ECI: Post Types
The main ability here is to apply different post types to records, depending on certain conditions. If you have no use for more post types other that “post” then this page and the Post Types panel should be ignored. These are considered advanced features required only for the most advanced projects and the right data sets.
Key Information
- You can tell the plugin what post types you would like to use, excluding all others
- Your selections effect other forms, you must activate a post type for it to be used globally: Taxonomy, Post Type Design Conditions
- Your selected post types will become available on the Conditions panel for Post Type Design
- You only need to use the activate or disable button if you wish to use a Post Type Filter
- The plugin does not register or manage custom post types, there are good plugins to do that job
- Import all of your data for the best results unless you understand how it works to know you don’t need to
Features
At this time I feel I have all the features needed. What the plugin could possibly do in future is register custom post types on the fly. Is this something that appeals too you? My thoughts are towards very large data sets with a hundred thousand records. The ability to automatically register post types and taxonomies on the fly would allow the data set to be used on multiple blogs in a far quicker approach. It would reduce the need to create many post types, if that is what you need, manually. However such a need would be rare unless you wanted your theme or backend system to make good use of a well organised post type system. Maybe a post type for each type of product or book category for example.
1. Confirm Post Types
Check the boxes for post types you wish to use. You do not need to check any because a Default Post Type is required on the Project Settings panel. The default is used when no other post type conditions are activated or met. Once you save your selection, other forms will be effected. Taxonomy panel forms and Conditions are two areas that will change at the time I write this.
2. Setup Post Type Filter Column
The filter is what applies a post type to each record as posts are being created. Two menus are used to create your perfect filter. The first is simply the column that holds values, which act as the condition and ultimately decide what post type is applied. That column could hold actual post type terms/names, the same as registered in your blog or it could hold values that relate to what your post type is for and the filter will work that way.
An upgrade being considered is to automatically register post types however I will only apply such an ability if it is requested. Even then, my to do list is massive for this plugin. Only paid requests get done quickly otherwise I stick to what I have planned already.
Post Types In Column: so you have a column and it has post types in it i.e. the terms are identical to what is registered on your blog such as “post” or “page”. Maybe it is 2 post types or 10, either way you have terms such as post,page,profile,product or anything else you care to use. These terms are already registered on your blog, they need to be for this to work. All Easy CSV Importer needs to do with this method is add the value from your selected column to the WordPress post object meaning whatever your data is exactly what is fed to WordPress. If your values in your selected column are not all registered this will not work properly.
Pair Distinct Values: this will sound similar to the method above however this does not require you to have values that are identical. This is because when you select this method, you are also required to pair each distinct/unique value from your selected column with a post type. You are building a filter, telling the plugin, if a record has X as the value use the paired post type and if it has Y then use the post type paired with that value.
3. Filter Set-up
In step 2 you select the settings for your filter, but it may not be actually setup. It depends on your filter method.
Post Types In Column: no further work is done to create your filter unless this step indicates that there is a problem. What should happen in the Filter Set-up table is a list of messages telling you that a match has been found to the values in your selected column. What I mean by match is that the values in that column are identical to a post type registered on your blog. If there is no match for a value, this will be made clear with a message saying No Match Found. Records with the value causing this, will default to your entered default on the Project Settings panel. Only you can decide how to proceed.
Pair Distinct Values: more work is required by you because you now need to pair each distinct value with a post type registered on your blog. Easy CSV Importer queries the data imported to your project table, this is why I recommend in the Key Information list to import all data. ECI needs to know all of your distinct values so that you can pair them with a post type. Any values not paired will default to the Default Post Type entered on the Project Settings Panel.
4. Activate/Disable
This button simple activates or disables the use of multiple custom post types and the filter you setup. It does not effect the post types that show on the Post Type Design Conditions.
Overall Effects
Using this properly can allow you to organise your posts for either displaying on different page templates or within other plugins for managing products etc. The uses for this are endless. More and more themes will require multiple post types to populate different sections of the site i.e. portfolio,posts (for blog), clients, testimonials,reviews, tickets,products,profiles and much more.
Videos
Coming soon