{"id":49,"date":"2021-02-13T17:43:49","date_gmt":"2021-02-13T17:43:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jonrocket.com\/zencart\/?p=49"},"modified":"2021-02-13T17:47:42","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T17:47:42","slug":"under-the-hood-creating-the-plug-in","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jonrocket.com\/zencart\/2021\/02\/13\/under-the-hood-creating-the-plug-in\/","title":{"rendered":"eBay Integration – Creating the Plug-In"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The latest version of Zen Cart includes a new method of defining plug-ins<\/a>. Even though it is still being developed, subject to change, and not well documented, I’m using it for my eBay Integration plug-in because it has a big advantage over the older method of defining a plug-in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the past, a plug-in’s files were stored in multiple places in the Zen Cart directory structure and some plug-in files actually overwrote existing “core” files. This made updating and maintaining both the plug-in and Zen Cart difficult. The new method puts the plug-in files in one area and offers a cleaner way to upgrade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Unfortunately, due to some limitations of the plug-in manager, I have had to put some of the eBay Integration files in other locations. But, I have developed the plug-in so that it does not require modifying any of the Zen Cart core files or any of the existing database tables. This will make maintenance and upgrading easier and less risky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The plug-in is “installed” in the Zen Cart zc_plugins<\/strong> folder in a folder called ebayintegration<\/strong> which contains a folder called v1.0.0<\/strong> which, obviously, is the version of the plug-in . In that folder is a file called manifest.php<\/strong> which describes the plugin.<\/p>\n\n\n

<?php<\/span>\n\nreturn<\/span> [\n    'pluginVersion'<\/span> => 'v1.0.0'<\/span>,\n    'pluginName'<\/span> => 'eBay Integration'<\/span>,\n    'pluginDescription'<\/span> => 'eBay Integration for Zen Cart.'<\/span>,\n    'pluginAuthor'<\/span> => 'Roger Smith (sales@jonrocket.com)'<\/span>,\n    'pluginId'<\/span> => 1818<\/span>, \/\/ ID from Zen Cart forum<\/span>\n    'zcVersions'<\/span> => ['v157'<\/span>],\n    'changelog'<\/span> => ''<\/span>, \/\/ online URL (eg github release tag page, or changelog file there) or local filename only, ie: changelog.txt (in same dir as this manifest file)<\/span>\n    'github_repo'<\/span> => ''<\/span>, \/\/ url<\/span>\n    'pluginGroups'<\/span> => [],\n];\n<\/span><\/code><\/span>Code language:<\/span> HTML, XML<\/span> (<\/span>xml<\/span>)<\/span><\/small><\/pre>\n\n\n
Also in the v1.0.0<\/strong><\/strong> folder are two subfolders – installer<\/strong> and admin<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The installer<\/strong> folder contains a PHP file called ScriptedInstaller.php<\/strong>.  As the name implies, this is code that installs the plug-in. It calls a method to register the eBay Integration administration page and add it to the Zen Cart Tools<\/strong> menu.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The admin<\/strong> folder contains subfolders that mirror the structure under the main Zen Cart admin<\/strong> folder (which you should have renamed).  In the admin<\/strong> folder is the code for the eBay Integration administration page, ebayintegration.php<\/strong>.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Under the admin<\/strong> folder is an include<\/strong> folder.  As mentioned earlier, this folder mirrors the admin\/includes<\/strong> folder in the Zen Cart root folder.  So, the includes<\/strong> folder contains folders that define the classes, CSS, images, language, and other stuff used by the plug-in. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’m not sharing the code, yet, because it is still under construction.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The latest version of Zen Cart includes a new method of defining plug-ins. Even though it is still being developed, subject to change, and not well documented, I’m using it for my eBay Integration plug-in because it has a big advantage over the older method of defining a plug-in. In the past, a plug-in’s files […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[4,5,11,6],"class_list":["post-49","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-ebay-integration","tag-ebay","tag-ebay-integration","tag-plug-in","tag-zen-cart"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonrocket.com\/zencart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonrocket.com\/zencart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonrocket.com\/zencart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonrocket.com\/zencart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonrocket.com\/zencart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/jonrocket.com\/zencart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":54,"href":"https:\/\/jonrocket.com\/zencart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49\/revisions\/54"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jonrocket.com\/zencart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonrocket.com\/zencart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jonrocket.com\/zencart\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
Zen Cart uses the manifest to install and enable the plug-in through the Zen Cart admin Plug-in Manager<\/a>. As you can see, it defines things like the name of the plug-in, developer, and version number.<\/p>\n\n\n\n