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Tutorial created by Lee Firth, Firth Web Works

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Remove the subscriber password requirement in PowerMessenger. Basically all we want is to allow subscribers to simply enter their email address and nothing else to subscribe to your newsletter and the same goes if they unsubscribe.

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Introduction

There have been quite a few requests on the PowerMessenger forum to have the requirement of subscribers creating an account to enter a password to subscribe to a newsletter removed. Basically all we want is to allow subscribers to simply enter their email address and nothing else to subscribe to your newsletter and the same goes if they unsubscribe.

There are a number of ways you could accomplish this and the way I propose here is one such solution. I have tried to make it so if you wanted at a later date go back to requiring a password you could.

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Warning

This tutorial will require you to replace some files in your installation so proceed with caution. You should make a backup of all files that you replace so that in the event that you have issues, you can easily restore your previous files. For each file that I ask you to replace I will explain exactly what I have changed so, if you know your way around Dreamweaver and you have the full suite of WebAssist extensions installed you could edit your own files rather than replace them with mine.

This tutorial is using PowerMessenger 1.0.2 which at the time of writing was the current version make sure this is the version you are working on as I can’t guarantee that it will work on other versions.

These files should be replaced on a fresh install of PowerMessenger or one that you haven't already edited these files yourself.

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Lets Get Started

The files you need to complete this tutorial can be downloaded here: Remove_Subscriber_Password_files.zip

Step 1: Admin - Add User

To start with we need to make changes to the way we add users in administration. Spy validation and server side validation “required” needs to be removed from all fields other than the email address field.

Rather than remove the password and confirmation fields I have hard coded a value in both of these “NotRequired”. The reason I have done this is so that if at a future time you want to go back to requiring a password then you can quite easily.

File to replace: /admin_pm/users_registration.php

Step 2: Admin - Update User

The same goes for the update user file. Spy validation and server side validation “required” needs to be removed from all fields other than the email address field.

File to replace: /admin_pm/users_update.php

Step 3: User Registration

This is the form that the public use to register for their newsletter.

Remove all Spry and server side validation for all fields other than the email address field.

Delete the confirm password field.

Change the password field to a hidden field and hard code in the value “NotRequired”.

Change the redirection after sending the welcome email to the “thankyou.php” file

File to replace: /webassist/plugins/registration/registration.php

Step 4: User Login

This is needed when a user clicks on the unsubscribe link in your newsletter. They can log on just by entering their email address and then they are redirected to the unsubscribe confirmation page.

Remove all Spry and server side validation for all fields other than the email address field.

Change the password field to type hidden & hardcode the value to “NotRequired”.

Remove the “Forgotten Password” line.

File to replace: /users_login.php

Step 5: Redirect After Unsubscribe

Previously when you unsubscribed you were redirected to the user profile page, since a profile page is not required we will change the redirection to the unsubscribe message page (See Step 6).

File to replace: /index.php

Step 6: Unsubscribe Message

There are two ways you can be directed to this page if you click either the cancel or the unsubscribe button so your message should reflect these two possibilities.

Note: This is a new file to upload not a replacement file.

File to upload: /unsubscribe_message.php

Step 7: Thank You Page

This is the file you are directed to after registering (Step 3)

File to Replace: /thankyou.php

Step 8: Email Confirmation

When a user has subscribed to your newsletter a confirmation email is sent. This email contains a link to view their profile. This needs to be removed as we are not using profiles.

The email also contains references to registration, I have changed these to read "Newsletter Subscription"

File to replace: /webassist/email/Email_Templates/registration.php

Conclusion

That's all there is to it. Your users should now be able to subscribe and unsubscribe to your Newsletter using just their email address.

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Robert: 9 Years, 3 Months, 5 Days, 17 Hours, 7 Minutes ago

Hi Thx a mill for this!!!!

But it seems I have a issue, after updating all the files the users can't log in anymore or is that correct so?

thx for your efforts.. Robert

Lee Firth: 9 Years, 3 Months, 5 Days, 16 Hours, 58 Minutes ago

Robert: That is correct, there is nothing to log into as all we have saved is their email address so that we can send them a newsletter. They have the ability to unsubscribe as long as you add the unsubscribe token at the bottom of your newsletter email.