This particular user guide is for the 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 the installation process, you first need to download the package that is compatible with VirtueMart 4 and VirtueMart 3. This is a Joomla! system plugin compatible with 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 the plugin will take care of your VirtueMart checkout system.
Configuration
Once the plugin is installed on your site, you can configure VirtueMart and the plugin as needed.
VirtueMart Configuration
It is very important that you enable "Using the Script Ajax Countries / Regions" in VirtueMart Configuration under the Template tab. If this option is disabled on your site, then the state/region field will not be populated correctly as per the selected country in the Billing Address and Shipping Address forms. Other CSS and script settings can be configured as per your site requirements.
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 the registration option will be displayed. You need to disable this option if you want to enable guest checkout on your site.
How to show the registration form on the checkout page
Enable "On checkout, ask for registration" in VirtueMart Configuration.
How to show product images on the checkout page
Enable "Show product images" in VirtueMart Configuration.
Basic Options
The plugin has various configuration options to meet your exact needs. Each basic option for the plugin settings is explained below.
Layout Style
Set your desired layout style for the checkout page. Currently, 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 the Cart Form fields are separated from the order confirm button and displayed under a new section in the 2nd column.
Colour Style
Set your desired colour 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 the registration and login area. Please remember you must disable the "Only registered users can checkout" option in VirtueMart Configuration to allow users to checkout as guests.
Show Full Cart on First Screen
When this option is disabled, the login and registration screen only displays the cart table till the 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 the full cart table will be displayed.
Show Page Preloader
If yes, the page preloader is displayed until all required scripts are loaded and the system prepares for checkout.
Registration Form Displayed by Default
When the "Only registered users can checkout" option is disabled and the "On checkout, ask for registration" is enabled in VirtueMart Configuration, then you see both the Guest Checkout and Registration options on the first screen. The Guest Checkout option is selected by default. If you enable this option, then the Registration option will be selected by default.
Instant Username and Email Verification
When this option is enabled, username availability and email address availability are 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, the 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", the username is derived randomly from the email address. If this option is set as "Same as Email", the username is set the same as the email address. When enabled, the Username field is not displayed in the User Registration form.
Auto Generate Password during Registration
If yes, the 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, the Name field will not be displayed in the User Registration form, and the same will be generated automatically from the email address or username.
Show Confirm Email Field
If yes, confirm that the email field is displayed in the registration form and in the billing address form to guests.
Show Joomla Privacy Consent Field
If yes, the privacy consent radio selection field of the 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 the standard VirtueMart system. You must have the VP Advanced User component installed on 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 selects the 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 the E-Mail address can be used to log in instead of Username. When it is set as "Both", the 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 the login section. This option is only available in Joomla! 3.5+ when the VP Advanced User component is installed and configured.
Size of Social Buttons
If standard, the first two login buttons are displayed with names. If small, only icons are displayed on the buttons.
Show Checkout Steps
When this option is enabled, checkout steps are displayed with numbers on the order finalization screen.
Hide All Prices
If yes, all prices are hidden on the cart page. If guest, all prices will be hidden from guest users. Please remember that the price display of shipment methods and payment methods may be controlled by respective shipment and payment plugins.
Hide Ship To Address Form
If yes, the shipping address form is not displayed on 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, the discount column will not be displayed in the cart details table.
Hide SKU
When this option is enabled, the SKU column will not be displayed in the cart details table.
Tax Column Name
Name of the tax column in the 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, such as 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, the "use billing address as shipping address" checkbox will be checked by default in the shipping address form.
Auto Update Quantity on Change
If yes, the product quantity will automatically be updated with the change.
Show Quantity Update Button
If yes, the product quantity update button is shown.
Show Product Remove Button
If yes, the product remove button is shown.
Show Clear Cart
If yes, a clear cart link is displayed on the cart page. All products are removed from the cart when a user clicks on this link.
Cart Module Position
You can select your desired module position from the drop-down list when you want to display it at the top of the cart page.
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 they exist.
EU VAT
The plugin can automatically validate the VAT number entered by users from EU countries. It validates the data using the SOAP API of http://ec.europa.eu/taxation_customs/vies/. To use this feature, you must have PHP SoapClient installed and enabled on your server.
You can also assign specific shopper groups to VAT-Paying Buyers and VAT-Exempted Buyers. You can use these shopper groups in your Tax/VAT Rules to automatically calculate the effective VAT/Tax you must collect from the buyers.
Enable EU VAT Check
If yes, the VAT ID checking system is enabled.
