Plugin Customization | 79mplus

Automatic Facebook Centric Order System for WooCommerce

79mplus Admin — Mon, 11 Feb 2019 07:12:08 +0000

79mplus

Automatic Facebook Centric Order System for WooCommerce

Automatic Facebook Centric Order System for WooCommerce

Anything Backend, Custom API Integration, Custom Plugin Development, Facebook Graph API, Plugin Customization, WooCommerce, WordPress

Challenge

Our client had an online store with a variety of product range. They had a Facebook page, which they wanted to intelligently intgrate with their WordPress. They wanted a system to post products to Facebook page from within WordPress interface. They also needed a mechanism so that when someone comments “+1” or +any number on the post, it automatically places an order on WordPress. So, the integration is both ways. The idea was amazing and interesting, so we took the job.

Our task mainly was to:

Implement so that product can be posted to Facebook from WordPress
Implement automated ordering by just posting a comment on Facebook
Create user login automatically on WordPress from the Facebook comment and send email notification
Feature to update billing and shipping info from My Account page of the new user
Implement custom filter system to see all running orders at a glance for individual products
Make the solution multisite ready with different Facebook pages for each one

Our Solution

The project was full of new ideas to challenge our limits.

Here’s how we solved the problem:

Posting Products to Facebook

We implemented a product posting feature from within WP Admin to post products to the Facebook page. We have created a separate plugin for the Facebook integration and it utilizes the Facebook Graph API.

Facebook Ordering

Our client wanted us to implement a comment feature so that whenever someone posts a “+1” comment on the product post, the product is automatically ordered on WooCommerce and a WordPress user is created with that user’s name and information from the comment. Later when he orders in future, previously created account for him is reused.

User Login and Info

The automatically created user gets an email about his account with login details. The user can then update their shipping and billing address or any other info from their My Account page.

Custom Filter System

We have also built a custom page under WP Admin WooCommerce menu entry to hold a list of the products that can be filtered if needed. It shows the orders for the individual products and additionally shows order statistics for easier management and monitoring.

Multisite Ready

The Facebook integration is made multisite-ready. So it is possible to have the same function working for each site from a single WordPress installation and integrate them seamlessly. We have also implemented to support separate Facebook pages for each multisite.

Putting it all together

When we finished, we delivered a frictionless easy to use WordPress-WooCommerce-Facebook integration system that works automatically. Our client got a new feature to work with his sales and some very happy customers.

The post Automatic Facebook Centric Order System for WooCommerce appeared first on 79mplus and is written by 79mplus Admin

Automated WC Subscriptions based Invoicing for Marketing Agency using Xero API

79mplus Admin — Tue, 09 Oct 2018 05:41:19 +0000

79mplus

Automated WC Subscriptions based Invoicing for Marketing Agency using Xero API

Automated WC Subscriptions based Invoicing for Marketing Agency using Xero API

Anything Backend, Custom API Integration, Custom Plugin Development, Plugins, Project, WooCommerce Xero Integration, WordPress, Xero

Challenge

Our client wanted an Automated Invoice System for their WooCommerce Subscriptions based website with the help of the Xero API. They already had a system with Xero, but it was nearly manual and client had to change things for every invoice manually. They wanted everything to be handled more automatically. We love API integrations, so we couldn’t wait to get our hands into the project.

Our task mainly was to:

Bring in the Chart of Accounts for all products from Xero
Bring Tracking items from Xero
Prepare settings for Chart of Accounts to be linked with WC Subscription product
Add settings for line items on orders to apply Tracking Items to each one
Utilize WC Xero Integration plugin to push extra data to Xero
Make sure the whole integration works together to deliver an automated invoice system

Our Solution

There were both simple and complex elements to the project.

Here’s how we solved the problem:

WC Subscriptions Xero Integration

To integrate Xero automation with the existing WC Subscription products, we had to link the products with appropriate Accounts and Tracking items on Xero. Client had Accounts for each of their products on Xero and Project Managers were saved as Tracking Items. So we had to work with both of them to achieve a total automation.

