Users, Display Names and Avatars

Everyone who signs in has a user account. Orchard Core gives you the user list, where you add people, reset passwords and give them roles. CrestApps adds a display name, so screens show John Smith instead of jsmith, and an avatar, a picture for each person. Use them when agents, supervisors and customers' records should show real names rather than sign-in names.

Menu	Access Control > Users; Settings > User Display Name; Settings > User Avatars
Permission	Manage users (accounts); Manage the user display name settings; Manage the avatar settings
Feature	Users (Orchard Core); User Display Name; User Avatar

Can't find it?

What you see depends on your role. If the menu, a button or a setting on this page is missing, ask your administrator to give you the permission listed above or to turn on the feature. Only administrators can turn features on and change site settings.

Add a user and give them access

1. Open Access Control > Users and click Add User.
2. Fill in the account details and tick the roles the person needs. The roles decide what the person can see and do. See Roles and Permissions.
3. If the display name boxes are shown, fill them in (see Set a person's name).
4. Save the user.

Creating accounts, passwords, sign-in and registration are standard Orchard Core screens. See the Orchard Core Users documentation for those.

tip

To change what someone can do later, edit their user and change their roles. You rarely need to change a role itself.

Choose how names are shown

Open Settings > User Display Name. It decides how a person's name is built everywhere the site shows a user.

Field	What it does
Display name format	How the name is built. Username (the default) shows the sign-in name. Display name shows a free-text name each person has. First Middle Last name shows John A Smith. Last, First Middle name shows Smith, John A. Custom format uses a pattern you type in Liquid format.
Liquid format	Only for Custom format. A pattern such as {{ FirstName }} {{ LastName }}. Ask a developer if you need something more advanced.
Display name	Whether the user editor has a Display Name box: Don't use, Optional or Required.
First name, Middle name, Last name	The same three choices for each name box. A middle name is only part of the name when Middle name is not set to Don't use.

Click Save. When a person has no name filled in, the site shows their user name instead.

Use this when you want full names everywhere: pick First Middle Last name and set First name and Last name to Required, so every account you add or edit must carry a full name.

The screencast sets the format to First Middle Last name, fills in the names on a user, and then shows the author badge in the content list changing from the user name to the full name.

Where the name appears

• The user menu at the top of the admin screens.
• Author and owner badges in content lists.
• User pickers, such as the Owner Name box on content items and user fields on content types.
• Searching Access Control > Users: typing a name finds people by user name, display name, first, middle or last name.

Set a person's name

1. Open Access Control > Users and edit the user.
2. Fill in the Display Name, First Name, Middle Name and Last Name boxes. Only the boxes that are not set to Don't use are shown, and boxes set to Required must be filled in before you can save.
3. Save the user.

Only people who can edit user accounts see and change these boxes. Someone who edits only their own profile cannot change their name; ask your administrator to update it.

Pick a content item's owner by name

When a content type shows the owner box, the Owner Name box becomes a searchable list of users that shows their display names. Click Browse users, type part of a name, and pick the person.

In the content type's Common part settings you can also choose the Permission Defined Editor. It shows the owner box only to people who are allowed to publish the item.

Avatars

Open Settings > User Avatars to set how avatars work, then click Save.

Field	What it does
Require Avatar	Every user must have a picture before their account can be saved.
Use default CSS styles	Uses the built-in look for avatars. Leave it ticked unless a developer has styled avatars for your site.

To give someone a picture, edit the user and use the Avatar box to pick or upload an image from the media library. Only image files are accepted. The box is shown only to people who have the Manage Media permission. The avatar appears next to the person's name in places that show who a user is.