[Plugin: Connections] Custom Templates Not working with the new release (1.7.2.1)

For your information, the custom template was working in the version 1.7.1.6.

Can you please submit a help desk ticket? Please include the template name so this can be addressed as quickly as possible.

https://connections-pro.com/help-desk/

done

is there a solution for this? Don’t want to upgrade until I know it will keep my custom template.

Yes.. What I did was to remove the whole current installation and reinstall the new one.

(The information was kept for some reason).

My suggestion for you is to create another instance of your wordpress installation (as a test mode) and make the update there. If all is ok, justrun the update in the original site.

Well, where did you install your custom template? If you put it inside the templates folder within the connections folder, you will lose the template during the upgrade. That is just how WP plugin upgrades work, the plugin directory is removed.

Now, if you put the template in ../wp-content/connections_templates, your template is safe.

so, I put the templates in the folder wp-content/connections_templates as suggested, then did the upgrade. Now I’m getting the following error:

Warning: opendir(/file folders hidden to protect the innocent/wp-content/connections_templates) [function.opendir]: failed to open dir: Permission denied in /file folders hidden to protect the innocent/wp-content/plugins/connections/includes/class.template.php on line 111

Warning: readdir(): supplied argument is not a valid Directory resource in /file folders hidden to protect the innocent/wp-content/plugins/connections/includes/class.template.php on line 113

Warning: closedir(): supplied argument is not a valid Directory resource in /file folders hidden to protect the innocent/wp-content/plugins/connections/includes/class.template.php on line 166

What is the permissions set for connections_templates? It should be 755. Can you confirm?

realized after posting that it was seemed to be an issue with permissions. wasn’t able change the file permission, so had to create a new file and do-over, which fixed that error

Was able to correct that, but now my custom template isn’t custom. It shows up in the Templates. But my customizations are missing. Checking files to see what I missed.

feeling really stupid right now… my custom template shows in the Template screen, I’ve activated it, the file looks correct in the editor, but the customization don’t appear in the directory…. ??? what am I missing

<div class="cn-entry" style="-moz-border-radius:4px; background-color:#FFFFFF; border:1px solid #E3E3E3; margin:8px 0px; padding:6px; position: relative;">

<table width="100%" border="0px" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" bordercolor="#E3E3E3" cellspacing="0px" cellpadding="0px">

    <tr>

        <td align="left" width="50%" valign="top">

        	<?php echo $entry->getCardImage() ?>

			<div style="clear:both; margin: 0 5px;">

				<div style="margin-bottom: 10px;">

					<span style="font-size:larger;font-variant: small-caps"><strong><?php echo $entry->getFullFirstLastNameBlock() ?></strong></span><br />

					<?php echo $entry->getTitleBlock() ?>

					<?php echo $entry->getOrgUnitBlock() ?>

				</div>

				<?php echo $entry->getAddressBlock() ?>

			</div>

        </td>

        <td align="right" valign="top">

        	<div style="clear:both; margin: 5px 5px;">

	        	<?php echo $entry->getConnectionGroupBlock() ?>

				<?php echo $entry->getPhoneNumberBlock() ?>

				<?php echo $entry->getEmailAddressBlock() ?>

				<?php echo $entry->getImBlock() ?>

				<?php echo $entry->getSocialMediaBlock() ?>

				<?php echo $entry->getWebsiteBlock() ?>

				<?php echo $entry->getBirthdayBlock('F j') ?>

				<?php echo $entry->getAnniversaryBlock() ?>

			</div>

        </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

        <td valign="bottom" colspan="2">

        	<?php echo $entry->getNotesBlock() ?>

        </td>

    </tr>

    <tr>

        <td valign="bottom">

        	<?php echo $vCard->download() ?>

        </td>

		<td align="right" valign="bottom">

			<span style="font-size:x-small; font-variant: small-caps; <?php">Updated <?php echo $entry->getHumanTimeDiff() ?> ago</span>

			<?php echo $entry->returnToTopAnchor() ?>

        </td>

    </tr>

</table>

</div>

here is the directory page in question: https://centraloregontrailcourse.com/business-directory/tack-supplies/

What I see on the page seems to match the code. What’s the customization that is not showing? The one thing I don’t see is the notes row that spans two columns.

I guess, just make triple sure you do have the files in the correct locations and that they are up to date.

yes, mainly it’s the notes section. Could you confirm… if I edit the template in the wordpress editor under connections plugin, then any changes made should reflect in the directory page being displayed… doesn’t appear to work that way

Yes, the default templates can be edited using the plug-in editor which are in ../wp-content/plugins/connections/templates. It is not recommended to edit the default templates because any changes will get overwritten during a plugin upgrade.

The custom template should be in ../wp-content/connections_templates which can not be edited with the plugin editor. You have to download the template file with an FTP program and edit the template locally and then upload the updated file.

tried it both ways….

tried uploading the custom template to ../wp-content/connections_templates, activating… didn’t display

then I tried

uploading the custom template to ../wp-content/plugins/connections/templates, activating… didn’t display

tried editing the my template that appears in the editor (connections/templates/COTCcard-tableformat.php), still doesn’t display

so as a test, I set up the page in question so that the “Featured Listings” ask for a specific template (template=”COTCcard-tableformat”) and the rest of the listings used the default.

results are different but neither is my custom template

see https://centraloregontrailcourse.com/business-directory/tack-supplies/

for the results

I really do appreciate your help on this but rather than wasting more of our time on this I think I may just have to start over and edit one of the standard templates.