[iSenseLabs Weekly 99] New OpenCart Features & Fixes, Video Tutorials and Latest E-Commerce News
Brace yourselves for the most crowded weekly roundup ever.
We squeezed in two weeks worth of OpenCart module updates, including a new release of the free Amazon Login/Pay extension.
Everyone knows how tough it is to run a business, and even though running it on OpenCart is quite simple, you constantly need more and better tools for managing your store, improving your website and growing your sales.
Check each of the releases below carefully and if you're running any of the modules - make sure to download its latest version and update it in your OpenCart.
We hope you enjoy all the new features and improvements!
OpenCart Extension Updates
Amazon Login/Pay 1.0 (OC 1.5.x)
Improvement: Increase the width of the input fields for Merchant ID, Access Key, Secret Key, Client ID, Client Secret and Secret Token.
Improvement: Error reporting in Sandbox mode is now in the JavaScript console instead of HTML elements.
Improvement: ModelPaymentAmazonLoginPay:validateResponse now skips debug logging if the request is for details validation.
Improvement: Debug logger no longer throws an error in case the class index is not defined.
Improvement: Set a maximum of 150 characters for the IPN URL.
Improvement: Action buttons in Payment Address and Payment Method are now the same width as the main container.
Improvement: IPN token and IPN URL inputs have been moved after the mandatory app credentials.
Improvement: The language 'American' is renamed to 'American English'.
Bug fix: Admin panel text for dark gray and light gray buttons is fixed.
Bug fix: OffAmazonPayments.Button now uses the Merchant ID instead of the Client ID.
Bug fix: Sandbox mode is now working properly for admin panel requests (e.g. refunds).
Bug fix: Added missing $error parameters to front-end controller classes. This was causing issues on PHP 7.
Removed: Marketing logging in the order details has been turned off because OpenCart 1.5.x does not support marketing.
Improvement: Error reporting in Sandbox mode is now in the JavaScript console instead of HTML elements.
Improvement: ModelPaymentAmazonLoginPay:validateResponse now skips debug logging if the request is for details validation.
Improvement: Debug logger no longer throws an error in case the class index is not defined.
Improvement: Set a maximum of 150 characters for the IPN URL.
Improvement: Action buttons in Payment Address and Payment Method are now the same width as the main container.
Improvement: IPN token and IPN URL inputs have been moved after the mandatory app credentials.
Improvement: The language 'American' is renamed to 'American English'.
Bug fix: OffAmazonPayments.Button now uses the Merchant ID instead of the Client ID.
Bug fix: In OC 2.3.x version, the language variable text_payment now has a value 'Payment'.
Bug fix: In OC 2.3.x version, the redirect after save is now working properly.
Bug fix: In OC 2.2.x version, the template paths are no longer broken.
Bug fix: In OC 2.2.x version, resolved all known checkout order total compatibility bugs.
Bug fix: In OC 2.2.x version, the 'english' language pack is now the same as 'en-gb'.
Bug fix: Added missing $error parameters to front-end controller classes. This was causing issues on PHP 7.
Improvement: Error reporting in Sandbox mode is now in the JavaScript console instead of HTML elements.
Improvement: ModelExtensionPaymentAmazonLoginPay:validateResponse now skips debug logging if the request is for details validation.
Improvement: Debug logger no longer throws an error in case the class index is not defined.
Improvement: Set a maximum of 150 characters for the IPN URL.
Improvement: Action buttons in Payment Address and Payment Method are now the same width as the main container.
Improvement: IPN token and IPN URL inputs have been moved after the mandatory app credentials.
Improvement: The language 'American' is renamed to 'American English'.
Bug fix: OffAmazonPayments.Button now uses the Merchant ID instead of the Client ID.
Bug fix: The redirect after save is now working properly.
Bug fix: Fixed broken customer/address creation calls.
Bug fix: Fixed validator for empty IPN token.
Bug fix: On install/uninstall, the event model is now loaded properly.
Bug fix: Added missing $error parameters to front-end controller classes. This was causing issues on PHP 7.
