Install Discussions Post Type: Install New Updates
Link: https://support.brilliantdirectories.com/support/solutions/articles/12000109031
The Install New Updates module on the admin dashboard lists one-time platform installers that have pending steps for your specific website. Click the green Check For Updates button to refresh the list — an installer only appears when your site actually has something left to install, and it disappears from the list once its steps are complete.
What Install Discussions Post Type Does
This installer adds the Discussions feature to your website and, along the way, brings your site's post type categories and comment storage up to the current platform structure. Discussions is a post type (a kind of content members can publish) designed for starting conversation threads that other members can reply to.
It performs up to five separate updates, and only the ones your site is missing:
- Adds a feature_categories column to the data_categories database table. This is where each post type stores its list of categories in the current system.
- Adds the Discussions post type itself, copying the platform's standard Discussions definition into your site's list of post types.
- Copies each existing post type's category list from the older storage location (a category field saved inside the post type's form) into the new feature_categories column, so your existing categories carry over unchanged.
- Updates older category dropdowns on posting forms (form fields named post_category or group_category) to the current widget-based selectors, the widgets named Bootstrap Theme - Form - Post Categories Select Controller and Bootstrap Theme - Form - Group Categories Select Controller.
- Creates the comments database table if it does not exist. This table stores the replies and comments members leave, including whether each one is active or waiting for approval.
Why It Appears
The installer appears when your site is missing any of the pieces above: the feature_categories column does not exist yet, the Discussions post type has not been installed (and there is no record of a previous install), one or more post types still keep their category lists in the older format, your posting forms still contain the older post_category or group_category dropdown fields, or the comments table is absent.
These are age-related conditions. Newer sites include all of this out of the box, so this installer mostly appears on sites created before the Discussions feature and the current categories system were rolled out. It does not indicate a problem with your site.
Why It Matters
Running it unlocks the Discussions post type so members can start discussion threads on your site. Just as importantly, it moves your existing post types onto the current categories system, which is what the platform's current posting forms and category selector widgets are built to read. Until it runs, the Discussions feature is unavailable and any older posting forms keep using the legacy category dropdown.
How to Run It
- From the admin dashboard, find the Install New Updates module and click Check For Updates.
- If your site has pending steps, Install Discussions Post Type appears in the list. Click Install.
- After it completes, click Check For Updates again — the entry disappears once all steps are done.
If Install Discussions Post Type does not appear in the list, your website is already up to date — the module only shows installers with pending steps, so there is nothing to do.
After Running
You should see an admin notification titled Discussion Installed confirming the post type was added, and Discussions will be listed among your site's post types in the admin area. Your existing categories should look the same as before, because the migration copies your current category options into the new location rather than replacing them. Posting forms that had the old category dropdown now render the current category selector widget in its place; the field is converted, not deleted, so open one of those forms and confirm the category list still shows your categories. Nothing customer-visible is removed by this installer.
