Upgrading Store Locator Plus

The base Store Locator Plus plugin and add ons are updated on a regular basis.  Often the updates include security and bug fixes or fundamental changes that are designed to improve performance by reducing the memory and/or disk request load when your visitors are interacting with the map.

The most common reason your legacy add on stopped working is because it is no longer supported with the latest version of Store Locator Plus  or vice versa

You may wish to choose to stay with your WPSLP Self Managed plugin and upgrade to the replacement bundled  add-ons or switch to  the managed MySLP.

Make sure you have a backup copy of the current version of SLP you have installed that IS working with your  add on packs. We ALWAYS recommend that your site uses VaultPress or JetPack

Whenever you update the base plugin make sure ALL of  your SLP add-on packs are updated to the latest version.

Legacy Locator Styles

locator stylesheets

With built-in custom CSS rules now standard for most WordPress themes, version 5.4+ of Store Locator Plus® has dropped legacy CSS styles. Up to version 5.4 users could place a CSS file in the Store Locator Plus® plugin CSS directory and then use the Settings | View | Plugin Style to select that CSS file in place of the default “A Gallery Style”.

Adding The Style With Experience Add On

Copy the CSS from one of the legacy CSS stylesheets listed below an paste it into the Settings | View | Custom CSS box. This requires the WordPress Experience Add on.

Adding The Style With WP Themes

Custom CSS support is built into WordPress core and themes only need to tell WordPress they support that option to enable the functionality. Many modern themes now include this option. Go to Appearance | Customize | Additonal CSS and paste the CSS there.

Legacy CSS Styles

MySLP Store Locator Plus® SaaS

Users of our MySLP SaaS offering don’t have to worry about this sort of thing. The built-in style gallery will suffice for most sites and those that need custom CSS can use the built-in CSS tools provided by platforms like Wix, Weebly, Squarespace, and more.

Store Locator Plus 4.8 and above updates will disable Legacy add-ons

Legacy Add-ons

The   auto-update of WordPress v 4.8.2 and above required a major update to the WP Store Locator Plus free base plug-in resulting in the end of compatibility with the popular Pro Pack , Tagalong and other Legacy add-ons.  The Legacy add-ons are no longer supported nor maintained and have been retired over the past two years as announced in news posts, blogs , changelogs, mail campaigns  and social media.  If you are not sure if your add-on is considered Legacy, see the FAQ comparison featured to Legacy add-ons

Time to invest in your future

Some of our customers were surprised by the change and retirement of the  Legacy Add-ons.  We tried to give as much of a heads up as possible using news blogs,  content news to the home site and reached out using a  Mail Chimp campaign for those most likely effected.   Ultimately, there is no sure fire method to reach the thousands of customers who may have had these older add-ons installed.  If there is one thing we know, change in the technical genre is inevitable.  The SLP support team will always endeavor to help our customers transition to the new age.  We pledge they will see real value-added from updating their site and software . Please take a moment to review the multiple benefits of utilizing the newer Experience add-onPower add-on.

Although downgrading to an earlier version of SLP is an option, you may note that changes to the WordPress code and their security patches may disable features. Before making any changes to your site you should ensure you are backing up your site WP database and files.  It is very important to take this step before you have issues or worse, site crashes.    WordPress security has become more robust over the years.

For more information please see this important message from the author:

Store locator Plus  updates and retired add-ons

 

Legacy Add-ons not compatible with SLP version 4.8 and higher

 Legacy Add-ons

If you want to keep the legacy add-ons, do not upgrade the base plug-in to version 4.7 or above.   All individual legacy add-ons have been phased out and replaced over the past 2  plus years due to security patches, coding changes, WP updates, maintenance overhead and inefficiencies that were no longer viable to support.  To find the match to your Legacy Add-ons,  see FAQ: Legacy versus featured add-on

Please follow the SLP news feeds for important information about updates.

Even if you received a notice in your WordPress admin panel that an update to your base plug-in is available, you do not need to click the update button.  All version updates to SLP are optional.  We do not auto-update like WordPress does.

If  you already updated (most likely if you are reading this) and now try to roll back SLP to earlier version to o retain the Legacy add-on compatibility.

Note:  Due to the security patches required by Word Press  you may also need to rollback WordPress.  Before attempting to roll back or downgrade WordPress or any plugins , make sure you have a recent back-up of your site.  Do not attempt this on a live site.

The SLP author does not recommend rolling back versions of any software or WP.   This is time consuming and messy, requires technical savvy,  and you will miss  important security patches.     If you are confident that you know what is entailed and are willing to take the risk;  it is still recommended to use a back-up service such as  Vault Press or Jet Pack. 

P.S. If you do not want the headache of maintaining back-ups , updating, obtaining a new Google API, you may want to consider moving over to a My SLP plan.   See  MYSLP SAAS