Moodle – amember integration

Step 1: Installation of Moodle and amember

Install moodle and amember as directed. I assume in your linux server you have the

following directory structure in your /home/public_html folder

Step 2: Copying required files in amember side

A. Inside amember folder go to amember plugins protect you need to create a

folder called moodle as shown below (note the directory structure is highlighted)

B. Inside the moodle folder you require three files, config.inc.php, moodle.inc.php,

readme.txt. Copy these files in to this folder and your final structure should look

like as follows:

Once these files are copied, your job is partially completed. We need to now

copy files at moodle end

Step 3: Copying required files in moodle side

A. Go to your moodle folder and your directory structure would be something like

this. You job is in the moodle/auth folder

B. You need to copy the amember authentication file inside auth folder of moodle.

You need a new folder called amember and the structure should look like this

C. Now the required authentication files should go inside this amember folder. You

have to copy three files, auth.php or lib.php, config.html, config18.html.

If you are using moodle v1.6 you need only two file, namely lib.php and

config.html, however if you use moodle v1.8 or later you need auth.php,

config.html, config18.html. Choose as per your needs.

D. Now our authentication scripts are in place and we need to create language file

for the authentication method. This we would create in moodledata folder (where

all your course files are stored). Create a folder called lang in side moodledata

E. Create en_utf8_local folder (use other lang prefix if you are using language other than english)

F. Inside lang folder you need to have custom language folder for the corresponding

language you use. This is the local language file the moodle would look for any

custom created language files. Now copy the auth.php (this is the language file

for amember authentication plugin) inside en_utf8_local folder

G. You shoud now see the folder structure something like given below

Do not bother about the moodle.php file presently. You will create this file later.

With this all the required files are in place and it now requires simple

customization of the plugins

Step 4: Enabling moodle plugin in amember

A. We now need to enable the moodle plug-in at amember side to make amember

talk to moodle database. Login in to your amember administrator page. Choose

Setup/Configuration menu under control panel to enable the relevant items

B. You will be presented with the following screen on the right side of the screen.

Click the Plugins menu from the top

C. You will now see two parts

Payment plugin, where you would choose the required payment mode for your

course, and at the bottom you would see the Protect Plugins. If your copied files

are proper in Step 1C, you would see the new moodle plug-in here. Simply

enable this plugin by checking the checkbox. Save the page. The page

refreshed and you would now be presented with the following screen

D. Note that the Moodle plug-in is now enabled. Compare with figure in Step 4B.

Click the Moodle plug-in in the top

E. You would go a new page, which prompts you enter moodle’s full path and some

conditions. Type in your moodle full path (in my case it is

/home/puchorg/public_html/testing/moodle) (in Windows it would be something

like C:\xampp\htdocs\moodle)

Save the page. If the path is correct, then the page would be refreshed

otherwise you would be prompted with error. Try to correct the path. This step is

important.

Step 5: Enabling the amember authentication at moodle side

A. It is now time to enable the amember authentication in moodle side. This

authentication plug-in enables all moodle users to get authenticated by amember

database as default. Login in to your moodle as administrator; go to users menu

on the Site Administration Block on the left. Click the authentication dialog under

Users

B. You would be presented as follows. By default Email-based self registration is

enabled. Disable this and enable aMember by clicking the eye icon. Disable

Email-based authentication and enable aMember

C. Scrolling down the page you would see the Common Settings Panel and here

you can customize the login page, and tell the first time moodle visitor, where to

go and signup. Type the correct amember signup URL in the Instructions Text

Box. It is generally http://yourdomain/amember/signup.php. Save changes

D. Now you need to tell the users how to make the payment for the courses and

register for them. To do this you need to modify the default language file

(moodle.php) and tell the user to go to product subscription page to purchase the

course. To do this go Site Administration Block and select Language editing

under Language menu

E. You would be prompted with the following screen. Choose Edit Words or

Phrases. This page would look slightly different in moodle v1.9 and v1.6

F. We need to edit moodle.php file. It is better to store the modifications in a local

directory instead of overwriting the original language file. This can be done by

first clicking the ‘Switch lang directory button’.

G. Moodle now creates a lang directory at moodledata/ folder. This is where all your

course related files are also stored. Click the moodle.php to start editing

H. Now you need to search for the phrase ‘notenrollable’. Type the instruction you

would like to give it to your customers where to go and how to purchase the

course. This is normally points toward amember/member.php (The default

amember URL for this is http://yourdomain/amember/member.php). This

instruction would be prompted every time when someone clicks the course which

he/she had not subscribed yet. Save the changes.

I. This creates the required lang file in your en_utf8_local directory as shown

Now it is the time for creating a course in moodle and make not enrollable

J. Create moodle courses as usual. Do not forget to give a SHORT NAME. This

short name is the link for amember. This name would be reflected in the

amember product setup page. Use easily identifiable names so that you do not

mix up course during product setup.