Chart of Accounts Integration

To link the subscriptions with Accounts on Xero, we implemented a settings field that bring in all the Accounts from Xero. Appropriate Account can be set on the subscription edit page to be saved with the product. So we were able to assign the appropriate account on Xero whenever someone purchases the subscription, without having to set it from Xero like before.

Tracking Items Integration

Line items needed to be assigned to a Project Manager which needed to be based on Tracking Items. Tracking items in Xero are similar to having Custom Fields with other APIs. So we fetched the previous values for the Tracking items into the line item settings and set the selection as a line item meta when order is saved.

Settings on Appropriate Places

We added settings for Accounts on Subscription Edit page and Tracking Items on Order Edit page under the respective line items. The settings are contexually placed so that they are easy to understand and site administrators can easily maintain the system.

Integration with Existing Plugin

Client was already using a WooCommerce Xero Integration plugin. While that eased our work a bit, we had to play along with the plugin to submit our custom contexual settings data into Xero. So we had to work on top of it to apply our customizations.

Putting it all together

At the end, the automation was successful. Now our client has a worry-free system working automatically without ever needing to login to Xero for basic settings. We implemented an automation that will hopefully save time and effort for our client.

The post Automated WC Subscriptions based Invoicing for Marketing Agency using Xero API appeared first on 79mplus and is written by 79mplus Admin

Stock Inventory Service Integration for Auto Parts based on Megabus API

79mplus Admin — Fri, 17 Aug 2018 05:27:57 +0000

79mplus

Stock Inventory Service Integration for Auto Parts based on Megabus API

Stock Inventory Service Integration for Auto Parts based on Megabus API

Anything Backend, Custom API Integration, Custom Plugin Development, Megabus, Plugin Customization, Plugins, Project, WooCommerce, WordPress

Challenge

Our client had a WooCommerce based website for selling auto parts. They wanted to use Megabus.com.au API to easily maintain and manage stock inventory of their products. So they were looking for an integration for Megabus with WooCommerce. They also wanted so that new orders are automatically updated to Megabus to show the latest inventory for managing product stocks.

Our task mainly was to:

Develop our own Megabus API Integration library
Implement Sync for new orders from WC to Megabus
Implement product sync with cron
Make PayPal payment confirmation to pass to Megabus
Testing the implementation carefully

Our Solution

The project involved having a new API integration with a few details to be taken care of.

Here’s how we solved the problem:

Megabus Integration

No official code was available for the Megabus integration in PHP. There was no third party integration as well. So we had to scour through the Documentation and cook-up an implementation of our own. The implementation is based on SOAP access to the API.

Sync for New Orders

Product stock quantity would have to match up with Megabus. To ensure that this happens, we had to send the new order data to Megabus for the stock quantity to be updated. We had to send the SKU to Megabus to ensure that the data is recognized by Megabus.

Product Sync with Cron

When new product records came on Megabus, client wanted to update the products on WooCommerce to be similar on both ends. So we had to prepare a script to update products from Megabus and run that script occassionally to update the products on WC. The script had to utilize role based pricing to serve both retail and wholesale customers.

PayPal Confirmation

Client wanted so that order payments are handled by PayPal. When PayPal transaction is confirmed, we send the signal to Megabus API. Megabus API then handles the stock quantity accordingly.

Testing

We had to test carefully and less frequently as possible because client could not provide us credentials to Megabus API for some company restrictions. We had to confirm each time we tested new orders. Later down the road we got a staging server, which made the testing process easier.

Putting it all together

When we finished, we delivered an automated WooCommerce synchronization plugin for Megabus API. It simplified inventory management for the client.

The post Stock Inventory Service Integration for Auto Parts based on Megabus API appeared first on 79mplus and is written by 79mplus Admin

Custom Printable PDF Creator Plugin for WooCommerce

79mplus Admin — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 10:50:07 +0000

79mplus

Custom Printable PDF Creator Plugin for WooCommerce

Custom Printable PDF Creator Plugin for WooCommerce

Anything Backend, Custom Plugin Development, Plugin Customization, Plugins, Project, WooCommerce, WordPress

Challenge

Our client wanted a printable PDF product creator plugin. They wanted the admin to be able to upload an image and place text fields or dropdowns over it. They wanted to save it as a new product so that users can fill out those fields and make a printable version of the product with their customizations.

