Paywall content in DNN - dotnetnuke

I am using DNN 9.3.2 and Evoq 9.3.7.
I would like to paywall content in a section of the website with teaser content i.e. so that they can read a part of the article but need to pay/ log in to access the content. 'Members' would also need to be able to log in and bypass the paywall. Users would idealy be able to manage their account from here. The paywall would also need to be able to handle a complex pricing model i.e. different prices for different user types, possibly different content available for different user types.
Would anyone be able to advise how best to do this with DNN/ Evoq, and which modules from DNN store (if any) would be useful?
Thanks!

I have never tried this, but in theory any shop solution should give you that functionality. Have a look at OpenStore, which is Open Source and free.
Or a News/Blog module that supports paid content, as EasyDnnNews.

I believe you'll have to brew your own or ask a specialist who knows what they are doing already. The basic principle is as follows:
Protect a page with a role - let's call it Patrons which only paying users will get
Create a page for users to pay on, and if successful, assign them the role
You can also do things like ensure that the role is only given for a certain time, and then the users must pay again.
If you have a subscription model, you would probably run a timer job or something to verify payments have happened again, and if true, extend the role assignment

Related

REDCap - reporting data back to user

I'm looking for a simple solution for a cooperative project where specimens will be mailed to me, and I would report several measurements back to the sender.
I need the originating site to fill out a form with some basic information (specimen ID, collection dates, shipment tracking #, etc). Then I need to let the site know I received the shipment - via the same form. Then, after some analytics, I need to report 3 numerical values (biomarker levels) back to the site.
Someone recommended REDCap for this project. I know I can do data collection with REDCap (the initial requisition form), but can I also report the values back with REDCap?
It appears I found the solution, by talking to a REDCap expert. In case someone is interested, here's basic outline:
Create two forms: one for requisiton, another one for reporting data back to user.
Invite REDCap users to my project and give them read-only rights to the second form.
Put other users in Data Access Groups, so they only can see the requisitions (and results) from their own group.
This might work, but I decided to not go this way. In REDCap, an user has all rights by default, and I would have to limit them. In my application there is too much potential for data breach due to mistake in assigning rights and DAGs.
Another solution would be to use REDCap with an email alert module enabled.
Configure a project with two forms:
One for the client to enter the information you need from them, and make that form anonymous - no user account needed, and collect an email address from them (to return results). For the example below let's call this form [request].
The second form will be for you to enter the biomarker levels and whatever else you need to. This form only needs to be viewable and editable by you. Let's call this [results].
Then, if you have the email alerts module enabled (and you'll have to speak with your REDCap administrators about that) you can configure it to automatically email someone with information contained in the record, and to set the logic by which the email is sent.
This solution and the one you were recommended are the same with respect to form design, but they differ in the way the results are shared with the requestor. This solution does not require the user to have an account to access the results. I personally think the other solution (with user roles and DAGs) is the better solution.

CakePHP, ACL or Not?

I work on a social web application, and I really hesitate between using ACLs or using my own permissions system. I work for several days with ACLs to see their behavior and savoi what I could and could not do.
In my application, members can set permissions on what they have (profile, photo album, etc.). I also need to set permissions for moderators who can check the content of a profile and photo albums, but do not have the right to the modifiers or deleted, however the administrator to all rights .
For the profile, the user can decide their make public, visible only by members or friends. For this, I could create a perfectly ProfileSettings table with different fields to see what information is visible and can access the profile. The problem is if I want to implement a choice according to a list of friends in the way of Facebook. I imagined the scenario with ACL, but I fear that the requested resources are enormous. Create a profile for each aco is not bad especially if requested database include 300 members, not to mention the need to save all the permissions as appropriate and user choice. So I think not allow members to define which users can access their objects, but only groups.
There still remains the question about ACLs. In my case is this a good idea? I also have to set permissions on the forums, eg a moderator can update a thread / post, a forum can be visible only by the admin / moderators etc.
Where I am afraid to use ACL is that the slightest mistake can cause serious damage, but at the same time, it allows me to set up permissions faster.
Thank you for your help and your advice :)
The correct answer is probably "Yes, your use-case makes sense to use Cake's ACL."
However, I've tried a number of times to use ACL. The learning curve was too high/time consuming for me. I used it on an app and a few months in had the problem you mentioned - one small issue, and everything fell apart. And without knowing exactly what I was doing / what I needed to do to resolve, it became a nightmare. Not only that, but when I wanted to extend it or do ANYTHING other than the specific example, I couldn't get it to work.
From then on, I just built my own to the specific needs of the project.
If you have someone you know who uses it regularly and can teach you the the ins and outs of Cake's ACL, then it might be fine to use it. Otherwise, I'd build my own. Even if it's not "better", at least if/when something goes wrong, you'll understand it enough to fix it.

