Input on desired features for a basic billing module

First off a hello to everyone, I’ve been a user of virtualmin for over 18 months now, so probably about time I posted something here :slight_smile:

I’m currently working on a couple of modules for managing gaming servers based on srcds through virtualmin, and as part of the project I’m developing a basic billing module to accompany it.

I’m sure I’ll be here regularly with questions as I work through this, but I had noticed on previous visits that there was some interest in an integrated billing/support system for virtualmin.

As such I’m trying to keep the billing module fairly generic in its format, in the interest of breaking it out from the srcds module allowing it to be used for general hosting products, web design services or whatever else people can think of using it for :slight_smile:

So at this point I’m basically after a “wishlist” from the community for what they would like to see in this module, below are some of the items i’m currently aiming for/working on, any further suggestions or feedback would be much appreciated!

  • Product creation, pricing and linking with virtualmins "account plans"
  • Invoice generation and automated email either in-message or PDF attachment - currently not looking to implement pro-rata for partial first months etc, but if that's voted to be important I may revise that decision, initially will be based on day-of-month from original signup/activation
  • tracking of payments, both manual entry by the reseller, or via paypal gateway (happy to have input on other payment gateways, haven't had experience coding for many others apart from securepay)
  • automated deactivation of services after a payment grace period

why not use an existing billing app that can work perfectly with virtualmin, like whmcs. I use it, some others here too.

I have actually had a look at WHMCS, and it looks like a good system,

however I think theres a few points of where I’m coming from that may illustrate why I would prefer to develop my own

  1. Control over the source code - I wrote it, I’m responsible for it, and any bugs I fix aren’t going to require managed merges to avoid clobbering during upgrades

  2. Open source code - I have a strong preference for FOSS (liberty not beer) or failing that the source code of a product I purchase to at least be available for modification/perusal - WHMCS seem to have a lot of good plugin/hook support etc, but I couldn’t see anywhere on the site mentioning that the source coode was available when purchased, and their licensing services leads me to think its not, though I may be wrong on this point.

  3. Experience - I’m not just doing this as a profitability exercise, I want to extend my knowledge, and billing systems is one area I’ve only had limited experience on the coding, payment API and integration side.

  4. I’m not on a fixed time schedule for this, a profit at the end would always be nice, but its the knowledge gained that I’ll value more.

If this was just an exercise in getting a billing system up quickly to manage my hosting products, I’d jump at WHMCS as it seems like a great product, but thats just not the space I’m coming from

the more options the better, Im sure there will be people interested in such module.

yes, whmcs is mostly encrypted.

I was curious if there had been any further developments regarding this discussion? I would too like there to be available different options for billing, support and client management alongside Virtualmin. I am not particularly fond of WHMCS due to the above reasons stated as well as the fact they charge for source code you really cannot change to suit your wants/needs among other things.