wildcards?

Thanks for your questions.

Regarding “batch edit Menu Order“, you can sort the [mla_gallery] results by caption or by “excerpt”, the default field from which the caption is taken. Simply add orderby=caption or orderby=excerpt to your shortcode.

If you have some other reason for using Menu Order, you can use this approach:

1. Go to the Media/Assistant submenu
2. Filter your display by Tag. Click on a value in the Tags column or use the dropdown box at the top of the table.
3. Click on the “Caption” column header to sort the display by caption.
4. Use the Quick Edit rollover action to assign a menu order value to each of the items.

That is the best approach possible in the current MLA version. There is no automatic numbering feature that can do this in a more automated way.

Regarding “batch edit Description“, I regret that there is nothing in the current MLA version that supports this. There are ways to use other information such as the file name in the Bulk Edit area, but title and caption are not in the current list. You can see the complete list in the “Data sources for custom field mapping” section of the Settings/Media Library Assistant Documentation tab.

I will add these values and a few others in my next version, which is due out shortly. I will leave this topic unresolved for now and post an update when the next version is released. Thanks for your interest in the plugin, for your patience and for inspiring an improvement in the “data sources” feature.

Thank you for the additional explanation and detailed examples; very helpful.

I have enhanced the MLA Bulk Edit function to accomplish your goal. When the new version is released (soon), you can enter a Content Template in the Description text area like this one:

template:<br><span class="unique css class">[+post_title+]</span><br>([+post_excerpt+]|&nbsp;)<br>Manual entry here.<br>&nbsp;<br>

You can find more Content Template information in the Documentation tab. Note, for example, the ([+post_excerpt+]| ) element which fills in missing captions with a non-breaking space.

I will post an update and resolve this topic when the next version goes out.

I have released MLA v1.90, which contains the enhanced access to fields like post_title and post_excerpt. You can now try out the Content Template I outlined above in your Bulk Edit area.

Once you are happy with the template and results, you can go to the Settings/Media Library Assistant IPTC/EXIF tab and add the template to the EXIF/Template text box for the Description field. Then, you can simply click the “Map IPTC/EXIF Metadata” button in the Bulk Edit area to apply the rule (and any other rules you’ve defined). That’s easier than typing the template into the Bulk Edit Description field each time you want to run it.

I hope this gets you the results you need. I am marking this topic resolved, but please update it if you have any problems or further questions about Content Templates and mapping rules. Thanks for you interest in the plugin and for motivating an enhancement.