1. How to Show the Shopping Cart Widget Only When There are Items in the Cart
Add a standard WordPress text widget to the sidebar widget. Then use the following shortcode in that text widget:
[wp_eStore_cart_when_not_empty]
2. How to Change the Look and Feel of the Shopping Cart?
If you want to customize/change the way your shopping cart looks (for example you want to change the size of the ‘Your Shopping Cart’ title) then just introduce the following ‘div’ in your wordpress theme’s Stylesheet (style.css) file. Alternatively, you can just modify the ‘wp_eStore_style.css’ file that came with the plugin.
.shopping_cart{
font-size:12px;
color:#228CD2;
}
.shopping_cart h2{
font-size:14px;
}
Of course you will have to change the font size and color etc to your needs and maybe add more style to it. This is just a guideline.
3. How to Use a Custom Image as the button
Simply put the URL of the image that you want to use as the button (for customized button image) in the “Button Image URL” field of that product under the “Additional Product Details” section. There are some button images included in the “images” directory of the plugin that you can use freely.
4. How to Use the ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Subscribe’ button on a Standalone HTML page
If you want to use the ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Subscribe’ button on a standalone HTML page (eg. landing page) on a domain where you have the WP eStore plugin installed then you can use the following option to achieve this:
Alternatively, you can use the following method:
- Configure a product with ‘Subscription’ or ‘Buy Now’ button using the WP eStore.
- Put this product on a WordPress post or page then preview the page or publish it so you can view the page from the front end.
- Now, select view source in the browser so you can view the HTML code of this page. Find the HTML code generated for the button.
- Then copy and paste the HTML code for this button in the standalone HTML page.
The plugin will handle the post payment processing when someone makes a purchase using this button.
5. How to make the “instruction” input box bigger
Search for the following line in the “eStore_button_display_helper.php” file:
<input type="text" name="custom_input" value="" class="eStore_text_input" />
Once you find it replace it with the following (there will be 2 occurrences so change them both):
<textarea name="custom_input" cols="20" rows="3" /></textarea>
Please note that you shouldn’t use the Instruction input box to collect long instructions as that field has a limit of 256 characters. If you need to collect long instructions from the customer during checkout then you should use PayPal’s special instruction input section explained here.
6. How to Customize the Checkout Page on PayPal
7. How to Hide a Page (eg. Thank You page) from the WordPress Menu
The pages in the menu are displayed using the following code in your template file (it may have some additional parameters):
<?php wp_list_pages(); ?>
You just have to change that to use the following:
<? php wp_list_pages('exclude=5,8'); ?>
This way WordPress will exlcude pages with the id 5 and 8 from displaying on the navigation. You will have to replace these number with the page id of the pages that you want to hide from displaying.
If you don’t want to do it manually then you can use a plugin eg. the Page Exclude Plugin that helps you exclude pages from displaying.
8. How to Display Button(s) on the Sidebar
In order to add button(s) to the sidebar you will need to use one of the PHP function calls. Please refer to the WP eStore Shortcodes for a list of available functions.
Now if you are calling the function from the theme’s template file (sidebar.php, header.php, footer.php etc) then you are fine but there is another way to do this using the widgets which could be more practical in some cases.
1. Download and activate the Executable PHP code plugin if you don’t have it already. This plugin lets you call php functions from the widgets (it’s similar to the Text widget but it lets you execute PHP code too).
2. Go to the widgets menu and add a ‘PHP Code’ widget to the sidebar (where you want to display the ‘Add to Cart’ buttons). Now you can enter PHP code here to display the buttons.
<?php echo print_eStore_buy_now_button(1); ?>
This will display a ‘Buy Now’ type button for the product with product id 1.
9. How to Display the Shopping Cart Using a PHP Function Call
If you ever want to show the shopping cart by calling a php function for whatever reason then the following bit of code should do the trick:
<?php echo eStore_cart_when_not_empty(); ?>
10. How to Display a Simple List of all the Products with ‘Add to Cart’ Buttons
WP eStore allows the listing of all the products configured in the database with a simple trigger text or by calling a function. To show the listing of all the products in a post or page use the following trigger text in HTML view.
