For all those who have been waiting for category support… it’s nearly here. Only a few more things to polish it off but if you would like to test it and give some feedback that would be great. Here the link and have fun.
http://downloads.wordpress.org/plugin/connections.zip
Oh, as always be safe and backup first.
UPDATE:
To show an entry list that displays a specific category add the following attribute where x equals the category id number. This will display the selected category and all the children categories.
The shortcode attribute is:
category=x
My first thought is THANK YOU! This is going to be great. If you take a look at my early listing I have three issues: 1) where do I change font? 2) how do I turn on the category list (or search box) at the top of the directory listing so people can search for a specific category (or name)? 3) where do I go to turn on information to be displayed – for example the biographical info – I have it for my first record, but it is not displaying it. Thanks for sticking with this development! jim
@Jim
1.) The font is picked up from what is defined in your theme’s CSS file. You could change the font by adding a new font definition targeting the .vcard class that is output from Connections. I did notice on your site that the list is wrapped in the
tag. Edit you page using the HTML editor and remove the code tags from around the shortcode. This was probably picked up from a copy paste.2.) Currently there is no search/selector that can be displayed for a user to specify the category to be shown. That feature will be coming in a future version. However you can choose which categories that are display, see my update to the post.
3.) Connections does support templates and the default template doesn’t show the bio or notes fields. You could opt to display the supplied profile template which does show the bio but doesn’t show much contact info. You could create a custom template to show the info you require. If that is something that you don’t feel comfortable doing that is a service I do provide.
Oh, this is fabulous! I can now sort by categories and it looks great!
Thank you so much!
Hi, I’m using your plugin on a website I’m developing. They are a producer of cooking oils and they have a huge number of stockist. I’m hoping to utilise your plugin as a directory. The category display features are great, but I really need the search and google maps features too. Any news on when you will have integrated these?
Or… can it be done now by creating a custom layout or pairing up with other plugins?
Hope you can help me, this is so close to what I need.
Google maps can be added by creating a custom template. Visit the Pasco link on the live examples page. Search will be coming. The best time frame I can give you is sometime this year.
My question is simple: what is the shortcode to “call” this program?
I have spent the past 45 minutes looking for that most important info … I couldn’t find it in the plugin’s page in WP.org and I can’t find it anywhere here either. I’m all set — I’ve installed and activated this plugin– but I can’t move because I haven’t got the shortcode :(
May I suggest a simple one-liner in this plugin’s page in wordpress.org plugin depository (in Installation) revealing this shortcode?
My apologies for your troubles. the shortcode is:
[connections_list]
I know most plug-ins do not include a built-in help page but this one does. It explains the shortcode and all the available attributes.
I read on another post that future development of Connections would include integration with WP profiles. When might this feature be added? I’m on the cusp of choosing between Connections and another option for displaying a member’s profile directory and this could be the tipping point.
Thank you,
Mary Ann
I would say sometime the first half of this year. What’s the other plug-in you’re considering? I’d like to take a look at it.
My second option is using a new authors.php that I’ve built which calls in the author photos and names of the users from the WP Users Profile. These are then linked to their individual profile pages for showing bio and other information. It’s not pretty yet, but it offers me the advantage of pulling everything from the registered users profiles and so I don’t have to duplicate efforts by registering users AND entering their profile information into Connections.
I’ve been encouraged to go with the hand-coded method rather than Connections because the collaborators on the site want to see individual profile pages instead of the single aggregate profile page. I’ll keep Connections in my tool-kit for the next site revision and by then my bet is that you will have added the integration with WP profiles!
Pardon me if this is painfully obvious and I missed it, but is there a way to create an entry form on the front-end for people to add their own information? I am working on a membership directory and I don’t want to have to enter it all myself. My goal would be to include form on page/post and send to group. They would be able to input their info without having to sign on/up for WordPress. Thanks!!!
Wonderfully awesome plugin. Just what i have been searching for for days and days. I will definitely be purchasing the pro when it’s available.
two things.
will csv export be coming? that would be awesome.
is the a way to create a front-end entry form?
thanks
I’m currently working on the CSV import/export function. I hope to have it finished first half of March. Right no there is no front-end user form. That will most likely be the next premium add-on I make.
