Installation
This page covers installing, activating, updating and removing Dantian Training Hub and the Pro add-on. It’s for the site administrator — the person who can install plugins on your WordPress site.
Requirements
| Requirement | Minimum |
|---|---|
| WordPress | 6.7 or later (tested up to 7.1) |
| PHP | 7.4 or later |
| Learning management system (LMS) | Optional — TutorLMS, LifterLMS, or none (standalone mode) |
| Multisite | Single-site installations. On a multisite network, activate the plugin per site; network activation isn’t supported. |
Recommended:
- An SMTP plugin (for example FluentSMTP), so reminder and summary emails are delivered reliably. See 10 — Email Notifications.
- A working scheduler. Automatic emails and nightly clean-up run on WordPress’s built-in scheduler (WP-Cron), which only runs when someone visits the site. On a quiet site, ask your host to trigger
wp-cron.phpfrom a real server cron job every few minutes.
Optional LMS add-ons unlock extra features:
| You have | You get |
|---|---|
| TutorLMS (free) | Course enrolments, lessons, quizzes |
| Tutor LMS Pro | All of the above, plus assignments (needed for the Pro assignment, extension and rubric features) |
| LifterLMS | Course enrolments, lessons, quizzes, and assignments where LifterLMS provides them |
| No LMS | Training Hub’s own Classes act as your courses — see 24 — Classes and Standalone Enrolment |
See 11 — LMS Integration for detail.
Installing the Free plugin
From the WordPress plugin directory:
- In your WordPress admin, go to Plugins → Add New Plugin.
- Search for Dantian Training Hub.
- Click Install Now, then Activate.
From a ZIP file (for example a download from the Dantian Studio store):
- Go to Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin.
- Choose the ZIP and click Install Now, then Activate Plugin.
Once it’s active, a Training Hub menu appears in the admin sidebar.
What happens on first activation
When you first activate it, the plugin:
- Creates its database tables (sessions, attendance, clinic rosters and allocations, recording claims and related data).
- Adds three capabilities that control access:
dthub_manage_tutorials(create sessions and mark attendance),dthub_manage_clinicsanddthub_view_reports. Administrators get all three. Your LMS’s instructor role gets session access by default — see 12 — Settings Reference and, for who can open which screen, 28 — Permissions, Privacy and Maintenance. - Creates two default locations, Online and In-Person.
- Turns no emails on. Every automatic email starts switched off.
Everything the plugin needs, including PDF generation, ships inside the plugin. Nothing extra is downloaded.
Next step
Go to Training Hub → Settings. The first tab, Getting Started, walks you through setup. A blue “Training Hub setup” notice also appears on other admin screens until the required steps are done. Continue with 02 — Quick Start.
Installing the Pro add-on
🔒 Pro add-on — Dantian Training Hub (Free) must be installed and active first.
- Download the Dantian Training Hub Pro ZIP from your purchase confirmation or your account on the Dantian Studio store.
- Go to Plugins → Add New Plugin → Upload Plugin, choose the ZIP, click Install Now, then Activate Plugin.
WordPress won’t let you activate Pro until the Free plugin is active. If Free is later deactivated, or is older than version 1.0.0, a red notice explains what to do and Pro’s features stay off until it’s fixed.
After activating Pro
A notice confirms “Dantian Training Hub Pro is active.” and lists the Pro modules. It asks you to do two things:
- Activate your module licences — Training Hub → Settings → Modules. Pro is sold as three separately licensed modules: Timetable Planner (20 — Timetable Planner), Rubric Grading Suite (21 — Rubric Grading and Feedback) and Progress Tracking & Analytics (13 — Analytics Dashboard, 14 — Action Plans). A module’s screens stay locked until its licence is active. See 29 — Licensing and Updates.
- Re-check Getting Started — Pro adds optional front-end pages (Trainer Hub, Trainer Workspace, Overdue Assignments, Trainer Action Plans, Student Action Plan) to the setup checklist. The Trainer Hub needs those pages set before its links work — see 23 — Trainer Hub and Assignment Workspaces.
The non-module Pro features — such as assignment due dates and extensions (15), scheduled reports (26), the attendance audit trail (17), ICS calendar feeds (16), CSV session import (18) and secure file storage (27) — work as soon as Pro is active.
