Arlo home

Installation

This article covers installing the plugin, connecting it to your Arlo platform, and checking that your first import worked.

Contents

Before you start

RequirementMinimum
PHP7.4
WordPress7.0
PHP memory limit64 MB, or unlimited
PHP maximum execution time30 seconds, or unlimited
PHP extensionscURL, and OpenSSL with AES-256-CBC and SHA-512 support

You also need an Arlo platform to connect to. The plugin checks these requirements itself and lists any that fail on the System requirements tab. While a requirement fails, importing is switched off.

The plugin gets your data by importing it from Arlo, and Arlo has to be able to reach your site to deliver it. If your site sits behind a firewall, a security plugin or a hosting gateway, read Fixing blocked callbacks before you connect, because that is the most common reason a first import fails. On shared hosting, also set up a cron job.

Install and activate

  1. In the WordPress admin, go to Plugins > Add New Plugin and search for Arlo Training Management Software. You can also download it from the WordPress Plugin Directory and upload the ZIP file. See WordPress's guide to managing plugins if you need more help.
  2. Choose Install Now, then Activate.

Activating the plugin creates its database tables and its pages, and adds an Arlo menu to the admin. It does not contact Arlo yet.

First-time setup

1. Publish the pages

The plugin creates a draft page for each of the Arlo page types, each with the right shortcode in it: Events, Upcoming events, Event search, Schedule, Online activities, Venues and Presenters. Each page's address is the address of that kind of page: /events/, /upcoming/, /eventsearch/, /schedule/, /oa/, /venues/ and /presenters/. Review each one and publish the ones you use. You do not have to use them all: leave a page you do not need as a draft and set its host page to (None). The exception is Events, Venues and Presenters: keep those published and mapped whenever you use event, venue or presenter pages, even if you do not use their lists. You can change a page's slug in WordPress and then choose Save Changes on the Arlo settings, and the address changes with it. A page that already exists with the same address is reused as it is. See Pages and routing.

2. Check the pages are assigned

Go to Arlo > Settings > Pages and check that each page type has the right Host page. Pages the plugin creates are assigned for you, but a page that already existed is not, so choose it here. The plugin checks each chosen page contains the matching shortcode and warns if it does not. See Host pages.

3. Connect your Arlo platform

  • Go to Arlo > Settings > General.
  • Enter your platform name, the part of your Arlo address before .arlo.co, in Arlo platform URL.
  • Choose Save Changes.

Saving checks that the platform exists, and starts your first import. Nothing is sent to Arlo before this. To try the plugin first, choose Test with demo data beside the field instead. It connects to a sample platform, and you can enter your own later.

4. Check the import

The first import can take several minutes. On the General tab, the Status row shows Connected and the last sync time when it has worked. Then open your Events page to see your data.

If the import does not finish

The most common cause is Arlo's callback being blocked by a firewall, security plugin or your host. See Fixing blocked callbacks. The log under Arlo > Logs shows where it stopped.

5. Make it yours

  • Choose a look on the Theme tab.
  • Edit the templates for each page on the Pages tab. Only users who can add raw HTML (the unfiltered_html capability) can edit them.
  • Add your own styles with WordPress's Additional CSS. See Custom CSS.

Database permissions

The plugin creates and changes its own tables, which are named with your WordPress table prefix followed by arlo_, for example wp_arlo_events. The WordPress database user needs permission to CREATE, ALTER and DROP those tables, as well as the usual SELECT, INSERT, UPDATE and DELETE. It needs them most during an upgrade, when the plugin may change the tables.

Next steps