Our task mainly was to:

Implement a creation process of PDF templates as admin
Saving PDF templates as a custom product type
Make sure users can change the field values and generate PDFs for printing
Keep the user made design and inputs for reordering later
Make sure to abide by client restrictions

Our Solution

The project had some integrations to do and strict guidelines to take note of.

Here’s how we solved the problem:

Creation as Admin

Client wanted an interface for the admins to create the custom products as templates. They wanted the ability to upload a 300 dpi image within the interface and place text field or dropdowns on the image. We have used standard WP Media structure, but used a custom image uploader so that the process is smoother to use.

PDF Templates

The designs made by admins should be stored as product template. These will be used later on frontend. We have implemented a custom template for these products. These products are shown later on using the templates.

Frontend Feature

On frontend, client wanted to give users the ability to fill up the fields created earlier by admins. Users can fill up the field values are they want and then generate a printable PDF that he can print. We have used TCPDF for generating the PDF.

Store Customizations

The customizations made by the user should be stored, so that the user can re-order the design when needed. We have added a serialized meta with the customization values to cart. The data eventually gets added to the order, to be re-ordered if needed.

Client Restrictions

Client wanted our plugin to follow MVC structure and to keep frontend code seperate from the logic. They also wanted that we use TCPDF as our PDF generator library. We followed these guidelines when coding the plugin.

Putting it all together

When we finished, we delivered an automated system of custom products that can generate customized printable PDFs with the specifications from client. It simlified the process of getting and managing custom orders through WooCommerce.

The post Custom Printable PDF Creator Plugin for WooCommerce appeared first on 79mplus and is written by 79mplus Admin

Automatic Synchronization of Users with MailChimp for WooCommerce Subscriptions

79mplus Admin — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 09:40:16 +0000

79mplus

Automatic Synchronization of Users with MailChimp for WooCommerce Subscriptions

Automatic Synchronization of Users with MailChimp for WooCommerce Subscriptions

Anything Backend, Custom API Integration, Custom Plugin Development, Mailchimp, Plugin Customization, Plugins, Project, WooCommerce Subscriptions, WordPress

Challenge

Our client had a WooCommerce Subscription based website. They wanted so that their customer email entries are synced with their MailChimp account. They also wanted so that the users are grouped under certain groups based on their subscription status.

Our task mainly was to:

Group users based on their subscription status in MailChimp
Change user group in MailChimp when their status changes
Ensure that integration respects MailChimp for WooCommerce, WC and WC Subscriptions
Implement a initial sync feature to synchronize 17000+ subscribers into MailChimp
Ensure backend settings for everything implemented

Our Solution

The project was simple with some fair amount of details and a lot of testing ahead.

Here’s how we solved the problem:

User Groups

Client had separate groups in mind for MailChimp. This was crucial to keep track of the 17000+ users they had on their MailChimp account. Each group for each status of the subscription. Users were there already but they were not grouped accordingly.

Groups Based on Status

In a subscription based environment it is common to change status of the subscription. When subscription status changes, client wanted that the group of the user should change too, to sync with MailChimp better. We used hooks related to status change for this feature.

Support for Existing Setup

Client had MailChimp for WooCommerce installed. It already had API information input, so we had to share the information with the plugin. We also had to make sure that we maintain a compatibility with the way the plugin lists users, so that it remains consistent.

Initial Sync

Our client had 17000+ users on their MailChimp account. It was already synced to MailChimp using MailChimp for WooCommerce plugin. But the group changes were not applied there. We can handle new ones, no problem. But we had to take care of those existing users. So we had we implement a Sync feature for those initial records.

Backend Settings

We had to implement settings on the backend to allow for a better control. We implemented backend settings pages for the initial sync and MailChimp integration. We implemented pause resume feature for the initial sync so that the operation can be resumed for this lengthy task.

Putting it all together

At the end we delivered WC Subscription Sync system with automated grouping in MailChimp and initial sync feature. We hope it provided useful automation for our client.

