UniShop – jQuery XML PayPal Shopping Cart Plugin

Introduction to UniShop - jQuery XML PayPal Shopping Cart Plugin

UniShop is a powerful and flexible jQuery XML PayPal shopping cart plugin that allows you to easily add a shopping cart to your website. With UniShop, you can manage your products, customers, and orders in a centralized manner, making it a great solution for e-commerce websites. In this tutorial, we will walk you through the steps of setting up and using UniShop to create a fully functional shopping cart on your website.

Prerequisites

Before you start, make sure you have the following:

• A basic understanding of HTML, CSS, and JavaScript
• A PayPal account (you will need this to process payments)
• A text editor or IDE (Integrated Development Environment) to write and edit your code
• A web server or hosting platform to host your website

Step 1: Download and Install UniShop

To get started, download the UniShop plugin from the official website. Once downloaded, extract the files to a directory on your web server.

Step 2: Configure UniShop

To configure UniShop, you need to create a configuration file called unishop.config.php. This file contains the settings for your shopping cart, such as the PayPal API credentials, currency, and tax rates.

Create a new file called unishop.config.php in the root directory of your UniShop installation and add the following code:

<?php
// PayPal API credentials
$paypal_api_username = 'your_paypal_api_username';
$paypal_api_password = 'your_paypal_api_password';
$paypal_api_signature = 'your_paypal_api_signature';

// Currency
$currency = 'USD';

// Tax rates
$tax_rate = 0.08; // 8% tax rate

// Other settings
$cart_cookie_name = 'unishop_cart';
$cart_cookie_expires = 30; // 30 days

Replace the placeholders with your actual PayPal API credentials, currency, and tax rates.

Step 3: Create a Product Catalog

To create a product catalog, you need to create a file called products.xml in the root directory of your UniShop installation. This file contains the product information, such as name, price, and description.

Create a new file called products.xml and add the following code:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<products>
    <product>
        <name>Product 1</name>
        <price>9.99</price>
        <description>This is product 1.</description>
    </product>
    <product>
        <name>Product 2</name>
        <price>19.99</price>
        <description>This is product 2.</description>
    </product>
    <!-- Add more products here -->
</products>

Replace the placeholder products with your actual product information.

Step 4: Add UniShop to Your Website

To add UniShop to your website, you need to include the UniShop JavaScript file and create a HTML element to display the shopping cart.

Add the following code to your HTML file:

<!-- Include UniShop JavaScript file -->
<script src="unishop.js"></script>

<!-- Create a HTML element to display the shopping cart -->
<div id="unishop-cart"></div>

Step 5: Initialize UniShop

To initialize UniShop, you need to call the unishop.init() function and pass the configuration file and product catalog file as arguments.

Add the following code to your JavaScript file:

$(document).ready(function() {
    unishop.init('unishop.config.php', 'products.xml');
});

Step 6: Add Products to the Cart

To add products to the cart, you can use the unishop.addProduct() function and pass the product ID and quantity as arguments.

Add the following code to your JavaScript file:

// Add a product to the cart
unishop.addProduct(1, 2); // Add 2 units of product 1 to the cart

// Get the cart contents
var cart = unishop.getCart();
console.log(cart);

Step 7: Process Payments

To process payments, you need to use the PayPal API to create a payment request. UniShop provides a unishop.paypalPayment() function that generates the payment request for you.

Add the following code to your JavaScript file:

// Process payment
unishop.paypalPayment(function(payment_request) {
    // Create a PayPal payment request
    var paypal_payment_request = {
        'action': 'payment',
        'payment_request': payment_request
    };

    // Send the payment request to PayPal
    $.ajax({
        type: 'POST',
        url: 'https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr',
        data: paypal_payment_request,
        success: function(response) {
            console.log(response);
        }
    });
});

Conclusion

That's it! You have now set up and configured UniShop to create a fully functional shopping cart on your website. You can add products to the cart, process payments, and manage your orders using the UniShop API. With UniShop, you can easily create a professional-looking e-commerce website without writing a lot of code.