New feature: The home page `index.php?route=common/home` is now replaced with "". It works with multi-lingual stores as well.
Bug fix: Fixed the custom URL redirect tool. It had some minor issues if the given page had sorting or pagination. Now this is resolved.
New feature: Unify URLs. The links for your products and categories will be unified across all pages, regardless if you are on the home page, the category page or any other page. This will eliminate the duplicate content caused by the small changes in the URLs, which are generated by OpenCart.
New feature: Full breadcrumbs in the product pages. The breadcrumbs in the product pages will include the full path to the product (home page, main category, subcategory, current product).
New feature: Full breadcrumbs in the category pages. The breadcrumbs in the category pages will include the full path to the category (home page, main category, subcategory, current category).
New feature: Added filter in '404 Detected Pages' report
New feature: Added filter in the '404 Redirects' list
New feature: Added language folder prefixes for the SEO URLs. For example: https://www.yoursite.соm/de/iphone5. The feature can be managed from Admin Panel -> Extensions -> SEO Backpack -> URLs & Linking -> Advanced Settings
New feature: Added automatic SEO URL generation for products. Can be managed from Admin Panel -> Extensions -> SEO Backpack -> URLs & Linking -> Advanced Settings
New feature: Added automatic SEO URL generation for categories. Can be managed from Admin Panel -> Extensions -> SEO Backpack -> URLs & Linking -> Advanced Settings
New feature: Added automatic SEO URL generation for manufacturers. Can be managed from Admin Panel -> Extensions -> SEO Backpack -> URLs & Linking -> Advanced Settings
New feature: Added automatic SEO URL generation for information pages. Can be managed from Admin Panel -> Extensions -> SEO Backpack -> URLs & Linking -> Advanced Settings
New feature: The home page `index.php?route=common/home` is now replaced with "". It works with multi-lingual stores as well.
Improvement: Performance improvements
Bug fix: Fixed incorrect variable usage in the 404 detection tool
Bug fix: Various small bug fixes
NitroPack 1.8.16 (OC 1.5.x), 2.5.16 (OC 2.x) & 3.5.16 (OC 3.x)
Improvement: Make NitroPack's image lazy loading work better with Journal
Improvement: Remove any BOM char when generating page cache
Improvement: Better compatibility with ProductManager's bulk editing options
Improvement: Bake in support for Journal's header notice and popup cookies
Bug fix: Fix the relative URLs when extracting inline CSS
Bug fix: Properly detect Journal's cookie names for the popups and header notices when precaching
New feature: Resend the review email when clicking the "Back" button on the submit review page.
Improvement: Improvements in the module's Cron functionality.
Bug fix: Fixed the "E-Mail message required" error.
EasyNewsletterSubscription 2.3 (OC 2.0.x - 2.3.x)
New feature: The admin user gets notified when a customer subscribes
New feature: Combine the subscribers from OpenCart and EasyNewsletterSubscription when sending a campaign from `Marketing -> Contact`
New feature: Send discounts to the customers when they subscribe via EasyNewsletterSubscription. Check how this works from the file "Auto Generated Discount.txt".
New feature: Front-store placeholder is now localized
Bug fix: Hardcoded $page variable is now fixed
New feature: Allow the admin to set an item to be a pre-order item with X amount of quantity
New feature: Show the product options (if selected) in the listings in PreOrder
Improvement: Updated helpers for the `Admin Notification Email` functionality
Bug fix: Fix undefined user_token and route at admin login page
Bug fix: Fix module text_success override product notification
Bug fix: Fix onAfterGetProduct event not check if $product_info is available
Bug fix: Fix typos in the admin panel
Improvement: install() and uninstall() methods are now executable only if the user has modify permissions for the route extension/extension/module. This helps avoid direct calls to these methods.
Bug fix: The iSearch settings were not saved on admin panels with SSL.
Improvement: Journal compatibility when BN button is separate than the default 'Add to cart' for desktop and mobile screens
Improvement: Load the module's stylesheet and display the module correctly on mobile screens.
