[Susan]

Currently have Connections plugin on our Member website (www.grandbendchamber.ca) and is working as needed (we’re using MARKET template / you’ll note we have adjusted its display slightly with colour variation). Have also purchased and partially installed on tourist-facing website http://www.grandbendtourism.com which is the site my questions are about.

FINE TUNE USE OF CATEGORIES
On http://www.grandbendtourism.com we have pages setup that display a particular category of Member business (STAY, PLAY, DINE, SHOP, SERVICES) which I understand would be considered “root_parent” categories. Within those parent categories we have sub-categories that display on their own pages.

QUESTION 1: How do I get ONLY the sub-category of a parent category to display on a specific page. Example: Display only the Bed & Breakfast businesses on their webpage in the STAY section.

Assuming there could be some variation of enable_category_by_root_parent to make this happen.

IDENTIFY TYPES OF BUSINESSES
We are opening up http://www.grandbendtourism.com to non-Member businesses and wish to highlight our Member businesses with a special icon and background colour for their listing.

QUESTION 2: How can we differentiate between classes/types of businesses (Member / non-Member) AND affect how they are displayed (Icon / Colour).

Although we are using Market template on GrandBendChamber.ca, we will be using cMAP template on GrandBendTourism.com because it is responsive.

We referenced the listing class to adjust the colours in the Directory, is there something along these lines that could be used in conjunction with a custom field to make this happen?

Both installations of Connections are the PRO product level.

Although I am proficient with HTML / CSS and know enough to copy/paste PHP into the appropriate file and location, I am not a programmer – so would appreciate clear directions and copy/paste-able stuff if possible.

Thanks

[Steven Zahm]

@ Susan

re: How do I get ONLY the sub-category of a parent category to display on a specific page. Example: Display only the Bed & Breakfast businesses on their webpage in the STAY section.

Instead of making STAY, PLAY, DINE, SHOP, SERVICES root parent categories you should make Bed & Breakfast, Cottages, Campgrounds … and so on as root parent categories then you can use the enable_category_by_root_parent and category shortcode option to limit the display like you need. Does that make sense?

re: How can we differentiate between classes/types of businesses (Member / non-Member) AND affect how they are displayed (Icon / Colour).

The easiest way and the way I’ve used many times in the past in client work is to simply use CSS. If you look at the page source, each entry has it’s categories set as classes. So all you need to do is create a “Member” category assign your members to that category and then you can use CSS to do pretty much anything you want to highlight them.

Hope that helps!

[Bryan DeWilde]

I have a similar problem, using cmap. I have Individuals and families with child categories under each. I want the user to be able to select Individuals or Families ONLY from the drop-down menu and when selected, show all the entries for the child categories under each parent without listing them in the drop-down.

[Steven Zahm]

@ Bryan

Here’s how…

Assuming category ID 2 for the “Individual” category and ID 3 for the “Family” category. Change the IDs according to what they are for you as shown on the Connections : Category admin page.

Create a new page for Individuals and use this shortcode:

[connections category=2 enable_category_by_root_parent=true]

Create a new page for Families and use this shortcode:

[connections category=3 enable_category_by_root_parent=true]

Hope that helps!

[Bryan DeWilde]

Thanks for the reply. My problem is the sub-categories are still showing on the drop-down. I want 1 page but allow the user to select either of 2 parent categories (Family or Individual and not see the sub-categories.

Also, I notice you didn’t include the ‘ apostrophe in your shortcode. Does it work with and without?

[Steven Zahm]

@ Bryan

Oh, no I see…

Technically this is possible but this requires editing a PHP file for the template. The file name is cmap.php The file can be found here:

../wp-content/plugins/connections-cmap/

Goto line 543 and insert this (so it becomes line 544):

'include' => array(2,3),

The numbers will be the category ID/s.

The entire block of code should look like this after the edit:

$atts = array(
    'default'    => self::$atts['str_select'],
    'select_all' => self::$atts['str_select_all'],
    'type'       => self::$atts['enable_category_multi_select'] ? 'multiselect' : 'select',
    'group'      => self::$atts['enable_category_group_by_parent'],
    'show_count' => self::$atts['show_category_count'],
    'show_empty' => self::$atts['show_empty_categories'],
    'parent_id'  => self::$atts['enable_category_by_root_parent'] ? self::$atts['category'] : array(),
    'exclude'    => self::$atts['exclude_category'],
    'include'    => array(2,3),
    );

In regards to the apostrophe or lack of in the shortcode…

This depends on the shortcode option settings value. The WordPress shortcode parser support single quotes ', double quotes " and no quotes for shortcode option value IF that value is a single “word” (alphanumeric string with NO spaces). So, that said, all of the following are equivalents:

[connections category=2 enable_category_by_root_parent=true]
[connections category='2' enable_category_by_root_parent='true']
[connections category="2" enable_category_by_root_parent="true"]

This one would not work correctly:

[connections category=2,3 enable_category_by_root_parent=true]

It would need to be either:

[connections category='2,3' enable_category_by_root_parent=true]
[connections category="2,3" enable_category_by_root_parent=true]

There are more thing you can get away with, but generally you are better off quoting the option values as that is the safest reliable way to do it.

Hope that helps!

[Bryan DeWilde]

I found I need to create 2 pages (1 for families and another for individuals because I will not be including a photo in families) then I found list_type and I created a page for families and another for individuals, that was what my category and sub-category was trying to solve.

Great plug-in!

[Bryan DeWilde]

Sorry for posting on this topic, but I can’t find how to create a new topic…

1. I like the look when you click “View All” How can I make this my default listing?
2. I’m confused about Form and Links. Can I use both to limit what information an existing person can edit?

[Steven Zahm]

@ Bryan

re: I like the look when you click “View All” How can I make this my default listing?

This is the Names template you can activate it on the Connections : Templates admin page. If you choose to do this then you need to make another settings changes otherwise you will only see a name when you click on the link. Go to the Connections : Settings admin page and click the Display tab. Enable the Single Entry Template option. Now go to the Connections : Templates admin page, click the Individual entry template type and activate the Default Card template. Do the same for the Organization and Family template types.

re: I’m confused about Form and Links. Can I use both to limit what information an existing person can edit?

Link allows an entry to be linked to a user account in WordPress. That user would only be able to edit “their” entry. Form allows the user to make changes to “their” entry in the frontend rather than from their entry admin profile page.

Now, you could use Link and Form together to somewhat limit what can be edited. First you would need a plugin that blocks access to the admin because the Link profile admin page will not limit anything the user can edit. With the admin block the only place the user could edit their entry is from the frontend is with Form. On the Form settings you can choose which fieldsets to display which does can limit what can be edited. Take a look at the screenshot on the Form product page to see which fieldset can be disabled.

Now… since you are using Families, I have to mention that neither Form nor Link permit the user to create a family entry, only an Individual or an Organization. And Link will link to only one entry in Connections. I single user will not be able to edit a “family” of entries.

Hope that helps!

[Bryan DeWilde]

I loaded up Forms and link and they just don’t work for us. I’m trying to create a Church Directory. I have Individuals listed and then a Family listing each separate pages. We created some custom fields and imported them, but not all should be seen. Using Link they see the custom fields and the user has to use the Dashboard, not a good solution. Using Form and Moderated editing, The user disappears from the Family and does not return after approval of the Form edits. Is that the way they are suppose to work?

[Author]

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