The post Automatic Synchronization of Users with MailChimp for WooCommerce Subscriptions appeared first on 79mplus and is written by 79mplus Admin

Strava API Integration for Runners based on SportsPress

79mplus Admin — Thu, 16 Aug 2018 07:35:40 +0000

79mplus

Strava API Integration for Runners based on SportsPress

Strava API Integration for Runners based on SportsPress

Anything Backend, Custom API Integration, Custom Plugin Development, Plugin Customization, Plugins, Project, Strava, WordPress

Challenge

Our client came to us with an interesting idea. They wanted to integrate Strava API which is an API that keeps and provides data about running or cycling activties into WordPress. They wanted a Leaderboard powered by SportsPress plugin to present the runners in a competitive list. They wanted the process to be as frictionless as possible to let the users compete in a virtual leaderboard.

Our task mainly was to:

Implement a user registration process to add the user to a team
Implement a connection between the user account and Strava API
Calculate points based on data and assign to user
Maintain a team structure throughout the project
Implement a display of the best performers in a Leaderboard

Our Solution

The project had some insightful details and complex problems to solve.

Here’s how we solved the problem:

User Registration

We were given the task to create a registration process for new users which will take the appropriate information needed for the implementation and also would ask for a Team. Team is simply a company in which the user is playing under.

Strava Integration

Client wanted us to gain Strava information from user and use it for the integration. We used webhooks to fetch real time data from Strava API. The data is complex and had many activities related to it. We have processed the data to convert the activities into points.

Points Management

Converting the data into points was done based on activities data that we retrieved from user’s Strava API access. We used formulas to determine points from the data. The points helped us rank the teams in leaderboard.

Team Structure

Teams are in the essence of the whole project. All those complex user based data has been distilled into team data to make it easier to understand. Individual points were aggregated into teams and those teams were ranked later on. This is a grouping effort to make the data simpler and easier to understand.

Leaderboard

Leaderboard is a list of teams arranged from the best to least performing earning points of the teams. SportsPress did not have support for the competition we implemented, so we had to hook into the way SportsPress displayed the Leaderboard.

Putting it all together

When we finished, we delivered a automated user registration system, integrated with Strava to present the data intelligently, accompanied by a Team Leaderboard that encourages competition. An interesting system that the client has dreamed of.

The post Strava API Integration for Runners based on SportsPress appeared first on 79mplus and is written by 79mplus Admin

Booking Customization on Training Sessions based on WooCommerce Bookings

79mplus Admin — Tue, 14 Aug 2018 05:24:49 +0000

79mplus

Booking Customization on Training Sessions based on WooCommerce Bookings

Booking Customization on Training Sessions based on WooCommerce Bookings

Anything Backend, Custom Plugin Development, Plugin Customization, Plugins, Project, WooCommerce Booking, WordPress

Challenge

Our client had a website which sells bookings for training sessions to customers. They have the booking feature implemented with WooCommerce Bookings accompanied by some other plugins. But the system was not flawless. They wanted to send automatic invoices for unpaid bookings from the website, wanted a new order status that lets the client send some reminders to pay and also solve some Google Calendar sync issues with mobile devices to better monitor unpaid bookings.

Our task mainly was to:

Send invoice after a booked session time is passed automatically
Implement new order status that allows us to send reminder mails where users can pay
Implement Google Calendar sync for unpaid bookings
Bulk booking feature for booking timeslots in advance for a certain period of time
Test the implementations as real life customers

Our Solution

The project had some insightful details and complex problems to solve.

Here’s how we solved the problem:

Automatic Invoice

When the session time for a booked timeslot is passed, client wanted to send automatic invoice messages to their users so that they don’t have to send it manually. For doing this automatically, we have created an internal file to run with a cronjob.

Custom Order Status

Client wanted a special order status to be separate from other statuses. This status is like a dummy status that does not do anything. They wanted this status to be set to unpaid users. When this status is set, he will be reminded through messages to pay his dues.

Google Calendar Sync

Client wanted to be notified through their Google Calendar about the new bookings so that they can see the bookings at a glance and prepare accordingly. We have used references to WC Bookings plugin’s ability to handle Google Calendar and applied tweaks to place events on the client’s calendar.

