7.4.0 Preview: Big Additions to Member Management

TLDR

Member management gets a big boost in the ExpressionEngine 7.4 release. A new channel fieldtype ‘Member’ allows you to create relationships from entries to members, member custom fields now include most of the native fieldtypes, and there are also new and improved tags. We’ve also rolled out a new interface for member management in the Control Panel, and a few other surprises.

Member channel fieldtype

The new Member channel fieldtype allows you to create relationships between entries and members. It works like the existing relationship field, but instead of relating entries to other entries, you can relate entries to members. The settings allow limiting the member options by role, multiple selections, minimum and maximum number of selections, and display. Related members and all of their custom fields can be displayed as part of the entry.

New fieldtypes for members

Speaking of custom member fields, we’re happy to share that in 7.4 you can now use more custom field types to store member data than ever before! In addition to the 5 fieldtypes available in 7.3, 7.4.0 adds 12 additional options, including checkboxes and the file field. Now there are even more ways to include pictures of your dog being cute!

As with the existing member fieldtypes, the new fields are available on the member profile page of the control panel, and the frontend tags: Registration tag, and Profile edit tag. And yes, you can display them in entries via the new Member channel fieldtype!

Better member forms

Member Registration and Profile Edit forms now operate similar to the Channel Entry form. There are more parameters to handle control over the assets needed for all of the additional fieldtypes, and more control over the display of the fields. Individual form fields can be output individually using the {field:field_name} format or through {custom_fields}{/custom_fields} variable pair loop:

        {custom_fields}
            <p>
                <label>{lang:profile_field}</label><br>
                <small>{lang:profile_field_description}</small><br>

                {form:custom_profile_field}

            </p>
         {/custom_fields}

Member tag additions

Member tags also got some love, with a new {exp:member:role_groups} template tag that displays the specified member’s assigned role groups:

<h1>Role Groups</h1>
{exp:member:role_groups}
     Role group id: {role_group_id} - Role group name: {role_group_name}
{/exp:member:role_groups}

The existing {exp:member:has_role role_id="1|6} can now check against multiple roles using the pipe delimiter.

Hidden Gems

A couple of small crowd-pleasers are in this release. The Member Manager page now matches the Entry Manager, with customizable columns, the inclusion of custom fields, customizable search, quick links to edit, login as a member, and role management.

Per user requests, you can log in with either a username OR email address. Keep those feature requests coming in, we love adding them!

Last but not least, there are new member avatar global variables that simplify the display of avatars on the front end.

<img src="images/avatars/{logged_in_avatar_filename}">

That’s it, you’re showing the logged-in user’s avatar.

Was this another excellent user feature request? Yes. Was it possible to do it before using the Custom Profile tag? Yes. Is this easier cleaner and more elegant? Also yes.