Beyond Frustrated w/ Amember + Joomla Integration

Hi,
I'm hoping someone, anyone, can help me finally resolve nagging issues that just won't get resolved. I have been trying to get Joomla and Amember to be fully integrated, and one thing after another keeps happening - for 3 weeks now, two weeks after launch. My client's patience? GONE. And I am absolutely stuck because I can't get any definitive help w/ this software.

I can't wait for "tech support" anymore. I paid $80 to have someone port old membership to new system, but after providing extra details to anton, I didn't hear from him, so I did it myself. But problems occurred and asked for help, which I did get 4-5 different times, but each time, small things were done but not resolved and tested as requested. And explanations of what/why things were done were pretty much nothing. So I am left guessing and powerless to do anything as I sit in front of my computer waiting ......

Alex and Anton are beyond difficult to get in touch with and any attempts to fix things have ultimately failed, and I don't know what else to do. I have also paid for David's support at Membership Academy, but he's in Japan, so understandably I haven't heard from him.

Ok, here's the deal. I had to port over 1000 members from client's old site to new one, so I have no choice in using amember. I am forced to deal w/ this system.

Here's the current list of problems:
1. I can not log out of joomla even w/ alex's modification of amember plugin for my template. It worked for a bit, and now, for some unknown reason, it no longer works.

2. This is a strange one: since installing amember, I keep getting kicked out of Joomla Control Panel when I do anything in another browser tab in front end of site. I can be logged in as a totally different user, and if I log out in front end as that user, I then go back into Joomla cp and I'm now logged out as admin!! If I turn of the amember plugin, I do not get kicked out, so it is definitely this plugin. Again, it was somehow modified by alex but have no idea what he actually did! I will include the code for the plugin at end of this post in case someone can figure it out.

3. This one is a nagging issue that my client has had for a year, thought might be resolved w/ new site, but no luck ...

1sc is not updating the records in amember consistenetly. Each morning, my client's assistant has to manually update a bunch of records in amember ... so far, I don't see a pattern at all. There ARE verifysign passsword errors that come up in errror file, but other orders that come in just fine and the verifysign password error does NOT show up. I have informed alex of this as well as 1sc and have now been waiting 3 days for both.

Wow, is it supposed to be this difficult??? I mean, really? This is totally nuts that a) multiple half attempts to fix things have not, and b) tech support is basically non-existent. I don't think we should have to wait for days to hear from someone, especially when supposedly there are operating hours here in the states according to this site.

Bah!

I'm sorry. I'm usually extremely patient and understanding, but this is WAY WAY too much to handle. I would have ditched this software a long time ago but have no choice, since I don't know if it would at all be possible to export and import all my client's members into a new system.

I hope and pray someone can help. I can pay, I don't care. I just need this resolved and working so I can have my life back, and my client can be happy and build his business.

Thanks for any/all help ... sorry again for harsh words, but I hope my frustration is understandable.

Here's more details in case it matters:
- Joomla 1.5.22
- amember 3.1.9 (alex said upgrade would NOT help, though I'd love to get some fresh files to work w/ since I don't know what past developer did.)
- alex put the following code at the bottom of my template (why?anyone?):

Code:

<img src="/amember/login.php" width=1 height=1 border=0>

- amember plugin code that alex modified somehow:

Code:

<?php
/**
* @version		$Id: legacy.php 9115 2007-10-03 00:14:30Z jinx $
* @package		Joomla
* @copyright	Copyright (C) 2005 - 2007 Open Source Matters. All rights reserved.
* @license		GNU/GPL, see LICENSE.php
* Joomla! is free software. This version may have been modified pursuant
* to the GNU General Public License, and as distributed it includes or
* is derivative of works licensed under the GNU General Public License or
* other free or open source software licenses.
* See COPYRIGHT.php for copyright notices and details.
*/

// no direct access
defined( '_JEXEC' ) or die( 'Restricted access' );

jimport('joomla.event.plugin');

class plgSystemaMember extends JPlugin
{
	function plgSystemaMember(& $subject, $config)
	{
		parent::__construct($subject, $config);
	}
	
	function onAfterInitialise()
	{
		global $mainframe;
		
		if($_COOKIE[_amember_ru] && $_COOKIE[_amember_jp]){
		    $credentials = array('username' => $_COOKIE[_amember_ru], 'password' => $_COOKIE[_amember_jp]);
	            $options = array('entry_url' => JURI::root() . 'index.php?option=com_user&task=login', 'silent' => true);
        	    $mainframe->login($credentials, $options);
        	    setcookie("_amember_jp", 0, 0, '/');
        	    $_COOKIE[_amember_jp] = 0;
        	    setcookie("_amember_ru", 0, 0, '/');
        	    $_COOKIE[_amember_ru] = 0;
        	    header("Location: ".$_SERVER[REQUEST_URI]);exit;
		}
		$plugin =& JPluginHelper::getPlugin('system', 'amember');
		$pluginParams = new JParameter( $plugin->params );
		$amemberRoot = $pluginParams->get( 'amemberroot', '/amember' );
		
		if ($amemberRoot)
		{
			if (substr($amemberRoot,-1) == '/')
			$amemberRoot = strlen($amemberRoot) == 1 ? '/' : substr($amemberRoot, 0, -1);
		} else {
			$amemberRoot = '/amember';
		}
		
