[Plugin: Role Scoper] Problem Displaying Custom Fields with RS

Thanks, Kevin! Let me know when you’re ready and I’ll give you whatever data/access you need to help figure it out. Enjoy your time off.

Hi Kevin, if you’re still subscribed to this post:

I have three users/roles:

Role 1
Role 2
Role 3

I also have four categories and subcategories:

Cat 1
Cat 2
SubCat A
SubCat B
Cat 3
Cat 4

For testing, I have one user. My goal is to have the user be able to see only content assigned to their group and categories assigned to their group. The user is a reader, not an editor, author, or admin. In the WordPress permissions scheme, users are “No Role for this Site.”

I have this immediate scenario/problem:

The user is assigned to Cat 2 and SubCat A. They should only see content assigned to SubCat A, not SubCatB. The problem is that assignment to Cat 2 appears to include SubCatB items when I log in as the user and view category links. How do I refine the permissions so the user, in this scenario, only sees content assigned to Cat 2 and SubCat A?

Most likely I’m misunderstanding the nature of Role Scoper, or there are so many screens in RS my head is exploding. But let me know how to use RS to truly limit users to the categories to which they are assigned.

Thanks, Kevin! I missed that detail.

A follow up question. On the Category Roles page, for each category I’ve assigned a group that roughly mirrors a set of categories, like this:

Group 1 = Cat 1
Group 2 = Cat 2
Group 3 = Cat 3
Group 4 = Cat 4

For some categories, I want Groups 1, 2, and 3 to see entries tagged with multiple groups in the Category Roles page, like this:

Cat 8 = Group 1, Group 2, Group 3
Cat 9 = Group 1, Group 3

In this scenario, category tagged content for Group 1 is showing up in the category links on the right of my pages (2010 theme). The logged in user is assigned to Group 2 to see only category 2 content. I’ve determined the problem is that it’s because Groups 1, 2, 3 are assigned to category 8 and so all content tagged with Category 8 displays when you click the category 8 link, regardless of any category restrictions. Category Roles appears to take precedence over Category Restrictions.

Any way to untangle this? Specifically, is there a best practice for how to organize categories and groups?

Yes except the other category relationship and restriction gets ignored in this second scenario. All content tagged with Cat 8 is displayed regardless of any other category restriction. Category Role assignment to Cat 8 appears to take precedence over limiting Cat 2 to Group 2 regardless of any other assignment. I want the reverse effect.

It’s confusing, perhaps, and my apologies. Mostly I’m looking for best practices for limiting content access based on categories, sub-categories, and groups.

Okay, thank you for the clarification. The key, I think, is to control at the Post/Article level. I was thinking at the site admin level but, in practice, once basic permissions are set, authors will determine who sees content.

I have one question. On the Add/Edit a Post/Article form, I see this checkbox, “Restrict for Article Item (only selected users/groups are Readers)”. This appears to override any /Group Name/ settings, permissions gained by other settings. Is there a way to make this checked off by default? That would help force authors to select groups who can see the content.

I’d also ask if there is a way to hide the Contributor and Author checkboxes on the Add/Edit forms.

Appreciate your help and clarifications!