You can also call the following function from any template file of your theme to display the products list.
Credit: This feature was suggested and implement by Cornel Ivanescu
11. How to Display the MP3 Tracks as Preview
Step1: Download the WordPress audio player plugin
Step2: Create your preview/demo mp3 file (eg. first 10 seconds of your real mp3 music).
Step3: Embed this demo mp3 using the Audio player
Step4: Configure a product using the eStore’s Add/Edit Products menu (specify the URL of the real mp3 file as the downloadable file)
Step5: Put the “Add to Cart” or “Buy Now” button next to the embedded demo that you created in step 3 so customers can purchase it.
When anyone makes a purchase using that “Add to Cart” button they will get the full version mp3 as the download.
12. How to Create Buttons to Accept Payment in Multiple Currencies
You can create “Buy Now” type buttons in any currency you like. For example, you can have two buttons for the same product (one in USD and the other in EUR).
To create “Buy Now” type buttons in different currencies simply specify it in the “Buy Now Type Button Specific Settings” section of the product (enter it in the “Currency Code” field).
This does not work for “Add to Cart” type buttons though. Here is the reason if you are asking why:
13. Making Credit Card the Default PayPal Checkout Option
Note: We provide technical support for our premium plugins via our customer only support forum
This link has a tweak that explains how to remove the quantity field:
http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forum/topic/how-to-remove-the-quanity-field
You can make the thumbnails whatever size you want by modifying the CSS.
Hi admin, great plug-in it’s just right. Couple of questions, is there way to remove quantity from the basket (so it’s always 1) and make the product thumbnails bit smaller? Thank you
Great article buddy….
Hi Lori, We all do this. =) If you need anything else please let me know. I am glad the plugin is working out for you.
Cheers,
Ivy
I am apparently not able to read tonight, LOL. It is pretty obvious that putting in the url for the custom button image is global. Never mind 🙁
Hi,
This has been one of the easiest e-commerce plugins we have implemented, Thank you!
One more question, is it possible to use a custom ‘add to cart’ button globally rather than on a per product basis?
Hi Jan, Yeah the HTML option only works for “Buy Now” or “Subscription” buttons. To be honest with you.. even though you can use these HTML options but it’s better if you use it on WordPress post or page. The plugin was developed for a WordPress system so on a plain HTML page you will start to hit many road blocks and waste your time. I would recommend using a product that was designed for plain HTML sites not eStore or the affiliate platform plugin.
Thank’s a lot for your honest and quick answer. We will definitely use your products when we upgrade the site to Word Perfect !!!
Just adding that we want to add the affiliate part asap since there are affilaites holding off untill we install an aff manager of some sort.
Hi admin,
Looking thru this tweaks list I found the following description: “How to Use the ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Subscribe’ button on a Standalone HTML page”.
We currently have a non-WP multi-page product site but a WP blog is currently installed on a test sub-domain.
1. Does the the above tweak description mean that “Buy Now” (which we already have) and “Subscribe” are the only 2 that can be used for standalone HTML? Or does the described method of adding element to a WP html and then copying the HTML to the non-WP HTML work for the shopping cart elemement too? If not now, are there plans?
2. Is there a defined admin eShop configuration area where a script PHP/Perl or other can be called to pre-process (compile) a file just before point of delivery? Are there any code examples anywhere of this? For instance, insert todays date+3 in source code then compile and deliver a time-limited demo while customized version is being built, thus satisfying customer and security.
3. In our current non-WP page we are using 2 Paypal “Buy Now” textfields for user to enter specific account numbers, instead of using a general purpose text field. Can this be duplicated with eShop on non-WP pages, until we move to 100% WP?
4. If we also want to use your Affiliate (and later membership) plugins hosted on our WP but referred to the current non-WP product site, will there be any IPN issues since with tracking purchases and affiliate commission, assuming either a Paypal button or Shopping cart gadget on the non-WP product page?
