Subscription Manager Concepts

A protected area is simply a name which represents a secure area or a subscribed area. You first create a secure area name and then identify the folder, or folders, that this name relates to. Example names are : 'Tutorial Files', 'Premium pdf Files'

In this application, a product consists of a Secure Area name (which identifies the folder to be secured) and subscription details.

A product might be : 'Premium_product_1' with a secure area called 'Area1' and a recurring cost of $10.00 every 3 months. Another product might be 'Basic_1' with a secure area called 'Area1' and a recurring cost of $10.00 every 2 months.

The files that you want to protect are placed into a folder where access is controlled using htaccess and htpasswd files. Any file types can be placed into the folder. They may be ordinary web pages (htm, php), or other files such as mp3, jpg or adobe pdf files. All files are protected by the application as soon as they are placed within the protected folder.

These files are used to control access to defined folders. This is a common technique which uses basic authentication. Whenever you attempt to access a file within the protected area, a login box will pop up.

This application automates the generation of passwords, and places the user details into the appropriate htpasswd file.

The admin pages provide displays which allow users to be deleted, manually created, or to disable / enable the user.

The htaccess and htpasswd files all require correct file permissions to be set. This is so that the application can make changes as users are created or removed.

To set the folder permissions you can use either an FTP client, or another method such as cpanel.

The application will check the file permissions that have been set and will warn of any problems.

The application integrates with PayPal such that when a customer makes a purchase, and PayPal confirms that the payment is correct, the application automatically adds the user to the system and to the appropriate htpasswd file enabling the user to login. This process is handled without any intervention by yourself.

At the end of the subscription (subscription end-of-term), PayPal will send a notification so that the application will automatically disable the user from the secure area.

You can of course, manually create users through the admin displays and give then access to the defined secure areas. For manually users, a cron job is provided to control subscription access.

The subscription manager defines subscriptions which can be for a fixed period of time, say 1 month, and once completed, the customer does not make any further payments and no longer has access to the secure area. Or they can be recurring where the subscription fee is paid at defined intervals of time. The customer must provide payment at each interval for access to the secure area to continue.