Issue Background:
A WordPress site selling courses through WooCommerce, integrated with Tutor LMS and other LMS plugins, disabled guest checkout, requiring users to create an account during purchase. However, after checkout:
- Courses were marked as expired for new users.
- This only occurred on the live site, not staging.
- The client used a custom plugin (“SuperTest SP”) and the User Switching plugin for testing.
Diagnosis:
- Timing conflict: The custom plugin evaluated course access before WooCommerce had fully processed the order and assigned user metadata, including WooCommerce roles and capabilities.
- Role-based logic flaw: The function that determined whether access to the course was “active” or “expired” relied on incomplete user data, affecting administrators, editors, managers, contributors, and other roles.
- Environment difference: Staging didn’t exhibit the problem due to faster or more lenient processing behavior and backend efficiency in user management.
Resolution Steps:
- Tested with new accounts using User Switching to simulate the customer journey and check login, profile, and account creation functionality.
- Audited the custom plugin code to locate and update the logic determining access to the course, including LMS course access and WooCommerce roles.
- Added a delay or condition to ensure evaluation occurred after order completion, payment verification, and role assignment, while maintaining efficient backend processing.
- Validated changes on staging, then deployed to production, ensuring all users, from subscribers to administrators, could access content without manual intervention.
Final Outcome:
Course access now updates correctly as “active” upon purchase completion. Customers no longer face confusion or support issues related to “expired” content immediately after buying. The system automatically assigns roles and capabilities, integrates seamlessly with WooCommerce and LMS, and allows owners or managers to efficiently handle user management and course access.
Selling digital courses with WooCommerce?
Avoid frustrating access bugs. Integriti Studio helps you build and maintain flawless digital delivery experiences.