That’s it for now 🙂
Jan
Any text that is viewable by your site visitors can be customized from the language file (e.g. eng.php) under the “languages” directory of the plugin. This was added to eStore later so if you have an older version of the plugin then please request an update… this link should guide you:
http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forum/topic/how-and-when-do-you-get-an-update
Hi. Are there plans to make the language customizable (other than editing core files) for the Manual Checkout process? Much needed for us non-English users!
Hi Pam, Did you run a test transaction with the debug on? Here is a forum post that explains how to do this: http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forum/topic/how-and-when-to-enable-debug-and-what-does-it-do
After you run this test if the debug file is empty please see the following post: http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forum/topic/what-to-do-if-the-debug-file-is-empty
If you are unable to fix this problem after you have done these steps please let me know.
Cheers,
Ivy
Hi admin…
I am in serious need of assistance…I am not getting anywhere with my download links either in my emails or thank you page.
I am following all directions (promise cross my heart) which is why I am frustrated :-
Help! Please! I am using simple buy now to PayPal…should be a no brainer. I have checked all settings over and over again with no resolution.
I still can’t get a download link or message in the email confirmation or encrypted email in my thank you page. The only thing that is working is the redirect to the Thank you page.
HELP!
LOL… it is under the “PayPal Payment Gateway Settings” section in the “Payment Gateway Settings” tab.
hi admin
i can’t see the tree in the forest (a german proverb smile), but where exactly i have to enter the page style name? how is this input box named?
@Marc, you can now specify the page style name for customer checkout page in the settings menu of the plugin.
hi,
it’s me again, i forgot to say thank you for your plugin. it’s awesome, great work. i really love it.
hi
i read the part of “How to Customize the Checkout Page on PayPal”. I created a new page on my paypal account, but i don’t want to set the new page as my default checkout page. where can i make the necessary changes into your plugin to
enter the name of the created checkout page i like using?
eg: on paypal i have two checkout pages:
1) paypal (as default)
2) Project_xy_checkoutpage
i would like to use no2 as checkout page but without make it to my default one.
greetings
marc
Nope this is not possible.
HI,
general question couldn’t find a better place for it.
Can you have multiple email addresses in the notification email field? That would be cool.
Thanks
The pluign does not impose any file size limitation. However, your server may have restriction on PHP file execution time so the script is most likely getting killed as it’s streaming the file content.
Uncheck the “Downloadable” checkbox for products with very large file size. This will let the browser handle the download (the only issue is that it’s not as secure as the other option which ensures that the customer can never find out the actual location of the file).
Is there a limit to the size of file that can be downloaded? I spent hours putting together a zip file that has some large wmv files. Would rather not have to go back and break it all apart if it can be avoided. As it stands the file stops at 400mb. The zip file is 1.3gig.
Any suggestions??
Hi Ben, See if the following URL answers your question:
http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/forum/topic/download-directory-protection
Scratch that!!
I re-read above “How to Use the ‘Buy Now’ or ‘Subscribe’ button on a Standalone HTML page” not Add to Cart…. dumba55
That will work for me, would be nice to be able to add to cart but i’m not too worried at this stage.
Any help on the password thing would be great 🙂
Hey Admin, thanks for your hard work on this plugin, I love it.
I’m quite a newb and am having some trouble getting an add to cart working on a stand alone HTML page.
I followed the advice above but when I use the button I’m getting a 405 Method not allowed error.
I’m really not sure what info I need to give you. I’m on Godaddy shared hosting php5.
When I paste the script into DW the object tags are red if that helps.
I do have WP installed on the domain, but, the page in question wasn’t created in WP, I just uploaded it and pointed my image file to it for more info.
I would ideally like to give my customer the option to click add to cart from this page and then be automatically sent back to the product category, and have the cart updated obviously.
Also I searched but couldn’t find help on the password protected “downloads” directory. Basically even after a delete all my cookies, I can still browse to the file.
Any help would be appreciated.
Cheers
Hi Jane, I have sent you an email to address the delete issue.. let me know if you haven’t received that email.
Regarding the donation question.. you can use a donation plugin to accept donation on your site (http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/wordpress-paypal-donation-plugin-942)
regarding my question about hiding…never mind. I found a widget! (gawd, I love WordPress!)
