Testimonials Pro – BNE Creative Docs

Installation

You can install BNE Testimonials Pro two ways, either FTP to your server and upload the bne-testimonials-pro folder to /wp-content/plugins/ OR you can install/upload the zip file, “bne-testimonials-pro.zip” included within the main file you downloaded.

upload
Uploading/Installing via WordPress:

Go To Plugins > Add New
Click on Upload
Click “Choose File” and drag “bne-testimonials-pro.zip” (This file may be inside your downloaded zip file).
Active BNE Testimonials Pro
After you have installed and activated BNE Testimonials Pro, a new option will be added under the admin menu labeled "Testimonials".

Upgrading to Pro:

After uploading the pro version of the plugin as outlined above (steps 1-3), first deactivate/delete the free version which will be labeled as "BNE Testimonials". All existing testimonial data will remain. At this moment, you can safely activate the pro version.

Adding New Testimonials

Testimonials are created manually via the WP admin, or by using the front end submit form.

When adding a testimonial manually using the WP Admin, you will find that it uses the familiar WordPress interface that you're accustomed to with Post and Pages. The name of the reviewer would be the post title followed by their message. The Tagline, Website URL, Rating, and thumbnail are optional fields.

Post Name: (required) The Reviewer's Name
Visual Editor: (required) The message of the reviewer. This accepts all formatting and HTML styles available from your theme. Theme Shortcodes can also be used.
Tagline: Typically used to identify the reviewer or could be used as a company name, slogan, etc. When a URL is used, this becomes the text used for the link.
Website URL: If added, the Tagline above will link to this page. If no tagline is used, then the URL will be shown and linked.
Rating: Based on a rating scale of 0 to 5. No Rating (0) will not display the star icons.
Testimonial Thumbnail: The "featured image" of this testimonial. Typically a photo of the reviewer but could be any image type such as the company logo, etc. if using the Thumbnail Slider layout, this would be required.
Categories: Categories are used as a custom taxonomy to separate your testimonials into groups. Each group can be displayed individually or combined using the shortcode. Categories could also be used for if related to products or areas of your website where you will be displaying them. Individual testimonials can be members of multiple categories.

Available Shortcodes

All available shortcode options are found in the Help page within the testimonial admin menu. Below is a list of available shortcodes and their use description.

[bne_testimonials] - The main display shortcode. Defaults to the list layout and default theme. This will show all published testimonials regardless of category.
[bne_testimonials_badge] - A styled banner of the aggregate rating of all published testimonials. Can be category based. The rating and total values are automatically calculated for you unless set in the shortcode options. Can tap into the API.
[bne_testimonials_stats] - Similar to the badge, but displays the aggregate of published testimonials with reviews using a bar graph or 3 face icons (good, meh, poor).
[bne_testimonials_form] - The frontend form used to collect testimonials outside the WordPress Admin.
[bne_testimonials_api] - Allows displaying testimonials from external sources such as another WordPress website (RestAPI), Yelp, Google, Yellow Pages, and Facebook. The Testimonials API is open to developers to extend to other sources can be incorporated at the developer level.

Profile Image Styles

There are 4 different image styles to use when displaying your testimonials.

Square

John WayneActor

Integer posuere erat a ante venenatis dapibus posuere velit aliquet. Aenean eu leo quam. Pellentesque ornare sem lacinia quam venenatis vestibulum. Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

[bne_testimonials image_style="square"]

Circle

John WayneActor

[bne_testimonials image_style="circle"]

Flat Square

John WayneActor

[bne_testimonials image_style="flat-square"]

Flat Circle

John WayneActor

[bne_testimonials image_style="flat-circle"]

Alignment Options

There are 3 different alignments to use when displaying your testimonials.

Left (default)

John WayneActor

[bne_testimonials alignment="left"]

Center

John WayneActor

[bne_testimonials alignment="center"]

Right

John WayneActor

[bne_testimonials alignment="right"]

Arrangement Options

There are 2 different arrangement to use when displaying your testimonials. An arrangement is the order of the display either author info then message or message then author info.

Author then Message (default)

John WayneActor

[bne_testimonials arrangement="1"]

Message then Author Info (default)

John WayneActor

[bne_testimonials arrangement="2"]

Testimonials API

Starting with BNE Testimonials Pro v2.3, we introduced the Testimonials Rest API. With this API, you are able to display published testimonials on multiple WordPress websites from a single source. In addition, our API framework works with other social platforms - Facebook, Google Places, Yelp, and Yellow Pages. We've developed the API to also be extendable with various hooks and filters allowing you to further connect to other platforms.

