Theme and Plugin Developers, Listen Up!!
We’ve made quite a few changes to WPeC over the past several releases. We’ve introduced a TON of great API and cleaned up quite a bit since 3.8.9 was released last October
We’ll be starting an educational series on developer-related changes and APIs that are available to you. But in the meantime, I do want to make sure you’re aware of some really important changes in the latest 3.8.11 release.
The version of jQuery shipping with WordPress (3.4 and greater) deprecates the usage of .live(), .bind() and .delegate() in favor of .on(). We’ve exerted a lot of effort in the 3.8.11 release cycle to bring our Javascript up to date with this practice. We also had some internal dependencies on a jQuery plugin called .livequery(). We’ve eliminated nearly every dependency on that in favor of .on() as well. The 3.8.12 release will likely see the .livequery() plugin removed from WPeC core.
If your plugin or theme depends on (or includes) an old version of jQuery, uses these deprecated methods, or depends on .livequery() – stuff is going to break. Update your plugins/themes.
We’ve also eliminated the dangerous practice of using eval() in Javascript. We were able to eliminate all but one instance, but that instance will eventually be removed.
If your theme or plugins hooks in to the ‘wpsc_alternate_cart_html’ action to execute Javascript – this is now a bad practice. Please stop. We now have a custom JS event called ‘wpsc_fancy_notification’ you can hook into instead.
Lastly, we’ve made the change in our Javascript to stop using ‘index.php’ as an AJAX handler and have refactored everything to use the proper WordPress AJAX handler. You can (and should) do the same. If you’re unsure of how to properly develop AJAX functionality in core, the Codex has some great resources. Also, you can look at how we’re doing it now.
This post is intended to help our developer community along the path that we’re going down – a path moving towards cleaner code, more excellent standards and greater adherence to WordPress core conventions. Everything mentioned is something that we’ve dealt with in support since releasing 3.8.11 and will serve your communities and ours very well. If you have any questions, feel free to post in the comments and we’ll be glad to respond.
Cheers!
Read more »WPeC 3.8.11.1 – We’ve Fixed Your Stuff
Our sincerest apologies, first and foremost – for breaking your sites. Thousands of you download our latest release the day it comes out and we recognize the amount of trust you place in us to deliver a product that keeps on growing and getting better with every passing release. Our last several releases have been quite uneventful, which is a great thing. But this latest release had such a significant amount of changes in it (all for better, more streamlined code to serve you well into the future) that our extensive testing process simply missed a few issues. Here are the issues we have fixed in the latest release, WPeC 3.8.11.1
* Fix: Some users had theme compatibilities and other configurations that caused “Add to Cart” to no longer function as expected.
* Fix: Customer uploads for products broke with JS overhaul
* Fix: Product image links broke.
While I’m incredibly disappointed that I shipped code that had quite severe bugs – which slipped through the QA cracks – I’m incredibly proud of our users and community for pulling together with great bug reports and other developers (Tom Ransom, specifically) for providing helpful patches for some of the bugs. Because of them (and because of you, and to be honest, a whole lot of coffee for me) – we were able to ship a hotfix within 13 hours of the previous release. That’s pretty cool.
Of course, even with this release – we highly recommend testing on a staging site first. Use BackupBuddy, use VaultPress, use WPEngine – use something that allows you to backup your site. After you do that, go download WPeC and enjoy! It’s now the best version ever and we’re excited for the next release.
Thanks again for being the best user base and community out there. As always, please report any bugs you find in the comments, on GitHub, or in the WordPress.org forums
Read more »WPeC 3.8.11 – Faster, Sleeker, Less Bugglier!
We’re pleased to announce the release of WPeC 3.8.11! As always, please back up your site and run the update on a staging server FIRST.
This release comes with a ton of awesome fixes, additional hooks for developers, more polished UI and some neat features. Here’s the complete changelog.
* New: Payment Gateway UI is revamped.
* New: Sales Log UI is revamped.
* New: wpsc_single_purchase_log_date_time_format and wpsc_single_purchase_log_date_format (Used in new Sales Log UI).
* New: Added ‘wpsc_usps_domestic_rate’ and ‘wpsc_usps_intl_rate’ filters.
* New: ‘wpsc_country_get_property’ filter.
* New: WPSC_Country::get_data() method and ‘wpsc_country_get_data’ filter.
* New: Added generic ‘wpsc_save_’ . $this->current_tab_id . ‘_settings’ action.
* New: ‘wpsc_shipping_module_settings_form’ filter on admin shipping module form output.
* New: Choose either AND or OR for coupon conditions logic.
* Change: Reduced internal usage of get_option( ‘siteurl’ ) in favor of home_url().
* Change: Updated Colorbox.js to v.1.4.15.
* Change: Eliminated internal usage of ‘index.php’ as an AJAX callback URL. Nginx users, rejoice.
* Change: Eliminated internal usage of eval() in javascript.
* Change: wpsc_get_country() uses WPSC_Country now.
* Change: .on() is now used in place of .livequery(), .bind(), .live() and .delegate().
* Change: Minor cleanup of Marketing settings tab UI.
* Change: wpsc_the_product_image() optimized to utilize the product thumbnail earlier in the function.
* Change: wpsc_the_variation_price() output is now filtered through wpsc_do_convert_price filter.
* Change: Submitted_Form_Data table now has a value field with a LONGTEXT data type, rather than varchar(255).
* Change: Continued internal cleanup of coding standards and documentation.
* Fix: Properly substitute placeholder in “Out of stock” email to administrator.
