Anyone using Mambo Community Builder?

Hi folks, we're planning our new site with Mambo and aMember. I just came across the Community Builder component which, among other things, extends the login information.

An example of the extended info request is at
http://www.mambojoe.com/component/option,com_comprofiler/task,registers/

If I install this component, will it break the aMember integration? It looks like it offers many complementary features.

According to the site (mambojoe.com), here are the features:

User Profile

* Add unlimited tabs and fields to the profiles of your users. You can add text, text area, drop down, checkbox, radio button type fields.
* Make additional fields optional or required.
* Make additional fields publicly viewable on the profile to visitors or private.
* Determine which Mambo User Groups are allowed to view other users profiles
* Allow users to chose an avatar from a gallery or allow them to upload their own image.
* Allow users to submit user reports for profiles that are potentially offensive.

User Registration

* Add your additional fields to the registration process to capture additional information from your users
* Require approval of users by an administrator prior to the user logging in for the first time
* Send an email to the user upon completion of registration with a confirmation link that they must click prior to logging into your site. This will verify that they registered with a valid email address.
* Edit the email messages via the administrator that are sent to the user during registration. Also define what email address the emails come from and a reply to email address.
* Require users to accept a "Terms of Acceptance" statement prior to completing registration.


Any thoughts?

Thanks

BP

I'm also psyched about Community Builder (CB) component for Mambo. I think it is so much better than the native Mambo user management system.

I hope to God that aMember can integrate with Mambo's Community Builder component. If anyone has any confirmations of aMember working with CB, please post and let us know if it required any customization or not.

I've been reading various levels of success with people being able to integrate aMember with just the native Mambo login, so I'm wondering if the CB component will be easier or not.

-thx,
Fred

Hi Fred,

well since i posted that question, I have purchased an amember license. Since my site isn't live yet, I'll play with communitybuilder and see if it integrates.

As to how well amember and mambo work, well, i haven't started taking money but the user login worked perfectly. Just had to change the mambo database prefix in the amember plugin (NOTE TO ALEX: DEFAULT THIS TO MOS_!!) and boom - it worked.

Now realize this is on a "virgin" mambo and amember install. Worked well for me (and any other membership sites i build in the future will definitely use amember).

BP

BP, does using the "mos_" prefix resolve problems with quirky accessibilty issues between the two systems (mambo & amember)?

What sort of problems would happen if you used the aMember prefix for the aMember/Mambo integration instead of "mos_"?

I'm also very interested in learning how your Community Builder (CB) - aMember integration works out. I've got a site myself where I'm working to get aMember integrated with CB. Problem is that my timeline is already busted. So I'm doing all I can without much useful history info from the net.

The main thing I see with CB is that it synchronizes its own user manager from the original Mambo user manager. If aMember's sign-up process can make a procedure call to CB's synchronization function after a successful aMember sign-up, then I believe the aMember/CB integration could work in that round about sort of way.

Kinda sucks that it seems like 3 databases are being juggled around in that case. Wasn't sure if maybe using the "mos_" prefix for aMember-Mambo narrowed that juggling down to 2 databases instead.

-Fred

This would be great. Any final decision on whether this will happen and, if it is going to happen, how the integration will work?

Alex, I'm cheering on the integration of Community Builder (CB). I've discussed with a number of people who would like to see an integrated solution with aMember.

During these discussions, I've documented a couple of common requirements that are basic to most user's needs:
1) the aMember integration should allow the option of being logged into aMember if the CB login is used (because anyone who is using CB is gonna want to use the CB login for reasons of all the other things that CB is a central component to).
2) the aMember membership management details (ie. fields/tags in member.php) should show up as an additional tab in the Community Builder profile management tabs (call it subscription management or something). For example, other easily integrated tabs are called forum settings, or blog entries, articles written, additional details, etc... an aMember tab would most appropriately be place amongst these other functionality tabs. CB is built in such a way where these addon tabs can be created through database insertions into the CB tables.

I know this will be useful to a lot of Mambo people and then many more in the future after example implementations start taking off. aMember is the most versatile subscription management system out there and I think it goes hand in hand with the versatility of Community Builder.

-Fred

Community Builder aMember Integration

Alex, I wanted to check up on your integration progress for Mambo's Community Builder (CB).

Not sure if you're aware of it, but the latest version of CB is about to be released: CB Release Candidate 2 (RC2). It turns out that RC2 has a new plugin framework that opens up a new realm for 3rd party component integration. The CB Dev team is interested in knowing of 3rd party developers who would like to be integrated.

CB RC2 will have a centralized methodology for synchronizing login, logout, user delete, changes, etc, etc.

