Store Locator Plus® continues to upgrade the outdated 2002 style PHP interfaces that were inherited with our WordPress framework to modern React interfaces. Our latest updates focus on replace the mix of old JavaScript and PHP code on the Location Import interface.
Updated locations import interface
Separate Upload / Import Progress Meters
The new interface has a clear separation between the file upload process with its own progress meter and the import processing. The import is designed to separate the file upload process from the file import process. The import process is asynchronous, which means the user can go to other parts of the app to continue working, then come back at any time to the import page and see how their location imports is progressing.
Updated import progres meter.
Sidebar: For smaller files with a couple of hundred of locations this may not seem important. For our customers that are uploading files with 35,000+ locations it is critical that the file upload process is distinct from the processing of the file. While uploads that large can take up to an hour, depending on the user’s connection speed, the import is more challenging. For our customers that do not use our SaaS platform, they can be running on slower smaller web hosting platforms. Importing 35,000 locations will break those servers as they run out of memory or “time out” during the 2-3 hour import process (our SaaS servers are far larger and faster than most self-WordPress sites; if you are doing large location imports you may want to switch to our SaaS platform). The Store Locator Plus® import process manages this by detecting pending timeout issues and keeps track of the current line being imported. If a timeout is imminent the import will stop on the last record processed and queue up a new import request to pick up the process where it left off. That allows the memory and processor to “take a breath” – preventing server crashes and getting those large import files fully loaded without additional user intervention.
Remote File Imports
Remote file location import interface
Remote file imports allow user to load CSV files that are hosted on a different server. This is often used for companies with a separate CMS or inventory management system that exports their locations on a nightly basis to a private URL. The remote file imports can be setup to read those remote files on a regular basis, keeping the list of locations in Store Locator Plus® in sync with external services.
This section now has its own interaction panel with related messages and processing details.
Recent Uploads – new feature
Recent location import files
A new Recent Uploads section allows users to see the list of recent CSV file imports. From here the files can be re-imported (without uploading), downloaded, viewed, or deleted.
Viewing the file shows the details of the most recent import as well as a summary of the first 20 records in the file. To view the complete file, the user can download the CSV file.
Uploaded location file details.
CSV Processing Settings
The shared CSV processing settings are shared between the uploaded CSV, remote processing, and re-import actions. The setting can be accessed via the settings icon on the top right of the Import panel.
Location Import Settings
Load Locations From WordPress
This feature is now part of the Professional and Enterprise accounts and is included in the Import tab as a new section.
This feature allows users to load locations from a WordPress site they own that has the Store Locator Plus® plugin installed.
