New Here on Trial Version

[JesCiTy]

So I just have a few quick questions...

I am currently on the trial and tried using the support chat pop-up at the bottom of my screen but all my previous questions to invision support are no longer displaying and are missing, and I also tried to contact support via my account page in invisions community but it's saying I do not have access to support while on trial so I am not sure if I am in the correct place to ask here but I don't know where else to ask my questions since i ave not received any replies to my now mission pop-up chat requests, but I am very interested in upgrading but I am having some issues with my trial version that I don't think is working correctly?

1. The New Courses:

• I see courses in the back-end and have created one but courses are not showing up anywhere on the front-end...is there something I am needing to configure to get them to show up?

2. Removal of the Support Features:

I have read somewhere that the support features are being removed, so my questions are 2-fold:

• Is there a way we can OPT to keep the support option? and 
• Support is showing up on the front-end although it is in non-working order. When I go to click "New Request" it tells me "Before a ticket can be added, you must create at least one department in the AdminCP", but there is no support sections/options to create these departments in the back-end...

3. Testing & Development:

• DUMMY CONTENT: I am having a hard time understanding certain features and how things work, especially the dashboard and Pages builder/module. Is there anywhere we can get dummy content to import for testing purposes, like the way many wordpress themes do? Also pertaining to this, I thought i read somewhere we were able to import and export our content easily from one community site to another, perhaps I read this wrong? But I could not find a place for quickly importing and exporting content and settings (again like wordpress imports), have I simply missed it somewhere? (I ask because if I decide to stay with this solution, there are a few different communities I will be building and this feature would be immensely helpful)
• Also, I have not decided if I will be self-hosting or not yet, there are a few features I need to build in and can I request access to the code base so that I can at least start to see what I am dealing with and will potentially be building onto, the way cPanel gives free developer licenses? Perhaps I will stay on cloud temporarily while I slowly move over to self-hosted and develop in the background, although this is not exactly ideal as the very first main community I want to launch is missing a fey feature I need to have built and integrated before going live so, I'm just not sure yet...any thoughts?

 

Thank you in advance, everyone for your time!!

[Marc]

4 minutes ago, JesCiTy said:

1. The New Courses:

• I see courses in the back-end and have created one but courses are not showing up anywhere on the front-end...is there something I am needing to configure to get them to show up?

You would need to add it to your menu. If you look at the following guide, it shows how you can create menu items 🙂

 

5 minutes ago, JesCiTy said:

2. Removal of the Support Features:

I have read somewhere that the support features are being removed, so my questions are 2-fold:

• Is there a way we can OPT to keep the support option? and 
• Support is showing up on the front-end although it is in non-working order. When I go to click "New Request" it tells me "Before a ticket can be added, you must create at least one department in the AdminCP", but there is no support sections/options to create these departments in the back-end...

There is no way in which to opt to keep this. It will be present during version 4, but will be removed on version 5 entirely. 

If you do wish to use it on 4 in the meantime, please take a look here, which guides you through how to get this set up, including your departments

 

6 minutes ago, JesCiTy said:

3. Testing & Development:

• DUMMY CONTENT: I am having a hard time understanding certain features and how things work, especially the dashboard and Pages builder/module. Is there anywhere we can get dummy content to import for testing purposes, like the way many wordpress themes do? Also pertaining to this, I thought i read somewhere we were able to import and export our content easily from one community site to another, perhaps I read this wrong? But I could not find a place for quickly importing and exporting content and settings (again like wordpress imports), have I simply missed it somewhere? (I ask because if I decide to stay with this solution, there are a few different communities I will be building and this feature would be immensely helpful)
• Also, I have not decided if I will be self-hosting or not yet, there are a few features I need to build in and can I request access to the code base so that I can at least start to see what I am dealing with and will potentially be building onto, the way cPanel gives free developer licenses? Perhaps I will stay on cloud temporarily while I slowly move over to self-hosted and develop in the background, although this is not exactly ideal as the very first main community I want to launch is missing a fey feature I need to have built and integrated before going live so, I'm just not sure yet...any thoughts?

There is no way in which to create dummy content on the platform at present unfortunately. 

