UPDATE:
To bring even more value to those who purchased the Pro Add-on Pack and Pro Pack they will have Link automatically added to their purchase when it is released!
While not quite ready for release, it’s close enough to announce…
What is Link? Link is add-on plugin that is the solution to the very often requested feature of being able to link a registered WordPress user to a Connections entry. Ok, what does this really mean for you? This will allow registered users on your site to maintain their own entry within Connections, either moderated or not. This effectively turns Connections into a member directory plugin! Well, the first steps.
How does it work? You install Link like you would any other plugin and activate it. Link has no user interface of its own, it works silently in the background. Well, sort of. It will add a new menu item under the User admin menu named, “Your Directory Entry”. On this page you’ll find the form you’ve come to love from the Connections : Add Entry admin page, just tweaked slightly. The only settings that you will need to set after activation are on the Connections : Roles admin page. You’ll need to chose whether your registered users can add / edit their entry moderated or not. Now your registered users will be able to maintain their own entry.
Sounds great, but I already have a bunch of registered users and entries in Connections, how are those going to get “linked”? Silently in the background when your registered users login, Link will check the entries in Connections for an email address that matches the one in their user account. If a match is found, Link will “link” them together.
To bring you Link, some challenges had to be overcome. Connections was designed so its entries were not linked to users to offer you greater flexibility in creating your directories. So there were workflow issues that had to be resolved such as commingling regular entries and “linked” entries, ensuring that once a link was created that it would not be lost by an admin edit, and making sure it would not be possible for someone to edit an entry that didn’t belong to them.
I’m sold. How much longer? As always I’m running behind schedule, but it will definitely be this month.
This sounds amazing, Steve. Can’t wait to give it a try! As always, it looks like you have been super meticulous with thinking ahead in the process — your consideration of what happens to a linked entry when an admin edit is made is a pretty big deal.
Thanks, again, for giving us a really great plugin product!
@Scott
Thanks!
You mention that this development effectively turns Connections into a member directory plugin an then say, “Well, first steps.”
I’m interested to know what the next steps would be or, if these are first steps, what’s missing?
On my site I’m using another directory plugin (WPBDP) but find it too complex to customise but the one thing it does do is enable “members” to manage there own content which is crucial to me.
I’d be ok jumping ship but I need to do that soon as I haven’t really started to promote my site at all.
@Martin
The next steps would be Link version 2.0. The big change planned for this release will be integrating with the Form add-on plugin to allow users to maintain their entry from the front end rather than a page in the admin. Version 3.0 will integrate with the registration process, well, that’s the plan. I haven’t researched what it would take yet. Probably the biggest current advantage to using WPBDP is that users can purchase premium listings. I hope to have an add-on available later this year that adds that. I hope that answers your questions.
Just polished off the last bit of code for Link 1.0! Now only some bugs to chase in the Connections core.
I’m very interested in this.
I have cMap and Form, and presume this will be another paid add-on?
I effectively use Connections as a ‘Guestbook’ aka Member Directory, and want to be able to customise ‘Form’ and/or Link to give my members the ability to edit their entries etc. and also have customised fields.
For example, Connections is used on my website to display entries to a Guestbook for a School, and I want users to have the ability to say what years, house and form they were in at school, so I currently use existing fields to import entries from an old Guestbook that got closed by Lycos.
This is the nearest plugin to WordPress I have found for my purposes.
@Neil
Yes, Link will be another paid for add-on. Sounds like iot will be very useful to you, especially once Link version 2 is released. That’s when it’ll integrate with Form if installed and active to allow users to edit their entry from the front end.
Brilliant
Any ideas on
a) Release date of 1.0
b) Cost
c) How soon 2.0 will follow!
@Neil
a) Link is finished, I’m just holding off until the bugs in the current update to Connections are dealth with.
b) It’ll be $9.99 as a separate purchase. It’ll be bundled with both the Pro Pack and Pro Add-on Pack at their current prices.
c) I’ve been really bad at making dates. What I can say is it is very high priority for me to complete and I plan to begin work on the update after “Contact” is released. Hmmm, I wonder what “Contact” is
Haha, now you’re teasing us!
soon now?
sounds like the mod to make this perfect
thanks
@
Is this ready for production?
@Christopher Davis
Yes it is.
When will it be released?
@Jeff Foutch
Today, here’s the link, to, Link.