Hi Steve,
Great Job! I love connections, since it enables me to set up a business directory in only a couple of hours! I’m considering to donate since we are using this for business purpose and I’ll leave you update on this.
Regarding category support: Great Feature, BUT: I’m quite familiar with PHP and taking the default templates as a blue print is a good start to set up some very specific ones. One thing is missing: Once I want to print out one particular entry in full, it would be great to retrieve the catgeory hierarchy for this one entry with something like entry->getCategoryList() as an associative Array.
Could you probably put that in to consideration and one of the next updates? Or just get me some hack to paste in one of the classes?
… and keep me update, please?
Thanks,
Axel
Already got it, thanks anyway! Fiddling around with class.terms.php, class.retrieve.php, class.category.php got me what I needed.
For all the others:
retrieving the list of categories for an entry is as simple as this:
// retrieve the categorie names as an array:
$cnterms = new cnRetrieve();
$taxonomyterms = $cnterms->categories();
$cats = array ();
foreach ( $taxonomyterms as $key => $term ) {
if ( $term->taxonomy == “category” ) {
$cats[$term->term_id] = $term->name;
}
}
// in the template, get the category list of an entry:
$cnterms = new cnTerms();
$taxonomyterms = $cnterms->getTermRelationships($entry->getId());
$catid=””;
$catnames = “”;
foreach ( $taxonomyterms as $termid ) {
$catid .= $termid . ‘,’;
// OR (see above)
// $catnames .= $cats[$termid] . ‘,’;
}
Rgds,
Axel
Hey Steve,
Loving the plugin, can’t wait to show the Church. Two things. Is the a character limit on the bio? I keep getting ‘entry could not be updated’ when working with a very wordy bio. Second, do you have any other donate methods besides Paypal?
thanks
Hey Steve,
I figured out what was causing the problem, after some trial and error. I realized the bio writer used the “%” symbol, instead of writing the word “percent”. Apparently you can’t do that in the bio. FYI.
Thanks
@jon
Sorry for your troubles! I am aware of that issue. I keep meaning to fix that. I’ll make it a priority for the next release.
@Axel Amthor
Nice solution. In you opinion did my coding style and plug-in code structure make this easy or difficult for you to figure out?
I’ll make this a feature in the next release. I will have to do it a little differently because your solution doesn’t take in to account the category hierarchy. Maybe I’ll include both because I could easily see users wanting both.
Hey,
Well documented and structured code, very nice!
Apparently it wasn’t that complicated to dig into the different modules on the one hand side and drill up from the database on the other.
A more comprehensive documentation of *all* public class methods would have saved some time (even a list with basic info that a method actually exists).
As far as I’ve seen, cnTerms() returns a flat list with a parent referrer in each entry. Since we’re not making use of the hierarchies in the moment, we just skipped building a tree out of that, you’re right.
As soon as the directory is public (End of March ETA) I’ll pass the URL.
Rgds,
Axel
Hi Steve,
thanks for this super plugin – I’ll be supporting you via PayPal :)
I’ve a request for a widget if you can: having a widget to be able to add to the sidebar, displaying all categories, would be totally brilliant, so if that’s a possibility then I’d love to know…
My thoughts are that it would work like the Blogpost categories: so if you click on for example, business services, all connections categorised under “business services” would be listed…
Here’s hoping :)
Keep up the great work…
Tracey
P.S. To the commenter asking about payment methods other than PayPal – you can also donate through PayPal just using a credit or debit card; no PayPal account of your own needed…
Yes, I’m working on this for the next release. Well maybe not the widget initially. But having a set of links of categories for a user to click that would have the same net result.
I am loving this plug-in. Is it possible to query multiple categories. I am using the short code categories=’2,5′ but that doesn’t seem to do it. What I’m aiming for is entries that have both 2 and 5. Is that even possible? Love the plug-in thanks.
Right now the only way to do this is to put the shortcode on the page twice calling each category individually. I’ll see if I can fit calling multiple categories in the next release.
Hmmm. Unfortunately that only does a logical or operation. It would show everyone with category 2 or 5. I’m aiming for an “and” operation show only people that match both 2 and 5.
Fortunately I am a programming and decided to go ahead and implement the feature myself. Its a bit long with having to consider the hierarchy and such so If you would like to see what I did and consider adding it to the plugin send me an e-mail and I’ll get it to you.