User Points

This module provides an API for users to gain or lose points for performing certain actions on your site.

In conjunction with other modules, such as the userpoints Nodes and Comments users can accumulate points for actions such as posting nodes, commenting or moderation duties.

Use one of the many contributed modules to extend the functionality of the module to include point accumulation on page views or votes, upgrade roles based on point balance, or purchase goods from your store.

This module is useful in providing an incentive for users to participate in the site, and be more active.

Userpoints is included in the Drupal Commons distribution.

What it does

Userpoints provides the following:

• Services integration: allowing retrieving and updating points on your site using XML-RPC.
• Rules integration (6.x) and Workflow-ng integration (5.x)
• Views integration
• A block displaying the number of points a user has gained
• A block displays the top users who earned points
• A status message telling the user how many points were earned/lost and their total points
• A detailed point total report for each individual user
• A point total report for all users

There are also these features:

• Point awards for posting a node
• posting a comment
• Each node type can be given a different number of points, for example an image is of more value to photography site, while a page is more value to a literature site.
• When nodes/comments are deleted points are subtracted
• Points follow node/comment ownership on ownership changes
• Moderating a comment

In Drupal 6.x these functions have been branched out to Userpoints Nodes and Comments

Contributed modules

The power of this module comes in the ability to extend and mold it to meet the unique requirements of your site. Many users have already done this and provide their modules on drupal.org. The following are a few of these modules.

In the User Points contributed modules project you a collection of modules written by the community and provided in a single downloadable tarball. This is a great project to use in order to get a feel for what userpoints can do for your site.

As well, on that project page, you will find links to other Drupal projects that implement the userpoints API.

API

This modules provides a callable interface, as well as a hook system for adding or subtracting points to a user account, as well as querying a user's account for how many points they currently have. Please refer to the documentation link below and/or the README.txt file included with the module.

You can read a tutorial and some examples of how to write modules that use the 3.x API here.

Developer notice: The API from v2 to v3 has changed significantly and is not backwards compatible. In specific userpoints_userpointsapi() has changed to an array of parameters and it returns an array instead of true/false. Please refer to the documentation and/or the README.txt for more information.

Version 6.x Developer notice: hook_userpoints has changed to hook_userpoints($op, $params). Refer to the documentation on how to use the new hook changes.

Version Information

This project uses stable and dev releases correctly. Dev releases should never be considered stable and should be used on non-production sites only. Stable releases are deemed stable by the community at large after a long testing process. If you find any issues please file them in the issues queue.

Major version numbers indicate a major change. For example 2.14 and 3.1 are significantly different whereas 3.1 and 3.2 or 2.13 and 2.14 are only minor changes. Major numbers (2 or 3) must match when using contributed modules. Contributed modules with a version of 2.x are not compatible with version 3.x.

Sites

Some sites that use this module:

• Symantec
• Digital Dollhouse
• LCDTV.net
• Shark Scopers
• Sparkeo
• CMS Match
• Greenopolis
• Crowded Text
• Wall Street Oasis
• Ads of the World
• Altiris community site
• Zimmer Twins
• CIO.com Advice
• Performancing
• MEPIS
• Jamrie
• Artalyst
• The Poop Report
• Ruby Baboon

More info

Here is presentation on userpoints the author gave at Drupal Camp Toronto 2007.

Initially sponsored by: Artalyst.com

Author

Khalid Baheyeldin of 2bits.com.

The author can also be contacted for paid customizations of this module as well as Drupal consulting, installation, development, and customizations.