import subscribers (is_backend_created)

[Jürg Messmer]

We want to be able to import subscribers to a specific subscriber_group.

options

• create new subscribers manually
• import comma/space separated email addresses.

We make a dashboard widget for this:
Provide a textarea to paste in addresses (see test send), or allow import of csv

creation of subscribers and subscriber_group_memberships

• the subscribers are added if they do not exist
• the subscription is added (if it does not exist) and marked with is_backend_created=true
• ignored if both exist

sending

• a (special) newsletter can be sent to these "temporary" (is_backend_created) recipients
• once sent, the boolean is_backend_created is set to false. It is in the responsibility of the administrator to send a special invitation newsletter to those added manually or if not, just make do with the fact, that the subscribers can always unsubscribe in each newsletter.
• as soon as there are memberships with the boolean set to true, a temporary group representing them is shown in the subscriber_group pulldown menu of the send dialog
• the label of the temporary group will be "SubscriberGroupName Temp" and the existing SubscriberGroup will be named "SubscriberGroupName (without Temp)"

[Jürg Messmer]

This change was implemented in the branch subscriber_import.

After extended discussions we decided to implement a version that does not affect the existing code and make it complicated. Currently we discuss the whole plugin and the how to of subscriber import.