Now if I could just figure why the “delete” function in the shopping cart isn’t working in Firefox…
Thanks again.
@John, you can uncheck the “Use WordPress Mailing System” option from the settings menu. This will make the plugin use a mailing script that comes with the plugin for email purpose and won’t have “wordpress” in the email name.
Alternatively you can use this plugin to customer the “From Name” of your email going out of WordPress:
http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/wordpress-plugin-change-wp-email-from-details-1883
When a customer gets an email with the link for their digital puchase, the “from” field says “WordPress.” How can I fix this so it says my website name instead?
Thank you for the quick reply – purchasing now and will ask agian if I have any troubles implementing as per above.
Hi Torstyn, you can use “Manual Checkout” for this. It is very easy to add a little bit of functionality so when they submit the order they get a copy the email that admin gets. This email contains a list of all the details of the ordered items. The customers can simplay print the email.
Is there a way to add a PRINT or EMAIL button to the shopping cart for those that dont want to puchase using PayPal and instead can send through there order for COD for example?
This is a great product and want to puchase it provided I can add something like above somehow?
Hi Frank, Glad to hear that you like the shopping cart plugin. Yes, there is a way to use a fancy box with a “Buy Now” type button. Use the following shortcode:
[wp_eStore_buy_now_fancy id=1]
The product ID is 1 in this example. The Terms and Conditions checkbox is only for shopping cart checkout so can’t be used with “Buy Now” type buttons.
Just want to congratulate you on the excellence of your estore plugin. I’ve tried numerous other solutions, both wp plugins as well as stand alone carts and yours is the most straight forward.
I do have two minor issues though:
Is there a way to use a fancy box with a buy now button?
How do I have the Terms & Conditions checkbox appear with the buy now button?
Thanks,
Frank
Hi Tom, I have updated this post to answer your question.. please see the “How to Display the MP3 Tracks as Preview” section.
Hi There,
Love your product here! Ive just purchased the full version with affiliate for an online record store im setting up.
The situation is i require each product to have a demo mp3 file for people to preview the track before purchasing. How do i implement this??
The example you have on this page at the very bottom is exactly what im looking at doing. – http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/ecommerce/wordpress-estore-plugin-demo-175 – How do i implement this?
Regards
Tom
Hi Andy, Glad to hear that you like the pluign. If you want to offer free downloads of some of your products via the encrypted download URL mechanism then the following URL should help:
http://www.tipsandtricks-hq.com/ecommerce/?p=126
Hi
Great plugin. The best wordpress cart I have found, much better than zen and OS
I have one issue.
I want to manage free products via the cart. When the price is zero, how can I bypass the paypal
‘enter an amount greater than zero’ error. Try and buy this:
http://realpress.net/wordpress/?page_id=97
Hi Dan, Please open the CSS file for this plugin and look for the following:
.shopping_cart {
font-size:12px;
}
Add the width property to it to make the shopping cart adjust to what you want. For example:
.shopping_cart {
font-size:12px;
width:300px;
}
Yes, I do plan to add a quantity variable.
I’m switching from the simple plugin to your e-store. Awesome plugin. The widget is too wide for the sidebar I want to place it in. I couldn’t find any way to adjust this in the css or other files. Any options?
Also are there any plans to enable a quantity variable.
Thanks
Hi Sam, You need to remove the following line from the ‘wp_eStore1.php’ file to achieve what you want:
if (digi_cart_not_empty())
That’s what I was looking for. Thanks!
Oh, BTW there isn’t a little graphic which goes with the text. Is that available?
I want the empty shopping cart graphic and link to show when the cart is empty. All I’m seeing is an empty page. Is there some code I need to add to an estore file?
(sorry for duplication – I forgot to check the followup box in my first comment.)
I need to collect a bit more information from my customers.
Is there a way to add a couple of required fields to be completed before customer is taken to paypal to complete the transaction. (I am required by law to obtain verification that customers have listened to my podcast/program before selling a certificate of completion).
I’d also like to be able to have the customers select their State from a drop-down, and have them receive a customized certificate and/or confirmation email.
Any suggestions?