		$option = JRequest::getCmd('option');
		$task = JRequest::getCmd('task');
		$view = JRequest::getCmd('view');
		$return = JRequest::getCmd('return');
		$return = base64_decode($return);
		
		if (strstr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'],'/logout') || @$task == 'logout')
		
		{
			if (!$return) 
				$return = $_SERVER['PHP_SELF'];
			$return = preg_replace('/[\n\r]/', ' ', $return);
    			setcookie("_amember_jp", 0, 0, '/');
            		$_COOKIE[_amember_jp] = 0;
                    	setcookie("_amember_ru", 0, 0, '/');
            		$_COOKIE[_amember_ru] = 0;
                               
			$url = "$amemberRoot/logout.php?amember_redirect_url=$return";
			header("Location: $url");
			exit();		
		}
		
		if (strstr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'],'/component/user') || @$option == 'com_user')
		{
			if (@in_array(@$task, array('requestreset', 'remindusername')) || strstr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'],'/reset') || strstr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'],'/remind') || @in_array(@$view, array('reset','remind')))
			{
				header("Location: $amemberRoot/login.php?amember_redirect_url=".$_SERVER['PHP_SELF']);
				exit();		
			}
			if (@in_array(@$task, array('register','register_save','activate')))
			{
				header("Location: $amemberRoot/signup.php");
				exit();	
			}
			if (@in_array(@$view, array('register','register_save','activate')))
			{
				header("Location: $amemberRoot/signup.php");
				exit();	
			}	
		}
		
		if (strstr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'],'/your-details') || @$option == 'com_user')
		{
			if (@in_array(@$task, array('save', 'edit')) || strstr($_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'],'/your-details'))
			{
				header("Location: $amemberRoot/profile.php");
				exit();			
			}
		}
	}

}

?>

Thanks!

Carl

Other potentially important info:

- when I log in as a user, and then go to joomla cp, it shows MANY logins all w/ same/similar time stamp, and I see that for just about everyone who's logged in. Why would that be??

- in jooomla cp, I've tried setting the "Session Handler" to database ... default is "none" but neither one seems to make a difference

- the ONLY way of not getting kicked out of joomla cp when doing something in front end of the site is to have joomla cp in a different browser

I hope I'm leaving some clues for some sharp folks to pickup on what's going on here.

Again, I am sorry for venting my frustration earlier, but I've been backed into a wall for weeks and need to absolutely resolve these issues .... hopefully a little shouting will bring some attention to the challenges I have

Carl

Hi Carl,

I do not know joomla, but have successfully integrated amember with a different cms.

BUT!!! I chose not to use the interation plugin that comes with amember, because that way you - in my opinion of course - act stupid, let me explain:

amember is made for membership and does that perfect, for me at least,
joomla is a cms and has a user system probably for webusers etc. Which if it is like most cms's just plain sucks for what you would like in membership.

I chose to go the route of adding snippets of code to my protected cms pages, and theses snippets of code checked against the regular amember database and let people in if they were paid subscribers etc.
You then work with mod-rewrite I think, I forgot the details, it was too long ago.

Now I have the best of both worlds, One: a perfect cms that allows me to do what I like, and I can protect pages/posts/articles easily and Two a perfect membership system.

This also saves me the hassle of having to come up with solutions to preserve things when either my cms or amember is updated.

So I would suggest this: (and the guys from amember helped me perfectly)
- scrap the idea of combining with a plugin
- use joomla or whatever cms you have to do what it does well: manage content!
- use amember for the database of members and all that goes with that
- protect pages in the cms with php code that calls on amember to check against the amember database
- I even got this to work with drip feeding content etc.

I am sorry for not being more specific, but for that I would have to dive into the details again, for which I do not have time, but be assured, this works perfect.

good luck, do not give up yet, succes is for those who keep going till they meet success, and it might already be around the next corner..

First, thanks olliejames ... that probably would be a great way to have gone! Where were you when I needed you?? Just kidding ;-)

Thanks though ... my next site I will consider this approach ... sounds nice and clean. That's the way I like it!

ALEX: thank you for showing up and getting her done today (1 NEW GLITCH THOUGH). And thank you for the refund ... wasn't necessary but much appreciated. And as I mentioned in my email to you, I WILL still be purchasing Amember for MY up and coming membership site, Untapped Genius. It'll be nice to be working on my own site for once and to start from scratch w/ a nice clean system.

NOTE: Alex, we've got things ALMOST there. I sent you another email about 1 remaining nagging problem:

Not able to logout of Joomla CP now, EXCEPT if I try, I DO get kicked out as a logged in user in another browser tab. So we're CLOSE!

Hope to hear from you pretty soon on this one ..... last ...... glitch I am scheduled tonight to connect w/ David of Membership Academy ... will let you know if he can fix the glitch if you don't get to it first.

Thanks a ton

C

two things I would like to stress:
1- check my post above and forget about the plugin way of connecting a cms to amember, amember is perfect for membership, joomla sucks, but hey it sounds like you're stuck with it, just use php include snippets of php code that check against the amember database. Works really well.

2- amember support really rocks, I have 6 sites running amember since 2007. I want to express publicly here my appreciation for the guys at amember, their support has always come through with solutions, they have gone out of their way a number of times to dive in and find solutions to some of the troubles I ran into over the years.

I have customisations of all sorts and all of them work great, thanks to amember support. And yes at times these guys have been so busy that it took some time - but they always came through!

Good luck with your implementation!