AACA Membership Core

Lightweight membership helpers for Gravity Forms, ACF, protected member pages, and member shortcodes.

Description

AACA Membership Core is a lightweight custom membership plugin built to support a simple PAS membership workflow using:

• Gravity Forms
• Gravity Forms User Registration Add-On
• ACF user fields
• GravityImport / GravityExport
• Custom protected member pages

This plugin is intentionally lightweight. It does not try to replace a full membership platform. Instead, it adds the core logic needed to manage membership data stored in user meta / ACF and to protect selected pages for active members only.

Current features include:

• Creates the custom WordPress role: PAS Member (aaca_member)
• Reads membership data from WordPress user meta / ACF
• Checks if a member is active based on exp_date
• Runs a daily cron job to update user_status
• Adds an admin settings page under Users
• Lets admins choose protected pages
• Redirects unauthorized users away from protected pages
• Provides helper functions for custom development
• Provides shortcodes for member data output

Project date format:

• Membership dates use m/d/Y
• Example: 12/31/2026

Features

Role

This plugin creates and uses:

• Role key: aaca_member
• Role label: PAS Member

Membership logic

Membership status is based on the exp_date user meta field.

Rules:

• Active Member = exp_date is today or in the future
• Expired Member = exp_date is in the past

Expected date format:

• m/d/Y
• Example: 12/31/2026

Daily status sync

The plugin includes a daily WP-Cron job that checks all users with the aaca_member role and updates:

• user_status = 1 for active members
• user_status = 0 for inactive / expired members

The plugin also includes a manual sync button in the admin page.

Protected pages

The plugin includes an admin settings page where admins can:

• Select protected pages
• Define a redirect URL for unauthorized users
• View active/inactive member counts
• Run the member sync manually

Protected pages allow access only to:

• Admins
• Logged-in users with role aaca_member
• Active members only

All other users are redirected to the configured URL.

Note for managed hosts and CDNs: Protected/member-only pages should be excluded from page cache. On platforms like WP Engine, public cache may serve a cached guest version unless those URLs are excluded from cache and purged after changes.

Installation

1. Upload the plugin folder to /wp-content/plugins/
2. Activate the plugin through the WordPress Plugins screen
3. The plugin will create the aaca_member role automatically
4. Go to Users > PAS Membership
5. Select protected pages and set a redirect URL
6. Save settings
7. Exclude protected page URLs from server/CDN cache if needed

Admin Page

The plugin adds:

Users > PAS Membership

This page includes:

• Active member count
• Inactive member count
• Last sync time
• Manual sync button
• Protected page selector
• Redirect URL field
• Selected protected pages list

Helper Functions

Available helper functions:

• aaca_get_member_full_name( $user_id = 0 )
• aaca_get_member_expiry( $user_id = 0 )
• aaca_get_member_type( $user_id = 0 )
• aaca_is_member_active( $user_id = 0 )
• aaca_user_has_member_role( $user_id = 0 )

If no user ID is passed, these functions use the current logged-in user.

Shortcodes

Basic shortcodes

• [aaca_member_name]
• [aaca_member_expiry]
• [aaca_member_status]
• [aaca_member_type]

Examples:

• [aaca_member_name]
• [aaca_member_expiry]
• [aaca_member_status]
• [aaca_member_type]
• [aaca_member_status user_id="45"]

Expiry or status shortcode

Returns the expiry date if the member is active, otherwise returns "Expired".

Shortcode:

• [aaca_member_expiry_or_status]

Examples:

• [aaca_member_expiry_or_status]
• [aaca_member_expiry_or_status user_id="45"]
• [aaca_member_expiry_or_status expired_text="Membership Expired"]

Generic member meta shortcode

Returns any user meta value for the member.

Shortcode:

• [aaca_member_meta key="member_number"]

Supported examples:

• [aaca_member_meta key="member_number"]
• [aaca_member_meta key="company_name"]
• [aaca_member_meta key="phone"]
• [aaca_member_meta key="aaca_member_number"]
• [aaca_member_meta key="comp" fallback="N/A"]

Available attributes:

• key = required meta key
• user_id = optional user ID
• fallback = optional fallback text
• before = optional HTML/text before the value
• after = optional HTML/text after the value

Example:

• [aaca_member_meta key="phone" before="Phone: "]

Compiled address shortcode

Builds the member address from these fields:

• address1
• address2
• city
• state
• zip
• country

Shortcode:

• [aaca_member_address]

Examples:

• [aaca_member_address]
• [aaca_member_address format="multiline"]
• [aaca_member_address separator=", "]

Available attributes:

• user_id = optional user ID
• separator = separator for inline format
• format = inline or multiline

Data Fields

Common membership fields used by this plugin may include:

• pa_member_since
• member_number
• address1
• address2
• city
• state
• zip
• country
• phone
• member_type
• exp_date
• spouse_first_name
• spouse_last_name
• company_name
• comp
• notes
• aaca_member_number
• aaca_expiration
• aaca_life
• user_status

The plugin reads these from user meta / ACF user fields.

Notes

• Membership expiry format is expected to be m/d/Y
• Protected pages should not be fully cached for guests
• This plugin is designed to stay lightweight and focused
• Gravity Forms / ACF remain the source of membership data

Changelog

1.1.0

• Updated role label to PAS Member
• Added daily member status sync
• Added admin settings page
• Added protected pages settings
• Added redirect URL setting
• Added frontend protected page access control
• Added manual sync button
• Added [aaca_member_expiry_or_status]
• Added [aaca_member_meta]
• Added [aaca_member_address]

1.0.0

• Initial release
• Added aaca_member role
• Added membership helper functions
• Added active/expired membership logic based on exp_date
• Added member shortcodes

Upgrade Notice

1.1.0

Adds daily status sync, protected page settings, admin tools, and new member shortcodes.