Settings Reference

This document is a reference for the Settings screen of the ADP Car Market Hub plugin (Car Market Hub → Settings). It explains every card on the page, what each field controls, and how the values are validated and stored.

When to use this document

Use this reference when you are configuring the plugin for the first time, when you need to look up what a specific option does, or when you are troubleshooting a behavior that depends on a setting.

Overview

The Settings screen is organized as a vertical stack of cards. Each card has its own Save Settings button, but submitting any of them saves the entire page. The page is divided into the following sections:

1. License and Activation (shown at the top of the page)
2. API Connection & General Settings
3. Default Pages & Shortcodes
4. SEO & Integrations
5. Frontend Features
6. Admin Features
7. Danger Zone

Requirements or prerequisites

• Access to Car Market Hub → Settings (requires the plugin's management capability).
• For the API connection: valid credentials issued by your data provider (AutoScout24 or a compatible integration endpoint). These are not provided by the plugin and must be obtained separately.
• For default pages: permission to create WordPress pages.

Step by step instructions

1. Open Car Market Hub → Settings.
2. Fill in the API Connection & General Settings card with the URL, Seller ID and credentials supplied by your provider, then choose the default currency.
3. Save and confirm there are no validation errors at the top of the screen.
4. Optionally enable Create default pages on save so the plugin creates the Cars, Compare and Favorites pages automatically. Otherwise, embed the corresponding shortcodes manually on pages of your choice.
5. Review the SEO & Integrations, Frontend Features and Admin Features cards and toggle on the capabilities you need.
6. Only enable items in the Danger Zone after reading the warnings carefully and creating a backup if appropriate.

Configuration reference

License and Activation

The License card is the first card on the Settings page. ADP Car Market Hub is a licensed product: the licence unlocks the premium areas (such as AI Assistant, Content Studio and Market Insights) and enables updates and support. The licence key is supplied by AD Promotion.

How licensing works, step by step:

1. Activate the licence. Paste the key supplied by AD Promotion into the License key field and click Activate. The plugin contacts the licensing service, validates the key against this site's domain, and stores it masked. If you ever re-enter a key, the button reads Re-activate.
2. Check the status at any time. Click Check license now to ask the licensing service for the latest state. The card then refreshes the Status (for example Active, Inactive, Suspended or Expired), the plan, the expiry/support dates and the included features. The same licence status is also shown as a KPI tile on the Dashboard and the Support screen, so you can see it without opening Settings.
3. See which functions are unlocked. When the licence is active, the card shows an Included features row listing the premium areas your licence covers (for example AI Assistant, Content Studio, Market Insights). Each premium screen also reflects this directly: if an area is included it shows its normal controls, and if it is not included it shows a "not included in this license" card instead.
4. Re-activate or remove. Use Re-activate after a plan change to pull the new entitlements, or Remove license to clear the stored key from this site (premium areas then lock again).

Most of this runs on its own in the background: the plugin re-checks the licence periodically and keeps the status current, so manual Check license now is mainly for confirming a change immediately.

When a key is active, the card also shows read-only details: Plan, Expires, Support until, Domain, Last checked, Reported version, the import limit and the list of Included features. The same licence status is also surfaced as a KPI on the Dashboard and the Support screen.

Premium areas that are not part of your licence show a "not included in this license" card on their own page instead of the normal controls (see AI Assistant Reference, Content Studio Reference and Market Insights Reference). Nothing is broken in that state — contact ADP Car Market Hub support to enable the area.

API Connection & General Settings

When credentials change, the plugin clears its cached access token and the cached API connection status so the next page load reflects the new configuration.

Default Pages & Shortcodes

The card also lists copy-ready shortcodes:

• [as24ci_archive] — vehicle listing.
• [as24ci_compare] — compare page.
• [as24ci_favorites] — favorites / wishlist page.
• [as24ci_archive make="BMW" price_max="40000" order_by="price" order="asc"] — pre-filtered listing example.

Supported [as24ci_archive] parameters as documented in the admin: make, model, price_min, price_max, fuel, body, order_by (price / mileage / date), order (asc / desc), per_page (12 / 24 / 48 / 72 / all).

SEO & Integrations

Frontend Features

The financing values are defaults pre-filled in the calculator on the frontend; visitors can adjust them if the calculator template allows it.

Admin Features

Danger Zone

Operational notes

• Each card has its own submit button, but every submit posts the full form. Saving any card persists every field on the page.
• API credentials are stored in the WordPress options table. Anyone with database or admin export access can read them; protect the site accordingly.
• Toggling the financing calculator on does not place it on the page by itself — placement is controlled in the Layout Manager.
• The REST API toggle controls only the public vehicle endpoints. Internal admin AJAX endpoints used by the plugin are not affected by this toggle.
• The "Create default pages on save" action only runs when the checkbox is checked at the moment you save. Unchecking it later does not delete previously created pages.

Troubleshooting

• "The API Base URL is not a valid URL" error. The value did not pass FILTER_VALIDATE_URL. Enter the full URL including the scheme (https://) and no extra characters. The previous value is kept until a valid URL is provided.
• Imports return 401 / 403 errors after saving credentials. Verify the Client ID, Client Secret and Seller ID with your provider. The token cache is cleared on save, so the next request uses the new values.
• Default pages were not created. The toggle only acts at save time. Ensure the toggle is checked when you click Save, and that the WordPress user has permission to create pages.
• Currency does not change in the frontend. The field stores a default. Per-vehicle currencies coming from the data provider may override the display depending on the active templates. Verify this behavior in the current plugin version before publishing.
• Financing calculator is enabled but not visible. Add the Financing Calculator block to one of the Single Vehicle zones in the Layout Manager. The Settings screen does not warn about placement; it only shows a static description that points to the Layout Manager. To avoid the calculator appearing twice, make sure it is added to only one Single Vehicle zone.

Related documents

• Admin Menu Overview
• Car Importer Reference
• Import And Limits Reference
• Layout Manager Reference
• Shortcodes And Widgets Reference