Install Admin Reviews Support - Dashboard Installer

Link: https://support.brilliantdirectories.com/support/solutions/articles/12000109078

The Install New Updates module on the admin dashboard lists one-time platform installers that still have pending steps on the site. Clicking the green Check For Updates button refreshes the list — an installer only appears when the site actually has something left to install, and it disappears from the list once its steps are complete.

What Install Admin Reviews Support Does

This installer prepares the database and review form so the site can use the newer member reviews module. It runs six steps that add a tracking column, wire up the ratings field, tidy the admin review layout, and label the existing reviews so they belong to the new form. It changes structure and settings, it does not delete the reviews.

The six steps do the following:

  • Review form tag column: adds a formname column (varchar) to the users_reviews table so each review can record which form it came from.
  • Overall rating field: if the site has a customized member_review form, it adds a rating_overall field to the form_fields table for that form, backed by the [widget=Bootstrap Theme - Admin - Return Overall Rating] widget, and shifts the other fields down one position to make room. If the site is still using the platform master review form, this step is skipped.
  • Hide the write-a-review label in admin: for the field at position 2 on the member_review form, it turns off the email, search, and grid views so that label stops showing inside the admin reviews module.
  • Hide the rating options in admin: for the [widget=Bootstrap Theme - Form - Display Rating Options] field (field type Custom), it turns off the email, search, and grid views so the rating options are hidden in the admin reviews module.
  • Migrate existing reviews: any row in users_reviews that has no formname value is set to member_review, so the existing reviews are attached to the new form.
  • Ratings field name update: renames the field_name of the display rating options field to ratings in the form_fields table.

Why It Appears

The installer runs six status checks against the database and form configuration, and it appears whenever at least one of them still has work to do. In plain terms, it shows up when the formname column is missing from users_reviews, when a customized member_review form is missing the rating_overall field, when the write-a-review label or the rating options are still visible in the admin reviews module, when the site has reviews whose formname is empty, or when the display rating options field has not yet been renamed to ratings.

These are legacy conditions from before the newer reviews module became standard. Seeing the installer does not mean anything is broken, it means the review setup predates one or more of these updates.

Why It Matters

Running the installer lets the site use the newer member reviews module the way it is designed to work: reviews are tagged to the right form, the overall rating field is in place, and the admin reviews module is not cluttered by fields meant only for the front end. The reviews migration is the practical piece, it labels the existing reviews so they continue to appear under the new form instead of being left untagged. Skipping the installer leaves the reviews on the older structure, and features built for the new module may not behave as expected.

How to Run It

  1. From the admin dashboard, find the Install New Updates module and click Check For Updates.
  2. If the site has pending steps, Install Admin Reviews Support appears in the list. Click Install.
  3. After it completes, click Check For Updates again. The entry disappears once all steps are done.

If Install Admin Reviews Support does not appear in the list, the website is already up to date. The module only shows installers with pending steps, so there is nothing to do.

After Running

The existing reviews keep their content and are now tagged to the member reviews form, the overall rating field is available on a customized review form, and the admin reviews module no longer shows the write-a-review label or the rating options fields. Nothing about the review content is removed.

Several of the steps re-check the database before making a change and only apply what is still pending, so the label-hiding, rating-options, and review-migration steps are safe if part of the update ran earlier. The column-add and field-rename steps run their change directly, so let the module decide when to offer the installer rather than forcing it. Click Check For Updates again and the entry disappears once all six checks pass.