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Installing OpenCart extensions developed on vQmod
OpenCart is one of the popular ecommerce frameworks. It has numerous extensions available, ranging from payment gateway, order management, language, shipping methods, reports, product feeds and so on. Installing these will quickly ramp up the functionality of your Opencart shop.
However unlike Magento and WordPress, the extensions need to be manually installed.( A slightly boring part)
vQmod a preferred framework for developing Extensions.
vQmod stands for Virtual Quick Mod.
"vQmod" is an override system designed to avoid having to change core files.
The concept is quite simple. Instead of making changes to the core files directly, the changes are created as xml search/replace script files. The advantage of using Vqmod is keeping the core functionalities of OpenCart untouched.
As the things stand more than 70% of OpenCart extensions are built on Vqmod. Here is a practical guide to install Vqmod based extensions.
Installing vQmod is one time effort; once the vQmod is installed on your server you can install any number of vQmod based extensions.
One of the dilemma is to know if extension is based on vQmod or non-vQmod.
No where in extension listing it is mentioned if it is a vQmod extension or not. So check the folders of the extension after unzip.
A typical vQmod based extension will have folders like vQmod/catalog/admin or vQmod or combinations alternatively check the installation documentation which comes along with extension.
Extension Installation
Your vQmod is installed and you are ready to install a vQmod based extension.
STEP 5 : Go to your admin Extensions>Modules you will see the module in the list.
All vQmod based extensions will have vQmod folder. This folder will add new extension files within vQmod folder already present on the server. You have to simply dump the extension files on FTP.
vQmod extensions work on the concept of overriding. That is search replace-override. If your web-site has custom theme; extension will not find what it is looking for as all extensions are based on default theme.In that case things become complicated. Check the tpl files and accordingly write the code in vQmod extension xml to find and replace.
For non-English OpenCart websites
If the language is not default i.e. English then upload the extension language file in the selected language folder.
In case your files paths are different than default Opencart paths.
If file path is different then the default paths in OpenCart (this may happen due to customization) make changes accordingly in vQmod xml Eg catalog/view/theme/default/template/common/home.tpl (opencart default path) you have to change the above path then mention in extension vQmod xml file.
Html tags not properly closed
if the html tags are not properly closed for eg <div> <span> then the design get distorted because vQmod is unable to identify the tags.
Opencart Support
In case you have customized themes we would strongly suggest to hire a developer with vQmod experience. TransPacific Software extensively specializes in OpenCart and vQmod .For more info contact connect@transpacific.in
Installing GR rich snippet extension will display actionable info with your search results e.g. Reviews, star rating, cost. Improves CTR and Conversions
OpenCart is one of the popular ecommerce frameworks. It has numerous extensions available, ranging from payment gateway, order management, language, shipping methods, reports, product feeds and so on. Installing these will quickly ramp up the functionality of your Opencart shop.
However unlike Magento and WordPress, the extensions need to be manually installed.( A slightly boring part)
vQmod a preferred framework for developing Extensions.
vQmod stands for Virtual Quick Mod.
"vQmod" is an override system designed to avoid having to change core files.
The concept is quite simple. Instead of making changes to the core files directly, the changes are created as xml search/replace script files. The advantage of using Vqmod is keeping the core functionalities of OpenCart untouched.
As the things stand more than 70% of OpenCart extensions are built on Vqmod. Here is a practical guide to install Vqmod based extensions.
Installing vQmod is one time effort; once the vQmod is installed on your server you can install any number of vQmod based extensions.
STEP 1 : Download vQmod
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STEP 2 : Install vQmod
vQmod_install_2.jpg
Identifing a vQmod based Extension
Extension Installation
Your vQmod is installed and you are ready to install a vQmod based extension.
STEP 3 : Download the extension
download_plugin_3.jpg
STEP 4 : Extract the file and upload the content in your root directory.
install_plugin_4.jpg
STEP 5 : Go to your admin Extensions>Modules you will see the module in the list.
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STEP 6 :
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STEP 7 :
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STEP 8 :
Common Issues faced
Installing vQmod with custom Opencart theme.
Installing Extensions with custom Opencart theme.
For non-English OpenCart websites
In case your files paths are different than default Opencart paths.
Html tags not properly closed
Opencart Support
Best useful Opencart Extensions
Best_useful_opencart-extensions.jpg
- Google Rich Snippet Extension
Installing GR rich snippet extension will display actionable info with your search results e.g. Reviews, star rating, cost. Improves CTR and Conversions- Pinterest Rich Pin Extension
Add Rich Pin tags to your OpenCart shop for better ecommerce through Pinterest- All File Types Extension
Upload any file format through Image Manager