Member#

Introduction#

The Member class is used to represent user accounts on a SilverStripe site (including newsletter recipients).

Testing For Logged In Users#

The Member class comes with 2 static methods for getting information about the current logged in user.

Member::currentUserID()

Retrieves the ID (int) of the current logged in member. Returns 0 if user is not logged in. Much lighter than the next method for testing if you just need to test.

	// Is a member logged in?
	if( Member::currentUserID() ) {
		// Yes!
	} else {
		// No!
	}

Member::currentUser()

Returns the full Member Object for the current user, returns null if user is not logged in.

	if( $member = Member::currentUser() ) {
		// Work with $member
	} else {
		// Do non-member stuff
	}

Subclassing#

[warning] This is the least desirable way of extending the Member class. It's better to use DataExtension (see below). [/warning]

You can define subclasses of Member to add extra fields or functionality to the built-in membership system.

	class MyMember extends Member {
		private static $db = array(
			"Age" => "Int",
			"Address" => "Text",
		);
	}

To ensure that all new members are created using this class, put a call to Object::useCustomClass() in (project)/_config.php:

	Object::useCustomClass("Member", "MyMember");

Overloading getCMSFields()#

If you overload the built-in public function getCMSFields(), then you can change the form that is used to view & edit member details in the newsletter system. This function returns a FieldList object. You should generally start by calling parent::getCMSFields() and manipulate the FieldList from there.

	public function getCMSFields() {
		$fields = parent::getCMSFields();
		$fields->insertBefore("HTMLEmail", new TextField("Age"));
		$fields->removeByName("JobTitle");
		$fields->removeByName("Organisation");
		return $fields;
	}

Extending Member or DataObject?#

Basic rule: Class Member should just be extended for entities who have some kind of login. If you have different types of Members in the system, you have to make sure that those with login-capabilities have unique email-addresses (as this is used for login-credentials). For persons without login-capabilities (e.g. for an address-database), you shouldn't extend Member to avoid conflicts with the Member-database. This enables us to have a different subclass of Member for an email-address with login-data, and another subclass for the same email-address in the address-database.

Member Role Extension#

Using inheritance to add extra behaviour or data fields to a member is limiting, because you can only inherit from 1 class. A better way is to use role extensions to add this behaviour. Add the following to your [config.yml](/developer_guides/configuration/configuration/#configuration-yaml-syntax-and-rules).

	Member:
	  extensions:
	    - MyMemberExtension

The roles affect the entire class - all members will get the additional behaviour. However, if you want to restrict things, you should add appropriate Permission::checkMember() calls to the role's methods.

	class MyMemberExtension extends DataExtension {
	  /**
	
	   * Modify the field set to be displayed in the CMS detail pop-up
	   */
	  public function updateCMSFields(FieldList $currentFields) {
	    // Only show the additional fields on an appropriate kind of use 
	    if(Permission::checkMember($this->owner->ID, "VIEW_FORUM")) {
	      // Edit the FieldList passed, adding or removing fields as necessary
	    }
	  }
	
		// define additional properties
		private static $db = array(); 
		private static $has_one = array(); 
		private static $has_many = array(); 
		private static $many_many = array(); 
		private static $belongs_many_many = array(); 
	
	  public function somethingElse() {
	    // You can add any other methods you like, which you can call directly on the member object.
	  }
	}

API Documentation#

Member