In Love Factory there are 4 levels of memberships: level 0 (default), level 1, level 2 and level 3. Except for level 0, each level can be enabled and/or disabled. For each level you can set a number of parameters, like maximum number of photos or friends a user can have.

All new users who register with the Love Factory, are assigned to level 0. This level is the default one and it is FREE of charge. The purpose of the other 3 levels (1, 2 and 3) is to give the users a better site experience (like having more photos or more friends) by PAYING a fee.

So, if you don't want to have any membership plans or don't want users to pay, disable the levels 1, 2 and 3. This way the parameters of level 0 will affect all the users, FREE of charge.

If you want users to PAY, set the level 0 parameters to the minimum you want free users to have. Then increase those with each level.
For example: for level 0 set the number of maximum friends to 1, for level 1 set it to 2, for level 2 set it to 5 and for level 3 set it to 10. This way all users will be able to have 1 friend. But if they want more friends, they should apply for a membership plan that suits their needs.

Trial membership is a regular membership, only it doesn't require payment to be used by the members.

You can add a Trial membership from backend -> Love Factory -> Pricing -> New -> Make sure "Trial Membership:" is set to yes.

For the Trial membership you can set the time period in hours, you can set if it's available always ("Available always:") or can be activated only in certain time interval ("Available from:" - "Available until:").

After you add a new Trial membership, it will show up on the frontend on the Memberships page.

Upgrading to a newer version

Before upgrading to a newer version, you should always BACKUP your entire Joomla installation, just in case something goes wrong. This can be done using a backup component (you can find a list right here).


How to upgrade:
1. Use the Update Request form found on the Contact Us page to receive the latest version of the component.

2. Create a backup file from your current Love Factory installation.

a) Go to:
- since version 1.5.1: backend -> Love Factory -> Settings -> Backup & Restore tab -> Backup fieldset
- other versions: backend -> Love Factory -> Backup & Restore -> Backup tab

b) If you want to include the current settings in the backup file, set Include settings to Yes.

c) Click on the Create Backup button, wait for the backup file to be created and then save it to a safe location.

d) Backup the photos folder (using a FTP client or any other method).

Important!
What will the backup file contain?
- all the data found in the database: users' profiles, ignore lists, comments, friends, interactions, etc.

What will the backup file NOT contain?
- users' photos: although the database entries of the photos will be saved, the photos themselves will not be saved. You will have to backup manually the photos folder, and restore it after the upgrade. The photos folder location can be found on the backup page.
- changes made to the Love Factory's templates and component files
- language files
- changes made to the payment plugins or any new created plugin

3. Disable or uninstall all the component's plugins (system and content).

4. Uninstall current version of Love Factory.

5. Install the latest version of the component downloaded at step 1.

6. Restore the backup file created at step 2.

a) Go to:
- since version 1.5.1: backend -> Love Factory -> Settings -> Backup & Restore tab -> Restore fieldset
- other versions: backend -> Love Factory -> Backup & Restore -> Restore tab

b) at Backup file select the backup file created at step 2.

c) Click on the Restore Backup button.

d) Restore the photos folder.

The upgrade process is now complete.

First, to send a message the user needs to have a membership that allows him to send messages.

To send a message the user needs to:
- go to Inbox (from Love Factory User Menu) -> New Message -> and write in the "To:" field the username of the receiver
- or go to a user profile page and use from the "Interact" zone (on the right side) the "send quick message" or "write a message" links.