This new plugin framework is talked about in these threads:
http://www.mambojoe.com/content/view/211/
&
http://forum.joomla.org/index.php/topic,1653.0.html

-Fred

Community Builder extended API plugin integration structure

I'm posting below the latest info on the extended API functionality that is being implemented for Mambo's Community Builder (CB). Turns out the CB Dev team is seeking any 3rd party developers who are interested in integrating into this new plugin structure. I hope aMember will be one of those integrators.

Here's a copied post that summarizes how the new API plugin structure will operate.

Alex, just in case you're not already aware... the Community Builder build 9 test release (specifically for 3rd party developers) was secretly published last night at:
http://developer.joomla.org/sf/go/frs1850

There is a downloadable plugin example as well: ("plug_cbpluginexample.zip").

Let me know if you're unable to access it and need me to send you a copy. Best of luck on the integration. I will also forward you any aMember integration code of my own if I'm able to concoct something brilliant.

-v/r,
Fred

Alex, I just sent them to your email.

-Fred

Fred, thank you for getting our CB development team all stirred up and making me register here.

As testteam leader i have been asked to remove you from our team.

So you just got your account banned from the 'secret' site. (???)

Internal releases for the testteam are ment to stay internal. You just made yourself the biggest looser that ever joined our team.

If you want amember pro to be integrated you should have officially pointed them to me or nant, and get the wheels rolling just like the other 3rd party devs wheels do.

You should not have send or offerered to send our releases to anyone outside our team, we are doing a team effort and the code belongs to our team. You effectively stole from the team. bye bye.

Have nice day.
~Trail.

p.s. if amember development wants to integrate with CB, they can contact me or nant @ www.mambojoe.com

RE: Trail

Trail, did you even read all of this thread?

Alex (the aMember Pro developer) says in the thread traffic above that he had gone through the e-mail process with Beat to get on the 3PD team and he was awaiting the formal verification.

The link I posted above for Alex (the aMember Developer) would only work if he had an approved CB testteam account (which the mambojoe team controls). My purpose of informing him was to get the ball rolling for aMember integration. As you're aware there have been delays with RC2 and time has been of the essence.

I made the post to keep Alex informed of the latest ongoings for getting onto the 3PD team. I believe after multiple failed attempts of PMing the CB RC2 administrators that he was finally able to get on the team.

My purpose of joining the test team was to do partial testing, but most importantly assist Alex with some of the aMember integration code. I have been doing that.

Alex, could you please chime in and confirm to Trail your correspondence and delays on getting on the CB test team?

I cannot believe this presumptive behaviour Trail. I donated $100 to the CB open source effort and I have been an active participant in both the 3PD and test side of the RC2 secret forum. There is nothing public posted here that anybody can access. That link was for Alex to access only after you guys had approved his account on the 3PD team.

Since the aMember -> CB RC2 integration effort was gonna be a collaborative effort between Alex and I, that is why I privately e-mailed him the files since he had not been approved at that moment. When my test team account was approved by the admin team, it was based on those same stated prerequisites: (to do testing and assist with aMember integration).

I believe both you and Nant were in the traffic for my approval e-mails, so please go back and read the premise under which I was approved. Alex (the aMember developer) and I are working to create an integration for RC2. Nobody else in this forum has seen the build9 code.

I cannot believe the knee-jerk reaction you have jumped to!

Dear Fred,

I have received an email asking me to investigate this thread.

I notice you have sent files outside our control and this is enough reason for a ban.

There you have decided to bypass our systems and this is reason enough for a ban.

I am not aware of any contact delays, my email works fine, so do my pms at MJ.com, and delays are of no concern to me. My job is to keep security in tight check and you bypassed our security.

If beat AND nant both find you innocent, only then i will unban you. But sad to inform. It was them who asked me to investigate, as i did not find this out by myself.

I know you might have had the best intentions but you just blew a hole in our security by deciding to bypass the system for 'speed sake'.

We, the team, have long ago decided that security and stability go before speed of releases. It is not up to you to change the ways of our team by yourself.

Its not personal, i wouldn't mind if we decide later to let you back in, i am just doing my job by shutting you down, and i do it well.

You shared a file. This is reason enough for my decision and i stand by it untill i spoke to the rest of the team.

I will give this case back to Beat and Nant now.

~Trail.

Hey Fred,

Your account on CBteam has been re-opened so we can discuss this further with nant and beat and you and me together on our forums privately.



~Trail.

Then please pass the circumstances back to the team and let them collectively decide. I apologize for the security hole violation, but I did it almost knowing for sure that Alex had been or would very shortly be approved. He had told me that he contacted you guys but got no response. Knowing that you guys would not turned down a 3PD for no reason, I figured there must've been a communication problem at the root of the delays.

Again, I'm sorry for violating that security policy as I was unaware that it was strict to that degree. And besides, just because a thread post says I e-mailed something to someone does not actually confirm that I did, even though I admit to it. Bottomline is that if you take that much of a right wing stance on policy, maybe you should do it with respect to rumor confirmation as well.

okay, thx we'll talk and I am sorry