If you deactivate Pro, the Free plugin keeps working. Reactivating Pro brings its features back with your data intact.
Updating
How the Free plugin updates depends on where you installed it from:
| Installed from | How updates arrive |
|---|---|
| The WordPress plugin directory | Through Dashboard → Updates and the Plugins screen, like any other plugin. |
| The Dantian Studio store download | Through the store’s update channel. When a new version is out, the usual “update available” notice appears on the Plugins screen and you click Update now. A Check Update link under the plugin’s row checks straight away instead of waiting for WordPress’s regular check (which is cached for up to 3 hours). |
Either way, you update from the Plugins screen as normal. Both channels deliver the same plugin.
Pro updates come only from the Dantian Studio store. They’re switched on once at least one Pro module has a licence key entered on Settings → Modules. With no key entered, no Pro updates are offered. Update notices then appear on the Plugins screen as usual, with the same Check Update link. See 29 — Licensing and Updates.
Back up your site before major updates. Updating doesn’t change your settings or data.
Deactivating
Deactivating the plugin (Plugins → Deactivate) hides the Training Hub menu and stops its scheduled jobs. No data is deleted. When you reactivate it, everything is as you left it, and scheduled emails you’d turned on are set up again automatically.
Uninstalling
Uninstalling means clicking Delete on the Plugins screen after deactivating. What happens depends on one setting.
Free plugin
Training Hub → Settings → Access & Privacy → Uninstall Behaviour → Delete all plugin data on uninstall (default off).
| Setting | What happens when you click Delete |
|---|---|
| Off (default) | Only the plugin files are removed. Every table, setting, capability and record stays in the database. You can reinstall later and carry on where you left off. |
| On | A one-way wipe. All Training Hub database tables are dropped (sessions, attendance, clinic rosters, allocations, cancellations, recording claims, classes and class members, scheduled enrolments, locations, the email log). All Training Hub settings and email templates are deleted. The three Training Hub capabilities are removed from every role. All Training Hub scheduled jobs are cancelled. Stored competency results are deleted from user profiles. |
If Pro is still installed when you delete Free with this setting on, Pro’s own tables and settings are left alone — Pro’s uninstall manages those. A stored secure-files location setting is always kept.
Warning: there is no undo. Export anything you need first — see 09 — Attendance Export.
To remove just one course’s data while keeping the plugin, use Settings → Access & Privacy → Purge Course Data instead — see 28 — Permissions, Privacy and Maintenance.
Pro add-on
🔒 Pro feature
Always removed when you delete Pro, whatever your settings:
- This site’s licence activation data. Your licence keys stay valid in your store account and can be activated again if you reinstall.
- The Google Drive connection — access is revoked and the stored credential deleted.
- Pro’s scheduled licence-check, backup and archive jobs.
Removed only if you opt in — Training Hub → Settings → Access & Privacy → Pro Data Removal on Uninstall → “Permanently delete all Pro data when the Pro plugin is uninstalled” (default off):
- All Pro database tables (action plans, assessment quizzes, extensions, extension requests, the attendance audit log, authenticity declarations, rubric data, activity data, records-archive indexes).
- All Pro settings and Pro user data, such as ICS calendar tokens.
Never removed by uninstall: secure files (submitted coursework, clinical evidence, rubric feedback) and anything already copied to your Google Drive. These may be the only surviving copy of important records, so remove them separately if you need to. Before removing Pro for good, read 27 — Secure Files and Records Archive — it explains how to restore secured files to normal storage first.
Free plugin data is never touched by Pro’s uninstall.
Troubleshooting
- “This add-on requires the free Dantian Training Hub plugin to be installed and activated.” Install and activate the Free plugin first, then Pro.
- “This add-on requires Dantian Training Hub version 1.0.0 or higher.” Update the Free plugin.
- No update appears for a store-installed plugin. Click Check Update under the plugin’s row on the Plugins screen. For Pro, make sure at least one module licence is active on Settings → Modules.
- I deleted the plugin and my data is still there. That’s the default (safe) behaviour. Reinstall, turn on Delete all plugin data on uninstall, save, then delete again.