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Check username exists before signing up?

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Check username exists before signing up?
I'd like to see a plugin or feature that lets you do what I've seen on other mail systems, and that is for a user to check whether a name exists before they have to enter other information, like demographics.

Ideally the plugin would work from any page on your site, so you could have a simple form asking users to see whether their preferred name is available. They would then have the option of signing up.

I think this would lead to more signups, because you could make a special splash page designed to lure a user in, saying their preferred name is available and that they should sign up now before it is taken. It's just the same kind of thing you would see when speculating for a new domain name, and it's a feature I've seen on all other email systems.

Jason
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Re: [wickedmoon] Check username exists before signing up? In reply to
Hi,

You could put a global on the signup page that does:

my $email = $IN->param('check_email') or return;
return $DB->table('user')->cout( { email => $email } );

and then have your form post to signup like:

http://freemail.gossamer-threads.com/join.cgi?check_email=a@a.com

Finally in the template do something like:

Code:
<%if check_email%>
<%if your_global%>
congrats availaible.
<%include signup_form%>
<%else%>
sorry taken, try again
<%endif%>
<%else%>
Signup now!
<%include signup_form%>
<%endif%>

Cheers,

Alex
--
Gossamer Threads Inc.
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Re: [Alex] Check username exists before signing up? In reply to
Is it possible for someone to do a quick knock-up of this, so there's a working example of how to set up the forms and pages?

Jason
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Re: [wickedmoon] Check username exists before signing up? In reply to
Hey Jason,

Are you still looking for this? I did something like this the other day but in a slightly different format. I put a link to a pop-up next to the user name field that posted the username and domain to a separate script that displayed weather or not the name was available. I can post the code or turn it in to a plugin if you think it will work for you.

~Charlie
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Re: [Chaz] Check username exists before signing up? In reply to
Thanks Charlie, I think that's exactly what gmail needs (all other mail software I've seen offer this functionality) and I would definately like to use it. A plugin would be great.

I would like to use it from a standard html page on my site, if this is possible? Just a box to enter a username and the drop-down menu of available domains, so prospective users can have a quick look.

Jason
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Re: [Chaz] Check username exists before signing up? In reply to
sounds like a good idea!!! would stop duplicate signups while a user decides which name they want.

regan.
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Re: [wickedmoon] Check username exists before signing up? In reply to
I'll see if I can't get it sorted out in the next few days. I've got a couple of custom jobs to finish up before I can get to this though.

~Charlie