wp_usermeta constraints

Hi

I have about 35 columns (fields) of extra data to collect about users which I was planning on adding in S2member. The structure in which this information is stored is concerning me as queries that apply filters to the members database will need to be created so as to get reports (such as ‘.. where member-region = ‘north’ ).

wp_usermeta seems to contain a single wp_s2member_custom_fields row with ALL the extra fields (fieldname1, fileddata1, filedname2, fielddata2, etc) all mushed in together. There are not any obvious tools for filtering / reporting in s2member so I am looking for advice on how best to handle this?

Is it OK just to add tons of additional custom fields?

When exporting the custom fields is there an easy way of reconstructing the data so it looks sensible in a spreadsheet rather than all the custom fields getting out of step in un-labelled columns?

I see that a future release may be handling things differently – if so any possibility of giving some information on what this means and what a -likely- timeline for release is?

Is one way forward to use a third party plugin to handle the additional profile fields? If so any suggestions on which? (ideally something that can appear on a custom profile page such as the one s2member provides easily and allows for some simple reporting.

Thanks

Hi Graham,

Interacting with a large number of s2Member custom fields via PHP or through the database is, as you mentioned, not ideal. This was a design flaw with how custom fields were stored. However, we are working to greatly improve that in the next major release of s2Member (expected within the next month or so). I don’t have any details about exactly how things are changing, but custom fields will likely get their own database table.

If you need an interim solution, I suggest either creating your own database table to store that extra data or using a 3rd-party plugin.

If you decide to use the s2Member custom fields as they stand now, you may find this thread on the old forum helpful, as it talks about extracting custom field data with PHP: http://www.primothemes.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=15658#p48878

Hi Raam Thanks for your reply.

You do not say if there are any third party plugins that are known to work nicely alongside s2member to hold additional profile data.

I have to say though that if the timeline to the release is about a month I am tempted to hold on if I can delay things that long. Neater to be integrated …

Are you able to reveal if any querying / reporting is likely to be included?

Hi Graham,

I do not know of any 3rd party plugins that are known to work. I also have very limited knowledge about future releases so I don’t know if querying/reporting will be included, but I do know that it’s a feature we’re looking into as it has been requested in the past.