Importing from another community can be done. You would need to contact us if you have another community you need to import from

We do not have a developer license, and you would not be able to obtain the code without a license. I fyou want to take a  look at the following pages, this may help you obtain some knowledge on how you would integrate

https://invisioncommunity.com/developers/

 

[JesCiTy]

8 minutes ago, Marc Stridgen said:

We do not have a developer license, and you would not be able to obtain the code without a license.

If I decide to go the cloud route at first as I was saying earlier, but want to develop in the background for self-hosted version is the codebase different? Like will I have a problem doing that? Meaning, the self-hosted version costs more upfront (less monthly long term) so does that mean if I only upgrade to cloud that I will not get access to the same code base necessary to develop on the self-hosted version because the code bases are different? Or are they the same, like would i be able to do that?

Also, sorry, just real quick, I was on the articles page experimenting with the block editor, and deleted the 1st block and didn't realize it also contained the button to be able to create more articles from the front-end and now because i deleted that block, that button is missing and I can't figure out how to add it back or which block in the editor to add that has that button to put it back?

Thank you again for your help.

[Marc]

25 minutes ago, JesCiTy said:

If I decide to go the cloud route at first as I was saying earlier, but want to develop in the background for self-hosted version is the codebase different? Like will I have a problem doing that? Meaning, the self-hosted version costs more upfront (less monthly long term) so does that mean if I only upgrade to cloud that I will not get access to the same code base necessary to develop on the self-hosted version because the code bases are different? Or are they the same, like would i be able to do that?

Items developed using our framework described in the developer documentation I mention above, will work on both. However in order to develop at all, you will need a self hosted license, as you do not have access to the code at all on cloud

26 minutes ago, JesCiTy said:

Also, sorry, just real quick, I was on the articles page experimenting with the block editor, and deleted the 1st block and didn't realize it also contained the button to be able to create more articles from the front-end and now because i deleted that block, that button is missing and I can't figure out how to add it back or which block in the editor to add that has that button to put it back?

The create button would not generally be within a block, unless you removed the database itself from the page (sounds like you have done), so you would add a database block from the block manager back in, and select the relevant database. 

[JesCiTy]

On 6/5/2023 at 7:21 AM, Marc Stridgen said:

The create button would not generally be within a block, unless you removed the database itself from the page (sounds like you have done), so you would add a database block from the block manager back in, and select the relevant database. 

Hi, thank you for your reply, I took a quick screenshot and it looks like the database is still there. There was some text looking type of content block in the exact place the database is now and I wanted to get rid of all the loose text, I just thought it looked funny, but apparently that block also contained the "New Article" button as well because once I deleted it and moved the database block up, the button was gone. The loose text content, looked like some kind of boilerplate help text about how to get started with using Articles... I'm not sure what it all contained, but it was part of whatever content is shown on a fresh copy of the software, if that helps...

 

Thanks again.

 

Also, btw, I am needing to be able to sort and filter both clubs and members by physical location. Is that something that is already built in that I can just turn on, or does that have to be specifically developed. I saw briefly the Google Maps and mapbox integrations, but I am not sure if either of these provide that type of functionality. Also I thought of creating custom fields or even tags and somehow search for locations that way, but I am not sure it would work fully the way I want it to - as it wold be much less confusing for site members to be able to utilize the already built in search and sort features except with an added option to search or sort via location or better yet what's "Near Me'...if that makes any sense...

Thanks again for your time. 

[Marc]

You have no database selected there. You only have a database block added. You need to click on edit and select the database for articles

There is no way in which to filter in the way you wish to on clubs unfortunately

[JesCiTy]

Hummm, I don't know what's going on. It's saying "no databases are available to be added." And I thought I remembered somewhere in the back-end we could create new articles, but I can't seem to find anything at all in the back-end settings related to anything "Articles"... I am sorry I am so new I have literally no idea what I am doing yet. It's probably there I just can't find it or remember where I saw the settings for them...

 

Thanks again..

Edited June 7, 2023 by JesCiTy

[Marc]

I have just taken a look at that for you, and seems there was actually an issue with your trial there. I have now corrected this for you.

