This particular user guide is for VP One Page Checkout plugin package for VirtueMart 4 and VirtueMart 3. If you are using VirtueMart 2.0 or VirtueMart 2.6 then please refer to this documentation.
Installation
To start with the installation process you first need to download the correct package compatible with VirtueMart 4 and VirtueMart 3. This is a Joomla! system plugin compatible with Joomla! 2.5, Joomla! 3 and Joomla! 4. Install the plugin using Joomla! Extension Installer. Now go to Plugin Manager and enable the plugin you just installed. It will be listed as "System - VP One Page Checkout". That is it. The installation is done and now the plugin will take care of your VirtueMart checkout system.
Configuration
Once the plugin is installed in your site you can configure VirtueMart and the plugin as per your need.
VirtueMart Configuration
It is very important that you enable "Using the Script ajax Countries / Regions" in VirtueMart Configuration under Template tab. If this option is disabled in your site then state/region field will not get populated correctly as per the selected country in Billing Address and Shipping Address forms. Other css and script settings can be configured as per your site requirement.
How to enable/disable guest checkout
If you enable "Only registered users can checkout" in VirtueMart Configuration then guest checkout will be disabled and only registration option will be displayed. You need to disable this option if you want to have guest checkout enabled in your site.
How to show registration form in checkout page
Enable "On checkout, ask for registration" in VirtueMart Configuration.
How to show product images in checkout page
Enable "Show product images" in VirtueMart Configuration.
How to show Terms of Service in checkout page?
Enable "Show Terms of Service on the cart/checkout" in VirtueMart Configuration.
Basic Options
The plugin has various configuration options to meet your exact need. Each basic options of the plugin settings are exlained below.
Layout Style
Set your desired layout style for the checkout page. At present the plugin has four different layout options - Style 1, Style 2, Style 3 (Single Screen) and Style 4 (Single Screen). Refer to the Live Demo Site to find the differences between the layouts.
Enable Händlerbund Compliant Layout
If this option is enabled then Cart Form fields are separated from the order confirm button and displayed under a new section in 2nd column.
Color Style
Set your desired color style for the checkout page.
Responsive Layout
Confirm if your Joomla! Template is responsive.
Hide Registration and Login Area
If you enable this option then the plugin will always display the order finalization screen and will not display registration and login area. Please remember you must disable "Only registered users can checkout" option in VirtueMart Configuration to allow users to checkout as guest.
Show Full Cart on First Screen
When this option is disabled the login and registration screen only displays the cart table till product total and does not display applied bill tax, bill discount, coupon discount, selected payment, selected shipment and cart total. If you enable this option then full cart table will be displayed.
Show Page Preloader
If yes, page preloader is displayed until all required scripts are loaded and system gets ready for checkout.
Registration Form Displayed by Default
When Only registered users can checkout option is disabled and On checkout, ask for registration is enabled in VirtueMart Configuration then you see both Guest Checkout and Registration option in the first screen. Guest Checkout option is selected by default. If you enable this option then Registration option will be selected by default.
Instant Username and Email Verification
When this option is enabled username availability and email address availability is checked instantly through Ajax as the user type in the information in the registration form fields.
Live Username, Email and Password Field Validation
When this option is enabled username field, email field and password fields are dynamically verified as the user type in the information in the registration form. It also displays a password strength meter.
Auto Generate Username during Registration
If this option is set as "Derive from Email", username is derived randomly from the email address. If this option is set as "Same as Email", username is set same as the email address. When enabled Username field is not be displayed in User Registration form.
Auto Generate Password during Registration
If yes, password is generated automatically during registration. When enabled, password fields are not displayed in the registration form.
Hide Name Field in Registration Form
When this option is enabled Name field will not be displayed in User Registration form and the same will be generated automatically from the email address or username.
Show Confirm Email Field
If yes, confirm email field is displayed in registration form and in billing address form to guests.
Show Joomla Privacy Consent Field
If yes, privacy consent radio selection field of core Joomla Privacy System is displayed in the registration form. This option is available in Joomla 3.9.0 and later. System - Privacy Consent plugin must be enabled to use this feature.
Registration Email
If VP Advanced User, registration emails are sent using the email template system of VP Advanced User. If standard, emails are sent using standard VirtueMart system. You need to have VP Advanced User component installed in your site to activate this option.
