[Resolved] Best practice for switching GP child themes

[Henry Bowman]

We are using the default 0.1 child theme for generate press and want to switch to the statement child theme. We have a number of tracking and conversion code and some shipping snips listed on the current theme. What is the normal process to keep these mods with the statement child theme?

[Tom]

Hi there,

You would probably be better off just using the Statement design in your current theme. You can copy the look identically pretty quickly in the Customizer.

Otherwise, you would need to make a copy of any CSS/PHP in your current child theme, and re-add it in the Statement child theme. Then you would want to rename it, so it doesn’t get any future updates and lose your code.

Let me know if you need more info 🙂

[Henry Bowman]

The Statement Design seemed to have a lot more going on than the old child theme, which is why we wanted to switch. We just tried copying over the code to the functions file, and that did not work…at all. The statement functions file has a ton more going on and we must be pasting it incorrectly.

So question 1: how do you copy the snip-its to the statement functions file?
and 2 you mentioned making a renamed copy of the child theme to save the mods, how do you do that?

[Henry Bowman]

One other question, on our active site the GP premium version in the plugin section is listed as version 1.1. On the Generate Press page it is listed as 1.4 We want to upgrade the GP to 1.4.3 but there is no upgrade option listed in the plug in’s section.
We figured doing this first before messing around with the child theme might be best as most of the functions we are looking for are not in the storefront child theme, but the main GP version itself.

[Tom]

The way that child themes work is they set default options. If you already have saved options in the Customizer, the child theme won’t work.

In theory, copying over the contents of the functions.php file would work. The trouble is you would have to reset your Customizer settings for those functions to work. If you’re ok with doing that, then that’s your best bet.

As for updating GPP, this should help: https://docs.generatepress.com/article/updating-gp-premium/

Let me know 🙂

[Henry Bowman]

We used the recommended plug in to upgrade to version 1.4.3 That went perfectly. It is now registered and able to be updated.
Right now we have the same child theme we have been using: “GeneratePress ChildVersion: 0.1” The only 2 modifications made are in the Functions.php file for google conversion tracking and a shipping check out mod so the lowest price is checked first.
Our goal now is to switch the child theme to the “StatementVersion: 0.5” because we really love the look and features for navigation that will work great with the store. SO here are my three qustions at this point:

1) If we export all our setting from the customizer, then switch to statement child theme, can we then upload the setting back into customizer?
2) How can we then add these two snip-its to the new statement 0.5 child theme?
3) How do we copy and rename a child theme so as to save the mods during the next update?

[Tom]

1. Unfortunately not – that’s not the way child themes work. Statement sets defaults when no options are set. If you upload your old options, they will overwrite the Statement defaults, and your site won’t look like Statement anymore.

2. You can use this plugin to add PHP snippets: https://en-ca.wordpress.org/plugins/code-snippets/

3. Simply re-name the folder in the wp-content/themes folder to something other than statement.

You’re way better off just duplicating the look of the menu on your current site. It’s only a couple color changes in Colors > Primary Navigation – Statement itself is a very simple child theme with very few changes from the default theme.

[Author]

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