Trouble with Username and Language Keys

I am developing my site and am having some strange difficulty. My site won't work properly when creating a username. With the accounts I've created for testing, it will allow a new member to join and create a username. However, the site will then display the username as a random alphanumeric name. And I am unable to login with the username I've created, only using the alphanumeric name. Furthermore, when I would attempt to edit a profile, the site is setting certain fields as mandatory fields, which I have set otherwise. The strange thing is that there is no asterisk next to the field, until I click to save the changes. Then asterisks appear and I am told that these fields must be filled. What would be the cause for this? 

Another problem I am having is with field boxes that I've created. Throughout my site, instead of displaying the title, or caption,  of the field box I've created, it is showing the language key for the box. I did not change the language key. Could anyone please give me some insight? If anyone willing to provide me help wants to speak privately, just let me know. Thanks!    

1) Are you attempting to login with the real name or the nickname/username. There is a difference. Did you remove the username filed from your join form. A url to your site so we can see what is happening would help.

2) Unchecking mandatory is not enough. You need to make sure you clear any min and max field values as well so dolphin does not try to enforce the length requirements.

3) For any field you create, you also need to create the appropriate language key. This is not automatic. You have to manually create these keys.

Hey Deano,

Thanks for the response.

1) I removed the field for a user's real name from the join form, and input the nickname/username box I created. Joining with a username works fine. Afterwards, you're unable to sign in with the username created. I've tried to login with the username that I would join with. Its like my site does not even recognize the name. My site is also not displaying the username, just some alphanumeric combination instead. This alphanumeric combo is what you end up needing to login with. 

2) Thanks for this. I will make sure to clear the min and max fields and see that the issue is resolved. Is the same necessary for fields which have radio buttons or a drop down bar? 

3) OK. I thought the change reflected in the language key after I created a caption was enough. Is there any reference I can use for creating an applicable language key? 

Thanks deano. 

URL: http://www.gamblepub.com/dirgp/

This is the part i find very confusing. Why would you create your own username field when dolphin already has one?

Due to the removal of the real name, and if the original username field was also removed and you created your own, that would explain the reason for the failure. The original username field provided by dolphin is required. Dolphin cannot reference your hand made user name field for logging into the site.

Someone is going to need to look at the fields builder of your site to figure out what you did. I have a feeling you are trying to get dolphin to login with a custom created field which will not work.

I would suggest you try and restore the dolphin join form back to it's original condition. At least the original username field.

Yup. I just verified your join form. The user name field has a name of MyUsername

That is not the original field dolphin provides for usernames which is the reason it does not work. I still do not understand why you removed the original and created your own.

If you needed some special checking for the user name, then you need to make the changes to the original user name field as Deano pointed out.  What is it that you are trying to do with the user name?

Deano,

I was initially having trouble with Dolphin's username field. By creating my own field, I was hoping to 1) resolve the issue I was having and 2) have more flexibility with a custom created box. Is the username field by Dolphin only functional when being used together with the field box for a "real name", simultaneously? In any case, I will go back to the original join form. 

Are you able to point me in the direction of what I can reference for changing the language keys for the field boxes that I'd like to apply to my site?

Thanks for your help and for checking out my site yourself. 

Geek_Girl, 

Thanks for your response. 

I wasn't aware that I had some room to customize the original username field from Dolphin. I was having some difficulty with the field box in the beginning, but I believe I may now understand why from an earlier explanation, about required fields, that Deano provided. I also thought that I would have more flexibility with my own created field box. Nothing especially important at this moment. Just sort of thinking ahead.  

With dolphin you can login using one of only 3 fields. One is the ID dolphin assigns when the account is created. This field is not visible but is in the database. This is the numerical ID dolphin assignes to the account when it is created.

Second is the email address.

Third is the nickname. Also known as username.

If the username is removed from the join form, dolphin will auto assigne a username based on first name and DOB. If the first name and last name fields are also missing then dolphin will assign something random to the nickname. This is because this filed is required. Something has to be there.

You created your own field for the nickname, but dolphin uses the original for logon, not the one you create. So if you want to login using usernames, you must use the original username filed.

As for language keys for fields you create. When you create the field, hover your mouse of the blue ! icon next to the caption field. A popup will show you the language key dolphin will use for that field.

It will be something like this. _FieldCaption_NewCaption_Join

There will be several slightly different depending on what form the field in on.

The keys you need you create in the languages section of dolphin. Admin->Settings->Language Settings.

Add a new key there. The key is the key that needs to be added, and the English text is the text you want the key translated to. The reason for language keys is because dolphin is a multi language system. The key acts as a place holder for several different language versions of the fields caption.

Deano,

I understand completely now. Thanks for the explanation. I'm using the nickname field now, without any problem. And I appreciate you explaining things even further, so I can have a thorough understanding. 

Thanks for the instructions with the language keys. I'm going to follow your instructions and I'll let you know how things turn out. I really appreciate your help and info! Thanks again. 

Deano,

Just wanted to let you know that I got the hang of what I needed to do to fix the problem I was having with my language keys and all seems well, at this point. Thanks again.