wppizza development blog

=== FINALLY ===

As wppizza v3.0 has now been released on wordpress this site is now defunct (or will be reused for something else in the future).

It will stay here for a while for historical purposes before being deleted in the not too distant future. Please refer to the WPPizza v3 documentation if necessary.

To all beta testers: thank you all for your help, input, suggestions etc etc over the last months…

All very much appreciated.

Of course it has taken waaaaaaaay longer than anticipated to get 3.0 out , but I think in the long run it was worth the wait

thanks
Olly

more updates, fixes, improvements/additions , tweaks – getting towards being a release candidate

documentation (though in progress) available at docs.wp-pizza.com

downloads below

WPPizza Beta v3.0.beta.xyz.x

============== WARNING ===============
do NOT use any of the beta version(s) below on a production site – or any other site for that matter – UNLESS YOU HAVE ABSOLUTELY NOTHING TO LOOSE.
This is a beta version and I fully expect there to be (as yet undiscovered and/or in the process of being fixed) bugs that may or may not result in problems with your site or even complete data loss.
Obviously it has been tested against this sort of thing as much as possible, but there may always be possible combinations between wppizza and any of the 1000’s of other WP plugins / server setups etc that may cause serious issues.
Just saying. you have been warned, ALWAYS MAKE A BACKUP …..

Now, that out of the way…

============== KNOWN ISSUES / TODO’s ==============
– Beta version(s) do not yet support any all wppizza gateways or premium extensions
More accurately, the extensions do not yet support wppizza v3.x – these will be updated in the next couple of weeks / January 2017 – am in the middle of testing these updates.
(Note: For premium extension licenses that have expired in the last 6 months or so, I am happy to extend the validity period to be able to download the updated extensions when they are available. Just contact me with your license key when updates of premium extensions are being marked as being available for wppizza version 3.x – see the changelog of each extension)

– Do not rely on the comments in the actual files. These still need updating/correcting and might be plain wrong in many places (as a lot of it was some copy and paste to start off with).
That said, if you are after shortcodes (they have not changed that much really, but options were added) you can get a good idea if you have a look at wppizza/classes/markup/shortcodes.php. Not quite complete there yet though as there are more attributes available than commented in that file. Docs to follow asap.

– any customisations you may have done for wppizza versions 2.x are highly UN-likely to work in v3 (especially if using v2 filter/action hooks). This is deliberate. A more comprehensive documentation will follow asap in line with feedback for v 3.x

– help screens / option descriptions have not yet been checked for accuracy or indeed completeness

– I have not yet gone through every single option again – after implementing it – to check it still works as advertised (will do this early January), but am in th eprocess of doing so

– some not all js/css yet minified (as it makes debugging easier)

– some tax calculations need checking when using alternative taxrates with different products + tax included in prices + discounts

– I am sure there’s more to do, but just wanted to get it out to start getting some feedback if people find the time or just want to get a preview

– Note: at the moment, *everything* in the plugin is subject to change without notice ( to perhaps aid consistency or anything else that might crop up during the current beta phase)

============== INSTALLATION – GENERAL: ==============
before install/update, please enable debug like so – https://www.wp-pizza.com/topic/how-to-enable-debug-in-wordpress/ which will help tracking down issues

============== INSTALLATION – New Sites: ==============
Just install as “normal” and play with it and look around – again, current not all extensions/gateways will not yet work (see changelogs of gateways)
but you will still need to put a cart(widget) on the pages like it was needed with v2.x (but you can use minicart only now if you wanted – see widget options)
as well as some sort of navigation as in v2.x (see https://www.wp-pizza.com/topic/things-to-do-on-first-install/)

