Integration with membership website

[Deasha]

Hi,

I am new to website development and have been asked to create a fairly complex site by my boss. Not one to turn down a challenge i accepted. Now i am left trying to figure it all out.

I am creating a website that will have a number of components to it. The website will be monitored by membership. I have chosen to use Sitelok for this. (please comment if you have any recommendations). I would like a forum software that will integrate with the website and the members log in.

The reason the website will have a members section because there will be forms and downloads that i would like to restrict.

Please help me work out the best solution.

Thanks

 

[Morgain]

Deesha a forum is mainly for providing your member with ability to exchange information in discussion, and files as attachments.
You can also host software downloads, display pictures or videos, run blogs, sell items, and host articles.

The forum software gives you a powerful membership system where you can restrict access to certain areas, or else allow access but not permit downloads. You can do this by placing members in groups and the group has the permissions you give it to do things. (A group can also view but not reply, or various other functions have controls like private conversations as a privilege).
It sounds like this will cover what you want for forms and downloads (there is an addon here for forms). However without more detail I cannot say definitely.

Whether Sitelok is willing to give you the ability to integrate with XF is up to them. You'll have to ask. But it is very possible what you want does not need Sitelok. Why have two membership systems when you only need one?

 

[Alteran Ancient]

You'll have to ask. But it is very possible what you want does not need Sitelok. Why have two membership systems when you only need one?

If you are indeed setting up a site where you want a forum solution to be a core component, then what Morgain says is indeed correct - you shouldn't need to invest in another account management system.

Let's say for a minute that you decided xenForo was the choice for you:
The officially-supported Resource Manager for xenForo will allow you to categorise and manage downloads, so that feature is already possible.
When you say 'forms' to restrict, I assume you mean a form creation and completion system. There is a third-party add-on that provides this for xenForo.
If you mean to say 'forums' to restrict, then that will already be possible with xenForo anyway!

The software is very adaptable, and if you are a competent developer who knows his/her way around PHP, you can easily build your own extensions. If you are less competent, there are many people in the xenForo community who are willing to offer help and advice, as well as "mercenary developers for hire" who are prepared to build extensions and custom integrations for a fee.

 

[Sim]

I've built similar sites around vBulletin (about to migrate several of them to XenForo) ... I used the forum software's robust membership management system to provide all of the user management and security for the site.

I then wrote custom code for additional functionality required by my applications. It was simple to secure the custom functionality using the built-in access control mechanisms of the forum software ... primarily, it was based around A) checking whether a user is logged in and B) whether they are in the appropriate user group to access the information they are requesting.

You can then just set up multiple user groups in XenForo to facilitate various "roles" in your application and simply place people in those groups to assign them those roles.

You don't need a separate solution for this - just build it all around XenForo. You'll need some good PHP skills and an understanding of MVC will help to understand how XenForo works too.

However, if you are looking for more of an off-the-shelf solution with minimal development effort, I think you'll need to look elsewhere.