[ic] Is Auto-creation of User Accounts Necessary?

Thomas J.M. Burton tom at globalfocusdm.com
Tue Jan 4 19:55:53 UTC 2011


On 1/3/2011 9:45 AM, Paul Jordan wrote:
> > My question is, would an IC catalog set up using the old foundation 
> demo
> > (from version 5.4.2 or earlier) require auto-creation of accounts for
> > all orders, or is that something that I could remove from the
> > transaction process without causing problems?
> >
> > I realize that IC catalog setups can vary greatly, so I'd also like to
> > know if there is anything in Interchange's core that depends upon each
> > transaction having an associated user account.
> >
> > I'm currently running version 5.4.2 (yes, we'll be upgrading soon!).
>
>
> Switching from allowing auto creates to only user created accounts is 
> as easy as requiring login at check out.
> ...
> Note that *standard/foundation* needs to create a userdb record at 
> checkout if the user is not logged in. If you are requiring login from 
> now on, you no longer need auto-creates - BUT - I would not go ripping 
> out auto-create code out of the transaction process. Just requiring 
> login is enough to skip all that code and keep everything upgrade 
> friendly.
>

Thanks for the reply, Paul. That information helped to confirm that I'm 
understanding the account system correctly. The catch here is that my 
client doesn't want to require login at check out, but have it as an 
option for those with an account and leave a "quick checkout" option for 
those who don't and don't want one.

My reasoning behind wanting to remove the auto-create from the 
transaction process is to keep a cleaner userdb, considering a couple of 
possible scenarios:

- If user with an account for some reason places an order without 
logging in, there will then be two (or more) accounts in the system with 
their e-mail address.

- If a customer uses the "quick checkout" (no login) option on their 
first visit then decides to make another purchase and create an account 
at a later date, there will be multiple accounts belonging to their 
e-mail address.

This would create a need to be monitoring accounts and merging them so 
that customers can access order histories from one account. 
Additionally, if a customer creating either of the situations described 
above forgets their password and uses the "forgot password" lookup, 
they'll have multiple accounts which creates a confusing situation for 
the customer and doesn't provide for a user-friendly experience.

I'm curious to know more about why standard/foundation requires an 
auto-create if a user isn't logged in at checkout and what the specific 
ramifications of removing that would be.

Thanks again,
Tom



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