* Fix: Fixed PHP notices when accessing Dashboard as subscriber.
* Fix: Coupon logic improvements (edge case of using ‘not_contains” logic with item_quantity).
* Fix: Automated fix when possible, and nag when not, for 3.8.10 regression in User Management templates.
* Fix: Error notices on category functions.
* Fix: fetch_feed() error on GetShopped news.
* Fix: Variation terms were not being applied to the parent product.
* Fix: If you emptied variation sale price, the stock levels would not work any more.
* Fix: A notice was thrown if you had UPS selected but had not saved settings for it.
* Fix: USPS Shipping Module now correctly respects testing environement settings.
* Fix: Correcting casting price value to float instead of integer in coupon logic conditions for sub_total.
* Fix: ‘wpsc_transaction_result_content’ now returns the $cart_item as an array instead of an object (which was a regression).
You’ll notice as you read that there has been a LOT of changes to the internals of WPeC, especially with Javascript. Please let us know if you notice any breakage or backwards compatibility issues – we’ve taken every effort to ensure our bases are covered here – but you, our users, are the best testers we have and we want to make sure everything is working wonderfully for you. If it’s not for any reason – there’s several places that are monitored that you can let us know what has broken.
I’ll be keeping an eye on the comments on this post, of course – but if you have a reproducible bug, opening a new ticket at GitHub is likely the best way to let us know about it. Please give us steps to reproduce the issue and we’ll be sure to get the fix into the next release. Lastly (and probably ‘leastly’) – the wordpress.org forums. Those are a decent place to get help from the community, and as time allows, I do try to help out there. But try the more official avenues first!
And as always, if you’re a Gold Cart user, the awesome Premium Support team here at Instinct will be able to help you out if you have a token available for support.
Read more »Gamifying WordPress e-Commerce through The Lens of Unification
Todays challenge is to look at WordPress e-Commerce through The Lens of Unification. For me this particular lens suggests that you take a look at the bigger picture – go back to your original concept and decide whether or not your Theme or your Plugin does everything you imagined it would be.
To use this lens, consider the reason behind it all. Ask yourself these questions:
- What is my theme?
- Am I using every means possible to reinforce that theme?
Read more »Gamifying WordPress e-Commerce through The Lens of Holographic Design
To use this lens, you must simultaneously see your website structure and the user experience. You may shift your focus from one to the other, but it is far better to view your website (Theme) and experience holographically.
- What elements of the site make the experience enjoyable
- What elements of the site may detract from the experience?
- How can I change the site to improve the experience?
Read more »Gamifying WordPress through The Lens of Endogenous Value
en·dog·e·nous
1. Produced or growing from within.
2. Originating or produced within an organism, tissue, or cell: endogenous secretions.
These get more and more interesting – this Lens is a great way to think about the additional value that you’re providing the visitors of your site. Do you reward your visitors for commenting? If so how? How do you reward your customers for purchasing your software over the competitions software? For instance perhaps you could add value by providing repeat customers with discount coupons? There are lots of things for you to consider…
Gamifying WordPress through The Lens of Endogenous Value
To use this lens, think about your visitors feelings about items, objects, and scoring on your site. Ask yourself these questions:
- What is valuable to customers visting my site
- How can I make it more valuable to them?
- What is the relationship between value in your site and your customers motivations?
Read more »WP e-Commerce Plugin hearts BuddyPress 1.7
BuddyPress 1.7 RC1 is now available for download – and we’re just loving the new theme engine. Looking forward to WP e-Commerce Plugin getting the same treatment.
Anyway this is great news for all BuddyPress + WP e-Commerce Plugin fans and over the coming weeks we’ll be looking to ensure that the BuddyPress e-Commerce Plugin is still compatible. Hope you’re all having a great day.
Read more »Gamifying WordPress e-Commerce through The Lens of Curiosity
This is a good one. You should be able to relate this to your next WordPress project – does your site leave your users wondering how to get something they need? Perhaps their digital downloads? Maybe your site leave your users wondering how you came up with such a great design? Think about it…
The Lens of Curiosity
To use this lens, think about your user’s true motivations – not just the goals your site has set forth and making sales, but the reason the user wants to achieve those goas. Ask yourself these questions:
- What questions does my site put into the user’s mind?
- What am I doing to make them care about these questions?
- What can I do to make them invent even more questions?
Read more »Gamifying WordPress e-Commerce through The Lens of Fun
Say what!?! You don’t think this applies to what you’re doing with WordPres? It sure does! I was looking at the hipstermatic.com site on the weekend (big business yes) and then I looked at your site… and I’m sorry to say that their site was way more fun. I’m more likely to spend time on sites that are fun.
Tell us how your site is fun?
Gamifying WordPress e-Commerce through The Lens of Fun
Fun is desirable in nearly every aspect of like, though sometimes fun defines analysis. To maximise your site’s fun, ask yourself these questions:
- What parts of my site are fun?
- What parts need to be more fun?
Read more »
Gamification – The Lens of Surprise
True to my word here is another game mechanic to consider when working on your next WordPress project. Have a think about this and let us know how you might apply The Lens of Surprise to your next Theme.
The Lens of Surprise
Surprise is so basic that we can easily forget about it. Use this lens to remind yourself to fill your site or Theme with interesting surprises. Ask yourself these questions:
- What will surprise users when they view my site?
- Does my site have surprises? Does the artwork? Does the design? The technology?
- Does your site give users ways to surprise themselves?
Read more »