Version 3.0 for WordPress

Hi everyone,

PriceTapestry.org for WordPress version 3.0 (BETA) is available to download incorporating:

- Automatic configuration if Price Tapestry installed in /pt/ relative to WordPress

- Responsive (mobile friendly) standalone HTML5 / CSS3 templates and CSS

- Front-end support for Category Hierarchy Mapping

- Option to import products as WordPress posts

Installation

Simply follow the Quick Start Guide for WordPress however when installing the plugin itself, no further action is required beyond Step 4 (Plugin Activation) when Price Tapestry is installed in /pt/ as all settings will be automatically detected or copied from the Price Tapestry installation and the containing page created automatically.

Permalinks ( /wp-admin/ > Settings > Permalinks )

If using Virtual product pages (equivalent to version 2 functionality), the Numeric option should be chosen as currently recommended. If using Imported product pages, the Post name option should be chosen.

Imported Product Pages

Imported product pages are generated from the Product / Main template with the addition of the [pto] shortcodes for the price comparison table and Related Products (if using). The post is assigned a WordPress category (created if does not already exist) corresponding to the feed category of the product.

Enable Allow Comments if you wish to permit user comments against plugin generated posts. Disable Auto Delete if you wish to have plugin generated posts remain in WordPress even when the product no longer exists in the Price Tapestry database. I would suggest leaving CRON, which enables a WordPress scheduled task to import, update or delete (as configured) plugin generated posts disabled during initial testing - see below for more details.

To manage plugin generated posts, click Imported Product Manager from /wp-admin/ > Settings > PriceTapestry.org.

The number of products in the Price Tapestry database will then be displayed, followed by the number of imported products. The manual import function works in blocks of 10 products, using AJAX functionality (similar to the standalone Slow Import Tool).

In the first instance, use Trial Import to process the first block only and then view your WordPress site home page to check functionality. Delete and repeat as required (for example after making changes to your templates whilst working on the layout) before using Full Import.

CRON

By default, WordPress scheduled tasks are processed on the first page view of your site following the scheduled event time. Whilst this is fine for general housekeeping tasks (such as clearing event logs), it is not ideally suited to more intensive operations such as that of dynamically generating or updating posts, so this functionality should be disabled and wp-cron.php invoked as a cronjob in the usual way.

To disable cron by page view, add the following line to your WordPress configuration file wp-config.php:

A cronjob can then be set-up in the usual way, using a command line for example;

The above commands could be chained along with the standalone Price Tapestry cronjob for example;

With the command line cronjob in place, enable the CRON setting in the plugin as required, choosing a time value that is 2 hours prior to the system configured cronjob. This will ensure that the event is pending before wp-cron.php is invoked regardless of system and WordPress settings related to daylight savings time.

I have created a new support sub-forum for questions specifically related to imported product page functionality and renamed the existing sub-forum to contain topics related to virtual product page functionality. The support forum for PriceTapestry.org for WordPress can be found here.

Enjoy!

Cheers,
David
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PriceTapestry.com