[JesCiTy]

Ok thank you. 

 

Just curious, if I was to go ahead and purchase the self hosted version exactly what do we get access to Will I get access to the full code base or just portions? ...If portions, which portions? I'm just trying to assess what limitations I will have and what all I will and won't be able to do if I purchase it...

 

Thanks again...

 

I will take a look, thanks for the fix

[JesCiTy]

and I just want to make clear, when I say access to the full codebase in case it wasn't obvious, I am referring to the entirety of what pertains to this community building and management software, itself, not anything you have that over-arches it such as like whatever connecting software that maintains or handles access control like your licensing controls and such. I just wan to know if I am getting the full codebase enough to where I can extend this however I may want, or if you have built bridges of a sort that allows me access to certain modules under certain contexts ..from afar...etc. If that makes any sense...

also, what licensing restrictions will I have? What can and what can't I do with it? Sorry I don't mean to put this all on you at once, I am sure there is a page somewhere explaining all of what is allowed, maybe you could point me to it? There are a few different communities I am trying to build and this software would be a very good base to start from instead of having to build from scratch. But they are very unique in their feature sets in what's needed so I may have to extend, quite a bit...but this to me is a serious contender...so thank you. Thank you for your time...

[Chris Anderson]

You may want to check out the marketplace to see some of the ways this platform can be extended and the Developer Resources section to learn how to develop and extend Invision Community applications. The suite is moving more and more towards utilizing various internal and external APIs to allow one to extend functionality. 

 

 

[Chris Anderson]

You should also keep tabs on the Release Notes page to see what new functionality is being added, changed or deprecated as it will likely impact your apps going forward. Also I would recommend reading the Invision Community Insider and News section to become more familiar with the platform and how it is evolving in the near and long term.

[Marc]

48 minutes ago, JesCiTy said:

and I just want to make clear, when I say access to the full codebase in case it wasn't obvious, I am referring to the entirety of what pertains to this community building and management software, itself, not anything you have that over-arches it such as like whatever connecting software that maintains or handles access control like your licensing controls and such. I just wan to know if I am getting the full codebase enough to where I can extend this however I may want, or if you have built bridges of a sort that allows me access to certain modules under certain contexts ..from afar...etc. If that makes any sense...

You get all the code pertaining to the classic (self-hosted) instance of the platform, yes. Please note, you are currently trialing cloud, so there are some cloud only features the classic platform doesnt have, such as live community (seeing who is online instantly and who is typing etc), courses, live topics and a few other bits. You can take a look on our main purchase pages to see what each contains

https://invisioncommunity.com/buy

As far as how you can build on the platform, take a look at the documentation here, which will give you a clearer indication

https://invisioncommunity.com/developers/

51 minutes ago, JesCiTy said:

also, what licensing restrictions will I have? What can and what can't I do with it?

Our EULA can be found on the following page, along with any other agreements you may be interested in

https://invisioncommunity.com/legal/

 

[JesCiTy]

Hi thank you for all that information.

---

I have been testing the search feature and am noticing that the search doesn't find content from within clubs, even after performing the initial search, when the results come back as "zero results" and you choose "+ More search options", and then choose the clubs name from inside the club box on the bottom left....I put content inside the clubs main description and then also within a clubs page but search each time came back with zero results. I noticed that when searching, in the dropdown options, there are options to search pretty much through everything EXCEPT "clubs" option does not exist. I was wondering why this is and if it was done intentionally. Also the search came back with zero results even when choosing to search using "everything" as the dropdown option....

• So my main question is, is this a bug? How can we fix this? How can we make it so that content from within clubs doesn't get "lost" for loss of a better word...

Another thing I noticed, is when you are anywhere inside a club, the main top search bar has an option to search  "This club", I noticed club page content isn't recognized and neither are descriptions, such as in "Overview" "About this club", inside a club blog "About this blog" content, etc...all places people would likely be searching for terms that reside there to find the clubs of a particular interest... just my $.02, would be nice if when searching "everywhere", it really did mean everywhere!!

