Contribution Tracker

Instructions for Installing on osCommerce Online Merchant v2.2ms2 (all releases)

Contents

• System Requirements
• Features
• Screen Shots
• Support
• Contribution Link
• Credits
• Install Instructions
• Configuration
• Setup Cron Job
• Known Issues
• ChangeLog

System Requirements

• All the normal osCommerce requirements, plus ...
• fopen or cURL available on your server.

Features

• Keep track of contributions and non-contribution related update you have made to your shop on the addons.oscommerce.com site.
• Track Version Number, Contribution's Addon Page, Support Thread, Date Installed, Date of Contribution Version, The Latest Update Date, and your notes about the contribution.
• Each entered contribution links to contribution page and support page.
• Link entry fields are not limited to osC contributions. Non-contribution entries (such as Patched Exploits) may save links to bug report, github patches, or any information link.
• Quick add field. Enter the contribution number in the field and Contribution Tracker will retrieve most of the info from the osCommerce Addons site automatically for you.
• Full edit page to fine tune details. Includes a field for you to enter notes about the installation.
• Buttons to automatically update the contribution's latest update date per contribution, or all at the same time.
• Automatically update the status of contributions entered in the tracker using a PHP cron script with optional emailed report.
• RSS feed displays the last 15 uploads from addons.oscommerce.com at the bottom of the Contrib Tracker main page.
• Automatic database setup utility.

Screen Shots

Support

• Support Forum: http://forums.oscommerce.com/index.php?showtopic=247157

Contribution Link

• osC 2.2 Contribution Page (this version)
• osC 2.3 Contribution Page (for osCommerce v2.3.x)

Credits

• Release by: Todd aka lildog [forum]
• Danish Translation   by: Michael aka TheExterminator [forum]
• Much Maintanance from v1.0 thru v1.7.12   by: Todd aka lildog [forum]
• Couple Updates v1.6.6 and v1.6.6a   by: Geoffrey Walton aka geoffreywalton [forum]
• Many Updates from v1.7.9 thru v1.7.19   by: Glen aka SteveDallas [forum]
• Update v1.7.16   by: eFFeKt
• Rewrite: v1.8.0   by: Todd Holforty aka surfalot [forum]

Install Instructions

1. Delete rsscache folder in admin if you created it from an earlier version.
2. OPEN catalog/admin/includes/languages/english.php
   
   
   ADD the following just before the last ?> // START - Contrib Tracker define('BOX_TOOLS_CONTRIB_TRACKER', 'Contrib Tracker'); // END - Contrib Tracker
   
   
   
3. OPEN catalog/admin/includes/boxes/tools.php
   
   NOTE: You can add this to any of the files listed in admin/includes/boxes folder. I just chose to add it under Tools as my own preference.
   NOTE: if you add it to the end, you'll need to delete the comma at the end and add one to the entry above it.
   
   
   Find: '<a href="' . tep_href_link(FILENAME_BANNER_MANAGER) . '" class="menuBoxContentLink">' . BOX_TOOLS_BANNER_MANAGER . '</a><br>' .
   
   
   
   ADD this just above that line: // START - Contrib Tracker '<a href="' . tep_href_link(FILENAME_CONTRIB_TRACKER) . '" class="menuBoxContentLink">' . BOX_TOOLS_CONTRIB_TRACKER . '</a><br>' . // END - Contrib Tracker
   
   
4. OPEN catalog/admin/includes/filenames.php
   
   
   ADD the following just before the last ?> // START - Contrib Tracker define('FILENAME_CONTRIB_TRACKER','contrib_tracker.php'); // END - Contrib Tracker
   
   
5. OPEN catalog/admin/includes/database_tables.php
   
   
   ADD the following just before the last ?> // START - Contrib Tracker define('TABLE_CONTRIB_TRACKER','contrib_tracker'); // END - Contrib Tracker
   
   
6. OPEN catalog/admin/includes/stylesheet.css
   
   
   Find: .dataTableRowOver { background-color: #FFFFFF; cursor: pointer; cursor: auto; }
   
   
   Replace With: .dataTableRowOver { background-color: #FFFFFF; cursor: pointer; cursor: hand; }
   
   
7. OPEN catalog/includes/database_tables.php
   
   
   ADD the following just before the last ?> // START - Contrib Tracker define('TABLE_CONTRIB_TRACKER','contrib_tracker'); // END - Contrib Tracker
   