K. Make enrolment plugin as Site Default (internal Enrolment) and Course

Enrollable to NO. This is important. If someone tries to enter this course he/she

would be prompted by the instructions given in the moodle.php language file

done in the earlier step. The user can now follow the instructions given there and

take action accordingly. Save the changes.

Step 6: Creating Products in amember

A. Go to amember and login as administrator. Click the Manage products and

would be presented with the screen as given below

B. Click Add New Product link to create your products list.

C. It is better to give the first product as Free Site Registration, so that every user

can register in your moodle site for free so that they can access all guest enabled

resources. They can later purchase different courses after going through

instructions given in moodle.php language file. Set the price as 0.0 and duration

as Lifetime subscription.

D. You may now set the actual URL to which you want the user to go. Since first

product is free site registration, you can simply type http://yourdomain/moodle

which points to the moodle’s Front Page location. The link to this URL will be

created in the members page of amember so that they can directly access the

moodle page

E. At the bottom of the product page you would see the entire moodle course.

Make sure nothing is enabled for this product. This makes that the amember

user simply login in to the moodle’s front page and access only the guest

enabled courses. Save changes

F. You would see the Free Site Registration listed in the product page with URL you

typed earlier. Now we can add more products from Add New Product link

G. You add product as usual and set the appropriate Price and Duration for the

course. You may additionally add the Product URL in the text box provided.

This creates required link in the members page of amember. Users can now

directly enter in to the moodle course page without going through the moodle’s

front page. The URL for moodle course looks something like

http://yourdomain/moodle/course/view.php?id=2 and choose the correct ‘id’ of the

course. Alternatively, you may click the corresponding course in moodle and

copy the full URL from the address bar of your browser and paste it in the text

box. This is not mandatory. This only helps the user to directly go the course

page without going through moodle’s front page

H. At the bottom of the screen you select the correct course relevant to this product

by highlighting the course in Moodle Access List. As an example I have

highlighted CF101 the first course I created in the moodle earlier. Save the

changes. You have now successfully created the product and directed to the

moodle course.

In the example above I have shown a product Course 1 (point toward CF101) for

$50.00 for 30 days subscription. If you want to create another subscription say

for 6 months, for the same course, you can simply create another product with

relevant settings and enabling the same moodle course in Moodle access

dropdown box. Then you would see two different products, one for 30 day

subscription and another for 6 months subscription. This is shown in the next

screen.

I. You can see both Site Registration and Course 1 with two subscription offer in

the product’s page with relevant URL to the moodle’s page. You can create

more products for other moodle courses also.

Step 7: New user registering at Moodle

A. When a first time user goes to moodle login page he/she would be prompted with

the page (http://yourdomain/moodle/login/index.php) Click here link takes you to

amember/signup.php (see the status bar of the browser)

B. Note the correct amember URL link (http://yourdomain/amember/signup.php) at

the status bar of the browser. This would take the user to the amember signup

page. User may type in the required information

C. When this is done they would be taken to membership page

(http://yourdomain/amember/member.php)

D. Clicking on the Free Site Registration link would take the user to the moodle’s

front page. Note see that the amember user is now logged in to moodle. You can

now edit your profiles,password etc and it would be updated in the amember

database. The second time login can be done from the moodle’s default login

page.

E. If the user clicks the course (this course is our Course 1 Product in amember) he

would be prompted with this screen. This is the instruction we typed earlier in the

moodle.php language file. Users may follow the link to purchase the course

F. Uaser would be then taken to amember/member.php page. Here he/she can now

choose the course and payment method to purchase. Once payment is done the

course would be enabled under Your Subscription on the left of the screen. The

link automatically takes the member to the course page by-passing the moodle

front page.

G. The Course 1 link directs toward to the moodle course id=4 in this case.

This completes the amember moodle integration.

H. However, we need to create a common logout for both moodle and amember to

avoid any misuse. To do this edit the logout.php file in moodle (situated at

moodle/login/ )folder

I. Type the amember logout page as moodle $redirect. When user logout of moodle

he/she would be redirected to this URL. (for example:

http://yourdomain/amember/logout.php) Since this URL points toward

amember/logout.php, the user would also logout of amember at the same time.

Otherwise the user need to logout once from moodle and once from amember to

avoid any misuse.

J. In order to redirect to moodle’s front page from amember page you can set URL

in the Redirect after Logout textbox pointing towards your moodle URL. You can

access this page by login as administrator in amember and go to

Setup/Configuration from the amember control panel and selecting PHP include

menu from the top. When users log out moodle, they would logout off amember

also and amember redirects the page to moodle URL.

K. This completes the complete integration of amember to moodle. You can

customize amember templates similar to your moodle theme, so that user does

not see any difference between when they switch between amember and

moodle. This procedure also works with moodle v1.9. Consult CGIcentral

helpdesk for more help.

Thanks to CGIcentral helpdesk team for making this possible