Hi myroxie, there may be a “custom-field” plugin that enables you to display the attached images, but the template is the normal way of doing it with the USP plugin.
There are lots of custom field plugins available. But how would I map the new fields to the output from the USP form? I have never used custom fields (or custom post types) yet– but I’m willing to try. But I don’t know howto integrate them with your plugin.
Understood. It really depends on the setup, theme and so forth, but it should be possible using existing methods. I could help if the theme were editable, otherwise you might try asking the theme developer about this.
The theme IS editable, I know that already. But not unless I create a child theme in order to insure that my changes weren’t obliterated with every update. For some reason, I am intimidated with the idea of making a child theme– especially since the site is already significantly developed already (all that’s lacking is the method for doing the user-generated posts). So I’m loathe to upset the apple cart at that late stage to do something that feels alien to me to begin with. So I’m stuck. I can’t make modifications to the functions.php or any of the page templates without a child theme.
I’m trying like the dickens to avoid using Gravity Forms or FormidablePro– both of which I have used on other user-generated sites. i have found them both to be very hard to wrap my head around as a non-programmer. I was so happy to see that your plugin had been revived. I read about it a long time ago but it appeared to be abandoned. Then all of a sudden, here it is again. I wish I knew more so I could implement it on the display end of thing. It’s essential for this application to be able to display images– either as a singleton or in a small gallery depending on what users upload.
Understood. A child theme shouldn’t break anything, so you should feel free experimenting with that option. There are some good tutorials online that should be able to help. Just remember to backup all original files before starting and there should be no risk involved.
OK. Here’s another question. The featured image seems to display just fine automatically in the excerpt without requiring any “php surgery” to the template. Why couldn’t the same be true for the post image (s) and the author;s name and all the other data gathered in the built-in custom fields?
It may be possible, depending on the theme. Using a default WP install with the Twenty Eleven theme, the images and other infos are attached to the post as custom fields. Most themes include template tags for things like the title, the tags, the content, and the author, but custom fields usually need to be displayed using either WP’s native custom-field tags, or the USP plugin’s built-in template tags. On the to-do list for a future update is to automatically set the first submitted image as the post’s featured image (btw).
In my theme framework (Headway) it DID automatically set the first image submitted as the featured image ( the thumbnail that accompanies the excerpt of the post). What it didn’t do was set/display the post image that sits in the body of the post itself. And then of course if multiple images are uploaded then you’d want it to display in some sort of gallery arrangment e.g. [gallery].
Thanks for the feedback, will see what I can do for the next update.
Thank YOU for being so wonderfully responsive. If you made some small changes to the plugin, I would be very happy to pay actual money for it.
I have tried several commercial versions of the user-submitted post variety (Gravity Forms and FormidablePro). Both of these do a lot more than front-end post capability. But many people who use both of these plugins are seeking just that feature. But in an interface that spares them of all the digging into php, etc.
I am FAR from techie type. Every time I’ve ever tried to diddle with the php in any of my sites, the whole site blew up on me. So I’m very reluctant to go there again. I know that in Gravity Forms, they use a Content Template as part of their UI, and it’s there that you can add instructions about what to display (and how) in the final output. I find it all very, very hard for my non-programmer brain to wrap itself around. Even the whole area of custom fields vs. custom post types and custom taxonomies makes my brain go into spasm.
