[Murray Summers]

I’m using the Free version of Connections with WP4.2x to make a homeowners list for a homeowners association. The list is password protected. Is there any way to allow a member of that list to edit ONLY their own entry, or is that outside the boundary of even Connections-Pro?

[Steven Zahm]

@ Murray

Sure, this is possible. You would need at least the Link extension and optionally the Form extension if you want to limit their editing to the site frontend rather than their admin profile page.

Hope that helps!

[Murray Summers]

Oh, man – I can’t believe I missed that. I’m using the Slim Extension – is there any problem with adding link to both Slim and the Free Connections?

[Steven Zahm]

@ Murray

No, their are no issues with that.

[Murray Summers]

But there’s another problem. My list is going to be ~400 members. Making a separate login for each of those would be, well, unpleasant! Any alternatives?

[Steven Zahm]

@ Murray

You do not need to create the logins… let the users register, when they register, WP will create the logins. I will not be adding an alternate way of managing users so they can edit entries when WP already has a built in, proven and secure method to manage users.

Hope that makes sense and helps!

[Murray Summers]

Thank you for the good support both here and on the wordpress forums.

Let me just clarify my situation. I was given a csv file of homeowner names containing about 350 entries. I read that file into my Connections list, and am now wondering how to allow each homeowner to edit their entry. So, there is no ‘registration’ process, other than buying a home in this community! I understand that FORM will allow edits on the front end without needing to login, but my reading of the documentation suggests that each member needs to register. Is that correct?

[Steven Zahm]

@ Murray

To allow someone to edit “their” entry you will need at least the Link extension which requires a user account which in turn would require the user going thru the registration process.

There just is not a way to allow someone to edit an entry without a user account.

I understand you want to allow each homeowner to edit their entry. So, there is no “registration” process, other than buying a home in this community! How would you propose someone being able to edit an entry without first validating that the person has permission to edit the entry first?

The only answer I can come up with to this question is… the admin (you?) creates the user account in advance and give it to the new homeowner. With this work flow, you would still need the Link extension. You’ve pretty much already said that you do not wish to create the user accounts.

All this said, if you do not want to create the users and you do not want the homeowners to register, I see no way of allowing the homeowners edit their entries. Sorry.

[Murray Summers]

There is no way to bulk mark each existing user as registered?

The list itself is password protected, but that is a homeowner-wide password.

But tell me this – is a registered user the same as a WP admin? In other words, would my USERS list fill up with these registrants?

[Steven Zahm]

@ Murray

re: There is no way to bulk mark each existing user as registered?

If you are speaking about an existing WordPress user. The fact the the user exist means they have registered (or are register).

If you are speaking about an existing Connections entry, if they have a matching entry, Link will link the two. There is no need to bulk mark entries as registered because it does not matter… if the user exists and they can login meaning they are already registered.

re: But tell me this – is a registered user the same as a WP admin? In other words, would my USERS list fill up with these registrants?

Essentially, yes. The difference between an an admin and a user is what permission they have. Obviously as an admin you have all permissions. A user is extremely limited permissions as such are not permitted to anything other than change their user password and name. If you have Link installed, they would also have permission to edit their entry but only if you add that permission.

Does that make sense?

It starting to sound like you might be confused about what a WordPress user is and what the process for a person to register as a user is.

There are a lot of great resources that explain the WordPress Roles and Capabilities as related to Users. There are also great resource that explain the registration process in WordPress and how to configure the default roles and capabilities assigned to users. They explain far better than I can articulate.

Once you better understand these, then I’m certain you’ll understand why a user needs to register before they are permitted to make edits to anything within WordPress, not just data within Connections.

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