If you have discovered that your IDX plugin/widgets do not perform the way they are supposed to, it could be an issue with something called "Minification".
An example of this would be a map showing as a grey box (like the image below), your search bar widget buttons not responding to being clicked or your plugin generally looking 'out of whack' and has pushed all of your Showcase IDX data over to the left of the screen, and it's all jumbled.
Click the image to see multiple examples!
These are visual tell-tale signs of an issue with minification, but it is important to verify that this is the issue by reviewing the errors.
Check for Errors
In your browser, load your website and right-click somewhere on your website page. Then select the Inspect option.
You will then notice your browser will have a sub-screen that pops up with several tabs. Usually, the Elements tab will be open, but you will want to click the Console option to review any error messages
Most commonly, you might see the following error message "Uncaught (in promise) Invariant Violation: Minified React Error" when reviewing the console.
Alternatively, you may also see this error message "Uncaught SyntaxError: Invalid regular expression: missing", which is a little more inconspicuous but still points to the same issue.
Troubleshooting
Caching Plugins
Depending on the plugin you are using (either Caching plugins like WP Rocket, WP Fastest Cache, or optimize plugins like Autoptimize, SG Optimize, WP Rocket, etc.), they will often have Minify settings for CSS, HTML, and JavaScript (JS).
We suggest turning off at least the Minify JS settings and purging the cache. This will fix the issue 99% of the time.
If you intend on using these settings, check to see if your plugin gives you the option to exclude URLs or certain pages from having those settings applied to them. You could then try to exclude the main search page or specific plugins from those settings.
Hosting
There may also be similar settings at the host level. We often see this when they are using Cloudflare. We are compatible with Cloudflare if you choose to use it, but again, we suggest being careful with how you configure the settings in regards to minification. Some folks use Cloudflare just for their DNS and then rely on a combination of other solutions for caching and minify.
Do not use Rocket Loader.
Themes
Another place that could have these settings would be within your theme. It's very rare to see this in a theme but it does happen. If you check your theme has Performance Settings, they are likely of a similar name as those found in caching plugins as mentioned above. Turn them off and purge the cache. If the theme doesn't have an option to disable minify, we absolutely suggest switching themes to test this out as Showcase IDX might not be compatible with their minification. You can switch to a basic, free WordPress theme as a test. It might also mean reaching out to the theme's support to check if they do any in-house caching or minifying if it's not clear in the settings. A theme that does this is the Salient theme. Showcase IDX does not work with Salient theme.
Theme Element
If none of the above apply to your website setup, it could be an issue with the element used with your website builder. For example, when using a site builder like Elementor or Divi, they will give you options to use a code or text element. Typically, the shortcodes render best in a text element but, depending on the builder, they may render best in a code element. If you're getting the same error, try the opposite element and see if that fixes things.
Caching & Optimization
Most people use caching or optimization plugins to help boost their performance and speed up their sites. This is a great thing to do, especiallyif you have a static website that doesn't change often. Since Showcase IDX is a dynamic plugin that is ever-changing as listings come and go and get updated, caching or using minify on top of our minification can often time cause the plugin to break if not configured properly.
If after troubleshooting and you're still not sure what is causing the issue, you can always email help@showcaseidx.com. Please provide your WordPress login so we can have a look!