
/**
 * @file
 * README file for Registration Secret Codes.
 */

This module helps create secret codes that users can enter
to automatically register or upgrade their accounts to
specific roles. It is particularly useful for cases when
it's impractical for the website administrator to manually
process and upgrade single subscriptions, but still
important to control exactly who has access to certain
roles.

To install, visit admin/build/modules and activate the
module.

IMPORTANT: the module does not provide an upgrade path from
version 5. It does, however, delete any settings saved by
version 5.

The settings page is at admin/user/secretcode.


This module makes it possible to:

--assign different codes for different roles
--set an expiration date, at which selected roles will be
downgraded to a chosen
fallback role (or to nor role)
--manually expire existing codes
--automatically generate new codes at expiration.


Changes from the Drupal 5 version include:

--settings have their own database table (they are not saved
as system settings in the {variable} table
--the generated secret codes are no longer displayed using a
disabled text field (this improves copy and paste
functionality). The style of the code display can be
customized, if needed--see secretcode.css file
--the codes for the selected roles are created on the first
form submit (one less step necessary to set up the module)
--if the selected date is in the past when the settings form
is submitted, the active roles will be deactivated (only if
they had been set to expire)
--the role-selection field set is collapsed by default if
roles have already been selected.


Notable functionality:
--on role assignment, the module now checks if a user
already has the role granted by a certain code
--on role assignment, any fallback role the user has is not
removed
--uninstalling the module before the expiration date does
not downgrade the users to the selected fallback roles.