I am running Moodle 2.2
I have searched and searched for some kind of tutorial that might help me configure courses for enrolment via an external database. Typically from an ecommerce application such as oscommerce, zencart, magento or prestashop. The closest post I came across that kinda descibed the same issue I am having is from Nikki Macfarlane ( http://moodle.org/mod/forum/discuss.php?d=30195 ) from 2005! Unfortunately many of the posts don't quite give sufficient detail or steps for me and I can't quite join up the dots. The issue is with the data in the external databases is kept in more than one table; I can't see how to map the required fields for the enrolment plugin to several tables. I have found dozens of other posts giving a kind of "high level" procedure (like this page I found: http://lewiscarr.co.uk/2011/11/moodle-e-commerce-shopping-carts/ ) and some make reference to "creating a view" but this is where I get stuck. I could do with some more detail here. Do I have to write some code either in Moodle or the external ecommerce application? I would rather not since maintenance then becomes more tedious.
I have installed all four of the ecommerce solutions I mention earlier and they all have same issue, the info needed by the plugin is spread over more than one table just as Nikki says.
I considered the solution of putting an enrolment key in a pdf and people download that after buying the product then using that to access a course. It's an ok solution but not as slick, besides this is becoming a technical challenge I just can't put down now!
Does anyone know where I can find a tutorial taking me through the steps with a real ecommerce solution, I don't care which but don't recommend the ejunkie youtube video - it misses the critical bits probably because it's commercial.
I am sure once I crack it for one solution it's cracked for all as they're all pretty similar. I am surprised there isn't a decent tutorial given how many posts there have been crying out for help over this issue, going back years! The problem is they don't seem to conclude with an unambiguous solution. Well not to me they don't anyway.
If I ever crack this I will create a tutorial myself just to put the issue to bed once and for all!