In this article, we offer a detailed way to check for plugin and theme conflicts with Business Directory (BD). Not all plugins are as well written as they should be and conflicts arise when developers fail to follow the WP standards on plugin APIs and such. So if you're seeing a weird issue with BD, the first thing you should check is whether a plugin conflict is causing it or not.
NOTE: Some themes don't persist all their settings when you deactivate them (this is BAD behavior by a theme, not a problem caused by us…). Make sure you either keep track of where your widgets were or you have a reliable backup to ensure that you don't lose any settings.
Plugins don't generally have this issue, but not all plugins are well-written. BD will ALWAYS preserve its settings and data if you deactivate it.
Plugin Conflict Check
This is a temporary check to find out if any other plugin is interfering with BD's functionality. It's not intended as a fix, only as a way to find out what the cause of the problem is.
- deactivate all plugins except Business Directory Plugin (deactivate add-ons too)
- remove all custom code, including PHP and Javascript
- switch to the default 2020 theme
- update Business Directory Plugin to the current version, if it isn't already
- update WordPress to the current version, if it isn't already
- clear all caching on your site and in your browser (check with your host, as they sometimes also cache your site)
- if you use a service like CloudFlare, put it in developer mode while testing
If the issue doesn't show up under these circumstances, you can add each item back in, one at a time, and test after adding each one until you find the culprit.
Use a staging site
If this is a live site, you can do the test on a copy of the site (a staging site), instead. If you put the staging site on staging.yoursite.com or dev.yoursite.com, you won't need an extra license for it.
Some hosts have an easy way to create a staging site. If yours doesn't, you can copy your site using free plugins like All in One WP Migration or Duplicator or any other plugin or system you like. Your host may be willing to create a staging site for you if you ask.
It's important to understand if a theme or plugin conflict is happening since every plugin and theme can be a little bit different. For theme problems, we will likely refer you to the theme developer or perhaps offer a simple fix (if we know of it). Plugin problems may be resolved if you recently updated to a new version by downgrading to the last good version you were using.
In general, we can't really fix issues with other plugins if they are doing something that violates WordPress standards. We will do our best to help, but if we find this to be the case, you'll need to get in touch with the plugin or theme developer and ask them to fix it.