First-run setup: pages and shortcodes

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NiroHelp needs a few WordPress pages to drive its public side. To save you the
work, the plugin creates them for you on activation and selects them in
settings automatically. You only need to step in if you want different titles,
slugs or layouts.

What gets created on activation #

On first activation NiroHelp creates these pages and selects them in
NiroHelp → Settings:

Page Shortcode Where it is selected
Docs [nirohelp_docs] Documentation → Pages → Docs archive page
My Tickets [nirohelp_tickets] Tickets → Pages → My Tickets page
Submit a Ticket [nirohelp_new_ticket] Tickets → Pages → New Ticket page

All three are published pages with comments and pingbacks closed. They are
created whichever modules you have on, so a docs-only site still gets the two
ticket pages — delete them if you do not want them.

The installer never duplicates work:

  • If a setting already points at a live page, it is left alone.
  • If a page already exists containing the matching shortcode, that page is
    adopted instead of a second one being created.

So deactivating and reactivating, or installing on a site you had already set
up by hand, will not leave you with duplicate pages.

The other three shortcodes #

Three more shortcodes exist that the installer does not create a page for:

Shortcode What it renders
[nirohelp_login_form] The login form on its own. It is already shown inside the My Tickets and Submit a Ticket pages for logged-out visitors, so a page of its own is optional.
[nirohelp_all_tickets] The full ticket queue, for agents who work from the front end. Select the page under Tickets → Pages → All Tickets page if you use it.
[nirohelp_code] A syntax-highlighted code block, used inside a doc rather than on a page of its own. See Code blocks and images.

Renaming or replacing the auto-created pages #

These are ordinary WordPress pages. You can:

  • Rename them — Documentation instead of Docs, say — under Pages.
  • Change their slug, parent or template like any other page.
  • Replace them entirely: make your own page containing the relevant shortcode,
    then pick it again in NiroHelp → Settings under Documentation or
    Tickets.

These settings do two jobs beyond pointing at a page. Notification emails build
their links from them, and the docs page’s slug becomes the first part of
every doc address
. Renaming that page’s slug from docs to help moves your
whole knowledge base — see Doc URLs.

Add the pages to your menu #

Most themes have an Appearance → Menus screen. Add the new pages to your
main menu so visitors can find them.

What if a page is not selected? #

The plugin still works, but ticket emails fall back to your home page when they
need to send a client to their ticket, and doc addresses fall back to the
default. Make sure the docs page and both ticket pages are selected once you
start using the matching module.

If you move a selected page to the trash, the next activation notices and
creates or adopts a replacement.

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