---

In regards to the filtering and sorting by location, we briefly touched on earlier...once I added the Google Maps Integration, on the main clubs homepage, (for all clubs, not a specific clubs homepage, the main club homepage you land on when clicking the "club" link in the header menu) it shows an option to "Browse clubs by location"...

• Is there a specific reason searching and sorting by location has been completely left out? Is there any potential for you guys to add this or fix this in the future? 

I am literally between a rock and a hard place here as these are really some main features my community relies on and I am trying so hard to find a way I can stay with you guys and use this software vs. going with another because in the long term I know the value of, and know I need the granular access control features you guys have built in, but the other software I am looking at has all the other features you guys don't have but doesn't have the access control and it's driving me crazy lol.   I don't have the time or money to build from scratch and as much as I don't want to use wordpress, I am considering it, solely because I just can't seem to find the one software that has everything I need that I am thinking maybe I should just take my chances there.  I honestly don't know what to do. 

Also I am thinking, what if I put a custom field on members profiles, make it required, and let users choose an option from a set of choices, then when a user does a sitewide search, they should be able to search either "everywhere" or "members" and find those who have that specific word chosen or typed into their custom field in their profile? No? So say for example, to conduct a workaround search for users by location, I could put a custom field text input type and ask for people to put their zip code in, then in the search I can instruct people to either conduct a search on "members" or "everything", with the zip code they are looking for members in, and then those members should come up, right?

I have to test this out. It's also hard to do all this testing with no dummy content. Anyways, just talking/thinking this out... 

Any ideas would be helpful and are welcome. 

Anyways, thanks for hearing me blab...there was more I was going to add, but this being so public I feel it is not the place to discuss financials, and certain other things, thanks...

[JesCiTy]

Ok, so I tested this Zip Code theory. It turns out, when you conduct ANY search, regardless the options you choose ("everywhere" or "members" for example) once it comes back with "zero results", there is a tab named "Member Search" that you can choose inside the "+ More search options", that automatically includes any custom fields that have been defined in admin, PERFECT!!, EXCEPT, when I added my zip code to my location "11776" and then searched for "11776" in the "Members Search" "Location: Zip Code" input, and input "11776", it came back again with "zero results". 

• This should be self explanatory. This has to be a bug. I don't know what I could be doing wrong. This is such a no-brainer, I can't see how it wouldn't work as expected...

Any thoughts, anyone...?

It won't let me add more screenshots sorry....

• It also returns "zero results" when choosing to search "members" in the main search dropdown menu...just quick fyi, if that helps too.

Edited June 9, 2023 by JesCiTy

[JesCiTy]

Just a quick update, I also just tried both search behavior options in the back-end when setting the field up. Thanks.

[Marc]

4 hours ago, JesCiTy said:

I have been testing the search feature and am noticing that the search doesn't find content from within clubs, even after performing the initial search, when the results come back as "zero results" and you choose "+ More search options", and then choose the clubs name from inside the club box on the bottom left....I put content inside the clubs main description and then also within a clubs page but search each time came back with zero results. I noticed that when searching, in the dropdown options, there are options to search pretty much through everything EXCEPT "clubs" option does not exist. I was wondering why this is and if it was done intentionally. Also the search came back with zero results even when choosing to search using "everything" as the dropdown option....

• So my main question is, is this a bug? How can we fix this? How can we make it so that content from within clubs doesn't get "lost" for loss of a better word...

I would need an example of this I can take a look at, as it does indeed include content that is added in a club.

4 hours ago, JesCiTy said:

Another thing I noticed, is when you are anywhere inside a club, the main top search bar has an option to search  "This club", I noticed club page content isn't recognized and neither are descriptions, such as in "Overview" "About this club", inside a club blog "About this blog" content, etc...all places people would likely be searching for terms that reside there to find the clubs of a particular interest... just my $.02, would be nice if when searching "everywhere", it really did mean everywhere!!

That option is really to search for content within a club. Individual pages you add manually such as your own about page, would not be included.

4 hours ago, JesCiTy said:

n regards to the filtering and sorting by location, we briefly touched on earlier...once I added the Google Maps Integration, on the main clubs homepage, (for all clubs, not a specific clubs homepage, the main club homepage you land on when clicking the "club" link in the header menu) it shows an option to "Browse clubs by location"...

