Thread

I’m working on setting up Simple Commerce so registered users can sign up for online courses. I’ve got most of the pieces of the puzzle in place, but I’m stuck on setting up the page AFTER the registered user selects and pays for the course through PayPal, returns to a login page, then logs into their account. I want them at that point to see links to the courses they are registered for, as well as a list of courses they can still register for with the PayPal link. How would I do this?

So far, the user:
1. Registers
2. Selects course
3. Pays through PayPal
4. Returns to login
5. Logs into Account page

I now want to see:
1. Course 1 link that they paid for, so they can begin course
2. Course 2 link that they paid for
3. Course 3 and 4 descriptions with PayPal links

How do I tell the Accounts page what they paid for and what they have not?

Thank you
Susan

Hi susanfw,

I checked with one of the other support team members on your question and was informed that Simple Commerce doesn’t do that out of the box. You’ll need to either find an add-on to help you out or write one yourself if you have the php skills.

Is there anything else I can do to help you?

Sean

I’m going to need to think about this a bit more. I may have more questions later. I’d be interested to hear from anyone with experience using Simple Commerce for registration for online courses. I was going to purchase either Solspace User or Zoo Visitor, but was hoping not to buy an Ecommerce add-on also at this time.

Susan

Susan,

If you would like I could move your thread to the community discussion forum, perhaps more people would see it there.

Sean

Good idea. thanks

Susan,

I have moved the thread to community discussion for you.

Sean

I am working on a similar setup and wondering if you came up with a solution Susan? If so, what did you come up with?

Thanks,
Charles

Hi Charles -
I ended up with a compromise.  The user returns from Payal to a page that displays the courses they are registered for, and under that is a link to the full course catalog. I would have preferred to have the remaining courses show up on that first page, but didn’t have the php skills to make it happen, or the budget to hire someone to help.

If you do find a better solution, I would still be interested.
Susan

Hi Susan,

I am actually getting ready to work on my solution as I type this. I’m using 4-EE Quiz to administer course exam and going to try to use Simple Commerce for the payment system. Also using Solspace User module to make things a little easier. I will keep you posted on what I come up with.

Thank you for your reply,
Charles

Charles -
I also am using 4-EE for the course quizzes. It’s very good and the developer was helpful when I needed some tweaking. We went with Zoo Visitor instead of User. Simple Commerce has so far worked fine for payments with our 2 courses.

Susan

Hi Susan,

It sounds like our projects are very similar indeed. I have never used the Simple Commerce module before so hopefully it will fit our needs. Still a bit confused on how to force the visitor to register before completing the purchase and I’m hopeful that the Simple Commerce module’s feature to change a member group works as described.

One thing I haven’t figured out yet is how to allow a visitor to print out a certificate of completion (with member data and other information contained in the Certificate) once they have completed the entire course. Do you offer your visitors this feature?

Thanks,
Charles

We have the visitor register before they can select a course. So they can view the course catalog, but they are told they must register before they can sign up for a course. An unregistered user sees the description and fee for the course, and a registered and logged in user additionally sees the button to purchase.

And yes, Simple Commerce changes the member group when the user is returned to the site from PayPal.

We have not yet added a certificate of completion, but it’s on our list of things to consider. I think the way it would work is that we’d create a template for the certificate that will include member data for the identifying user information, and then possible 4-EE data, if we choose to display the quiz results, or else just “PASSED”. Then they can print out the certificate. The link to the certificate page would only display if the user ‘passes’, as determined by 4-EE. The alternative would be to have the certificate converted to a PDF That would be trickier, but doable.

In our case, the courses are for Continuing Education credit, so we have some manual involvement as to providing the CE credit, and certificates are issued at that time.

Susan

Susan,

Thanks for the follow up info. Our course is for criminal offenders and they need to be able to print out the certificate upon completion of the course, and frankly this is my biggest concern. On a tight deadline and still haven’t quit figured out what to do, and how to print out correctly.

Right now we have several units to each course and what I have done is create a channel entry for unit and I have an exam for each unit. If the visitor passes the unit exam then a next link appears allowing them to proceed to the next unit (channel entry). What I would like to do is have the certificate as the last channel entry and show that upon successful completion of the last unit exam. Don’t really know how to accomplish this.

Have a quick question for you regarding the Simple Commerce module. I am using .htaccess to remove index.php, are you doing the same and does that affect the PayPal IPN? I have read a couple of channel entries that lead me to believe there may be issues with Simple Commerce if you use .htaccess to remove index.php.

Thanks,
Charles

Charles -
We did use .htaccess to removed index.php. It has been over 6 months, but I do not recall having a problem with the PayPal IPN.

It sounds like you are on the right track as far as displaying the certificate. If you have a link to the next part of the course when one part is passed, it seems like you already have the steps in place. When the final exam is passed, there would be a link or a redirect to the certificate template. Where is your problem specifically?

Susan

Susan,

I do already have the next links in place. I simply have the courses entries assigned to categories and I am using pagination for the next entry but using javascript to only show the next link if they pass the exam with 70% or higher. So I would like the certificate to be the last entry.

My problem is I really don’t know how to build the actual certificate. Design is not my specialty. As far as the tags to include all the EE info and 4-EE info, no problem. But building the actual certificate background—-BIG PROBLEM.

Thanks,
Charles