What's New in Version 2.1.0

About PHP versions

Zen Cart v2.1.x is designed for PHP 8.0 to 8.3, with MySQL 5.7.8+ (or MariaDB 10.2.7+) and Apache 2.2/2.4.

Upgrade Instructions

See the online docs for upgrading advice, including Release-Specific considerations to note regarding this version.

This document only mentions the actual changes specific to v2.1.x since v2.0.1.

All Versions

If you are upgrading from the prior release, please do a standard site upgrade.

If you are upgrading from a release which is older than the prior release, you may wish to consider starting again using a database only upgrade.

Many older templates are going to be difficult to bring forward. If you are using an older template - especially one that is not responsive - you may wish to consider migrating to Responsive Classic or Bootstrap.

Be sure to review all the links in this article, including tips on staging the upgrade in a separate directory/folder.

If you are using Addons/Plugins that use modified versions of core Zen Cart files, you must compare those plugin files to the original Zen Cart files of the version for which those plugins were built, to identify the modifications. Subsequently you must replicate those modifications in the release version of the file. Be sure to check the plugin’s support thread to see if a new version has been released since the one you installed before.

Always review the Release Specific Upgrade Considerations for the release you are upgrading to all the way back to the release you are upgrading from.

CHANGELOG - List of Changed Files

For a list of files that have been changed since v2.0.1, see the changed_files-v2.1.0 document.

Upgrading to a Responsive Template

If your site doesn’t look good on a mobile phone or a tablet, it’s likely because it’s using an older non-responsive template. You can read about Responsive Templates on the help site to learn more.

If you are upgrading an older site, we recommend that you use a responsive template (rather than template_default or any older non-responsive template) as the starting point for your upgraded site. Both the Responsive Classic and Bootstrap templates are good candidates.

Upgrader Notes About Changes to template_default

Upgraders should make sure they update BOTH template_default AND their custom templates as described here

In Zen Cart the template_default directory contains the master copy of all storefront page templates.

The normal procedure for customizing template files for use in your own personalized template is to make a copy of the corresponding file from template_default, put it into your own template folder (and matching folder structure), and make your customizations in that copy of the file.

This way the only files you need in your personalized template folder are those that you have altered in some way from template_default.

With that explained, it is important that whenever you upgrade your site, you should also inspect ALL the template_default files to determine which changes in those files need to be replicated in your customized files. Comparison/Merging Tools are essential for this process; see the Zen Cart Developer Tools for recommendations.

The process is simple: compare the template_default directory files from your old version to the template_default files in the new version, and replicate any differences in the files in your custom/personalized template in your store. If you based your template on responsive_classic, you should also compare and merge any changes from that template.

Then, and only after you have done all those comparisons and updated your customized files in your custom template folder, you will copy the template_default files from the new version into the template_default directory of your store.

This way you will be left with updated personalized files and updated template_default files.

Language Files in Zen Cart 1.5.8 and above

Upgraders from prior versions of Zen Cart will notice a signficant change to the language files in this version. Because of new stricter PHP standards, simply doing a define on language file constants (with multiple define operations being done when overrides were present) was not an approach that could be used.

Zen Cart now uses Array based language files. For plugins with language files which are not overridden, the older style may still be used.

If you’re doing an upgrade from a pre-1.5.8 Zen Cart version and are worried about all the language file changes you’ll have to figure out, there is another option. Rather than porting all your customizations, you may want to start small and add customizations as they are needed. Many older templates made unnecessary changes which you will not want to carry forward. See basic language file customizations for a minimal starting list.

For developers with language skills who would like to build a new translation, developer information on Array based language files is provided.

2.1.0

The improvements in v2.1.0 include:

• New Feature: The Products Options Stock Manager plugin (sometimes called POSM) is integrated with Zen Cart as an encapsulated plugin. This feature will help storeowners who have product variants whose stock needs to be tracked (red large t-shirts vs blue medium t-shirts, for example). It is designed as an alternative to the various “Stock by Attributes” plugins which are currently in use. See Variant Stock for more details.
• New Feature: shipping/payment/order-total modules may now be delivered as encapsulated plugins. Developers are encouraged to do so since encapsulated plugins are easier for end-users to install. Note that any encapsulated shipping/payment/order-total modules must have an associated array based language file. The use of the older define based language files is not supported for encapsulated modules.
• New Feature: Categories may now be featured. (Prior releases only allowed featuring individual products.) See Featured Categories for details.
• New Feature: The Zen Cart admin may now be secured with Multi Factor Authentication.
• New Feature: Layout Boxes Controller made more user friendly.
• New Feature: Templates may now have a separate list of links for their mobile menus. (In prior releases, the mobile menu would reuse the desktop header link list.) See this PR for details.
• Admin: UI has better multi-language support. See Admin Language conversion.
• Admin: FIXED - Search in Options Values Manager.
• Admin: FIXED - Salemaker sales with be enabled/disabled by clicking the status icon.
• Admin: FIXED - Sales Report with Graphs monthly pagination now works; dates in legend no longer truncated.
• Admin: FIXED - CKEditor security warning fix is built-in.
• Admin: FIXED - Enabling and disabling sales by clicking icon works.
• Admin: FIXED - Viewing customer records would occasionally lead to a blank right hand infoBox.
• Admin: FIXED - Viewing orders would occasionally lead to a blank right hand infoBox.
• Admin: FIXED - Selecting coupons on pages other than the first page would occasionally fail.
• Admin: The template settings file may now be viewed from your admin page.
• Admin: The date of last password change is now shown on the Users page in admin.
• Admin: Product Price fields “Gross” and “Net” have been renamed to “Tax Included” and “Tax Excluded.”
• Core: For robustness, in multi-language stores, missing non-English language constants will now fall back to their English definitions.
• Core: Add parameter to Customer class notifier to allow data to be added to class.
• Core: Retired Notifiers and Observers can be set to generate deprecated logs automatically.
• Core: Zones module now has exception rules notifier. See this page for details on usage.
• Core: Many improvements in multi-language handling.
• Extras: Improved and modernized utilities in the /extras folder.
• Installer: zc_install now uses Bootstrap 5. Zurb Foundation is no longer used. UI greatly improved.
• Modernization: A Product class has been introduced to encapsulate product-specific logic.
• Modernization: Shipping modules now inherit from the ZenShipping base class to reduce code duplication and ensure consistency.
• Storefront: FIXED - Second Place Order done from admin before completing first one works as expected.
• Storefront: FIXED attribute pricing display issues.
• Storefront: FIXED fractional product quantities handling.
• Storefront: Gift Certificate FAQ page layout improvements.
• Storefront: Additional image matching rules now are enforced more strictly for new installs; see this page for details.

Help and Support

For additional help and support, visit the Zen Cart® Docs and the Zen Cart® Support Forum.

Zen Cart® is derived from: Copyright 2003 osCommerce

This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY;
without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE
and is redistributable under Version 2 of the GNU General Public License.

Zen Cart®
www.zen-cart.com