Disable EU VAT Check when EU Server is Down
If yes, the VAT ID checking system gets disabled automatically when the EU server is down or unavailable.
Disable for Buyers from Native Country
If yes, EU VAT Check will be disabled for the users from the 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 Numbers.
Shopper Groups to be Ignored
Existing users in the selected shopper groups will be ignored, and their shopper groups will not changed by the system. You can use this option to deal with B2B users.
Enable for Guests
If yes, the Guest shopper group change is enabled.
Enable for Registered Users
If yes, the Registered User shopper group change is enabled.
VAT Exempted Groups
Select the groups that are to be assigned to VAT-exempted users.
VAT Paying Groups
Select the groups 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 option in the plugin is included below.
Load jQuery Library
This option is displayed only in Joomla! 2.5. jQuery library is required for the plugin. If your Joomla Template loads jQuery on top of all other scripts, then you can set this as "No". If you are not sure, then we recommend you keep this in "Auto" mode and let the plugin do the hard work to decide on 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 the 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 keep this in "Auto" mode and let the plugin do the hard work to decide on this.
Use Fancybox for TOS
If this is enabled, then the plugin will use the core VirtueMart Fancybox script to display the Terms of Service popup. When disabled, it will use the plugin's own Bootstrap modal box feature.
Hide System Messages
When this is enabled, the plugin will automatically remove all unnecessary system messages displayed on the cart page by the core VirtueMart system. For example, please accept terms of service, missing fields, first names, etc.
Custom Messages to Hide
Here, you can enter the other custom system messages that you do not want to display on the cart page. You can enter multiple strings separated by a comma. You can even enter language tags to hide the message on a 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 that the "Hide System Messages" option must be enabled to use this feature.
Force Disable SSL on Non-Cart Pages
When the SSL option is enabled in VirtueMart Configuration, and 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 the 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 to check out. By default, it is selected as "Same as Vendor Country". You can change this to "None" or select any specific country from the drop-down list of 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 a user. By default, it displays the username, name, email, and password fields in the registration form. If you want to add more billing address fields in the registration form, then you want to select them from the available list. Please note that the entered data in the custom fields only gets saved to the cart session after registration. The data finally gets saved to the database when the user confirms the order.
Remove Duplicate BT Address Form
Remove Custom Registration Fields from the Billing Address form. 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 a user. If you want to refresh shipping methods and payment methods against a few other custom fields, then you can assign them here. These options become useful when you use some 3rd party EU VAT number validation extensions or Brazilian CEP validation extensions on your site.
Custom ST Address Update Fields
Select the Ship to Address fields for which you want to update the billing address in the cart when the value is changed.
Show Captcha (If enabled)
Even though the VP One Page Checkout plugin registration form is fully bot-protected, you can display reCaptcha below the registration form. To use this option, you must enable the reCaptcha plugin and the captcha option in Joomla! Users Configuration.
Show Placeholder
If yes, the field description/tip is displayed as a placeholder for form input fields.
Disable Autocomplete of Address Fields (Beta)
If yes, autocomplete/autofill by the browser is disabled for address fields. This feature is still in the beta testing stage. Please note that it may not work in all browsers.
Format Radio & Checkbox
If your billing address or shipping address fields contain some custom radio or checkbox fields, then you are normally not displayed properly and are not aligned with the VP One Page Checkout plugin layout. This option helps you to get them aligned properly using JavaScript. If you need, you may disable this feature.
Remove Extra Links
Sometimes, a few third-party payment plugins display core VirtueMart edit payment page links in their display. VP One Page Checkout has no separate edit payment page, so you may remove those links by enabling this option.
Reload Full Page After Login & Registration
By default, the plugin loads the order finalization screen through Ajax after a user logs in or gets registered. If you are using any other login module on the page, then you may enable this option to reload the full page to allow that module to get updated with the actual user login state.
Reload Full Page After Payment Method Selection
If yes, the full page will be reloaded whenever a payment method is selected. You may need to enable this option to support a few payment plugins. Example: PayPal Checkout etc.
Reload Payment Methods after Shipment Selection
If you want to reload the payment method selections area after selecting the 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 the payment method and shipping method selection areas along with the 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 (e.g. JotCache, etc) on your site. When page cache is enabled, users can see cached contents from previous sessions in the cart page when there are actually no products in the cart. This option checks the actual product status over Ajax, bypassing the page cache and stopping the users from checking out. This also helps to protect the 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 on your site.