How To View and Test Constellation Client Portal Pages and Lists as a User

Testing Client Portal Lists Filters and Exclusions

Understanding how to view Constellation Client Portal pages as a user (a non-WordPress Admin user) is essential for verifying that your shortcode/list settings, as well as any filters or exclusions that you may have implemented, work as you intend.

It is also a best practice to test pages and lists as a user (a non-WordPress Admin user) whenever you make changes to lists, exclusions, and filters.

View Standard Client Pages as a User

As a WordPress admin (a user assigned the role of “administrator”) you can view any client page that is assigned to a specific company (a non-global client page) by opening and viewing the page normally.

However, WordPress admin users bypass exclusion rules, so in order to verify that your lists and filters are working as you intend, it is necessary to test with a non-admin WordPress user account.

The easiest way to do this is by creating a test WordPress user account that you will use to sign in and test your client pages, shortcodes/lists, and filters. Use the following steps to view and test client pages as a non-admin user.

Create a Test WordPress User Account

1. Create a test WordPress user account and assign an appropriate role for testing (example: “subscriber” or another role that is pertinent to your operation).
2. Assign the user to the company that is associated with the client page that you would like to test.
3. Log into WordPress as the new test user, and navigate to the client page to test.
4. You can now test your shortcodes/lists, filters, and exclusions while logged in as the test user.

View Global Client Pages as a User

Global client pages display content based on the primary company that the user is assigned to. To quickly check the content and behavior of a client page as an administrator you can assign a primary company within your WordPress user profile, then open the global client page that you would like to check. This method will provide a basic view of content that users assigned to the same company that you assigned yourself to will see. However, since WordPress administrators bypass most client portal page and list filters, it is necessary to create a test user account to accurately test your shortcode/list settings, filters, and/or exclusions.

Test Global Client Page as a Non-Admin User

1. Create a test WordPress user account and assign an appropriate role for testing (example: “subscriber” or another role that is pertinent to your operation).
2. Assign the user to a company whose content you would like to test on the global client page.
3. Log into WordPress as the new test user, and navigate to the client page to test.
4. You can now test your shortcodes/lists, filters, and exclusions while logged in as the test user.

Test Filters and Exclusions

When applying filters and exclusions for lists, pages, and posts it is important to test these by using a non-admin WordPress account. This will ensure that your filters and and exclusions work as expected. This can be done as follows.

1. Create a test WordPress user account and assign an appropriate role for testing (example: “subscriber” or another role that is pertinent to your operation).
2. Assign the user to a company whose content you would like to test on a client page.
3. Assign the new test user (or test user role) to an exclusion filter or filter(s) that you would like to test (example exclusion filters: category excluded users (or roles), client page excluded users (or roles), file or invoice post excluded users (or roles), global file excluded companies, etc.).
4. Once you have added the test user account to the exclusion filters that you would like to check, log into WordPress as the new test user, and navigate to the client page (or file/invoice post) to test.
5. You can now test your shortcodes/lists, filters, and exclusions while logged in as the test user.

Conclusion

Using the above methods to test your shortcode/list settings, filters, and exclusions is a best practice, and should be done anytime a new list or page is implemented, and whenever a change is made to list, exclusion, or filter settings. This will ensure that your access controls work as you intend.