Custom Registration Advantage Message
Registration Advantage message is displayed when both guest checkout and registration are enabled in checkout pages and a user select Guest Checkout option. You can enter your custom Registration Advantage message here. If you keep this blank then the plugin will display its standard message.
Email as Username - Login
When this option is set as "Yes", only E-Mail address can be used login instead of Username. When it is set as "Both", Username or E-Mail address can be used for login. Set this as "No" for normal login with Username.
Social Login Buttons
If yes, social login buttons are displayed in login section. This option is only available in Joomla! 3.5+ when VP Advanced User component installed and configured.
Size of Social Buttons
If standard, the first two login buttons are displayed with names. If small, only icons are displayed in the buttons.
Show Checkout Steps
When this option is enabled Checkout steps are displayed with numbers in the order finalization screen.
Hide All Prices
If yes, all prices are hidden on cart page. If guest, all prices will be hidden from guest users. Please remember that price display of shipment method and payment methods may be controlled by respective shipment and payment plugins.
Hide Ship To Address Form
If yes, shipping address form is not displayed in the cart page.
Hide Shipment Methods
If yes, shipment methods are not displayed on the cart page. This option will only work if you have at least one shipment method available for all users and the same is set as 'Automatic Selected Shipment' in VirtueMart Configuration.
Hide Discount
When this option is enabled discount column will not be displayed in the cart details table.
Hide SKU
When this option is enabled SKU column will not be displayed in the cart details table.
Tax Column Name
Name of the tax column in cart table. If Dynamic, the name is derived from the name of the tax rule applied.
Show Taxes Separately
If yes, all applied tax rules (VAT Tax and other Bill Taxes) are shown separately below the price list table.
Address Field Grouping
If yes, the address fields like name prefix, first name, last name, middle name, city, zip etc will be grouped together and displayed side by side.
BT as ST by Default
If yes, "use billing address as shipping address" checkbox will be checked by default in shipping address form.
Auto Update Quantity on Change
If yes, product quantity is automatically updated on change.
Show Quantity Update Button
If yes, product quantity update button is shown.
Show Product Remove Button
If yes, product remove button is shown.
Show Clear Cart
If yes, clear cart link is displayed in the cart page. All products are removed from the cart when an user clicks on this link.
Cart Module Position
In Joomla! 3 you can select your desired module position from the drop down list when you want to display at the top of the cart page. In Joomla! 2.5 the module position is always "cart-promo".
Show VirtueMart Checkout Advertisements
Enable this if you want to display core VirtueMart advertisement contents generated by payment plugins, shipment plugins or coupon plugins below the order confirmation button. They will be displayed only if exists.
EU VAT
The plugin can automatically validate the entered VAT number for EU countries. It validate the data using the SOAP API of http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/. You need to have PHP SoapClient installed and enabled in your server to use this feature.
You can also assign specific shopper groups to EU VAT Paying Buyers and Non-EU VAT Paying Buyyers. You can use these shopper groups in your Tax/VAT Rules to automatically calculate the effective VAT/Tax that you need to collect from the buyers.
Enable EU VAT Check
If yes, VAT ID checking system is enabled.
Disable for Buyers from Native Country
If yes, EU VAT Check will be disabled for the users from Native Country or shop owner's country.
VAT - Shopper Field
Select your VAT - Shopper Field from the list. The entered value in this field by the users will be validated as VAT ID. First create a Text type field in VirtueMart's Shopper Fields section. Enable "Show in account maintenance" and/or "Show in shipment form". Now set this field as your VAT - Shopper Field here.
Show VAT Data in Order Admin
If yes, EU VAT data is shown to administrators in order details.
Buyer Needs Valid VAT ID
If yes, orders will be accepted only from buyers with valid EU VAT Number.
Enable for Guests
If yes, Guest shopper group change is enabled.
Enable for Registered Users
If yes, Registered User shopper group change is enabled.
VAT Exempted Groups
Select the groups which are to be assigned to VAT Exempted users.
VAT Paying Groups
Select the groups which are to be assigned to VAT paying users. This should be different from 'VAT Exempted Groups'.
Native Country
Select the native country for your shop.
Advanced Options
Each advanced options of the plugin are exlained below.
Load jQuery Library
This option is displayed only in Joomla! 2.5. jQuery library is required for the plugin. If your Joomla! Template is loading jQuery on top of all other scripts then you can set this as "No". If you are not sure then we recommend you to keep this in "Auto" mode and let the plugin do the hard work to decide this. In Joomla! 3 the plugin uses core Joomla! jQuery library.
