Simple WP Shopping Cart Installation and Usage Instructions

WP Shopping Cart Installation

1. Unzip and Upload the folder “wordpress-paypal-shopping-cart” to the “/wp-content/plugins/” directory.
2. Activate the plugin through the “Plugins” menu in WordPress.
3. Go to Settings and configure the options (eg. your paypal email, Shopping Cart name, Return URL etc.)
4. Use the shortcode to add a product to a post or page where you want it to appear.

WP Shopping Cart Basic Usage

Step 1: To add the Add to Cart button simply insert the following shortcode to a post or page next to the product description:

[wp_cart_button name="PRODUCT-NAME" price="PRODUCT-PRICE"]

Replace PRODUCT-NAME and PRODUCT-PRICE with the actual name and price.

Here is an example usage of the shortcode:

[wp_cart_button name="Test Product" price="19.95"]

Step 2: To add the shopping cart to a post or page, insert the following shortcode to a post or page.

[show_wp_shopping_cart]

Using Blocks to Insert Add to Cart Buttons and Shopping Cart

You can also use blocks instead of shortcodes to insert the add to cart buttons and the shopping cart. Follow these guidelines if you wish to utilize the blocks provided by the simple shopping cart plugin.

Display a Product Box

Read the following documentation that explains how you can use a shortcode to display a nice product box for your product(s):

• How to display a product box

Using the Buttons and Cart From a template file

If you want to add a purchase button in your theme’s template file then do the following:

1. To add the Add to Cart button from template (.php) files use the following function:

<?php echo print_wp_cart_button_for_product('PRODUCT-NAME', PRODUCT-PRICE); ?>

Replace PRODUCT-NAME and PRODUCT-PRICE with the actual name and price. Example:

<?php echo print_wp_cart_button_for_product('wordpress', 7.50); ?>

2. To add the shopping cart to the sidebar, simply use the widget from the widgets menu or add the following line to your sidebar template file where you want the shopping cart to appear.

<?php echo print_wp_shopping_cart() ?>

Example Post/Page Editor Content with Shortcode

The following is a screenshot of the WordPress post/page editor showing how the add to cart button and the shopping cart is inserted into a post or page.

Block/Gutenberg Editor Example

Classic Editor Example

Using a Compact Shopping Cart

Use the following shortcode where you want to show the compact shopping cart:

[wp_compact_cart]

You can add this shortcode in a standard text widget to add the compact cart to the sidebar.

Always Show the Shopping Cart

The standard “show_wp_shopping_cart” shortcode only shows the cart when there are items in the cart. So it shows the cart when the visitor has clicked on an add to cart button and added item(s) to the cart. When the cart is empty, it simply hides the cart (nothing is shown).

If you want to show the cart all the time then use the following shortcode instead. It will show an empty cart message when there is nothing in the cart.

[always_show_wp_shopping_cart]

Using Shipping Option

1. To use shipping cost use the “shipping” argument in the shortcode. Here is an example usage:

[wp_cart_button name="Test Product" price="19.95" shipping="4.99"]

or use the following php function from your wordpress template files

<?php echo print_wp_cart_button_for_product('product name',price,shipping cost); ?>

Please see the How shipping Calculation Works post for more info.

Using Variation Control Option

Variation Control can be used to create products similar to the following screenshot. Read the product variation setup documentation to learn more.

Specifying an Item Number or SKU

You can use the “item_number” parameter in the “add to cart” button shortcode to specify an “Item Number” or “SKU” for a product. This “item number” value will get sent to PayPal (when a customer does the checkout).

Below is an example shortcode:

[wp_cart_button name="Test Product" price="19.95" item_number="SKU12345"]

Selling Digital Media Files

See the media file selling usage documentation.

Use an User Interface to Insert the Shortcodes

The plugin has a shortcode inserter that you can use to add the shortcodes to your WordPress posts/pages.

Visit the WordPress Shopping Cart Documentation Page.