Subscriptions

POP Forums v23 introduced subscription integration with Stripe. This allows the owner of a site with a forum instance to display or hide certain things (like ads) based on the subscription status of a user.

Integration

To use subscriptions, enable and setup the functionality as described below. Inject IUserRetrievalShim into the service or page that you want subscriptions to influence. When you have the user object, check its IsSubscriber() method, and use that boolean value in your logic. For example, you could use the following to hide ads for subscribers in a page layou:

@inject IUserRetrievalShim UserRetrievalShim
@{
    var user = UserRetrievalShim.GetUser();
    var isSubscriber = user != null && user.IsSubscriber();
}
...
@if (!isSubscriber) {
    <div> *** ad content *** </div>
}

IsSubscriber() is computed on every request from the user’s subscription expiration value, with a one-day grace period past the expiration date to cover the gap between midnight rollover and the daily renewal job running. This also means the Subscriber role is available anywhere roles are checked (user.IsInRole(PermanentRoles.Subscriber)) and can be assigned as a view or post role for a forum from the admin Forum Permissions screen, making it possible to build a subscriber-only forum.

Configuring subscriptions

Subscription settings live in the admin console, under Subscription Config. The “Subscriptions” link in the user navigation only when subscriptions are turned on.

Setting	Description
Subscriptions Enabled	Master switch. Must be checked for the “Subscriptions” account page, the buy/renewal flow, and the Subscriber role computation to be active.
Renewal Interval (Milliseconds)	How often the in-process renewal worker polls the renewal queue, when running in-process background jobs (AddPopForumsBackgroundJobs()). Defaults to 60000 (one minute). Has no effect when using Azure functions.
Stripe Secret Key	Your Stripe account’s secret API key, used server-side for all charge/customer calls.
Stripe Publishable Key	Your Stripe account’s publishable key, sent to the browser so Stripe.js can tokenize card details client-side. Safe to expose; this is meant to be public.
Currency	The ISO currency code (e.g. usd, eur, gbp) used both for the Stripe charge itself and for formatting prices in the UI (via decimal.ToCurrencyString, which maps the code to a matching culture for display). Defaults to usd.

Renewals are driven by asynchronous services for Azure Functions (AddPopForumsAzureFunctionsAndQueues()) or in-process jobs (AddPopForumsBackgroundJobs()) in Program.cs.

• Daily enqueue, at 12:01 PM UTC: finds every user whose SubscriptionExpiration is today and whose profile has auto-renewal turned on, and pushes them onto the renewal queue.
• Renewal processing: dequeues each user and attempts to charge their card on file, extending SubscriptionExpiration by the purchased SKU’s Months on success.

Auto-renewal is a per-user setting (on the user’s own Subscriptions page). If it’s not on, they will not automatically renew.

Defining skus

SKUs are the purchasable subscription plans, managed from the admin console’s Subscription Skus page.

Field	Notes
SKU ID	A string key, set once at creation and immutable afterward.
Name	Display name shown to users on the buy page and in subscription history messages.
Description	Text shown alongside the plan on the buy page.
Price	Decimal amount, charged in whole units of the configured currency. A price of 0 is allowed — see “Free SKUs” below.
Months	How many months a successful charge extends SubscriptionExpiration by.
Active	Whether the SKU can currently be purchased.

SKUs cannot be deleted, only marked inactive, since existing transactions, subscription history entries, and user profiles reference a SKU by ID. Inactive SKUs are hidden from the buy page but remain visible and editable in the admin list. A renewal is still allowed to use an inactive SKU. Only new purchases are restricted to active plans, so existing subscribers on a retired plan keep renewing normally until they change plans or cancel.

Ordering

SKUs have a persisted sort order, managed the same way forum/category ordering works with up/down buttons. A newly created SKU is appended to the end of the order automatically.

Free SKUs

A SKU priced at 0 can be purchased without ever hitting Stripe.

Managing a user’s subscription

Edit User Sub in the admin area allows you to find a user and edit their subscription information. There you can view their subscription history, including any failures, and the option to apply a subscription without payment.

Refunds

The POP Forums subscription system does not handle refunds directly. In order to reverse a charge, you’ll have to use Stripe’s administration app to do so.