• Is there a specific reason searching and sorting by location has been completely left out? Is there any potential for you guys to add this or fix this in the future? 

This would need to be posted as feedback for future consideration, should you decide to go ahead with the platform. All I can say at present is that this is not currently a feature on the platform.

4 hours ago, JesCiTy said:

Also I am thinking, what if I put a custom field on members profiles, make it required, and let users choose an option from a set of choices, then when a user does a sitewide search, they should be able to search either "everywhere" or "members" and find those who have that specific word chosen or typed into their custom field in their profile? No? So say for example, to conduct a workaround search for users by location, I could put a custom field text input type and ask for people to put their zip code in, then in the search I can instruct people to either conduct a search on "members" or "everything", with the zip code they are looking for members in, and then those members should come up, right?

It is important to understand that the search box at the top, is by default a content search. So "Everywhere" in that context, is all content on the site. If you wanted to search members you would need to specifically select members for this

4 hours ago, JesCiTy said:

Ok, so I tested this Zip Code theory. It turns out, when you conduct ANY search, regardless the options you choose ("everywhere" or "members" for example) once it comes back with "zero results", there is a tab named "Member Search" that you can choose inside the "+ More search options", that automatically includes any custom fields that have been defined in admin, PERFECT!!, EXCEPT, when I added my zip code to my location "11776" and then searched for "11776" in the "Members Search" "Location: Zip Code" input, and input "11776", it came back again with "zero results". 

• This should be self explanatory. This has to be a bug. I don't know what I could be doing wrong. This is such a no-brainer, I can't see how it wouldn't work as expected...

Any thoughts, anyone...?

It won't let me add more screenshots sorry....

• It also returns "zero results" when choosing to search "members" in the main search dropdown menu...just quick fyi, if that helps too.

I will get a bug report added for this

[Joel R]

7 hours ago, Marc Stridgen said:

would need an example of this I can take a look at, as it does indeed include content that is added in a club.

The user is asking to search Club overview and Club description, not content items in the club.  

@JesCiTy this is intended behavior (at this time). 

With that said, one easy workaround is to simply write a forum topic that exactly duplicates your club description.  This will then be searchable.  

11 hours ago, JesCiTy said:

Is there a specific reason searching and sorting by location has been completely left out? Is there any potential for you guys to add this or fix this in the future? 

A couple of queries: 

- Can you give more information on your specific use case? Just curious. You ask about club locations, and then talk about user locations.  Those are obviously two very different mappings.  

- How do you envision searching and sorting by location? Just curious. Searching for Cambridge can return Cambridge, UK or Cambridge, MA, USA.  

- If your goal is to offer user to user matching based on locations, I highly recommend a third party app Connections by @Andy Millne.  It's one of the more underrated third party apps in the Marketplace, and offers suggested connections between members who are geographically close. The setting can be enabled / disabled.  Bonus: You may be able to ask him to customize his app, so members can be connected to both nearby members and nearby clubs and nearby events, etc. Not sure if this helps, but wanted to throw this out to you. 😀

[Marc]

On 6/9/2023 at 3:59 AM, JesCiTy said:

Ok, so I tested this Zip Code theory. It turns out, when you conduct ANY search, regardless the options you choose ("everywhere" or "members" for example) once it comes back with "zero results", there is a tab named "Member Search" that you can choose inside the "+ More search options", that automatically includes any custom fields that have been defined in admin, PERFECT!!, EXCEPT, when I added my zip code to my location "11776" and then searched for "11776" in the "Members Search" "Location: Zip Code" input, and input "11776", it came back again with "zero results". 

• This should be self explanatory. This has to be a bug. I don't know what I could be doing wrong. This is such a no-brainer, I can't see how it wouldn't work as expected...

Any thoughts, anyone...?

It won't let me add more screenshots sorry....

• It also returns "zero results" when choosing to search "members" in the main search dropdown menu...just quick fyi, if that helps too.

This issue has been resolved in the recently released 4.7.15 version. Please update your site if you are still experiencing the issue, and let us know if you see any reoccurrence.