Add a new user
There are two distinct ways of adding a user. When the Request new user account option is active on the login screen, the user can register himself or herself. Alternatively, the administrator can create a user. The Administrator and the User form share some fields, and the Administrator can then approve (or reject) the new user. If enabled, user can update some fields in his or her account.
Contents
Data fields
- Username / Desired user name
- User name. The username is case sensitive. That means that John is not the same as john or JOHN. You should only use characters from the alphabets that PhpGedView supports. You may use uppercase and lower case letters with or without diacritical marks, numbers, dash (-), and underscore (_). Do not use punctuation marks or spaces. Avoid conflict with existing user names: both user and admin will be informed of a conflict, and given an opportunity to re-enter data.
- Firstname
- User's first name. Will be overwirtten by data users from Gedcom reord if Synchronize User Settings option is checked
- Lastname
- User's last name. Will be overwritten by data users from Gedcom reord if Synchronize User Settings option is checked
- Password / Desired password
- Type in a password here. Like user name, password is case sensitive. Password should be minium 6 characters long, the longer the better. You may use uppercase and lower case letters with or without diacritical marks, numbers, dash (-), and underscore (_). Do not use punctuation marks or spaces. Use a combination of upper and lower case, numbers, and other characters.
- Confirm Password
- Retype the password here. If the password and its confirmation are not identical, you will get a suitable error message. You will have to re-type both the original password and its confirmation.
- Change Language
- Select user's preferred / default language on multi-lingual sustems.
- GEDCOM INDI Record ID
- User's ID in the family tree. Upon login the user will be recognized as a member of the tree.
- Pedigree chart root person
- A Root person for default Pedigree chart. This Root Person does not need to be the user himself; it can be anybody. The user will probably want to start the Pedigree chart with himself. You control that, as well as the default Root person on other charts, here. If the user has Edit rights to his own account information, he can change this setting himself.
- Synchronize User Settings with GEDCOM Data
- Will use Gedcom data for person's name (it may change the name in the User screen) and will add / update Email address in the person's record.
- User can administer
- Designate this user as PGV Administrator
- Access level
- Available levels are:
- Access (User)
- Edit (Editor)
- Accept (Acceptor)
- Administer Gedcom (Gedcom Administrator)
- See Administrators Guide for description of access level privileges. If the installation has more than one Gedcom, you can select different level for each Gedcom
- Automatically accept changes made by this user
- Bypasses the default reviewing process. Use with caution, the admin and the user will not have the opportunity to review the changes. The user must also have accept privileges on the Gedcom in order for this setting to take effect.
- Limit access to related people
- Known as relational privacy, it attempts to limit user's access to only people to which he or she is related. The Max privacy length defines the radius of relations. This setting affects both access and editing privileges, since the user cannot edit information he or she canot access.
- Max relationship privacy path length
- Defines the radius of relatons accessible when relational provacy is activated (see above). You will be unable to set the length here to a higher level than the maximum length already defined in the GEDCOM privacy configurations.
- Email address
- User's email address. It is important to enter it here correctly, as it will allow user to recover a lost password. If Synchronization is selected (see above), it will be added (replaced) in user's Gedcom record.
- User verified himself
- It is marked automatically when the user confirms his or hers email address
- User approved by Admin
- User has been approved by admin.
- Warning: Both checkboxes, User verified himself and User approved by Admin must be checked for the account to be active. When the Administrator approves a self-registered user, he should check the User verified himself box as well.
- Change language
- In multi-lingual systems select the default (preferred) language for this user.
- My Theme
- Select the default theme for this user
- Preferred contact method
PhpGedView has several different contact methods. The administrator determines which method will be used to contact the user. Depending on site configuration, some of the listed methods may not be available.
Mailto link option will create a "mailto" link that can be clicked to send an email using the mail client on the user's PC.- PhpGedView internal messaging option will use a messaging system internal to PhpGedView, and no emails will be sent.
- Internal messaging with emails option is the default. It will use the PhpGedView messaging system and will also send copies of the messages via email.
- PhpGedView sends emails with no storage option allows PhpGedView to handle the messaging and will send the messages as emails, but will not store the messages internally. This option is similar to the Mailto (not used anymore) link option, except that the message will be sent by PhpGedView instead of the user's workstation.
- No contact method - no contact method is defined.
- Visible to other users when online
- When this box is checked, the user, when online, will be visible to others, and will also be able to see others who are configured to be visible. When this box is unchecked, user online will be completely invisible to others, and also will not be able to see other online.
- Allow this user to edit his account information
- Checked by default, allows user to change his or her user account information. If checked, the user can make changes him/herself, editing his/her data (like Email address) and preferences, without bothering the Administrator.
- Default Tab to show on Individual information page
- This setting allows to specify which tab is opened automatically when this user accesses the Individual Information page. If allowed to edit their account, the user can change this setting later.
- Admin comments on user
- Any comments the Admin has on this user. Not visible to the user
- Admin warning at date
- Set a warning for Admin to check this account at a specific date.
Adding a user by Admin
Administrator can create a user using the form above. He should then inform the user of his / her username and password. The administrator must manually send an email to the user to let the user know that his account is active.
Self registration
If the Request new user account option in the PGV configuration is enabled, the user can request a registration, and will be presented with a registration form. Together with the form, a privacy notice will be displayed, by default:
Notice:
By completing and submitting this form, you agree:
- to protect the privacy of living people listed on our site;
- and in the text box below, to explain to whom you are related, or to provide us with information on someone who should be listed on our site.
The user is expected to fill in (in the Comments filed) the reason for requesting registration, if the site is restricted to family members (presumably the family connection). After submitting the form, the Administrator is informed (by email) and the user is sent email with code to verify his/her email address. The Administrator can then accept (or reject) the regisration. If he accepts, the account is still not active unless user verifies himself or the Admin checks the User verified himself checkbox. The administrator then must manually send an email to the user to let the user know that his account is active.
User account update
The user, if allowed (see Allow this user to edit his account information above), can edit some of his data on-line. This is a preferred method of user maitenance, as he/she can change the password, email address and other user data (see the My Account screen image above)
Known Problems/Bugs
This section needs to be reviewed / corrected by knowledgeable developers.
Version 4.0
- The name collision is not properly detected for self-registered user, if the difference is only in letter case (e.g. Smith vs. smith). The process continues normally, but the account is not usable.