Bug fix: Fix the cart text <span> upon clicking 'Buy now'
Improvement: Journal compatibility when BuyNow button is separate than the default 'Add to cart' for desktop and mobile screens
Bug fix: Fix the cart text <span> upon clicking 'Buy now'
Improvement: Improved custom checkout compatibility
Bug fix: Check if the route index is set prior than using it
Bug fix: The button 'Remove all empty records' works properly now
Maintenance: Updated Facebook's SDK to use a newer version of the API, since the old one is getting deprecated.
Improvement: The redirect URI no longer includes additional parameters for compatibility with Facebook's latest changes.
FacebookLogin 2.4.4 (OC 2.x) & 3.0.5 (OC 3.x)
Maintenance: Updated Facebook's SDK to use a newer version of the API, since the old one is getting deprecated.
FacebookMessage 1.2.1 (OC 1.5.x), 2.4.2 (OC 2.x) & 3.0.1 (OC 3.x)
Maintenance: Updated Facebook's SDK to use a newer version of the API, since the old one is getting deprecated.
FacebookPagePlugin 1.1.1 (OC 1.5.x) 2.2.1 (OC 2.x) & 3.2.1 (OC 3.x)
Maintenance: Updated Facebook's SDK to use a newer version of the API, since the old one is getting deprecated.
FacebookStore 1.1.1 (OC 1.5.x)
Maintenance: Updated Facebook's SDK to use a newer version of the API, since the old one is getting deprecated.
Bug fix: Fixed a link in the admin of the OC 2.3 version to conform to standards
Maintenance: Updated Facebook's SDK to use a newer version of the API, since the old one is getting deprecated.
Improvement: Better compatibility with 3rd party modules that modify the URL library
Maintenance: Updated Facebook's SDK to use a newer version of the API, since the old one is getting deprecated.
SocialDiscounts 1.5.3 (OC 1.5.x)
Bug fix: Facebook share was not working because Facebook deprecated the post_id response from the Feed Dialog.
SocialDiscounts 2.4.11 (OC 2.x)
Improvement: Keep discounts when admin edits an order
Bug fix: Fixed admin stylesheet path
Bug fix: Fixed admin breadcrumb module link
Bug fix: Fixed admin description typos
SmartNotifications 3.2.7 (OC 3.x)
New feature: Added "Specific Product Pages" for the showing method.
Bug fix: Fixed the module language loading at the front of the store.
Bug fix: Fixed admin missing icon.
Best E-Commerce Knowledge Sources of the Week
How to Use Evergreen Lead Magnets to Welcome and Wow New Users (Case Study)
By Sleeknote
Our friends at Sleeknote have a ton to say about lead generation and in this case study they show you the results of their evergreen lead magnet experiment, the number 1 mistake they made, an all-you-need-to-know about the 3 most common lead magnet types and and how to create a lead magnet that stays evergreen. Their results? 290.67% increase in organic traffic in 3 weeks.
12 Underrated Google Analytics Features According To The Experts
By KlientBoost
"I'm always surprised by how few people use annotations in Google Analytics. Historical data is important and we tend to overestimate our own memories" - Shanelle Mullin, Content & Growth at Shopify. This and tons of other advice from leaders can guide you to improving your analytics game and start putting all that data into action.
10 Instagram Tricks & Tactics That Increase Engagement Rates
By Mention
Everyone is trying to get a piece of the action in Instagram since it's helping small businesses make it big if they know how to go about it the smart way. And since competition is tough, the smart way consists of using ALL of Instagram's features, using their Stories every single day, exploring video, and working with influencers to have a better chance of reaching and interacting with your community.
Improve Your OpenCart Data Tracking & Analytics with the ADV Reports
By iSenseLabs
After checking KleintBoost's post about analytics, take a look at the new array of reporting modules we just launched for OpenCart. We give them a brief overview and think they are probably the most powerful reporting system for your E-Commerce shop if you're running on OpenCart.
Basic OpenCart Management One Video at a Time
How to Upgrade OpenCart 1.5.x to the New 3.x Version
The ultimate guide for updating your OpenCart shop from 1.5.x to 3.x in a few simple steps.
Editor’s Choice: Freebie Pick of the Week
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