============== INSTALLATION – Existing Sites: ==============
a) make a copy of your site to a test environment somewhere. seriously. do not use a live site. In fact, make a backup of what you have to start off with in case something goes horribly wrong for some reason
b) make sure your current wppizza install has been updated to the latest version of the v2.x branch (i.e currently v2.16.11.15)
c) if you have not saved/updated your additives for a while, save them once
d) first update all wppizza related extensions/plugins
e) then *disable* ALL wppizza related plugins (see TODO’s above as to why)
f) update wppizza version v2.x just like you would update any other wordpress plugin with the beta version above. (i.e de-activate wppizza, overwrite files with new version, re-activate)
g) depending on your previous setup, you might have to click on a couple of things (or reload the page you are on), before all sublinks/pages show up again
h) put the cart/cartwidget back on a/the page(s) or sidebar (i *might* be able to keep this when updating from v2x to v3.x- not sure yet will need some further testing…update: this should now work as of v3.0.beta.170109.1)
i) put all other widgets back to where they were if necessary
j) re-enable COD gateway (TODO : enable as default if already enabled )
k) re-activate ONLY the wppizza extensions/plugins THAT ARE MARKED AS BEING WPPIZZA v3 COMPATIBLE (again, see changelog of each plugin if it has been updated for v3.x)
l) re-enter your license keys for re-enabled extensions (optional)
m) test things , play with things, have a look at the options available in the admin etc etc(check your debug logs too and let me know if there’s anything wppizza related there , even if it seemingly does not affect the functionality of your site)

Note: extensions/plugins/gateways are in the process of being made compatible with wppizza v3. If a particular plugin is not yet available for v3.x you might want to periodically check the changelog/page of each plugin (https://www.wp-pizza.com/extensions/ and https://www.wp-pizza.com/gateways/)

============== UPDATING WPPIZZA v3.x to v3.y: ==============
simply download the latest version, unzip, and overwrite all files of the old/previous beta version

============== FEEDBACK: ==============
Please provide *ANY* feedback you may have by emailing v3.beta [at] wp-pizza.com with as much info as you can give me and is relevant to any issues you may have by including things like
– logfiles/debug files if appropriate (zipped please)
– screenshots
– copy of system details found at wppizza->tools: system
– problem only on install/update or generally/all the time
– anything else you can think of that might be helpful for your specific issue
– or even just a “works fine for me ” or “falls over, have a look at http://mysite.com etc etc ” if the problem is obvious

I expect to get quite a number of emails regarding v3.x so I might not have the possibility to reply to all emails individually – be assured though I *will* read and get them all, but bear with me please.
The dev blog (and v3.x itself of course) will get updated as necessary therefore the list below will expand or the downloads/betas simply replaced with updated version .. check back every now and again. The blog here will get updated more regularly in the coming weeks/months

thank you

============== DOWNLOADS: ==============
NOTE: I SUGGEST YOU ALWAYS USE THE TOP/LATEST RELEASE

Download v3.0.beta.170621.1 – 21/June/2017 – tidyup plus a couple of additions (almost a release candidate)
Download v3.0.beta.170613.1 – 13/June/2017 – deal with some possible backpaging issues on orderpage when using COD
Download v3.0.beta.170607.1 – 07/June/2017 – several bugfixes + adding more consistency to filter/action hooks + some more constants added
Download v3.0.beta.170512.1 – 12/May/2017 – some possible notices/errors eliminated + several minor bugfixes + plus some minor additions (eg admin notes in print templates)
Download v3.0.beta.170508.2 – 08/May/2017 – some minor js tweaks
Download v3.0.beta.170508.1 – 08/May/2017 – multiple fixes and tweaks
Download v3.0.beta.170427.1 – 27/Apr/2017 – minor fixes for multisite installs
Download v3.0.beta.170426.1 – 26/Apr/2017 – some more css tweaks for more theme compatibility, added some more data to report dataset (if generating own reports), eliminated some js functions that needlessly run multiple times
Download v3.0.beta.170420.1 – 20/Apr/2017 – brought some more consistency into some filter names, eliminated some more possible php notices, checked (and fixed) some shortcode attributes
Download v3.0.beta.170331.1 – 31/Mar/2017 – some more convenience function added, fixing some wrong tax calculation in certain circumstances, eliminated some more possible php notices
Download v3.0.beta.170222.1 – 22/Feb/2017 – customer screen was displaying wrong customer name/email/date-created data for a given user id
Download v3.0.beta.170221.1 – 21/Feb/2017 – additional gateway development helpers added plus some more bugfixes related to those
Download v3.0.beta.170217.2 – 17/Feb/2017 – a multitude of fixes and additions
Download v3.0.beta.170109.1 – 09/Jan/2017 – wppizza widgets were not kept on upgrade from 2.x
Download v3.0.beta.170108.2 – 08/Jan/2017 – more css tweaks
Download v3.0.beta.170108.1 – 08/Jan/2017 – more updates for php 5.3+ / css tweaks to account for more consistency across different themes
Download v3.0.beta.170107.1 – 07/Jan/2017 – updated for php 5.3+ (as opposed to php7 only)
Download v3.0.beta.170105.1 – 05/Jan/2017 – initial v3.x beta release

