lcleveland, Author at Store Locator Plus®

Google Maps for JavaScript Update

Posted by lcleveland in Google Maps, Map Software, MySLP SaaS, Release Notes, Store Locator, Store Locator Plus, WPSLP

Store Locator Plus® was recently updated to accommodate the latest Google Maps for JavaScript update which now requires a callback parameter. Third party hosted scripts such as the Google Maps for JavaScript library, a foundational component of Store Locator Plus®, can change how they operate at any time and without warning to the developers that employ these scripts. Thankfully the recent Google Maps change that makes a new callback parameter required only generates a warning. If this follows in the footsteps of prior Google Maps updates, it will one day suddenly be required and many sites that do not update the script deployment will fail.

For our clients using the WordPress plugins, this means you will need to update the Store Locator Plus® plugin before Google “flips the switch”. For our SaaS users, you do not have to do anything — we’ve already updated the library for you.

Locator Styling Updates

Posted by lcleveland in MySLP SaaS, Release Notes, Store Locator, Store Locator Plus, WPSLP

Updating the locator styling default settings is the latest customer concern to be addressed as we continue to improve the overall Store Locator Plus® user experience. Updates are being made on a regular basis for both our SaaS platform users and WordPress plugins users. The latest update focuses on changing the default layout that users see when they first use Store Locator Plus®.

The Locator Styles

Locator Styles is a pre-defined set of Store Locator Plus® settings combined with a set of cascading style sheets (CSS) to go with those settings. The idea is to help users by providing a set of pre-defined layouts for the locator applet along with common settings users prefer when using our locator and directory software. For example, the pre-defined settings will change things like the internal applet layout — when a visitor searches for your retail locations do the list of locations appear on the left side of the map, or below? It can also set things like “do you want to show the label Phone ” before displaying a phone number or show nothing at all?

The idea is to provide a solid starting point of pre-loaded settings that can be modified after the base style is set.

Our Store Locator January 2023 Updates

Posted by lcleveland in Map Software, MySLP SaaS, Release Notes, Store Locator, Store Locator Plus, WPSLP

Store Locator Plus® has been updated to patch various minor bugs and to improve code design as we move toward implementing new React applets that will modernize the user experience. The updates in our mid-January release should be transparent to most users. No action is required for our SaaS platform users. WordPress plugin users will want to update to the latest version when convenient.

Patches To Our Store Locator Include…

Fix remote web asset test algorithm. This algorithm would sometimes generate a missing variable warning for urlToFetch. In some cases this would cause Store Locator Plus® to think remote web assets (images, CSS files, and other objects hosted on a different website) to show as missing. This has been resolved.

Update code variables, global naming conventions, and related background development elements. These changes are non-functional changes. They are mostly code comments that provide hints to the integrated development environments used by our developers to provider smarter code hints, autocompletion, and quality control services. These changes do not affect functionality.