[Patsy]

Greetings,

I am in charge of creating a church website containing public and password protected pages in WordPress. They do not want to use WP login details for access so I will need to figure out how to creating this. However, part of the password protected pages will be the church directory. My questions are, (1) can the directory be configured to show only the  Name, Address, Birthdate and email (2) is there a way to limit number of entries on a page (with 100 people the page would simply be too long) (3) does it give the ability to have the searchable alphabet (A,B,C,D, etc) at top and (4) hopefully the widget pack showing birthdays can be configured only to show on the password protected pages.

Don’t mind paying for pro packs if it will get me to my needed end result.  Would be perfect if the end user could complete their own details in the directory but, I’m reading this can’t be done. Can you suggest a mailing program that works well with Connections to pick up the emails for mass mailing and/or small group mailing?

Thanks,

Patsy

[Steven Zahm]

@ Patsy

Let’s see….

1.) Yes, but that would require the creation of a custom template. Or maybe Tile Plus would be the best suited to your requirements.
2.) Several of the premium templates do paginate the list. For example cMap, Market and Tile Plus.
3.) Currently not. I am actually currently working on this very feature. It’ll be introduced to the admin in the next release happening any day now. Once I’m satified it is working for everyone in the admin, the premium templates will be updated to include this new functionality. ETA for that is undetermined as of yet, but I’m shooting for March/April.
4.) This is not built in to the Widget Pack, but there are other plugins that can this type of widget management.

You can use Link to allow users to add and maintain their data, but that would require user accounts for each. But, that doesn’t seem to be an option per your requirements. If you want this, you may have to reconsider user accounts because that is the only way to allow users to maintain their own info. Because WordPress already has robust support for user management, this will not be built-in to Connections for user editing. I rather leverage the existing system.

I hope that helps.

[Patsy]

Thanks Steven,

It looks like Tile Plus will give the Directory look and information we want. Plus, from looking at others using Tile Plus see the email address is clickable to send email.  Am very interested in the next version release that will have the searchable alphabet at the top of the directory.

Can other fields be added to collect information then added to directory (i.e. husband, children)?

I am excited to try your next version. Will add MailChimp to the website as a newsletter signup and use for the mass church mailing.

Thanks,

Patsy

 

[Steven Zahm]

@ Patsy

There is a “Family” entry type that allows to create families. Explore that option to see if it suits your needs.

[Patsy]

Steven,

Is the “family” option in Tile Plus?  If so, I’m sure that will do the trick and I will purchase the Premium Plug-In then figure out something for group mailing (hopefully Mail Chimp will work).

Thanks,

Patsy

[Patsy]

Steven,

I found the “family” option on Connections.  I will continue to play with it as I don’t understand how it works. If I indicate “family” then add a husband’s information how do I complete information for wife (with different cell phone numbers, birthday and email) then add children with their information so that everyone in the family block is shown with their various information?

Should I get this figured out first then purchase the Tile Plus add on? Or will Tile Plus help me figure this out in a less confused way?

 

Thanks,

Patsy

[Steven Zahm]

@ Patsy

Here’s how to create families:

Here is an example on how to use the Family entry type.

Say we have a family, the Doe’s.

• John
• Jane
• Girl
• Boy

First, lets start with one of the parent’s, John. Create a new Individual entry for John and put in all his personal info.
Second, simply copy John and change the first name to Jane and add/change any info that relates only to her for example her birthday.
Third, do the same for Girl and Boy.

Now create a new entry using the Family type. For the Family Name enter something like “Doe, John & Jane” and then click the “Add Relation” button for each member in the family, in this example, four times. In the first column of drop downs select each family member and in the second column of drop downs select their relationships.

Finally, just add a the following attribute to the shortcode like such; [connections list_type='family']

Right now, the best template to work with families if the default template.

[Patsy]

Thank you so much for your detailed explanation. I have bounced back and forth as to what would be the best way for the directory to be in my website. I like so many things about different options you offer — it’s hard to zero in on one!!!  Am going to purchase SLIM as I think having the drop down (as exampled in the Poultry showcase) will do the trick.

Thanks for creating such a robust offering.

Patsy

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