Bulk Booking

We have implemented a Bulk Booking feature on top of WC Bookings. It allowed for a user to book some events in fixed timeslots for years in advance. This is a feature which was available in the backend for admins, but we had to mimic the same feature on frontend.

Testing Bookings

Client insisted that we test the implementation with them. We lend a hand in testing the various complex booking situations that might occur. We found minor issues on the way and fixed them properly with code patches.

Putting it all together

At the end, we delivered an automated system that syncs to client’s Google Calendar, keeps track of unpaid bookings, and sends reminders when necessary. A system what client client wanted for many days.

The post Booking Customization on Training Sessions based on WooCommerce Bookings appeared first on 79mplus and is written by 79mplus Admin

Customized Course Management with LearnPress and Gravity Forms

79mplus Admin — Mon, 13 Aug 2018 06:06:48 +0000

79mplus

Customized Course Management with LearnPress and Gravity Forms

Customized Course Management with LearnPress and Gravity Forms

Anything Backend, Custom Plugin Development, Gravity Forms, LearnPress, Plugin Customization, Plugins, Project, WordPress

Challenge

Our client had a LearnPress based course management system. They wanted better control over the courses they offer. They wanted manual approval of new enrolments, custom user roles for new students, student based separate instructors, custom handling of course completion etc. There were many things to implement so we got into coding.

Our task mainly was to:

Make the Gravity Forms for enrolment, apply for a course etc. to integrate with our plugin
Implement a feature so that client can manually approve a student for enrolment
Create and manage user roles automatically
Make courses available to one exclusively for that user and none other
Generate a dynamic pdf certificate from the given information
Implement a certificate request feature with pdf certificate emailing

Our Solution

The requirements were not hard, but needed a lot of coding and testing before we got this right.

Here’s how we solved the problem:

Enrolment

When student applies with a Gravity Form with their name, it places the request for an website admin. We detected this form fillup and we sent a request for the admin to accept it. Website admin manually reviews the request and accepts if satisfactory.

Custom User Roles

Client explicitly requested that when new students register with their name, a new user role should be created with his name. They wanted so that they can distinguish the particular student separately and show him exclusive courses.

User Separation

A course is limited to a student by his user role. Client requested that one student cannot access courses designed for other students. So their courses are separate per user.

Certificate Generation

Certificate is generated dynamically on the server. We have prepared an automated system that generates the certificate with the student’s information. We have used dompdf as the pdf library for this feature.

Course Completion Email

When a student completes his courses, he is guided to click a button to manually mark the courses complete. This action emails the student with the dynamically generated certificate attached to it.

Putting it all together

When we finished, we delivered a semi-automatic system for learning with LearnPress and Gravity Forms. We hope it aids in the learning of many.

The post Customized Course Management with LearnPress and Gravity Forms appeared first on 79mplus and is written by 79mplus Admin

Photography Image Gallery Modifications for NextGEN Gallery

79mplus Admin — Fri, 10 Aug 2018 05:37:06 +0000

79mplus

Photography Image Gallery Modifications for NextGEN Gallery

Photography Image Gallery Modifications for NextGEN Gallery

Anything Backend, Custom Plugin Development, NextGEN Gallery, Plugin Customization, Plugins, Project, WordPress

Challenge

Our client had a NextGEN Gallery based website of photos. The photos could be printed as well with a price from the website. They didn’t like the way the photos were being shown by default. They wanted to apply some changes so that it is more comfortable to use and artful at the same time. They wanted a fullscreen gallery for an immersive experience and some other modifications to serve as a perfect photo gallery.

Our task mainly was to:

Implement a custom page template for a fullscreen gallery in photowall style
Implement a feature for creating a fullscreen page from within NextGEN gallery page
Ensure preview image will automatically set to featured image in fullscreen page
Ensure gallery List will display the featured image from fullscreen page
Implement a custom gallery overview template
Cancel the theme’s default lightbox and show the lightbox from NextGEN

Our Solution

The requirements were frontend, but we had to look into backend as well.

Here’s how we solved the problem:

Fullscreen Gallery

We implemented the ability to create a page with fullscreen gallery, from within NextGEN gallery. We found out that the best way to do this would be to create a page template, so that other header-footer and various changes remain. We created a custom page template to be set as template when a new page is created for a gallery. The photowall style helps to complete the effect.

