WordPress Configuration Options

Owned by Benjamin Allan-Rahill (Unlicensed)
Last updated: Jul 23, 2024 by Becky W
9 min read

Installation & Activation

The CourseStorm Class Registration for WordPress plugin is available via the WordPress plugin marketplace.

For easy installation, follow these instructions:

  1. Login to your WordPress site, as an administrator, and navigate to the "Plug-ins" section of the menu on the left side of your screen.

  2.  From there, click the "Add New" button next to the "Plugins" heading and search "CourseStorm" in the search bar found in the upper right corner of the page. 

  3. Click "Install Now" on the official "CourseStorm Class Registration for WordPress" plugin.

After you install the plugin, you will be prompted to activate it.  You can process the activation now, or at anytime in the future from the plugins page in the WordPress admin!

Alternate installation methods:

Alternatively, you can download the plugin directly from the WordPress plugin marketplace here: https://wordpress.org/plugins/coursestorm/.

 After downloading you can install the plugin manually by following the instructions outlined by WordPress: https://codex.wordpress.org/Managing_Plugins#Manual_Plugin_Installation.

How will the plugin look on my website?

After the plugin is activated, it will create a page called "Classes" (or use an existing page if present). This page will serve as your catalog homepage on your website. It will display the featured classes slider, as well as your catalog categories. You can manage this page like any other WordPress pages, adding/removing any additional content that you see fit. Any additional content on the page will display above the plugin contents.

Configuration:

Upon your first activation of the plugin, you will be brought to the welcome screen.  Here is where you can initially configure your plugin settings. If you do not have a CourseStorm account, you can create one before proceeding, by clicking the ‘Create account’ button.  If you already have a CourseStorm account, click the ‘Use existing account’ button to enter and save your CourseStorm subdomain.

Your CourseStorm subdomain will be the part of your catalog url before .coursestorm.com.  For example, if the CourseStorm catalog url is test.coursestorm.com, the subdomain value is test.

After you activate the plugin you can manage your subdomain at any time by navigating to Settings > CourseStorm for WordPress admin menu.  On the settings page, you can see you subdomain, trigger the manual sync of your catalog, and jump out to manage your catalog.

Updating:

Updates to the CourseStorm for WordPress plugin are handled automatically through the WordPress eco-system.  When a new update is available, you will receive a notification in WordPress via the update manager. Navigating to the updates section of WordPress (Dashboard > Updates) will show the updatable plugin under the "Plugins" heading.  Alternatively, you can update the plugin from the plugins page, by clicking the "Update Now" link below the plugin if an update is available.

Catalog Sync:

The plugin will sync your catalog in 3 different ways.

  1. When you activate the plugin, and save your CourseStorm subdomain.

  2. Hourly after you have activated the plugin.

  3. When you click the "Sync now" button under the "Sync Status" box.  

This button is only available if you have a catalog url saved. It should be used to manually trigger the sync outside of the scheduled hourly sync.  It will not work, if the scheduled sync is within 10 minutes of the scheduled hourly sync.

 During the sync you will see the status of sync as a notice at the top of the WordPress admin.  There are 3 different notices: pending, progress, and complete.

Sync Troubleshooting: Sync not running

If you find that your WordPress site is not syncing with your CourseStorm catalog, it is possible that the automated task that triggers the synchronization is not scheduled properly.  To confirm this, you can use a third-party WordPress plugin called WP Crontrol (https://wordpress.org/plugins/wp-crontrol/).  Once installed and activated, you can visit the ‘Cron Events’ page under the ‘Tools’ admin menu in WordPress.  Here you will see a list of tasks scheduled on your site (all of these should be left unchanged to maintain site functionality).  With the CourseStorm for WordPress plugin installed and activated, you should see an event called `coursestorm_sync` in the ‘Hook’ column.  If you do not, then the synchronization task is not running.

To correct this and reschedule the sync, you can do either of the following:

  • Uninstall, and re-install the CourseStorm for WordPress plugin to reestablish the synchronization task; or,

  • Change the ‘CourseStorm Cron Schedule’ setting on the CourseStorm for WordPress settings page and save it, then revert it back to the original setting, and save it again.  This update will re-add the synchronization task.

Widgets:

The "CourseStorm Class Registration for WordPress" plugin comes with four widgets.  

All widgets can be managed through the standard WordPress interface for widgets. This is found in your WordPress admin menu under "Appearance" > "Widgets".

For more information on widget management, please refer to WordPress: https://en.support.wordpress.com/widgets/.

Featured Classes Widget:

The plugin includes a widget to display your featured classes. This widget displays a list of your featured class titles. When a visitor clicks on any of the class titles, they will see the class detail page.

To use it, go to: "Appearance" > "Widgets" and find the "Featured Classes" widget from the list of widgets. Drag and drop it into the sidebar(s) of your choice.

Classes by Categories Widget:

The plugin includes a widget to display a list of classes in a given category (or all categories, if you like). This widget displays a list of the class titles and start dates. When a visitor clicks on any of the class titles, they will see the class detail page.

 To use it, go to: "Appearance" >"Widgets" and find the "Classes by Category" widget from the list of widgets. Select a category, given it a title (if you don't enter a custom title, it will default to "Classes by Category"), then drag and drop it into the sidebar(s) of your choice.

Class Categories Widget:

The plugin includes a widget to display a list of your class categories. The list will display your class categories in a hierarchical, drop-down list. When a visitor clicks on any of the class categories, they will see the listing of all classes in that particular category.

To use it, go to: "Appearance" > "Widgets" and find the "Class Categories" widget from the list of widgets. Drag and drop it into the sidebar(s) of your choice.

Upcoming Classes Widget:

The plugin includes a widget to display a list of upcoming classes by date. 

