Set Up Recurring Import

Make an import that comes from some other data source and regularly updates your WP installation.

A recurring import can be a great way to sync some external database or data source with your WP installation. That way, you can style things the way you want through Mapster, have popups open and managed there, but still have your core geographic data updated however often you like.

Here's a walkthrough on getting it working.

Get Familiar with the CSV Format for Mapster

The CSV format is quite deep. You can see a sample spreadsheet here . The first tab of this spreadsheet explains a little bit about the format, and the second page is the actual example. The best way to understand this is to look at the sample spreadsheet and see which values you need to enter.

For example, say I had a list of points and wanted to simply add those points and titles. The only fields I would need are:

• spreadsheet_id (a unique ID that you choose for each point. This allows the program to overwrite the point when importing again, instead of just making a new point)

• post_title

• lat

• lng

That's it for a really basic import! Let's say you wanted to add something into the content area of the popup. You would add a column with this header:

• mapster_popup_popup_body_text

How did I find this? Well, in the Import section of the Mapster plugin (Maps > Settings, then click Import, then Live CSV) you can see a button that says "See all Mapster property fields".

If you click on this, you'll download a CSV file. If you open this, you can see ALL the available fields that you can set as column names. There are also some hints as to the kind of value you can put in them — some are numbers, some are strings, etc. This gets complex but for most fields, it should be fairly easy to figure it out.

Do your first import

Next, you need to create some way to get your data from whatever source you're using into Google Sheets. We need to use Google Sheets for recurring imports that happen automatically, because they are hosted online and therefore are always available.

This might involve some more complex stuff, or just copy-pasting values, depending on your workflow. But once you have a Google Sheet, you have to make it public and get the right URL.

To get the URL from your Google Sheet, you must go to File > Share > Publish to Web. Select "Comma-separate values (CSV)" from the dropdown under "Link" (by default, this says "Web Page"). Press Publish and you will recieve a URL.

Once you have that URL, enter it into the Enter URL input in the Import section and see if Mapster gives you any warnings. If not, give it a try!

See if your shapes imported. If not, try to see where the error might be, or get in touch with us for help.

Make the Import Recurring

Next up, after you're verified that your format works, you can set up a recurring import to happen every X number of minutes, hours, or days automatically.

This is controlled by WP Cron, a Cron system inside Wordpress that runs tasks on a regular basis. By default, there aren't a lot of options for the timing of the Cron jobs.

However, we'd recommend installing WP Crontrol, a pretty straightforward plugin that lets you set your own cron job intervals. Once you've set it up, they'll all appear in the dropdown after you paste a particular CSV file.

Just select the one you want, hit Create Recurring Import, and you're all set!