This article provides information on how to recover from critical errors after a plugin update. Critical updates can occur for a variety of reasons. These errors can take your WordPress site offline until the error is resolved.
For the purpose of this article we are going to delve into an example where a Store Locator Plus® add on is running an outdated version and the base plugin is updated to an incompatible version. While newer versions of the Store Locator Plus® plugin will auto-detect incompatible add on versions and disable them automatically, there are some third party add ons that do not report version updates properly and can prevent this auto-detection from working.
SaaS users can skip this step.Store Locator Plus® for WordPress plug-in users need a Google API key to utilize the full features available in the the plugin. WordPress administrators who are self-managing their plugin updates, security, and Google services need to setup a Google API account so they can start billing for map services.
For the Store Locator Plus® for WordPress users these instructions are a general guideline. You will need to visit the Google developers page and read their User guide to obtain a new account or update your existing account. Google will bill you directly for your monthly map views and location look-ups.
Locations are added to Store Locator Plus® via the sidebar menu via the locations submenu. This option presents a list of all locations along with a menu option to add a location via a web form.
When a visitor goes to a page with the Store Locator Plus® map code embedded, it will show a default search form and a map centered in your country or on the “Center Map At” address you entered when configuring Store Locator Plus®. When someone searches for a zip code that is close enough to a location you entered it will show those locations on the map.
All Store Locator Plus® software updates are handled for you.
There are no Google or other map location service API keys to manage.
Store Locator Plus® bills a low easy-to-understand monthly fee.
WordPress
You must manage your own Store Locator Plus® software updates.
Google requires an API key for all products using their map software. You must create, manage, and secure your own API key.
Google will bill you for every map view and location geocoding request. Rates are on a sliding scale and are different for map views and location look-ups.
Location Results reports are included with the Professional or Enterprise plan. This report is designed to show the locations that were returned by users entering addresses on the search form when looking for locations. This can be useful for determining which locations are appearing most frequently for your site visitors.
To view this report you’ll need to turn on reporting features as outlined in the Reports documentation.
Location Results Report 2208.15+
This report will show up to the top 500 locations returned within the date range selected.
Location Search reports are included with the Professional or Enterprise plan. This report is designed to show what addresses users are entering on the search form when looking for locations. This can be useful for determining areas where your site visitors are looking for your product or service.
To view this report you’ll need to turn on reporting features as outlined in the Reports documentation.
Location Search Report v2208.15+
This report will show up to the top 500 searches within the date range selected.
WordPress environment is setup and configured including activation of the following plugins
Store Locator Plus®
SLP Power add on
In addition map service (Google API keys) should be in place and some locations should be added to the system.
A page has been created with the [slplus] shortcode present and the map is rendering properly.
Users are logged in as a WordPress administrator (the process will be slightly different for SaaS users).
Adding Categories To Locations
Objective
Create a location category and attach it to an existing location.
User Action: Add A Location Category
Click on Store Locator Plus® | Categories in the WordPress sidebar menu.
In the left “Add New Category Form”…
Type a category name. (Restaurant)
Click Add New Category
Result
The new category should appear on the category list on the page.
Category list after adding the restaurant category.
User Action: Attach Category To Location
Click on Store Locator Plus® | Locations in the WordPress sidebar menu.
Click the Edit action icon on the first location.
Check off the box next to “Restaurants” in the Power | Categories section of the form.
Click Save.
Result
The category is assigned to the location and appears on the location table.
The location with an assigned restaurant category. This view is showing fewer columns as the Screen Options was updated to removed unused columns from the table view.
User Action: Show Category Select On Front End
Click on Store Locator Plus® | Settings in the WordPress sidebar menu.
Change the Category Selector setting to “Single Drop Down”.
Click Save
On the front end, go to the page that has the [slplus] shortcode.
Result
The search form for the map should show a category drop down.
The front end page with the [slplus] shortcode, showing the category selection filter.
User Action : Filtering Locations With Category
On the front end, go to the page that has the [slplus] shortcode.
