Auto creation of user account

We didn't feel this was a high priority when we designed the module, but we got this feedback from at least one more developer so we will consider it moving forward.

I personally think this is a must to reduce user bounce rates.

I too think this is important. Also, what happens if we decide to stop using Gigya - do all those user accounts disappear?

Current you still have to create a drupal account with its own username and password (which if you continue to use this module forever, never get's used and just causes confusion to the end user).

If you then decide to drop the gigya module (fingers cross this would happen), you would still have the underlying account and would then need to work out a way to re-sync the accounts with another module like facebook Auth. Mind you this would be a real pain in the ass.

Now regarding the issue at hand, I would be more than happy to give this a shoot, but still think I am so what new to drupal, and would very much like some pointers on where I should starting with the gigya code to add such functionality?? Anyone?

Thanks heaps!
L

I would love to see this as a feature. In my mind if you are trying to drive user signups, the easier (fewer prompts, clicks) the better. I'm very new to Drupal but was attracted to it primarily for this new module. Right now I'm curious if anyone has played around with managing user profile info pulled from Facebook, Myspace, Twitter and connecting all this data into a more dynamic and robust user profile? Right now I'm having difficulty just getting the social icon to appear as user avatar. (i have a default icon for users set but it always shows even if "use my social avatar" is checked. anyone has any pointers for this, I'd love to hear. thanks!
wil

One issue that comes up with this is the terms of service. For instance, we were told by gigya that we were not allowed to pre-populate fields from Facebook. If we can resolve the TOS issues, I think this could be a relatively easy fix.

In regards to deleting the gigya module, all drupal accounts would remain in the system. However, since gigya was used as the authentication mechanism, the user would no longer be allowed to login. There was a suggestion that another authentication module could be put in place of gigya, however we retain no information from the social network itself, only the Gigya UID and Social network name. Therefore, if gigya is disabled or deleted, the gigya/uid mapping in authmap would remain, but we'd have no way to know what social network username was used to authenticate the drupal user.

yikes...I'm in the beginning phases of configuring Gigya...and as my website is down to allow for propagation of a CNAME I wanted to research this very topic.....I'm completely put off with this module now...I may dump out of it if they can't work these issues out...I mean what is the point of it if you can't bring in the user data from these social sites? That was my whole intention. And the reason I'm configuring the module myself is because they're CS sucks... Unless they can work this stuff out...I'm not even going to use the damn thing.

subscribing

drumnjo - at least you haven't had time to install and configure everything. I've managed to get Gigya working and went to test and see how it looks for a new user who signs in by using their Facebook/Twitter credentials. Turns out that it gives them a page where they still have to fill out all the username/hassle stuff I was trying to avoid.

How could I have misunderstood this module so?

So yep, count me in as another one interested in auto-populating fields with data from FB/Twitter.

This would be a must for me! Loosing accounts (once you stop using Gigya) is not a main issue to me. I just want people to be able to connect as easily as possible.

subscribing

subscribing - add another vote for automatic user account creation

Auto creating an account is important. I also thought that was default functionality of this module.

I would gladly buy someone a few cases of beer for adding this feature.
Thank you,
Scott

I certainly understand the appeal of this function but it's unfortunately not as easy as everyone would like it to be.

Some of the problems have already been mentioned but I'll recap:

1) Drupal accounts require an email address. Requesting and storing a user's email address "invisibly" is a questionable practice, at best, with most social networks. And that's assuming that you even HAVE access to their email address via the API (which is RARE). The only way around this that I can think of would be to give admins the option of having the module auto-assign fake email addresses. I personally don't think there's a very good reason to go down that road.

2) We would have to auto-assign the user a username. This isn't hard, but you either force folks to live with ugly usernames they may not like, or you allow everyone the right to change their username. Some sites would see this as a disadvantage.

3) Once you start trying to map more profile fields than just username and email address you make it even less likely that all the necessary values will be available. (and again, many consider pre-populating these values questionable from a TOS standpoint).

4) Currently the Gigya module is designed to give new users the option to either create a new account or link their account to an existing Drupal account. If accounts were invisibly auto-created then you wouldn't be able to easily let users link accounts to existing Drupal accounts. You would have to at least add an extra page to the log in process that asked them if they would like to create a new account or link to an existing account.

As it stands, if you don't add any profile fields to user registration, then registration remains a very simple process. A user authenticates via Gigya and the module tries to pick a suitable username for them. They're then shown a page with a potential username already filled in and all they have to do is fill in their email address and hit enter. If you use my patch posted in comment 54 here #647334: Gigya user registration form override causes issues w/Organic Groups, User Location, Legal, LoginToboggan then it will even attempt to auto-populate the other fields. I can't think of a way to make it any more low-friction than that. I don't think there's a very good way to accomplish the super-simple account creation you want.

subscribing

Oscar Illada
www.crovat.com

does any drupal guru person know if we can add ViralInviter

please advise, I WOULD LOVE TO INSTALL IT ON MY DRUPAL SITE!

thanks in advance

joe

This feature is in 2.x, but doesn't work in all cases, due to the third-party integration. See #742862: Make skipping registration form optional for explanation.

For me this feature is very important because I think if you go to log in with your facebook account, it would be great to automatically create the user.