README

Elemental block for SilverStripe 5 to import and display Google Reviews using the Google Places API v1.

Features

• Imports Google Reviews automatically via a CronTask
• Displays reviews in a configurable Elemental block
• Controls for minimum star rating, newest/highest order, and result limit
• SiteConfig fields for API key, Place ID, language, and rating filter

Requirements

• silverstripe/framework ^5
• dnadesign/silverstripe-elemental ^5
• silverstripe/crontask ^3

Installation

composer require anytech/silverstripe-google-reviews

Rebuild and flush: vendor/bin/sake dev/build flush=all

Configuration

Already included _config/anytech-googlereviews.yml:

---
Name: anytech-googlereviews
After:
  - '#coreconfig'
  - '#elementalconfig'
---
SilverStripe\SiteConfig\SiteConfig:
  extensions:
    - anytech\googlereviews\Extensions\SiteConfigGoogleReviewsExtension

SilverStripe\Dev\CronTask\CronTaskController:
  tasks:
    - anytech\googlereviews\Tasks\GoogleReviewsSyncTask

SilverStripe\Core\Injector\Injector:
  Psr\SimpleCache\CacheInterface.appGoogleReviews:
    factory: SilverStripe\Core\Cache\CacheFactory
    constructor:
      namespace: "appGoogleReviews"

Setup

1. In CMS, go to Settings → Google Reviews.
2. Enter:
   • Places API Key
   • Place ID
   • Language (e.g. en, en-CA)
   • Optional: Minimum rating to import
3. Enable Places API (New) in Google Cloud:
   https://console.developers.google.com/apis/api/places.googleapis.com/overview

Cron Sync

Task class: anytech\googlereviews\Tasks\GoogleReviewsSyncTask

Run manually: vendor/bin/sake dev/tasks/GoogleReviewsSyncTask

Elemental Block

Class: anytech\googlereviews\Elements\GoogleReview

CMS Options

• Max reviews to show
• Minimum stars
• Order: Newest / Highest Rated
• Show avatar
• Show relative time

Template

Create themes/<yourtheme>/templates/GoogleReviews.ss:

<% if $ShowTitle %>

$Title

<% end_if %> <% loop $Reviews %> <% if $Top.ShowAvatar && $AuthorPhotoURL %> <% end_if %>

      <div class="meta">
        <strong class="author">
          <% if $AuthorURL %>
            <a href="$AuthorURL" rel="nofollow noopener" target="_blank">$AuthorName</a>
          <% else %>
            $AuthorName
          <% end_if %>
        </strong>

        <% if $Top.ShowRelativeTime && $RelativeTime %>
          <span class="when">$RelativeTime</span>
        <% end_if %>

        <span class="stars" aria-label="Rating $Rating out of 5">
          <% if $Rating >= 1 %>★<% end_if %>
          <% if $Rating >= 2 %>★<% end_if %>
          <% if $Rating >= 3 %>★<% end_if %>
          <% if $Rating >= 4 %>★<% end_if %>
          <% if $Rating >= 5 %>★<% end_if %>

          <% if $Rating < 5 %>
            <% if $Rating < 5 %><% if $Rating < 4 %><% if $Rating < 3 %><% if $Rating < 2 %><% if $Rating < 1 %><% end_if %><% end_if %><% end_if %><% end_if %><% end_if %>
          <% end_if %>
        </span>
      </div>
    </header>

    <p class="text">$Text.XML</p>
  </article>
<% end_loop %>

Optional CSS:

• client/css/google-reviews.css (exposed via extra.expose)

Error Handling

If Google returns an error JSON block, the sync task echoes the code, status, and message for debugging. Example:

{
  "error": {
    "code": 403,
    "status": "PERMISSION_DENIED",
    "message": "Places API (New) has not been used in this project or it is disabled…"
  }
}

Fix by enabling the API and retrying after propagation.

Directory Structure

src/
  Elements/
    GoogleReview.php
  Extensions/
    SiteConfigGoogleReviewsExtension.php
  Models/
    GoogleReview.php
  Tasks/
    GoogleReviewsSyncTask.php
client/
  css/
    google-reviews.css
_config/
  anytech-googlereviews.yml
composer.json
README.md

License

MIT License — © Kayne Middleton

MIT summary

• Permissive. Use, modify, distribute, and sublicense commercially.
• Must keep copyright and license notice.
• Provided “as is,” no warranty or liability.