Basics - Useful Tools

Descriptions of these tools can be found at the individual web sites

PHP, HTML and Text Editors

You need a plain text editor to modify the Zen Cart files. You cannot use MS Word or other document editors. Here are some options.

Freeware

• Sublime Text (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• VS Code (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• Notepad++ (Windows)

Commercial

• Sublime Text (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• PhpStorm (Windows, Mac, Linux) Full-featured IDE
• UltraEdit (Windows)

Hash Validation Tools

• HashTab - Windows tool for validating MD5/SHA1 hashes of downloaded files
• Microsoft checksum tool
• Get-FileHash checksum tool
• Terminal (Command-Line): shasum -a 256 FILENAME

Text-Search Tools

Text search tools are useful for finding the locations of strings you want to change.

Freeware

• The Developers Toolkit in your Zen Cart Admin
• Any of the PHP and Text Editors mentioned above

Image/Graphic Editors

Freeware

• GIMP (Win/Mac/Linux)
• IrfanView

Online Image Editors

• GlorifyApp
• VistaCreate
• Stencil
• Canva

File Comparison Utility

File comparison tools allow you to compare older versions of Zen Cart with newer versions, or compare a vanilla copy of a file with a copy from a modification or plugin.

Freeware

• WinMerge (Windows) ** Offers 3-way comparisons! **
• Kdiff3 (Unix, Windows, Mac)

Commercial

• Araxis Merge (Windows, Mac) ** Offers 3-way comparisons **
• Beyond Compare (Windows and Mac and Linux) ** Offers 3-way comparisons! **

FTP Tools

FTP stands for “File Transfer Protocol.” You use FTP to connect to your hoster and upload files to your cart. An example of transferring a file is provided in Installing a File.

Note that whatever tool you select must have the ability to do secure file transfer.

Freeware

• WinSCP A great Windows-based secure-FTP program. RECOMMENDED
• FileZilla (Windows, Mac, Linux)
  NOTE: download from the official https://filezilla-project.org link only.
  NOTE: do not store passwords in Filezilla; type them in each time
• CyberDuck FTP (Windows, Mac)

Commercial

• Transmit (Mac)
• Forklift (Mac)

File Archiver/Zip/Unzip Utility

The Zen Cart code and plugins come in .zip format, so you need a way to handle files like this.

Freeware

• 7-Zip

Commercial

• BetterZip (Mac)
• WinRAR (Windows)
• WinZip (Windows, Mac)

Webpage Validators

Freeware

• CSS Validation Service
• W3C Markup Validation Service

Database Manipulation Tools

Freeware

• phpMyAdmin
• TablePlus (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• SQLyog CE (Windows)
• MySQL Workbench Free tool for analyzing MySQL database queries

Commercial

• Navicat (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• SQLyog (Windows)
• Querious (Mac)
• JetBrains DataGrip (Windows, Mac, Linux) (part of phpStorm)

Local Web Server for Development Environment

Freeware

• XAMPP (Windows, Mac, Linux)
• MAMP (Windows, Mac)
• Valet (Mac)