How to add a customer pre-approval module?

Question

I'm using Magento 1.4.1.1. I'm thinking of adding a pre-approval module on my website. All new customers will need a back-office approval, before being able to log in.

I'm quite new in Magento but want to know whether there is an easy of doing it by myself ?

Answer 1

I've done something similar. You can achieve the backend-approval customer account paradigm without creating custom attributes and in a rather simple manner.

1. Create a "pending approval" customer group.

2. Create other "approved" customer groups as needed.

3. Set this group to be the default customer group under System > Configuration > Customer Configuration > Create New Account Options.

4. "Approve" customers by switching their customer groups in the admin. Voila, no extension needed!

Now, you have a basic approval-based customer model. From this point, you can make it fancier by implementing observers, extra attributes, etc. as desired.

Answer 2

potential solution would be to create a customer attribute that is default to 'true'. When they create their account send them an email with a link corresponding to their specific account. When they visit this specific page an observer will be alerted and, if that specific product attribute is 'true' it will be set to 'false'.

When the user attempts to log in first check if the attribute is 'true', and if so, disallow log-ins.

edit: what exactly do you mean by 'back-office' approval?