ocPortal Tutorial: Advanced ocPortal member system

Written by Chris Graham, ocProducts

This tutorial will cover some of the more advanced features of the OCF member system.

Table of contents

ocPortal Tutorial: Advanced ocPortal member system

Pre-joining members

Adding members manually in the Admin Zone

{!DOC_ADD_MEMBER}

Merging members

{!DOC_MERGE_MEMBERS}
It is possible that some reassignments will not be possible, in which case, records may be dropped; for example, if both members share a secondary usergroup, ocPortal would fail [due to database key constraints] to assign both membership records to the same user, and hence drop one of them. This situation would only occur for a situation where the record was tightly-bound to the member, and thus deleting it is not a problem, as deleting the member would have deleted the record regardless.

Custom profile fields

Lists

For a list-type CPF, define the list by placing a '|' separated list in the default value field (e.g. "This|That|Other"). The first value in the list will be the default.

Adding a custom profile field

{!DOC_CUSTOM_PROFILE_FIELDS}

Custom profile fields are edited by editing member profiles

There are a number of custom profile field options that you may set, so that you may use the feature in a number of ways, including:

Storing hidden details on member (for example, a list of rule infractions, such as to aid decisions on cumulative punishment)
Allowing members to specify details about themselves (for example, their occupation)
Forcing members to specify certain additional details (for example, on a forum for staff of a company, you could make members enter their job role, so as to reduce the chance of a non employee from joining and remaining an active member)
Allowing members of a certain sub-communities (via their usergroup) to specify details appropriate to that sub-community (for example, those in the 'Football' usergroup of a school discussion forum could specify the position they play, whilst those in the 'Music' usergroup could specify the instrument they play).

Custom profile fields are optionally shown where members post

A 'locked' custom profile field can not be edited or deleted.

Custom profile fields are all shown in member profiles (those that the viewer has permission to view)

It is possible to configure where a value for a custom profile field for members will be displayed. The field will always be visible from their profile page, but also:

if 'show in posts' is selected, it will also be visible on their forum posts, and their member galleries and member gallery images/videos
if 'show in post previews' is selected, it will also be visible when displaying a member sub-gallery in a list of sub-galleries

Welcome E-mails

Creating a welcome e-mail

The enterprise version of ocPortal provides special support for composing a series of welcome e-mails that are sent out to new members on a predefined schedule.
The purpose of this feature is to gradually advertise the features of your website to your members in a way that reinforces awareness. As most members will not usually return to a website, welcome e-mails provide a strong tool to keep them aware and entice them to fully embrace whatever service you are providing.