[ssnoomann]

There isn’t a separate forum for the Enhanced Categories extension so I have to post this here. Perhaps I’m the only one having a problem.

When I first installed the Enhanced Categories extension I was able to briefly see how the graphics loaded like the demo. I added one image, set it right according to the documentation, and it worked. Since then, I have not been able to get it to work again.

All I get is a half-loaded screen when I have it set to show the categories above the results list, essentially breaking the theme. I may have to provide you access to the site in order to determine the problem. I’ve tried almost every combination of options, but as soon as I check the “show categories above”, it breaks.

By the way, thanks for helping with my other 2 topic posts. They were closed before I had a chance to say thanks for the help!

[Steven Zahm]

@ ssnoomann

re: When I first installed the Enhanced Categories extension I was able to briefly see how the graphics loaded like the demo. I added one image, set it right according to the documentation, and it worked. Since then, I have not been able to get it to work again.

Could you provide access? That would allow me to more quickly figure out the issue and resolve it. My best guess from your description is that there is a PHP error being generated or the PHP is running out of memory.

re: By the way, thanks for helping with my other 2 topic posts. They were closed before I had a chance to say thanks for the help!

No problem! And thanks!

[ssnoomann]

I looked into the memory issue and learned that a few days ago the hosting provider did some server clean-up and dropped the memory down to 4MB. I have increased it now to 64MB and re-tested. Same problem.

As soon as you check the “Display the categories above the results list?” box and visit [REDACTED] you’ll see only the first part of the page loading.

I have only added one category image thus far as I wanted to prove it worked before I bothered with that task. When I was able to see it the first time I installed it, it showed up with the others just text and one image, so I knew it worked.

I have made several CSS style changes obviously and those should not have any effect (I don’t think). Those changes are located in the child theme style.css file.

You will notice that I have been playing around with the Hours Extension if you visit this page – [REDACTED] using column code and a Widget Anywhere type plugin. I don’t really want to waste the sidebar space for the hours and don’t like how it displays on the page normally leaving a lot of white space on the side.

I also will want to change the words Biography and Notes on the ‘name’ page and haven’t yet found where to do that.

You will also note that I have set up categories and sub-categories. I see in most examples/demos that mostly people are just using one main category like ‘business’ then just an alphabetical list of everything else under it.

First thing here is that I do not have a checkmark in the ‘show category counts’ box and yet they are still showing up. The top level categories show zeroes which led me to believe that when I add a business I need to not only select the sub-cat but also the top-cat for the numbers to show properly. Showing the numbers is not important.

My intentions were to have the grid display on the main directory page showing only the top level categories, then when clicked I was hoping to see another grid gallery showing the sub-cats… I haven’t got far enough to know if that will work.

You’ll also notice that I have categories for locations. This is not ideal but necessary. At some point I will figure out how to separate the locations out.

As you’ll notice on the site, not only will we have the “business directory” to be accessible from the main menu, but more importantly, for SEO reasons (and others), we have featured site sections like the Dining Guide – [REDACTED] – where we want to display just the results of specific categories with no options of navigating or selecting other directory options.

On that page, we will possibly be eliminating the tables below and using the “Individual” template. Numerous possible problems with that considering we are using accordions on those pages… we could only display “all results’ without pagination. This may cause page load time issues and other issues.

Another option that will most likely work better is to only display our featured businesses – “Organizations”, and then simply have a button saying “More Restaurants, Pubs & Cafes…” and that takes you to the directory section that applies.

We are also considering adding the Gridder template and using that for Health & Wellness practitioners or Real Estate agents in that section.

Note that we have one wordpress installation (site) on invermere.com but it is also mirrored to columbiavalley.com.

Anyways, I hope that is enough info for you to understand what we’re trying to do. Thanks! Scott

• This reply was modified 7 years ago by Steven Zahm. Reason: Remove login and backlinks per OP request

[Steven Zahm]

@ ssnoomann

Ok, I’m in. The first thing I did was upload a hotfix version of the Enhanced categories extension. I fixed a critical bug another user was experiencing. My guess it was the same issue you were facing too since the page seems to load fine if I enable the categories to be displayed before the results list. I turned it back off immediately after verifying because that causes it to display everywhere you are displaying the directory which I’m pretty sure you do not want. There is an undocumented shortcode option to enable it per shortcode instance vs. the admin settings option which is global. It is cnec_display_categories="true" and I added to your directory page.

I also disable the category select with the enable_category_select='FALSE' option because there can be some issues when using both the drop down and the category image grid/list together.

It all seems good. If you agree, then you can delete the account.

I read thru your long post above a few times, I think there is only one other question left outstanding… how to change the label text for the notes and bio. The best/easiest way to do this is thru the Template Customizer for cMap. To do this navigate to the Connections : Templates admin page and click the Customize button for cMap. After the page reloads the Customizer will be on the left with a preview on the right. Click the back arrow in the upper left of the Customizer. Now click the Strings panel. From there you can change the bio and notes header text. Alternative, you can use the method outlined in the docs.

