[Mitch]

woot!

Looking for it now. Good things take time, right? Should we pull from github or wait for the WP repository?

By the way, know what’s funny, no one can accuse you of version jumping… it’s been right at four years since I downloaded 0.7.0.1… and you’re only now at 0.8. Looks like you’ve had only one release (0.7 to 0.8) in four years, LOL.

We know better. :)

Congrats, excited to see the changes.

[Steven Zahm]

@ Mitch

I’d keep an eye on the WP repository…

I have not quite pushed it out yet. I’m still writing the changelog and other assorted dot i’s and cross t’s type of things.

The changelog really doesn’t do justice the amount of changes that have taken place under the hood. Likewise, the end user perspective isn’t going to look all that much different either. One thing is certain, the teaks and suggestions you have given me over the years are no far more easily accomplished and I look forward to all the things this release will allow me and the users to do.

One feature I think you’ll like… template file overriding…

I completely refactored the cnTemplate class. This class is basically responsible for core template features.

What it does do now is allow template file overriding and allow loading template file loading based on context much like WP handles loading theme files. Let me try to explain.

Say you’re using the cMap template and you want to make a tweak. Currently you’d open the core template PHP file and make your changes. If you happened to update the cMap, you would lose those changes. Now, instead, you can duplicate the file and put it in one of the following paths [ordered by priority, first highest priority]

../wp-content/theme/{child-theme}/connections-templates/{template_slug}
../wp-content/theme/{parent-theme}/connections-templates/{template_slug}
../wp-content/uploads/connections-templates/{template_slug}
../wp-content/plugins/{template_folder}

This is important because in-admin updates are coming to templates making it very easy to lose tweaks. If the tweaked file is in one of the override paths, their tweak is update safe! Of course they may not benefit from any new features, but more importantly, the likely hood of their setup breaking is reduced.

Oh, the same goes for the template’s, CSS file and JS file.

Another new feature, template file loading based on context…

Currently template could be setup with a list card and a single card. This has been significantly enhanced! Now you can load templates based on if you viewing a specific category or specific region or specific entry and so. Here’s the run down of template files that are supported:

card-category-{category-slug}.php
card-category.php
card-country-{country}.php
card-country.php
card-region-{region}.php
card-region.php
card-postal-{postal-code}.php
card-postal.php
card-locality-{locality}.php
card-locality.php
card-organization-{organization}.php
card-organization.php
card-deparment-{deparment}.php
card-deparment.php
card-{entry-slug}.php
card-single.php
card.php

The same search paths from above also apply. So if a template has one of the above template file, it too can be overridden… or added, if the template does not have one.

Yep, this too, works with the template’s CSS and JS file. Instead of “card” as the file name base it would be the template slug and instead of php, either css or js for the extension.

Suppose you do not want to override the core CSS to Connections or a template, Connections will search the above paths for:

cn-custom.css
{template-slug}-custom.css

These, if found will be loaded as a dependency of either the core CSS file template CSS file. This allows you to have update safe CSS tweaks for both the core CSS and the template CSS files.

And this is just “one” of the core enhancements!

Good stuff?!?

[Steven Zahm]

Welp … I released and found a minor bug the core CSS file is not loading, so I pulled it until later tonight. Otherwise it seems fine as it is running on this site without any issues.

[Steven Zahm]

Ok, version 0.8 is back up for now…

[Chris Cox]

Ok, I have the current release but I’m not sure how to do the following

Disregard department
Only one phone value
Only one email value
Only one address value
Only allow one link values as opens in new window
Remove private/unlisted option their end

Creating custom field asking if they are an authorized Representative
Creating custom field business hours

[Michelle Panulla]

Hi, Steven –

Thanks for all your hard work on the new API. I just used it and added some custom fields to my admin area. That being said, I’m at a bit of a loss as to how to display them on the front end, and how to add them to the Form extension. Will you please point me in the right direction? I’m using a customized version of the cMap template, but another developer created that, so I’m not all that familiar with how to call those values.

Thanks!

[Steven Zahm]

@ Michelle

The short answer is, they will not work with the current version of Form. I’m nearly complete with Form 2.0 which adds full support for fields added via the API as well as adding support for front-end editing and a few other smaller nifty features. If you want, I can email you copy. All that needs done is some final testing and fixing any bugs that popup during the testing. As for adding support to your custom cMap template, add this line of code to it, that all it takes.

[Steven Zahm]

@ Michelle

Forgot to mention … that line of code is to be added to the card.php and card-single.php files in cMap.

[Steven Zahm]

@ Michelle

Just occurred to me that I forgot something else that is very import! You also need to add a filter like this the one in order for it to be displayed within a template.

[Michelle Panulla]

Thanks, Steven! You’re so fast in your replies!

And yes, I would love a copy Form 2.0. I’d be happy to help with any testing you’re doing as well.

Do I need to send my email address separately or can you get that from my account info?

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