[Resolved] General setup questions

[Author]

Posts

[Bas]

After reading all Toolset documentation and Lot's of support posts I have a general view of the possibilities.
I did some tests to get familiar with Toolset and before I start developing I think it's best to get some advice from you guys.

Playing with Toolset and looking at my specs and toolset documentation I found out that I will run into some Toolset limitations. There seem to be different workarounds but it's not clear what's best way to do things. There are similar questions in support posts but after reading those I still don't know what's the recommended way to do this, and lot's of posts seem to be outdated.

I tried to make it as clear as possible, resulting in 4 questions.
Hopefully you are willing to give e some advice?

I want to create a business directory with a 3 level deep category structure e.g.:

Information Technology
--Web, Mobile & Software Dev
----Website Development
----Back-End Development
----Mobile App Development
Accounting & Consulting
--Accounting
--Bookkeeping
--Business Analysis

Note: First and second level categories are used for structure purpose only. Will not contain any posts.

A custom post type 'profiles' making use of the WP categories taxonomy will fit best I think, this way I can bind e.g. Blog posts and other future post types (e.g. FAQ) to the same categories and show them grouped on one page.

Each user needs to be able to create a profile, CRED form, using custom fields will do for largest part.
But besides that I need the user select Services, Skills, Software experience, Deliverables & Industry Experience
I think custom taxonomies are the way to go, not sure as I require some specific things please see below.

For the Website Development category I want to set up e.g.

Services
Web Design | Landing Page Design | Website Maintenance | Etc.

Skills
PHP | MYSQL | Javascript | HTML | CSS | SASS | Etc.

Software Experience
Wordpress | Wix | Drupal | Photoshop | Etc.

Deliverables
Content Migration | Data Import | Training | Etc.

Industry Experience
Automotive | Retail | Agriculture | Etc.

As you can see, these are all specifically realated to the Third level category "Website development".
When someone creates a profile in the category Bookkeeping e.g. those will be completely different.

{{{QUESTION 1:}}}
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I cannot find an option in Toolset to be able to show all categories in the frontend search dropdown select field. Only categories with posts are being displayed.

https://toolset.com/forums/topic/taxonomy-filter-doesnt-contain-all-items/#post-588763
https://toolset.com/forums/topic/taxonomy-filter-show-empty-not-working/
https://toolset.com/forums/topic/views-where-is-the-parametric-search-settings-section/

All those posts seem to be outdated, cannot find this option anywhere.

{{{QUESTION 2:}}}
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If I am right they will update dynamically based on posts found right? So if user selects the Webdesign subcategory in frontend search form, the other select fields update accordingly, showing only options related to webdesign category, right?

{{{QUESTION 3:}}}
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CRED FORM: How can I limit users to only select 1 (Third Level) category in the Cred form.

{{{QUESTION 4:}}}
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CRED FORM: is it possible to do the same? Select category, and then update the other select boxes accordingly? I saw quite some related questions on the support site, with different approaches and some seem outdated. What's best approach seen the current version of Toolset?

Thanks in advance!
Bas

[Waqar]

Hi Bas,

Thank you for contacting us and I'd be happy to assist.

Based on the information you've shared, you're thinking on the right lines. Here are the answers to your specific questions:

{{{QUESTION 1:}}}

In the new blocks-based views editor, you'll find an option "Show only filter options that would produce results", in the "View" block's settings, under the "Custom Search" settings.
( screenshot: hidden link )

You'll have to disable this option, if you'd like to see all options in the search fields, regardless of whether any posts/results exist for them or not.

{{{QUESTION 2:}}}

Your understanding is correct, but the search fields will only update based on the selection if the option "Show only filter options that would produce results" is enabled.

{{{QUESTION 3:}}}

If you'll set the field type for the category to "select", then it will be possible to choose only 1 option, but, there is no built-in option to limit the term options to only a specific level.

To achieve this, you'll have to use a workaround of replacing the category field with a generic select field, in which a custom shortcode is used to generate the selected level of category term options, programmatically.

After the form's submission, you'll have to use a custom function attached to the "cred_save_data" hook ( ref: https://toolset.com/documentation/programmer-reference/cred-api/#cred_save_data ), that attaches the selected term from the generic field, as the category term to the post being added/edited through the form.

{{{QUESTION 4:}}}

Yes, in the forms, you can use the conditional groups to show/hide fields based on the selection of other fields:
https://toolset.com/course-lesson/conditional-display-for-form-inputs/
https://toolset.com/documentation/programmer-reference/forms/cred-conditional-display-engine/

I hope this helps and please let me know if you need any further assistance around this.

regards,
Waqar