If I missed anything, let me know.

ps. You have one of the more complex setups that I’ve seen in awhile. How do you like the flexibility that Connections has?

[ssnoomann]

Thanks for the hotfix… I obviously would not have been able to figure that one out myself.

You are correct that I would not want the grid view to show up everywhere in the site so thanks for the undocumented shortcode option.

Speaking of which, I am hoping you have another undocumented shortcode so that I can hide the Locations category from displaying in that grid view?

Yes, I was going to be asking about disabling the category_select function under the assumption the grid view worked.

I will go back into the Customizer and change the heading names. I have commented those out altogether on the main cMap template and could have done the same for these.

Regarding your PS, I started this same website back in 2000 and ran it as a community directory / tourism portal. At that time, there weren’t things like WordPress or anyone out there that had created ready-made quality directory plugins or software. So, we built our own.

But, over the last couple of years we really started searching for a ready-made option that would work for us that had lots of customizing options. Yours did come up in our choices but we chose an alternate option that we eventually learned wasn’t going to do it for what we envisioned.

So, about 6 months ago, we scrapped that product and just went with creating featured site sections with full-sized feature pages for those businesses that valued being a part of our marketing program. This left us with a product that had no choice but to be pricey considering the time involved in creating each of them.

We initially thought we could just use a Table plugin but quickly discovered that with an expected 500-600+ entities spread across 20-30 tables, it was going to be an administration nightmare.

About a month ago, I re-discovered your plugin and started spending some time figuring out just how customizable it was. As soon as I discovered that I could still have my featured site sections displaying the directory content pretty much any way I wanted, as well as having a full-blown directory, with only having to enter the data once, I was all-in to give it a go.

It’s important to note that the style is easily customizable. With a little CSS knowledge or outside assistance, the look and feel you desire can easily be attained.

I am now using 1 purchased templates, cMap (looks great on iPhone!), and the included Names template for Free listings, and will be looking at adding Gridder for a couple of my featured site sections like Health & Wellness and the Real Estate section.

I have also purchased a couple of the Extensions and looking forward to also getting the Form, Link & Login extensions, and building a membership system with full payment processing capabilities. Our project is quite complex but I think your product will work well with some customization. In hindsight I should have purchased one of your Packs. But, for those that just want to try it out first, the entry fee is very low, almost free in fact.

It’s really great to know that you support your product so well. It gives me the confidence in knowing that our directory will be successful. I’m sure I will be adding some wish list items in the near future. Thanks for your help thus far!

[ssnoomann]

This reply has been marked as private.

[Steven Zahm]

@ ssnoomann

re: I am hoping you have another undocumented shortcode so that I can hide the Locations category from displaying in that grid view?

Well, no, there is a documented shortcode option :) … it is compatible/works with the exclude_category shortcode option. I do not have this documented on the doc page for the Enhanced Categories extension because I assumed people would expect it to just work with the “core” shortcode options. Would it help if this was mentioned on the doc page as well?

Hope that helps!

ps. I made the edits to the post as requested and made it public.

pss. I’d like to post a backlink to your site on my showcase page when you are finished if that is alright.

[ssnoomann]

OK, what I was actually meaning was I don’t want the Locations image and link in the category grid above the results to show, not disable the category entirely.

I solved it by adding this to my stylesheet.

.cat-item.cat-item-79.cn-cat-parent.cn-cat-has-children.cn-category-image-block {
display: none;
}

Is there any way to only have the grid view show on the main directory page? On mobile, you have to scroll quite a ways down to see the actual listings.

A backlink would be great and will let you know when it’s ready. Thanks!

[Steven Zahm]

@ ssnoomann

re: what I was actually meaning was I don’t want the Locations image and link in the category grid above the results to show, not disable the category entirely.

As long as the entries assigned to the “Locations” category are also assigned to another still accessible category they will still be listed as a result. So the net result would be that the Locations category would not be visible as an option but entries would still be listed if in other categories. Hope that makes sense.

The CSS was works too :)

re: Is there any way to only have the grid view show on the main directory page? On mobile, you have to scroll quite a ways down to see the actual listings.

Not tested but a code snippet like the following might be work:

add_action( 'cn_action_list_before', 'cn_cat_before_root_only', 8 );

function cn_cat_before_root_only() {
    if ( wp_is_mobile() && cnQuery::get( 'cn-cat' ) ) {
        remove_filter( 'cn_action_list_before', array( 'Connections_Categories', 'viewBefore' ), 9 );
    }
}

What should happen, on mobile, if a category is selected then the action that displays the category list is removed.

Hope that helps!

[ssnoomann]

That code won’t load the page on mobile… let’s leave that thought for a moment.

Are there any shortcodes that would enable the Category Grid view for this:

[connections_categories]

I’m not seeing any shortcodes anywhere that reference the graphical view.

I was wanting to see if I can place that category block on any page. That may be an easier option.

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