We've developed the API to also be extendable with various hooks and filters allowing you or a developer to connect to other platforms beyond the four mentioned above. Do you have a request for an additional platform to include? Let us know and we'll look into adding it in a future release.

To enable the API, got to Testimonials > Settings

Here is an example of using the Rest API by querying the testimonials from BNE Creative.

infotainerdave

This is yet another great product from BNE, I bought the slide in plugin and was impressed so I thought I'd look at their other plugins and saw this- thought about it for a few months and then finally bought it. this is great and works amazingly- I use the google and facebook reviews and I can easily automate the 5 star reviews to my website, I have also created a form so they can easily add their testimonials to my site and they combine with the facebook and google reviews-you have seen the demo so thats exactly what you get on your site- wonderful and the shortcode generator allows to really create the perfect display.

Now I know someone you have stuffed around with the facebook API and that scares you- it scared me as well- this plugin has a very simply solution to this so you don't have to stuff around setting up the facebook api- you can let BNE do it for you in a matter of seconds. the google API is much easier- just read the documentation that you get with the plugin if you have trouble finding the google place ID number as its all in the documentation- theres not much to read but its straight forward for a non web guy like me. point click and copy and paste was all I really had to do to set up the API- no stuffing around- I had some questions and they were answere very fast so all in all- fantastic product to display your reviews on your website

Philippe Desvaux

Gees! What can I can say that would make you believe this review wasn't fake or made up. I spent a lot of money and time in getting refunds from 3 other plugins to achieve what I needed and each time the lack of support was heartbreaking to see. Then I found BNE Creative and gave them a go and paid for the Pro version, had a couple of issues with it which turned out to be from my theme's settings and the other was a setting I would have preferred within the form and in both instances BNE Creative, Kerry, not only fixed the issue but provided the code to achieve my goal/requested preference. These fixes and support weren't done/provided a week after I purchased the plugin, it was done with the need to constantly send emails for support and wonder if you're ever going to hear from them again after paying for it. It was all done within a 24hr period with instant replies and help. Kerry was amassing and I 100% recommend them your first port of call if you want to save time and money. Thank You, Kerry.

Nile Livingston

My expectations have been exceeded. I've been using this plugin for years now and not only does the plugin work very well, but Kerry has always given me great support and response time. I highly recommend using the BNE Testimonials plugin, it's super flexible and modern. Thanks again for the OUTSTANDING support!

The website you're looking at now (the support docs) is on a completely different URL than our main site, BNE Creative. To help reduce HTTP request, the results of the API are stored locally for 1 week (7 days).

The source site requires the API to be enabled. Any other WordPress website using the API does not need to have their API enabled as they are only querying the source. Note the "url" option is only used for the direct API BNE Testimonials to BNE Testimonials. The social network platforms will use the source and id options.

[bne_testimonials_api url="http://yourwebsite.com" limit="3"]

Facebook, Google Places, Yelp and Yellow Pages (YP)

Not only can you pull in reviews added with BNE Testimonials Pro, but starting with v2.4, you can also pull in reviews from Facebook, Google Places, Yelp and Yellow Pages (YP).

Yelp API Instructions Google API Instructions Facebook API Instructions Yellow Pages API Instructions

Add your own API Sources

The API is fully extendable and can retrieve reviews from other platforms. Information about how to extend the API can be found here: https://docs.bnecreative.com/articles/plugins/extending-the-testimonials-api/

Badges

The Badges are a great way to display an overall aggregated rating in a small area such as a sidebar or footer. Facebook, Google, and Yelp branding are available. If displaying published reviews, the average rating and total will be automatically calculated for you. Branded Badges require manual ratings and totals unless using the API.

Default Usage:

[bne_testimonials_badge]

Branded with manual Rating and Total:

[bne_testimonials_badge branding="yelp" rating="3.5" total="35"]

API version:

[bne_testimonials_badge api="true" source="yelp" id="Yelp_ID"]

Non "Fancy" Style

A simple and unstyled badge.

