[Chris]

Hi,

Before working with the templates, check that you can see the generated maps in the WP post editor. Maps are generated when a post is saved or published and they’ll be named ‘automatic’.

For example, assuming you have a custom field called ‘address’, here’s the basic steps:
1. Go the the MapPress settings. In the ‘geocoding’ section set the map field ‘address’ to your custom field ‘address’
2. Edit an existing post
3. In the post, set custom field ‘address’ to the value ‘NY’
4. Publish the post

You should now see a map called ‘automatic’ in the post. If you do not, check if there’s an entry in custom field ‘mappress_error’ (the plugin writes geocoding errors there).

[Chris]

Hi,

Actually, you only need an ‘address’ field (or a ‘lat’ and ‘lng’ field), so the plugin can determine the post location. The title and icon will default if you don’t set them.

I’ll update the documentation to make this clear.

[Chris]

Hi,

If you are just showing one map per post, it may be easier to just use the [mappress] shortcode (which doesn’t show blank maps) instead of [mashup]. If you need the mashup shortcode, you can try the hideempty argument to hide empty maps [mashup hideempty="true"] (this is also available on the MapPress widget if that would work for you).

[Chris]

If you literally want to show the map editor on only one page, you can do it with a little PHP in your functions.php file.

You would need to use remove_meta_box()

Something like this might work to remove the meta box from all pages except #1234 (I haven’t tested it):

<?php 
function remove_metabox() {
  global $post;
  if ($post->ID != 1234)
    	remove_meta_box( 'mappress' , 'page' , 'normal' ); 
}
add_action( 'admin_menu' , 'remove_metabox' );
?>

[Chris]

Hi, the settings screen lets you select specific post types for the map editor, but there’s no setting to only show the editor on a single page.

I don’t know if it will work for you, but you can use the ‘screen options’ dropdown in the top-right of the WordPress post editor to disable the MapPress meta box when you’re not using it.

[Chris]

Hi,

MapPress is always compatible with the PHP and MySQL versions recommended by WordPress. I don’t test higher versions (it would be too time-consuming) but it shouldn’t be a problem.

[Chris]

Hi,

When a post is published, any existing automatic map is deleted and re-created – with the default size. Any changes you made are deleted.

If you want to permanently change the size of the automatic map, you can use width=”100%” and height=”300″ in the shortcode.

I don’t see Paris in that map, so it seems like your custom fields are not configured properly, or not working for some reason.

Please check that you’ve done the following:
– you have the ‘directions’ field mapped to ‘address’ in the MapPress settings
– you’ve updated the ‘directions’ custom field – not the map marker – to ‘Paris’ before publishing

I think it will be easier from here if you email me a login using the contact form. That way I can see what you’re doing and give you more detailed guidance.

[Chris]

Hi,

Let’s address the update first – I don’t understand what you mean by the post has been updated but nothing happens. What do you expect to happen?

Publishing the post can be used to re-create an automatic map with a new location. It has no effect on the POI display or custom icons filter.

Please try updating the location for an existing post and let me know what happens:
1. Check you have ‘overwrite existing maps’ checked in the settings
2. Edit a post with a map named ‘automatic’ that was created from the ‘directions’ field
3. Change the ‘directions’ field to ‘Paris’.
4. Publish the post

The ‘automatic’ map should now show a marker on Paris. If it doesn’t, there should be a custom field called ‘mappress_error’ that will tell you why.

[Chris]

I’m not sure I understood what you’re trying to do, but this may help:

the default poi list calls function ‘get_open_link’ in ‘mappress_poi.php’. That function takes ‘zoom’ as a parameter, so you can use it to open a POI and zoom in on the POI. You can use the onclick statement as shown in the function, or call it like this:
<?php echo $poi->get_open_link(array('zoom' => true)); ?>

[Chris]

Hi,

Automatic maps are re-created only when the post is published, and only if the checkbox ‘overwrite existing maps when saving’ is set on the MapPress settings screen. If that checkbox is set, manual changes will be overwritten each time you save/publish.

The custom icons filter and the poi template are only used when displaying a map (NOT when editing it or viewing it in the post editor). You’ll only see those functions when you preview a post, and you don’t need to re-publish to make them active.

If you’re previewing the post and not seeing them, try a simpler test – use just the template, or just the icons.

If you like, send or post a URL as well, so I can see if there’s a javascript error.

[Chris]

Hi,

I’m glad you got it working! It could be the server was running out of memory (in which case PHP halts, and you get a white screen). The PHP error logs should offer some clues if that’s the problem.

[Chris]

Hi,

That kind of issue can be tough to troubleshoot, since I’m not familiar with the other plugins.

What version of MapPress are you using? As a first step, please upgrade to the latest version.

After you upgrade, if you’re still having the error then please check your PHP error logs (you may need to ask your hosting service how to find them). Use the contact form to send me the whole log or just the error, and I’ll see if I can spot the problem.

[Chris]

Hi,

I’m sorry, but this function isn’t supported – MapPress only supports custom fields in posts or pages, not in user profiles.

[Chris]

Hi,

I’m not sure if I fully understand the details of how your data is stored, so let me know if I’m off base. It sounds like you have many maps in a single post.

Usually it works better to use a separate post for each location: i.e. create a post for each festival location with 1 map per post. Then the queries are easy: you can just tag the posts as ‘2013’ or ‘2014’ and do a mashup for each year.

To avoid copying the maps manually, you can edit the map database tables using PHPMyAdminin or a similar tool (make sure to take a database backup first).

The maps are stored in table mappress_maps, and their association with the posts is stored in table mappress_posts.

To split up the existing maps into separate posts, with 1 map per post:
1. Create a new blank post for each location
2. Re-assign the existing map IDs to the new post IDs in table mappress_posts.
3. Assign the posts to a ‘2013’ or ‘2014’ tag or category, and use a mashup based on that.

OR

To copy all the existing maps to a single (new) post:
1. Duplicate the maps in mappress_maps
2. Associate the new map IDs to the new post ID in mappress_posts.
3. Use a mashup like the existing one, that selects only a single post.

[Chris]

Hi,

I have a beta version of MapPress that will allow you to use SVG icons. I’m not sure it’ll meet your needs, but please send me an email if you would like a copy to test.

The new version includes the change shown above, but it also has some limitations:

– SVG icons are always rendered as 32×32 img tags
– Rotation, color changes and scaling are not possible
– The icons seem to work in IE9-11. They do not work in IE8

[Author]

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