Implemented New home for RD-Subscriptions / RD-Subs!

Update: ochSubscriptions has been released to the public! onlinecommunityhub.nl/joomla-extensions/ochsubscriptions

Thanks in advance!

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ToDo / WIP:
Generic

• Get it here: onlinecommunityhub.nl/joomla-extensions/ochsubscriptions

Implement after initial release

• Re-adding product upgrade functionality (after removing parent/child products)
• Re-adding export invoices + export financial report
• (joomill) Add Changelog support: docs.joomla.org/Adding_changelog_to_your_manifest_file
• (Mat) Add event triggers for user edit page / before+after save Done > version 1.0.1
• (Ruud) Add download key management: one customer can have multiple downloadkeys (use case: web agencies)

To Be Discussed

• (low-priority) GeoIP: OCH implementation (local database + maintenance)
• (low-priority) GDPR implementation: this pre dates Joomla 3.9 which introduced GDPR functionality.
• (new feature) Single / multiple product type (onlinecommunityhub.nl/forum/community-to...d-subs?start=80#1590)
• (new feature) Setup Fee on product (onlinecommunityhub.nl/forum/community-to...d-subs?start=90#1593)

Done:

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Hi Sakis,
Thanks for your interest. Last week I had a discussion with Robert (the 'original' developer). Currently rd-subscriptions 'shines' in extension subscriptions and download.
Next to that I use it myself for customer sites (b2b) where subscriptions are sold that give access to forum, videos and content.
What I run into is that this is where a lot of refactoring needs to take place: you need for example multiple vat rates on products which is currently not possible as vat is taken over the shopping cart and not per entry in the shopping cart, also notifications, discounts etc. should be possible on a per product basis.

These are not small changes as it needs refactoring the architecture behind the component.

I think these changes are required to broathen the market for this extension.

Making it Joomla 4 compatible will also be a very large (and likely b/c breaking) change.

What changes would you like to see/prioritize?

Sakis wrote:

Hi Ruud

Code and architecture
I am actually using the akeeba subscriptions which seems to be the ancestor of RD subscriptions.
I need to see the code, but if it is built on FOF (the akeeba's framework), i would like to replace it with the native Joomla Framework's functions.
By doing that we would be possibly much closer to J4 as well.

Akeeba is not related to RD Subscriptions, the latter is a totally different extension with the possibility to import Akeeba Subscripts data: that is the only thing they have in common.
RD-Subscriptions is a Joomla 3 extension that doesn't completely follow Joomla 3 API and coding guidelines (e.g. forms (user registration, checkout, etc.) and view templates are custom and not based on Joomla API, so these should be rewritten from the ground up, including all the jQuery stuff on these forms)

Collaboration and inclusiveness
Going public in github would be a plus, as it may attract more developers.
I see a bunch of extension providers using it.

If we do that, we should define some roles and responsibilities.

This is also something i discussed with Robert (the original developer), for me that is not feasable as I have to account for my time (running a business )

Features
I see some value, in adding a user option to make a subscription recurring with automatic payment.
Also would need better reporting. Comparing a date range with a previous date range. E.g. The current week with the previous one.

Cool, recurring is definitely a plus, but that involves also a architectural change as the way payment is done currently is based on the (very simple) checkout process.
As for the reporting, on what data would you like to see that?

Sakis wrote:

So how are you thinking of it?

I'm not
maintaining a 'free' version of a complex extension like this takes a lot of time, it is nice that others can help develop, but in the end the only gain is that I can continue using it for myself and for my clients (for whom also other extensions exist that will do what they want it to do).

And although I love free extensions, this will not be one of them: there is no business model that will generate the needed income to maintain it (even free extensions cost a lot of money to create and maintain)

This was also one of the reasons the developer stopped: the free version was downloaded thousands of times, but the paid version was not being sold. probably because the free version had the required functionality in it. Putting in the effort to make it J4 compliant was to great a cost that he would never get back.

I estimate I need 80+ hours to get the basics as is on J4

Sakis wrote:

Personally i consider it difficult to gain a lot of money from such an extension, because of it's nature, the size of that market niche and the existing competition.
But it is much worst to have no descent subscription extension for B2B in Joomla.

This is exactly the issue, and not only for this extension, but for Joomla as a whole. Apart from the niche (subscriptions) the extension market for Joomla is getting to small to make a living. And there are also a lot of abandoned extensions still being sold that are not helping either

Anyway, i am interested in the way you think to go on with that.
Please keep me informed.

Good to know and I will keep you informed via this thread and my newsletter. If you think of anything related, please post here.

thanks for thinking along Sakis!
regards,
Ruud.

Hi,
Holidays are over, enough time to think this one through.

In between commercial projects I am spending time on rd-subs.
fase one will be:
* a new ochSubscriptions extension (version 1.0.0)
* it will have refactored helper tools (my own)
* it will have its own database tables
* it will have its own component name (com_ochsubscriptions)

It will install as a side-by-side extension to rd-subscriptions

it will be able to import rd-subscription (important: version 2.10.0) tables, params (not sure yet), menu items (needs some thought), it will set a redirect for non-sef urls (pointing to &option=com_rdsub)

Front-end views remain unchanged for this release, back-end views will part with the tabbed view and will work with sidebar shortcuts (joomla best practice): hopefully that will then also fix the surfing issue with the back / forward browser button loosing its view / state.

The extension will be released with the PayPal express and paylater payment plugins, plus acymailing and joomla groups plugin. These i use myself so I can develop and test new versions.

So basically version 1.0.0 will be the new base version. next versions I will work on additional plugins, J4 compatibility, refactor VAT (multiple VAT rates), etc.

ochSubscriptions will be a commercial extension (need to account for a huge amount of time to maintain this extension), When version 3.0.0 is ready for beta testing I will create a product page where everybody can purchase and download.