None of us wish to admit that we are in ‘over our heads’ but I am way beyond that.

BOTTOM LINE UP FRONT:

Using Joomla(3.X), and/or Seblod(3.X), how can I create a custom user registration field, compare the user’s entry to an existing database, and return the pass/fail results so the user can try again?

To make this thing simpler for us all, let’s use this example for testing: Add user registration field named “ZIPCODE”. Compare that field to whatever table the field would be stored, and determine if that field already exists in that table. If it exists, accept the form. If it does not exist, reject the entry, display a message and allow the user to try another. Once I have mastered this, I think I can handle my other validation issues on my own.

Thank you for any help you can provide.

COMPLETE INFORMATION ON WHAT I AM DOING:

What I am doing: Developing a site, in Joomla, for my local Homeowners Association. It will be an ‘unofficial’ site primarily for the social interaction of residents. I do, however want it to be an ambassador site to the community as well. So, I want to control content access based upon a level of access assigned. I would like to have a ‘guest’ access with no login requirements. These users would be able to navigate the public portion of the site with things like ‘homes for sale or rent’ etc. The next level would be for ‘members’. This level would have access to social events, social calendars and the like. This level could contain info for anyone interested in our social lifestyle. The third level would be ‘residents/owners’ and would include both ‘guest’ and ‘member’ privileges and would add access to meeting calendars, homeowner forms, and other items of interest to residents or owners of the community.

I will muddle through this development one item at a time. Currently, I am at the beginning. I have a website with a hosting company and I have loaded it with Joomla 3.3.3. I have also loaded the latest Seblod 3.X. However, I do my testing on a local laptop running WAMP and a mirror image of the production site on line.

NOW, my first problem. In order to qualify users who elect to register at the resident/owner level, I need to qualify them as residents/owners. I have a database with the registered owners from the county, and I have a fairly current list of renters and occupants other than owners. When a new user trys to register as a owner/resident, I need to check their name (last name would be sufficient) to my database of owner/occupants. I would further compare that name to the address the user enters into the registration form.

I am not asking for a lot of code to make this happen. I just need a ‘jump start’ on how to create custom user registration fields and compare that data to existing database data and return a state indicating whether the data exists in the table or not.

I tried Seblod and had great hope when I discovered the ‘Ajax Availability’ feature on fields on the forms creation menu. Unfortunately, after the user enters data into that field, a bubble pops up saying Validating data, please wait” and stays there indefinitely.