Load jQuery Plugins
jQuery Hover Intent plugin and jQuery Easing plugin are required for VP One Page Checkout plugin. If your Joomla template is already loading this then you can set this to "No". If you are not sure then we recommend you to keep this in "Auto" mode and let the plugin do the hard work to decide this.
Use Fancybox for TOS
If this is enabled then the plugin will use core VirtueMart Fancybox script to display Terms of Service popup. When disabled it will use the plugin's own Boostrap modal box feature.
Hide System Messages
When this is enabled the plugin will automatically remove all unnecessary system messages displayed in the cart page by core VirtueMart system. Eg. Please accept Terms of Service, Missing fields First Name etc.
Custom Messages to Hide
Here you can enter the other custom system messages that you do not want to display on cart page. You can enter multiple strings separated by comma. You can even enter language tags to hide the message on multilingual site. To hide messages starting with a specific string add a suffix * after the string. Similarly to hide messages ending with a specific string add a prefix * before the string. Please remember "Hide System Messages" option must be enabled to use this feature.
Force Disable SSL on Non-Cart Pages
When SSL option is enabled in VirtueMart Configuration and when you are not using any other SSL redirection extension then you can enable this option. It redirects the users to a non-SSL/normal mode page when they move out of SSL enabled VirtueMart cart page.
Default Country
This option allows you to set your desired default country which you want to get selected automatically by the plugin when a new/guest user tries checkout. By default it is selected a "Same as Vendor Country". You can change this "None" or select any specific country from the drop down list as per your choice. Setting a default country always makes the checkout faster. So set it wisely.
Custom Registration Fields
The plugin needs only the core Joomla! registration field data to register an user. It displays username, name, email and password fields in the registration form by default. If you want to add more billing address fields in the registration form then you want select them from the available list. Please the entered data in the custom fields only gets saved to cart session after registration. The data finally gets saved to the database when the user confirm the order.
Remove Duplicate BT Address Form
Remove Custom Registration Fields from Billing Address from. This option is applicable only when Custom Registration Fields are used.
Custom BT Address Update Fields
Generally shipping methods and payment methods are updated/refreshed when zip, city, country and state fields are updated/changed by an user. If you want to refresh shipping methods and payment methods also against few other custom fields then you can assign them here. This options become useful when you use some 3rd party EU VAT number validation extensions or Brazilian CEP validation extensions in your site.
Custom ST Address Update Fields
Select the Ship to Address fields for which you want to update the billing address in cart, when value is changed.
Show Captcha (If enabled)
Even though VP One Page Checkout plugin registration form is fully bot protected you can display reCaptcha below the form. To use this option you need to enable the reCaptcha plugin and also need to enable captcha option in Joomla! Users Configuration.
Show Placeholder
If yes, field description/tip is displayed as place-holder for input fields in forms.
Disable Autocomplete of Address Fields (Beta)
If yes, autocomplete/autofill by browser is disabled for address fields. This feature is still in beta testing stage. Please note that it may not work in all browsers.
Format Radio & Checkbox
If your Billing Address or Shipping Address fields contains some custom radio or checkbox fields then you are normally not displayed properly aligned with VP One Page Checkout plugin layout. This option helps you to get them aligned properly using JavaScript. If you need you may disabled this feature.
Remove Extra Links
Sometimes few third party payment plugins displays core VirtueMart edit payment page link in their display. VP One Page Checkout does not have any separate edit payment page so you may remove those links by enabling this option.
Reload Full Page After Login & Registration
The plugin by default loads the order finalization screen through Ajax after an user logs in or gets registered. If you are using any other login module in the page then you may enable this option to reload the full page to allow that module gets updated with the actual user login state.
Reload Payment Methods after Shipment Selection
If you want to reload the payment method selections area after selection of shipping method then you will need to enable this option.
Reload Payment Methods and Shipment Methods after Coupon Code Submission
This option allows you to reload payment method and shipping method selection areas along with cart details area after submission of a discount coupon code.
Enable Additional Security
This is extremely useful when you use some 3rd party page cache extension (eg. JotCache etc) in your site. When page cache is enabled users can see cached contents from previous session in the cart page when there is actually no products in the cart. This option checks the actual product status over Ajax bypassing page cache and stops the users to proceed checkout. This also helps to protect checkout page from robots. This function may not work properly if you use any other 3rd party security system or any other 3rd party SEF url extension in your site.