Configuration

Open Add-ons → Manage add-ons → Blog Pro → Settings. In CS-Cart (Ultimate) every storefront can have its own values.

General

Setting	Default	Description
Enable Blog Pro on the storefront	On	Off: the storefront shows the plain core blog (as when the add-on is disabled), the admin pages keep working.

Blog list

Setting	Default	Description
List layout	List (image left)	Layout of the blog page and of the category, tag and author pages: a list with the image on the left, or a grid with two or three columns. On phones every layout shows one card per row.
Show post images in lists	On	Shows the post image (the core blog image) on the cards.
Excerpt length	200	Characters of the excerpt under the card title. The excerpt is the text before the core “cut” marker (<!--CUT-->) when the post has one. 0 hides the excerpt.

Post page

Setting	Default	Description
Show reading time	On	“4 min read” in the byline of lists and posts.
Reading speed	200	Words per minute used for the reading time.
Table of contents from	3	A post with at least this many H2/H3 headings shows a table of contents above the text. Each post can override it (show, hide). 0 = only posts set to “Show”.
Show tags under the post	On	Tag chips under the text, linking to the blog tag pages. Needs the core Tags add-on with tags for pages on.
Show the author box	On	The author card (photo, job title, bio, profile links) under the post.
“Shop the post”: max products	8	Maximum products in the grid under the post. 0 hides the grid. Products a customer cannot see (disabled, hidden, other user groups) are left out.
Related posts	3	Number of related posts under the post. 0 hides them.
Show the main category in the post breadcrumbs	On	Home › Blog › Category › Post.

Archives and feeds

Setting	Default	Description
Posts per page	12	Pagination of the category, tag and author pages. The blog page itself uses the core setting Settings → Appearance → Elements per page.
Let search engines index tag pages	Off	Off: tag pages carry noindex, so they do not compete with your categories in search results.
RSS feeds	On	An RSS 2.0 feed of all posts (index.php?dispatch=kv_blog.rss) and one per category (&category_id=). Blog pages link to them in the page head; category pages also show a “Subscribe via RSS” link.
Posts per RSS feed	20

Structured data

Setting	Default	Description
Article structured data	On	Adds BlogPosting (or Article/NewsArticle) markup to posts, BreadcrumbList to blog pages and ProfilePage to author pages. With the core SEO add-on the markup goes into the same JSON-LD list as the core product and organization markup.
Default article type	BlogPosting	Each post can override it.
Vendor posts need approval	Off	Multi-Vendor only. New posts that vendors create stay hidden on the storefront until an administrator approves them (see Usage).

Blocks

Blog Pro adds one block type, Blog Pro, in Design → Layouts. Choose what it shows with its template:

Template	Shows	Settings
Blog Pro: compact list	Posts with a small image, title and date (sidebars, footers)	Posts, Category, Number of items
Blog Pro: cards	Post cards with image, categories and byline (home page, wide areas)	Posts, Category, Number of items
Blog Pro: category list	Blog categories with the number of posts; the current category is highlighted	Hide categories without posts
Blog Pro: tag cloud	Tags of blog posts, the most used ones in bold	Number of items

Posts can be: recent posts, popular posts (views of the last 30 days), featured posts, posts of a category (choose it, or leave “Category of the current page” for category pages), posts related to the current post, posts featuring the current product (place it on the product page) and more from the current author.

The installation adds the Blog category, Blog tag and Blog author pages to every layout with a sidebar of category list, popular posts and tag cloud. You can change them like any other layout page. To show the same sidebar on the blog page and on posts, add the blocks to the core Blog layout page.

License

The license status is shown in a License card at the top of the add-on page, above the tabs, so you see it on every tab. The License tab holds the key itself. The key is stored once for the whole installation.

The License card shows:

• the status in color: green when valid, blue for a development host or the 14-day period before a key is required (with the days left), amber when the license server could not be reached (with the days left) or a Marketplace number is still being verified, red when the add-on is switched off;
• in plain words what the status means and, when the add-on is (or will be) switched off, what stops: blog posts stay visible as core blog pages; categories, tags and author pages, the table of contents, related products and posts, RSS feeds, the Blog Pro blocks and the extra structured data are hidden until the license is valid again;
• the licensed domain, every storefront with its result (covered, development host, not covered), the end of the updates and support period, the last and the next check, and the key in use (masked);
• the actions Enter license key / Change license key (opens the License tab), Check now (verifies at once and stays on the page), Manage license (your licenses on cs-cart.kaviolabs.com) and, without a valid license, Buy a license.

In Add-ons → Manage add-ons the add-on’s row shows a small license badge next to its name, for example License: Valid or License: Pending · 9 days left.

The add-on’s own admin pages (Blog categories, Blog authors) show the license status in a bar at the top: a small green chip when the license is valid, or a banner with the status, what is switched off and the same actions as the card. The Blog Pro tab of the post editor shows a short note while the license is not valid; your input is saved either way.

Setting	Description
License key	Your Kavio Labs license key (KAVIO-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX-XXXX, from My licenses on cs-cart.kaviolabs.com) or your CS-Cart Marketplace license number. If you entered the Marketplace license number in Add-ons → Manage add-ons (the add-on’s license field), leave this empty: the add-on uses that number.
License status	Points to the License card and explains what the check sends.

What the license covers. A license is bound to the base domain you entered at purchase (for example yourstore.com) and covers every subdomain of it (www.yourstore.com, shop.yourstore.com, staging.yourstore.com). Local development hosts are always allowed: localhost, 127.0.0.1 and other private IP addresses, and host names ending in .localhost, .test, .local, .example or .invalid. A store on a different base domain needs its own license. If you move your store to a new domain, contact support.

When the add-on checks. When you save the key, and then once a day. The check runs only in the admin panel (on a page you open) or from cron, never while customers browse the storefront or place orders, and takes a few seconds at most. A cron job keeps the license verified even when nobody opens the admin panel:

php /path/to/store/admin.php --dispatch=kv_blog_pro_license.check

What is sent. The check sends this to https://cs-cart.kaviolabs.com and nothing else: the license key, the add-on ID and version, the host names of your storefronts, your CS-Cart version and edition, and a random one-time value. No customer, order or blog data is sent. The server answers with a digitally signed result, so a forged answer is ignored.

Statuses.

Status (card)	Color	What happens
Valid	Green	The license is valid for this domain. Everything works.
Development host	Blue	The store runs on a local development host, which every license covers. Everything works.
Pending verification	Amber	A CS-Cart Marketplace license number was accepted, but the Marketplace has not confirmed it yet. Everything works.
Pending · N days left	Blue	No verified key yet (a new installation). Everything works for 14 days.
Grace period · N days left	Amber	The last checks failed (for example a network problem). The add-on keeps working for 14 days after the first failed check.
Not activated, Invalid key, Revoked, Domain mismatch, Not verified	Red	Blog posts stay visible as core blog pages with the core list. Category, tag and author pages and the RSS feeds answer “page not found”, the Blog Pro blocks are empty, and the table of contents, related products and posts and the extra structured data are hidden. Categories, author profiles and post data stay as they are and can still be edited. Scheduling and the approval of vendor posts keep working. Domain mismatch shows the licensed domain next to the domain your store runs on.

When your updates and support period ends, the add-on keeps working. Only updates and support stop.

License information appears in the admin panel only, and only for administrators who may manage add-ons; vendors and customers never see it. When the add-on is switched off, other admin pages also show a notice once per session with a link to the add-on page; the add-on page and the add-on’s own pages show the card or the status bar instead.