Just a quick – non-comprehensive – overview of some additions and changes regarding v3.x (planning to make a beta version available around christmas time I would hope)

general: reorganised variables into more sensible places / admin pages / sections
general: help screens per page (where appropriate – though still need to be completed in various places)
general: admin css updated for (hopefully) more useful display on mobile devices
general: changed some options to be on by default for new installs (as – more often than not – they were enabled by users)
general: cart widget will automatically NOT show on orderpage (instead of having to use some plugin or some sort to disable it there)

dashboard: more info in dashboard widget

order settings : option to display pickup/delivery as toggle buttons
order settings : option to enable/disable repurchase from users purchase history
order settings : audio alert option now integrated into plugin

order form : added various validation functions per form field
order form : added optional placeholder per form field
order form : (confirmation form) added more additional formfields

layout: removed – sticky cart
layout (in conjunction with shortcodes): allow for different layouts at the same time (grid, default, responsive)
layout: allow custom css to be added via admin textbox instead of having to mess around with additional/separate files
layout: added a couple more display options from currency symbols to not always have to use filters
layout: more consistent sku display throughout pages (if enabled in settings)

templates: default templates have been removed for consistency throughout all pages , email, print options. i.e only drag/drop templates do now exist for print and emails
note: as templates have also been moved into their own options entry to aid performance, and – again – for consistancy – had their css classes changed, you will have to re-add any customised templates you may have created.
sorry about that, but there is no practical way to update your customised templates. I would suggest you keep a version of your old v2 install somewhere and add templates in v3 comparing it to the ones you had in v2 (though the css will have to be slightly different)

template editing: templates – if edited – will now HAVE TO reside in a “wppizza” subdirectory of your theme/childtheme to be read using the same structure as can be found in “templates” directory
templates: you can now put a functions.php into “your-[child]theme/wppizza/” directory as “your-[child]theme/wppizza/functions.php” to add any wppizza customisations (filters etc) into its own place/file instead of using your global themes functions.php

localization: allow for renaming of the available “order statuses”
localization: admin order history – allow for another additional custom options alongside “order status” (like driver names for example)

customers: added screens/subpage to view orders per customer (averages, totals etc etc )

access rights: added distinct restrictions for menu items and categories instead of relying on WP roles

widget: allow for/to use minicart only if required

shortcodes: more shortcodes and shortcode options made available (docs to follow, for now see comments in classes/markup/shortcodes.php, though comments perhaps not complete yet or 100% accurate, it’s at least something)

db: many fields normalised into their own columns as well as adding some additional columns which might be useful in certain cases / customisations

internal: now always using phpmailer even for plaintext only templates. Furthermore, v3.x is about a 90% re-write so most filters and actions as well as template handling has changed entirely. (docs to follow asap)
internal: a number of (dev) constants added for simplicity and to aid custom development (docs to follow asap)

internal/global: a number of globally available functions added for convenience (docs to follow asap)

premium extensions: currently working on updates to make them work with v3.x while keeping them backward compatible

It’s very early days yet, and WPPizza v.3 is still many months away.

However, as WPPizza has grown and had many options and features added in the last couple of years or so, it has not only come to the brink of being unmanageable but the whole codebase itself has become somewhat convoluted (to say the least).

So, instead of trying to add more and more things which would not help matters – not only from a manageability perspective, but also being able to develop more features and add-ons and indeed making it easier for 3rd parties to add their own functionality – I decided to  pretty much  re-write the whole thing.

Not only will it address the above mentioned issues but will  also yield various performance improvements alongside some other added options.

As wppizza v3.x will be a major update this blog has been set up to provide information or answer questions regarding wppizza 3.x nearer the time.

Although not much will happen here until there is something to report.

Details such as a link to beta versions etc. etc. will be made available if and when.

If you are a developer – and perhaps even have already customised wppizza v.2x by editing templates and/or using actions/filters  – I encourage you to use the rss feed to follow this blog .

Of course, if you have any question feel free to contact me via using the usual support channels (There will probably also be a separate support forum for v3.x either here or over at wp-pizza.com)

That’s it for the moment….more things to follow in due course