Membership ID numbers for my members

Well, those aren’t set up to be used publicly, as you can see, but you can get around that by defining which fields are shown in the shortcode using the “fields” attribute. This is explained on the Other Notes page under “Determining Which Fields are Shown by Each Shortcode”

Hi
I have already requested for support on this plugin. Not sure where I have been making some mistakes. As jim1227 said, I need support to generate a unique memberID. Probably possible with using date & time stamp and part of the Private ID (all concatenated).
As of now, I am able to display the submitted data in a seperate page using the Record Number as https://mydomain.org/formprint/?pdb=7. But this is a risk. Any person can easily substitute the 7 with other numbers to get access to other records.
So, if I can use the member ID as planned above to access the record, it will be partially secure. But I need help in generating the memberid and storing. And then to get the submitted form shown on a seperate page with option to print.
Can somebody help me on this. I am not php savvy but can try if guided.

The single record display is clearly not design for anything you want secure. Changing how this works so that you are using a secure, unguessable value to get your record is possible, but it really will require some expertise in PHP.

Hi Xnau
I have read every where that it is possible to add a custom field. My question Can I concatenate the DATE,TIME and PRIVATE ID eg. 29032014120000XNOEA and store this into the custom field. (The custom field will be read only).
Is there any way of doing this at sign up ?

There are two ways to approach this, you can do it with javascript in the custom template, or by writing a filter that uses the hook that fires before the data is stored. So it kinda depends on your preference…doing it in PHP is more secure because it’s done on the server.

Javascript is probably simpler: you attach a method to the form submit that grabs those values, concatenates them, places them in the value of a hidden field, then allows the form to submit normally.

Hi Xnau
Thanks for replying.
I would try the PHP if you can provide me a hint. Like which php module to edit. Like you have signup.php . Should it be done there ? Member ID is given to the member. So I dont want it hidden.
I have made Member Id as read only. I want to populate the data as aforementioned.

I have observed one quirk. Don’t know if that is an issue with the plugin.
I have made the Private ID to be displayed when registering at SIGNUP
The Private ID is shown as ITU1R
After submitting the mail is sent When I check the mail the, Private ID (pid) is KSAN2.It shows this when the link is clicked. Also, additional fields Record ID, date recorded, date updated and last accessed are shown on this link.

Question: IS the how does the Private ID differ at pre submission to post submission
IS it possible to extract the date and time from the fields during submission (before submit is pressed)
I am sorry to bother you with so many questions. Please take the time to enlighten me.
Thanks

Hi Xnau
At last I have made a sort of work around. Yet one final change needed. So please help and give you opinion.
what I have done :
1. I have created a custom field member_id. made it sortable and read only in the settings display,
2. I have copied the generate_pid as a seperate function generate_mid. In this I am prefixing “DMS” and then the existing code. One change is in for loop to 7. (Hope to increase the permutations more) (participant_database.php)
3. Whereever you have made operations (insert, update etc) on the private_id field i have copy pasted and made adaptation for member_id field. If u used generate_pid, I modifed it to generate_mid.
So now this part of generating and storing a unique code for member id is done (with your code copy)
I request your help and suggestion on 2 points
1. With above changes, what are the implications I might face. I am aware that any plugin update will nullify the changes
2. Second important help needed: I am not able to get the Member_id shown on the drop down of the list display against Single record Link Field. What to do about that.
Please guide me.

I BEG FOR FORGIVANCE

MY posts are a big train now. At least, this topic post will make a good reference point.

I made a mistake on the form element type. I changed to Text-line and now the Single Record Link Field is showing the member id field (custom field) in drop down.

Thanks for bearing with me. Only one problem remains. My signup thanks message has this
“”<a href=”
mydomain.org/formprint/?pdb=[id]”>”Click here for your Printing Your Record. I want to show a page to the user after submit button is pressed, and this page will contain all the data he has entered. He can take a print out if needed (the print is still crude)
For that I have added the above link. But the page shows the pdb = nn where nn is number. Any shrewd guy can substitute the nn with random numbers and see other records. I want to link using the member id or private_id.
Please suggest or give me some pointers.

Well, I’m sorry but I can’t help you too much. If you are modifying the plugin files, I can’t say what the consequences will be because I am not seeing your code. I also don’t provide support for that. There are ways of doing this without modifying the plugin, that is a much better way to go.

Take a look at this plugin API page for some information on how to modify the plugin functionality by using filters and hooks: Participants Database API

There is an item in the FAQ about the security of the random private id. It’s not as easy as it looks to fish around and get a record by trying random codes.

Hi Xnau
I am sorry if I have caused you any trouble. I do understand that modifying the plug in files will have it’s consequences. I have not been posting the code here as I am not sure if I can do that. I can email you if you will permit me. Also, same reason for not posting website link here. This is a charitable organization I am doing my best to donate in form of my services.
As of now, I am able to show the single record using pdb_single. Though, under List Display Settings / Single Record Link field is set as Member ID, when the page is opened it shows pdb=40 on the browser address bar. This is what I am worried about. I just am asking you to guide me such that the the address bar shows the member id.
Thanks in advance

Well, you shouldn’t be using the plugin for sensitive information like that, it’s not secure, and the plugin wasn’t designed for that purpose. If you need to control who can see a a particular record, you need to restrict the page to logged-in users only, then use their login info to control which records are shown, instead of using the record ID in the URL.

As I mentioned, I’m sorry, but I don’t provide support for modifying the plugin files or using the API, you’re on your own with that.