Preview Image

Client sets usually the best image as a preview image. So they wanted it to be the featured image on the fullscreen page. It does not happen automatically, so they wanted us to make it happen. Eventually the preview image gets shown as the cover image for the album, which saved our client from a lot of manual settings.

Gallery List Images

NextGEN Gallery has its own style of showing image covers for its albums. We customized the album cover images with the image set as the featured image in the fullscreen page type. It has let the client enjoy flexibility for showing the exact image they want for the album. We have implemented this feature in our custom template.

Custom Template

We have combined our solutions into a custom gallery overview template. The template overrides the original NextGEN gallery template with ours. We had to find a way to trick WordPress cache so that it uses the custom template from our plugin.

Lightbox Changes

The Darkroom theme does a great job of integrating into NextGEN gallery lightbox. It replaces the lightbox to its own from the theme. Our client wanted to get back the NextGEN version of the lightbox for their website. It also shows the cart nicely on the sidebar when someone adds a photo into cart.

Putting it all together

At the end we were thankfully able to put everything inside our plugin. The plugin improved the presentation of the website to a great extent. We were happy with the achievements and our client was too.

The post Photography Image Gallery Modifications for NextGEN Gallery appeared first on 79mplus and is written by 79mplus Admin

Geo Proximity based Pizza Ordering System using Google Maps API

79mplus Admin — Tue, 07 Aug 2018 04:43:30 +0000

79mplus

Geo Proximity based Pizza Ordering System using Google Maps API

Geo Proximity based Pizza Ordering System using Google Maps API

Anything Backend, Custom API Integration, Custom Plugin Development, Google Maps API, Plugin Customization, Plugins, Project, WooCommerce, WordPress

Challenge

Our client had a pizza delivery website and wanted to implement a pizza ordering system which would utilize geo proximity to detect nearest pizza stores to order from. Before ordering, user would input his postcode in a form. In order to determine the nearest ones, we would have to get the distance from each shop using Google Maps API and show them on screen. There was also some design mockups and multilingual requirements within the project.

Our task mainly was to:

Implement a shortcode for step by step process
Implement separate forms or screens for Delivery or Take-out
Implement list for Take-outs which shows nearest stores first
Ensure that the whole interface adheres to localization (with WPML)
Ensure that it is easy to add, modify, delete stores
Make sure backend shows order info (Take-out/Delivery, customer details etc.)
Implement an email to concerned store when an order is put on that store
Make sure that the process is ajaxified as much as possible

Our Solution

There were both simple and complex elements to the project. We solved them one by one.

Here’s how we solved the problem:

Delivery and Take-out

We implemented a shortcode to show a choice for Delivery and Take-out. This shortcode was responsible to handle both the order processes. Take-out shows all the shops and Delivery asks for a postcode and eventually shows nearest shops based on the shortcode. We also had to show error screens when there was no shops open at the time of ordering.

Displaying Nearest Stores

On the Delivery option of the implementation we had to utilize Google Maps API to get the closest stores based on the postcode input and the store’s latitude-longitude. The API allowed us to support virtually any postcode input inside the process.

Multilingual Support

At the time of coding, we had to explicitly remember to put localization functions on the plugin to be able to make it support translation. We also had to implement separate urls for separate shops for separate languages. We had to iterate through the languages active on WPML to show fields for all the languages.

Powering with Ajax

To make the process faster, we had to implement ajax in every step on the frontend. The website already used loads of plugins to handle different functionalities. Using cache plugin did not work either. So we had to ajaxify the whole process to make it faster.

Backend Features and Email

We have integrated the order information to backend interfaces to make it work as a whole. Order type, customer information etc. are shown on the WooCommerce Order screens, Emails are sent to the particular store email address when customer orders from that store and many more.

Putting it all together

We delivered the project to client. We delivered a Geo Proximity enabled delivery system which respects customer’s time. Client had some helpful feedbacks on the way which made the project even better to use.

The post Geo Proximity based Pizza Ordering System using Google Maps API appeared first on 79mplus and is written by 79mplus Admin