Installation

Requirements

• CS-Cart or Multi-Vendor 4.17.2 – 4.21.x.
• PHP 7.2.5 – 8.3, as supported by your CS-Cart version.
• Tested on CS-Cart Ultimate 4.17.2, Multi-Vendor 4.17.2 and Multi-Vendor 4.21.2.
• The core Blog add-on must be installed and active (it is by default). Without it the installation stops with a dependency message.
• Optional: the core SEO add-on (SEO URLs of categories, tags and authors), Tags (tag chips and tag pages) and Comments and reviews (comments and comment counts).
• A storefront theme based on Responsive or Nova (the default themes and most third-party themes).

Install

1. Go to Add-ons → Manage add-ons, click the gear button and choose Manual installation.
2. Upload kv_blog_pro-<version>.zip and click Upload & install.
3. On the License tab of the settings, enter your license key and save. If you bought the add-on on the CS-Cart Marketplace and entered the license number in Add-ons → Manage add-ons, you can skip this step. Until a key is verified, the add-on works for 14 days (see License).
4. Create your categories in Website → Blog categories and complete the author profiles in Website → Blog authors.
5. Open a post in Website → Blog and fill in the new Blog Pro tab.

What the installation does:

• creates nine tables (cscart_kv_blog_*) for categories, author profiles and the per-post data;
• creates a post row and an author profile for every existing core blog post and author, so your current blog keeps its authors and dates;
• adds three layout pages to every layout: Blog category, Blog tag and Blog author, each with breadcrumbs, the main content and a sidebar with the category list, popular posts and the tag cloud.

No core files or core tables are changed. Your posts stay core blog pages.

Upgrade

Upload the new package over the installed add-on (same steps as installing). On the next admin page load the add-on brings its tables, settings and language variables up to date by itself. Categories, author profiles, post data and settings are kept.

Disable

Disabling the add-on (status Off) brings back the plain core blog: posts stay visible with the core list, the core date and author line and the core comments. Category, tag and author pages, feeds and the Blog Pro blocks disappear. Everything you entered is kept and comes back when you enable the add-on again.

Note: while the add-on is off, scheduled posts follow the core availability dates (whole days) and vendor posts waiting for approval are no longer hidden. Publish or reject pending vendor posts before you turn the add-on off for longer.

Uninstall

Add-ons → Manage add-ons → Blog Pro → gear → Uninstall removes the add-on’s tables (categories, author profiles, related products and posts, view counts), its settings, language variables, author photos, the SEO names of categories, tags and authors, its layout pages and its blocks. Your posts, their images, tags and comments stay as core blog pages.