Any recent changes in how contacts identify themselves to the Mirror API?

I'm concerned - when I take a picture, I usually (ie, last week) am able to share the image to my app.
Now, however, only Google + contacts appear as share targets. For example, if I turn off sharing to G+, I get no Share options at all, only a greyed-out Share dialog that says "Visit google.com/myglass to add friends"
However, when I go to that address I clearly see my app and a number of contacts (who aren't in G+) who also usually show up.
Has something changed to cause this behavior? For example, is the code listed in the starter-project no longer sufficient to register a share target for photos?
For example, I could imagine that suddenly the acceptTypes[] parameter was now mandatory. But I'd love to hear someone closer to the API weigh in, if possible.
Thanks!
AKA
I solved this by following Alain's comment's advice.
It's very easy to think that the "Contacts" page you see at https://glass.google.com/myglass is all there is.
But if you want your app to receive shared stuff, you have to go here: https://glass.google.com/myglass/share

Need ideas on retrieving data from a website

I'm stumped and need some ideas on how to do this or even whether it can be done at all.
I have a client who would like to build a website tailored to English-speaking travelers in a specific country (Thailand, in this case). The different modes of transportation (bus & train) have good web sites for providing their respective information. And both are very static in terms of the data they present (the schedules rarely change). Here's one of the sites I would need to get info from: train schedules The client wants to provide users the ability to search for a beginning and end location and determine, using the external website's information, how they can best get there, being provided a route with schedule times for the different modes of chosen transport.
Now, in my limited experience, I would think the way to do that would be to retrieve the original schedule info from the external site's server (via API or some other means) and retain the info in a database, which can be queried as needed. Our first thought was to contact the respective authorities to determine how/if this can be done, but this has proven to be problematic due to the language barrier, mainly.
My client suggested what is basically "screen scraping", but that sounds like it would be complicated at best, downloading the web page(s) and filtering through the HTML for relevant/necessary data to put into the database. My worry is that the info on these mainly static sites is so static, that the data isn't even kept in a database to build the page and the web page itself is updated (hard-coded) when something changes.
I could really use some help and suggestions here. Thanks!
Screen scraping is always problematic IMO as you are at the mercy of the person who wrote the page. If the content is static, then I think it would be easier to copy the data manually to your database. If you wanted to keep up to date with changes, you could then snapshot the page when you transcribe the info and run a job to periodically check whether the page has changed from the snapshot. When it does, it sends an email for you to update it.
The above method could also be used in conjunction with some sort of screen scaper which could fall back to a manual process if the page changes too drastically.
Ultimately, it is a case of how much effort (cost) is your client willing to bear for accuracy
I have done this for the following site: http://www.buscatchers.com/ so it's definitely more than doable! A key feature of a web scraping solution for travel sites is that it must send you emails if anything went wrong during the scraping process. On the site, I use a two day window so that I have two days to fix the code if the design changes. Only once or twice have I had to change my code, and it's very easy to do.
As for some examples. There is some simplified source code here: http://www.buscatchers.com/about/guide. The full source code for the project is here: https://github.com/nicodjimenez/bus_catchers. This should give you some ideas on how to get started.
I can tell that the data is dynamic, it's to well structured. It's not hard for someone who is familiar with xpath to scrape this site.

DNN module sugestions needed, form/reg, pyment, emailing

i need a module that is kind of a cross between a registration module and a form module.
it need to allow for custom form fields to be saved to the DB and work as part of a flow such that once data is entered by the users they click next and see the data to confirm it is correct. at this point they should have the option to edit the data if they notice an error or continue to a payment page.
the payment page needs to have a module that can integrat with payment gateways liek paypal and accept credit cards. once credit card data is entered and the transaction is complete a custom email with a unique userNumber needs to be sent to the user.
i figure im lookign at three separate modules for this typeof work flow. but i hope since this is a standard type of register, pay, email confirm operation there may be a single module i can confugure to meet my needs.
thoughts? suggestions?
Have you looked at DNM RAD by DotNet Mushroom?
http://www.dotnetmushroom.com/DNMRADGeneral/GeneralInformation/WhatisDNMRAD/tabid/2347/Default.aspx
I have not had a use for this yet, but it is a module that I have on my short list in case the need comes up. They do state that they can work with pament gateways.
Good luck.
You might have to be somewhat flexible with your work flow if you want to used 100% canned modules.
FormMaster is a pretty good form solution. You can write to existing database tables, structure SQL tables or just the default is an XML file. It doesn't go through a preview before saving though.
FormMaster Website
Searching snowcovered.com you can certainly find something that can process a payment. That one shouldn't be too difficult.
I'm thinking you may need to sling some code to get the exact experience you are looking for.

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