   
8. UPLOAD & keep the directory structure!!!
   

   NOTE: If your shop is a different folder than "catalog" or if it is in the root folder of your host storage, adjust that in the paths below.
   NOTE: If you changed the name of your admin directory, the files will have to be loaded into that directory.

   catalog/contrib_tracker.php
   
   catalog/admin/contrib_tracker.php
   catalog/admin/configurer.php
   
   catalog/admin/includes/classes/contrib_tracker_configurer
   catalog/admin/includes/functions/contrib_tracker.php
   
   catalog/admin/includes/language/(your language)/contrib_tracker.php
   catalog/admin/includes/language/(your language)/configurer.php
   catalog/admin/includes/language/(your language)/images/buttons/button_check_all.gif
   catalog/admin/includes/language/(your language)/images/buttons/button_check_for_update.gif
   catalog/admin/includes/language/(your language)/images/buttons/button_display_updates_only.gif
   catalog/admin/includes/language/(your language)/images/buttons/button_run_configuration_utility.gif
   
   catalog/admin/images/html_badge.gif
   catalog/admin/images/icon_down.gif
   catalog/admin/images/icon_help.gif
   catalog/admin/images/icon_manual_check.jpg
   catalog/admin/images/icon_up.gif
   catalog/admin/images/rss_badge.png
   

   
   
9. Log into your admin and select Contrib Tracker from the Tools menu group
   
   If you have either updated an old Contribution Tracker install or installed it new, the Configuration Utility will setup Contribution Tracker in your database automatically. Have Fun!
   
   

Configuration

• There is only one configuration option included. It is located at
  
  Admin -> Configuration -> E-Mail Options -> Contrib Tracker Notification email
  
  If true, the cron job you setup will email you when an updated contribution is available.
  
  
  
• As of version 1.8.0, the RSS feed check and update that occurred with every main page loaded is now optional with an easy checkbox. Check it, and the RSS feed will run as normal. Since this process only checks the last 15 contribution uploads at osCommerce, it seemed a waste of resources to constantly run out and check this feed and run 15 SQL commands to see if any updates are needed every time we load the Contribution Tracker main page. So it's now optional.
  
  If you wish to enable the RSS feed check and update of the contribution dates and status EVERY time the main page loads, follow this simple step:
  
  OPEN catalog/admin/contrib_tracker.php
  
  
  Find near the top: // if you wish to have this code check the RSS feed every time // you open the Contribution Tracker, uncomment the next line. //$showrss = true;
  
  
  Change to: // if you wish to have this code check the RSS feed every time // you open the Contribution Tracker, uncomment the next line. $showrss = true;
  
  

Setup Cron Job (optional)

Setup Automatic Update Cron (after installation)

• At your host you should have a way to setup a cron. This example is for a cPanel server. From you cPanel control panel, select Cron Jobs from the Advanced group.
  
  You will first be asked for when the cron will be run. The following settings will run the cron once a day, at 4:10am
  

  Minute: 10
  Hour: 4
  Day: *
  Month: *
  Weekday: *
  

• Next you will need the command to run (replace the "/path/to/your/php/home" with the actual path to your hosting files):
  
  php -f /path/to/your/php/home/contrib_tracker.php >/dev/null 2>&1
  -or-
  /usr/local/bin/php -f /path/to/your/php/home/contrib_tracker.php >/dev/null 2>&1
  

Known Issues

1. The cron uses an email address validator to validate the shop owner's email address. Unknown to this author why, but someone had a reason to add that validation. I would think most folks running a shop would have had a chance to check and ensure the admin email address entered is valid. But I digress.
   
   The issue may arise that the code in osCommerce v2.2ms2 running on PHP 5.2+ has an issue with the newer preg_match() function and the patterns used in the old version of the shop.
   
   If you don't receive an email from the cron, check your error_log for a message like: PHP Warning: preg_match(): Unknown modifier ...
   
   you can fix this either by replacing the file /catalog/includes/functions/validations.php in your shop with the same file provided in the latest osCommerce 2.3.x release. The other option is to modify the code in this contribution as such:
   
   
   Find in /catalog/contrib_tracker.php: if (tep_validate_email(STORE_OWNER_EMAIL_ADDRESS)) { tep_mail(STORE_OWNER, STORE_OWNER_EMAIL_ADDRESS, $subject, $enquiry, $name, STORE_OWNER_EMAIL_ADDRESS); }
   
   
   Replace with: tep_mail(STORE_OWNER, STORE_OWNER_EMAIL_ADDRESS, $subject, $enquiry, $name, STORE_OWNER_EMAIL_ADDRESS);
   
   
   

Finished !