BBQ Grill

5 Stars - Based on 20 User Reviews

Target Express

3.6 Stars - Based on 456 User Reviews

Logo Works

4.5 Stars - Based on 18 User Reviews

Dental Arts of Covina

5 Stars - Based on 20 User Reviews

"Fancy" Style

A styled badge based on the providers colors with a raised hover effect

BBQ Grill

5 Stars - Based on 20 User Reviews

[bne_testimonials_badge fancy="true" heading="BBQ Grill" rating="5" branding="yelp" total="20" link="#"]

Target Express

3.6 Stars - Based on 456 User Reviews

[bne_testimonials_badge fancy="true" heading="Target Express" rating="3.6" branding="google" total="456" link="#"]

Logo Works

4.5 Stars - Based on 18 User Reviews

[bne_testimonials_badge fancy="true" rating="4.5" heading="Logo Works" branding="facebook" total="18" link="#"]

Dental Arts of Covina

5 Stars - Based on 20 User Reviews

[bne_testimonials_badge fancy="true" image="http://path_to_logo-1.png" heading="Dental Arts of Covina" rating="5" total="20" link="#"]

Custom Branding Style

Use any image, heading, rating, and message.

Dental Arts

5 Stars - Based on 20 User Reviews

Bird Magic

2 Stars - Based on 4 User Reviews

Recent Reviews

1.2 Stars - Based on 4 Lion Reviews

Filters, Hooks, and Customizations

BNE Testimonials Pro comes packed with a number of hooks that allows you to further customize, change, hack, expand the output of the list, slider, masonry, and form views.

If you need help with filters, please check the WP Codex.

Name	Type	Arguments	Description
bne_testimonials_setup_locals	filter	$locals	Adjust the field labels used in the admin and frontend form. Labels within the submission form can also be adjusted via the form shortcode.
bne_testimonials_name	filter	$output, $atts	$atts - pulls in shortcode arguments. Adjust how the testimonial name is displayed.
bne_testimonials_tagline	filter	$output, $atts	$atts - pulls in shortcode arguments. Adjust how the testimonial tagline is displayed. (not currently used in display)
bne_testimonials_website	filter	$output, $atts	$atts - pulls in shortcode arguments. Adjust how the testimonial website url is displayed. (not currently used in display)
bne_testimonials_tagline_and_website	filter	$output, $atts	$atts - pulls in shortcode arguments. Adjust how the testimonial tagline and website is displayed. These two fields are combined. If tagline only, then it is not set as a link.
bne_testimonials_before	filter		Add custom content before the testimonial group output.
bne_testimonials_after	filter		Add custom content after the testimonial group output.
bne_testimonials_single_before	filter		Add custom content before the individual testimonial output.
bne_testimonials_single_after	filter		Add custom content after the individual testimonial output.

The following are specific to the submission form.

Name	Type	Description
bne_testimonials_wp_from_email	filter	Depreciated @since v2.5 and replaced with an admin option. The email address used as the "From" entry in the email headers. Defaults to the site admin's email address. If you having deliverability issues of the notification, the From email address should be the same as the domain it's coming from. You may also need to use an email SMTP/transactional plugin.
bne_testimonials_form_above	filter	Add custom content before the testimonial form output.
bne_testimonials_form_below	filter	Add custom content after the testimonial form output.
bne_testimonials_form_submit_successful	action	Display additional content after a testimonial submission is successful.
bne_testimonials_form_submit_failed	action	Display additional content after a testimonial submission is failed.

The following are specific to the Testimonials API.

Name	Type	Arguments	Description
bne_testimonials_api_branding_assets	filter	array	Sets/adjust the branding assets (images, style) used for the regular display and badges from the API platforms. Should be an associative array with the array key being the name of the defined source.
bne_testimonials_api_fields	filter	array, $source	Used to define how the API response is assigned to each field area of the display.
bne_testimonials_api_source_args	filter	$api_data, $source, $id, $key	This allows customizing existing API's or adding custom API arguments to a request using the API shortcodes.
bne_testimonials_api_source_response	filter	$testimonials, $source, $api_response	This allows customizing the final response from the API request. In general, this makes it to where the correct data is assigned to the correct area of the shortcode output.
bne_testimonials_yelp_token	filter	array	Allows using a different Yelp client_id and client_secret keys to get a Yelp API Token. The token is cached for 30 days.
bne_testimonials_cache_length	filter	(int)	The length of time the transient cache is stored in the database. Default is 7 days (60 * 60 * 168)