How can users select multiple categories on front-end of businessdirectory?

Hi weblogtoo,

Yes, you can configure it to handle multiple category selections on the front end.

To do it, you need to change the field type of the Business Genre (or whatever you called it) field. Under Directory Admin->Manage Form Fields, click Edit on that field and change the field type from Select/Dropdown to either Checkbox or Listbox. Those are multi-select controls.

Some caveats with this:
– Long lists of categories are better handled by the listbox than the checkbox
– List boxes require that you control-select the items to get multiple choices
– If you configure fee plans, selecting multiple categories can possible charge fees per category and depending on how you want to run your site, that may be what you want or not. Something to be aware of.

Thank you!

No problem!

The Enhanced Categories Module interferes with these options. Once I disable the plug-in Enhanced Categories Module the category selection works as it should when creating a new listing. Otherwise it is limited to one primary category which then allows you to select a sub category. Changing the field type to checkbox or listbox or anything else does nothing with the plugin activated.

tanks.

Hi rflannoaa,

Sorry that you ran into issues here!

You are correct about the changing of the fields–the type of the field does indeed affect the behavior. The EC module expects that you are using the default drop downs to support the triggering of the loading of the next level of categories. Using checkboxes creates a more difficult and tedious user experience for sure.

EC was built with the workflow of “pick a parent category, get a list of children” in mind, and the drop-down is the natural choice for that (as seen on many websites in similar context)

I presume that you’re using the checkbox/listbox because you want multiple categories selected, yes?