Set VM shoppergroup for guest

Question

I need to set the shoppergroup for guest users based on a region parameter (that they choose).

I thought that using the following inside a system plugin (onAfterDispatch) would work:

// Getting a registered user and piggy-backing on that.
$user = JFactory::getUser(801);
/** @var TableVmusers $vm_user */
$vm_user_model = new VirtueMartModelUser();
$vm_user = $vm_user_model->getUser();
$vm_user->JUser = $user;
$region = JFactory::$application->input->get('region');
$vm_user->shopper_groups = [0 => $region];

But it doesn't seem to work.

Answer 1

I figured out that Shopper Groups are completely linked to a logged in user and cannot be manipulated in your event stack (even with a System plugin). You need to be logged in as a user and that user needs to be assigned a Shopper Group inside the Virtuemart component.

So in the end, I created a user for each of the Shopper Groups I wanted to use and then using a plugin, I manually logged in my guest as that user and got the correct Shopper Group prices to show up.

A terrible work around, but I'm still not convinced there's any other way.