[Eileen Nelson]

Goal: Allow subscribers to edit their directory entry.

I read another post where you indicated that the goal of the form is to take submissions into the directory where they can change their profile. Additionally it was said that users could only edit their information if they had put it in in the first place.

We have moved a departmental website to a new location and I used Connections to enter all of the information for each of the faculty and staff. If I ask them to do it – it will never get done. However, I have several who like to update their own.

Your post said that this was an add-on that was being worked on for more seamless front end.

What suggestions do you have that might allow me to make this happen for the few who want to be able to do it?

Thanks.

[Steven Zahm]

@ Eileen

I would suggest the Link Extension. You would set those up that want to make their own edits with a WP user account. You could then use a plugin to redirect them on login to the “edit My Directory Entry” admin page where they can make their changes.

Hope that helps.

[Eileen Nelson]

I believe I read in a previous post, that in order for someone to edit their own account, they had to have entered their information themselves from the beginning. Is this true?

I have reread the link information and think I ran out of time trying it – so will give it a try again.

[Steven Zahm]

@ Eileen

No this is not true, however, there is one scenario where it only “seems” to be true but it really isn’t.

First, you need Link installed and active as that is the only way a link between as user and a Connections entry can be made.

The one scenario where this would only appear to be true is if a user logged in with Link active and “their” entry in Connections didn’t have a matching email address. If you would change the email address either in the entry or in the user a link still would not happen because Link will only check once and then mark that user so they will not be checked again. The reason is because Links are persistent, meaning, after a link has been made, it will still exist even if email addresses are changed. Why is this, simply because people frequently change email addresses so you would want that link broken just because they updated their entry and not their user profile. The other reason is security, help prevent the hijacking of Connections entries so unauthorized changes can not be made.

Hope that makes sense and helps!

[Eileen Nelson]

That makes sense and that is how I figured it worked. As a test, right now I am working with two individuals that are in my directory. Both are accessing the site through IE. . . I have them both listed as subscribers and I have the subscribers checked to be able to add and edit entries.

One of the users logs in, hits the update my entry and the screen shows exactly what is in his entry area, picture, addresses, etc. The other logs in, hits the update my entry and brings up a blank screen indicating he has to add all of his material, although it is all there already. I cannot figure out what the difference might be. They are under different categories in the directory but that shouldn’t make any difference. They are both marked as visible and public. I entered the details for both of the entries.

If links are persistent perhaps something happened in that area – but according to my faculty member it didn’t. I’ve removed him and will re-enter him with the same email link that he has on his directory to see what happens.

I’m not sure where to look?

the website is : http://horticulture.wisconsin.edu The two people I’m dealing with are Tom Frank and David Spooner

[Steven Zahm]

@ Eileen

It sounds as if the second user may have logged in while Link was activate but “their” entry email address and user email address didn’t match. The links are pretty tough to break, even when you want too.

You’ll have to delete both the entry and the user. Re-add the entry, then the user. Finally have the user logout and back in. The link should happen and be more or less permanent.

I am considering releasing an update which loosens this up a bit because when users run into this, it is hard to fix. However, in practice, it only ever happens when in testing and I think that is because the impression is that changing email addresses in one or the other will cause a link when that isn’t the case after the initial attempt to link accounts.

[Eileen Nelson]

Thanks Steven for the follow-up. I’m guessing as well that it is the email matching.

I’ll let you know what works.

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