AIM and Yahoo and Website WP standard fields. None of those appear to be accessible if you're trying to edit a profile on the user's own profile page. In essence, you've lost access to all the data in Wordpress' own standard fields.

Unfortunately all of S2Member's profile fields are proprietary and also cannot be easily accessed on the front end. So if I go through the trouble of setting up collecting user data, what use is it for me not to be able to easily show this on the front end, e.g. plug in short codes for user social networks to appear on their author pages?

I've also noticed there is no easy way to search through all of the custom user fields either. You've got all of these awesome cool data entry fields for profile creation but none of them are searchable for filtering. For example, if I create a dropdown of the car each one owns, there is no way for me to do a search that would show me all members who, e.g. have selected "GM" as their favorite car manufacturer. And you can search for those members in the Wordpress generic search box either as it searches every field, including bio.

I really love how much work has been done to make this easy to use. Unfortunately I'm having a problem with utility of many of the features without them being tied into the essence of WP. Hopefully you or someone can address these thoughts. Thanks.

[boldplans]

If I may suggest, this free plugin shows all wordpress profile fields on the front end AND all the S2 Member fields.

http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/fro ... t-profile/

What's amazing is that I can see IP address and all the custom information for a user on the front end. What you guys should do is simply work in the ability to have the stock fields show up in the S2member profile. I can't imagine losing the bio field in Wordpress. Without being able to edit the field, you lose all the data for any site you're running. You'd need to use W2M only on new sites or face major data migration.

Hope there is an easier answer for all of this.

[Cristián Lávaque]

Thanks a lot for such valuable input. We are working on improving the custom fields. There should be a new major release of s2Member in about 2 months, and this is one of the things that we plan to have addressed.

In the meantime, you can search for s2Member custom fields following the tip Jason gave here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15658&p=48878#p48878

I hope that helps.

[Jason Caldwell]

Unfortunately all of S2Member's profile fields are proprietary and also cannot be easily accessed on the front end. So if I go through the trouble of setting up collecting user data, what use is it for me not to be able to easily show this on the front end, e.g. plug in short codes for user social networks to appear on their author pages?

Yes, this is correct. Current versions of s2Member exclude these WordPress fields.

You have two options available in the current release.

1. You can allow Members to use the WordPress Profile editing panel which supports these (i.e. /wp-admin/profile.php). See also: s2Member -> General Options -> Profile Modifications.

2. Build Custom Registration/Profile Fields with s2Member to replace any of the existing core fields that s2Member does not yet support by default. For instance, if you collect AIM, you can create a Custom Registration/Profile Field for that via s2Member -> General Options -> Registration/Profile Fields.

Yes, thank you for the feedback. We really appreciate that, and I look forward to the day when this is resolved. It's coming soon.

[boldplans]

Thanks for listening - truly. I find it helpful to have other pairs of eyes. Thanks for the consideration and thought towards core accessibility of these enhanced third party functions.

The truth: While I'm extremely grateful for having Wordpress, Automattic has allowed the member profile issue to linger far beyond expiration date. By not having even the smallest amount of proper centralized management of the most basic sign-up functions, it creates chaos in the world of membership plugins as everyone creates a different proprietary solution. It's remarkable that you can set up massive synchronized blogging networks in Wordpress but you still can't do something as painfully simple as adding, removing or even modifying the label of a profile field.

[Cristián Lávaque]

I totally agree with you on that.