To use it, go to: "Appearance" > "Widgets" and find the "CourseStorm Upcoming Classes" widget from the list of widget. Drag and drop it to the sidebar(s) of your choice. Open the widget in the sidebar to customize the instance of the widget.

Customizations

  • Title - The title to display above the widget.

  • Number of classes to show: - How many upcoming classes you'd like to display in the widget.

  • Show class description - Where to show or hide the class description.

  • Show class instructor - Where to show or hide the class instructor.

  • Show class location - Where to show or hide the class location.

Shortcodes:

The CourseStorm Class Registration for WordPress plugin includes two "shortcodes" you can use to display your catalog content in various pages throughout your website.

The Featured Classes slider and Browse Categories "shortcodes" have already been added to the Classes page that the plugin creates for you.

Featured Classes Slider Shortcode:

To display an image slider of your featured classes (similar to the one that appears on your CourseStorm catalog site homepage), copy and paste the following shortcode anywhere in the content of your pages:

[coursestorm_featured_slider]

Browse Categories Shortcode:

To display a list of all your class categories and sub-categories (similar to the one that appears on your CourseStorm catalog site homepage), use the following shortcode anywhere in the content of your pages:

[coursestorm_browse_categories]

Themes:

While the CourseStorm Class Registration for WordPress plugin is designed to integrate nicely with your site immediately with no customization required, you may also choose to customize the plugin to meet your unique needs.

The plugin is designed to integrate into the existing styles of your website's theme. However, you may want to modify or add to the existing styles and / or layout(s) provided by the plugin. To do so, we recommend you do not directly edit the plugin files, as that may cause a conflict with potential future versions of the plugin.

Instead, do one of the following:

  • Override the CSS provided by the plugin by adding custom CSS to your site's theme (or use a child theme if you are using a parent theme). There are many sources and tutorials online that describe how to add custom CSS to your site's theme or child theme.

  • Change the user-facing term from "classes" to something different.

  • Request your site's theme be added to the plugin's configuration. (see below)

  • Manually override the templates provided by the plugin. (see below)

  • Request a new feature for the plugin. (see below)

Changing the (User-Facing) verbiage for "Classes":

If you'd prefer to use verbiage other than "classes" to refer to your content, you can do so using filters made available through the plugin. Simply add the following to any portion of your theme (if you're not sure where, the functions.php file in the root of your theme is a good option.)



<?php // Note that you do not need to add the opening PHP tag unless you're creating this file from scratch. // To update the singular phrase to "Event" add_action( 'coursestorm-unit-name', function() { return 'Event'; } ); // To update the plural phrase to "Events" add_action( 'coursestorm-units-name', function() { return 'Events'; } );

Important: If you modify the term "Classes" using the filters, make sure to flush permalinks by going to Settings > Permalinks and clicking 'Save Changes'.

Request your site's theme be added into the plugin's configuration

Because the CourseStorm for WordPress plugin integrates your catalog deeply into your site -- including an overview of featured classes and categories; a list of classes with a category; and the class display itself -- it creates several of its own custom templates for display on your site.

While the templates are designed to integrate into your site's theme as closely as possible, the plugin's template files may be inadvertently conflicting with your site's chosen theme.

If that is the case, contact CourseStorm support, and we'll be glad to update the plugin to incorporate your site's theme configuration. This will not only make the plugin and your site work better, it will also help other organizations that also use your site's theme. Please note that the integration will be evaluated by our development team, and we do not make any guarantees regarding timeline on the integration.

To request your site's theme be added to the plugin configuration, simply contact CourseStorm at 'support@coursestorm.com' with your request and be sure to include a link to your website.

Manually override the template(s) in the plugin

Because the CourseStorm for WordPress plugin integrates your catalog deeply into your site -- including an overview of featured classes and categories; a list of classes with a category; and the class display itself -- it creates several of its own custom templates for display on your site.

While the templates are designed to integrate into your site's theme as closely as possible, if you want to make large scale changes to the design and/or layout of the plugin's template files, you may want to modify the design or layout of these templates manually. The best approach is not to edit the plugin files directly; rather you should manually override these templates in the following way:

  1. Copy a particular template or templates to your theme (such as /plugins/csforwp/templates/single.php) into a matching diretory structure: /yourtheme/coursestorm-FILENAME.php where yourtheme is the path to your site's active theme and FILENAME is the name of the template file from the CourseStorm for WordPress plugin templates (such as 'single.php').

  2. Repeat step 1 for all template files you wish to manually override.

  3. Replace the do_action( 'coursestorm_before_main_content' ); and <?php do_action( 'coursestorm_after_main_content', true ); // true = display sidebar ?> from the copied file with the markup from your own theme.

  4. Edit the manually overriden template file(s).

Support

To request help, report issues, or request new features to be added to the plugin, please contact 'support@coursestorm.com' with a description of your request, and be sure to include the name of your organization and a link to your site (if applicable).

If you are having trouble with the function of the plugin or if the plugin is causing issues with your site display, please try deactivating all plugins, and using a stock WordPress theme (https://wordpress.org/themes/author/wordpressdotorg/).  This will help diagnose the problem to see if it is a theme or plugin compatibility issue.

Deactivation & Uninstall

If you would like to hide the plugin content, you can deactivate the CourseStorm Class Registration for WordPress plugin.  This is done from the plugins page in WordPress.  Plugin deactivation will retain all of your data, but prevent the plugin from functioning.  It will not delete the ‘Classes’ page that is automatically generated during activation.

If you would like to remove the plugin altogether you can deactivate and delete the plugin.  This process will delete all corresponding plugin data. If you would like to get your course data back after deletion, you will need to follow the installation and activation steps again.