WooCommerce 2.0 beta 2 is here

Written by Coen on January 3, 2013 Product News.

The past two weeks have been filled with spending time with family and friends, but a lot of people have squeezed in time to test the first beta of WooCommerce 2.0. We’re really happy with all the feedback we’ve been getting, thanks for all the testing!

All of the bug reports, combined with a lot of people contributing code, have enabled us to release the second beta today already. This second beta contains a lot of bug fixes and smaller tweaks, but there are a couple changes that I like to highlight in this post.

This post contains everything new in the second beta of WooCommerce 2.0. For the full list of new features in WooCommerce 2.0, please read through everything in the beta 1 announcement or read the full changelog on GitHub.

As always, let me stress this one more time: Do not use this version on a live website, as it’s not stable enough yet. Things might break if you use this on a live website.

Testing beta 2

With the second beta available, it is becoming more important to be as detailed as possible in your bug reports. The issues that are popping up now are becoming harder to reproduce and therefore we appreciate all the information we can get about possible bugs.

You can grab the second beta from our GitHub repository and install it on a (local) test web server or subdomain of your domain. Install it where it is easy to test, as long as you do not use it on a production website, as that may break stuff. We can and will not provide support on this version, so please use this version for testing only.

Before reporting a bug, please search the issues to see if the bug hasn’t been reported or fixed already. If you can, provide the code to fix the issue and make it even more easy for us.

What’s new in beta 2?

We started with the same code as we provided to you to test and right now we’re a little over 100 changes since beta 1. The following changes require some extra attention while testing:

  • The country field in the checkout form has been moved to the top of the form. This makes the country field (if required) the first choice a customer has to make in the form and that makes the form more logically structured. At the same time, it is in line with how bigger stores (like Amazon) have their checkout forms laid out.
  • We have improved the memory usage of the entire plugin. We removed an infinite loop in our Settings API as the main cause, but also improved the efficiency of our code and file loading. This should make the plugin run faster and using less memory.
  • We have standardised the CSS class names, all classes are now prefixed woocommerce- instead of woocommerce_, woocommerce- and wc- mixed. Please check your custom CSS and JS files to see if they are still working.

As with all new beta releases, it is important to properly test everything and see if all your custom code or third party plugins still work. Remember, the beta stages are the best phase in development for us to fix bigger bugs, so the sooner you can test your code, the better.

Preparing all our premium products

While everybody has been real busy testing the new WooCommerce code, we are also hard at work in a joint effort with our extension developers to get all our premium extensions compatible with WooCommerce 2.0. The same goes for our theme development team, who are making sure all our themes work just fine with this new version of WooCommerce.

We will not release WooCommerce 2.0 before all our premium extensions and themes have been checked and made compatible, so as a shop owner you don’t have to worry about that. When the day comes that WooCommerce 2.0 is released, please do check the version of the extensions and themes you are using against the latest available stable versions.

cta-banner-10-product-page-v2_2x

52 Responses

  1. samuelmaes
    January 3, 2013 at 5:18 pm #

    WooCommerce is getting bigger and better daily 🙂

    • James Koster
      January 3, 2013 at 5:28 pm #

      You know it!

    • Robert
      January 3, 2013 at 5:43 pm #

      They are becoming more professional and immortal 😀

  2. rodrigompaz
    January 3, 2013 at 5:36 pm #

    Good News?
    Are you adding more options for shippings and payments? like force a payment method if the buyer chooses an specific shipping method..
    Thanks….

  3. samuelmaes
    January 3, 2013 at 5:44 pm #

    Coen, What if i’ve ran out of votes and cannot post my ideas :P?

    Then my Ub3R AMAZING! Ideas cannot be posted.

    Issue #2031 :'(

  4. Carrie
    January 3, 2013 at 5:47 pm #

    Exciting news, for sure!
    Will 2.0 support multiple files per virtual product? I know there was talk that this would be included in versions after 1.6 – did it make it in?

    • Gerhard
      January 3, 2013 at 7:23 pm #

      Yes, multiple files are supported for digital products in WC 2.0

  5. Dawson
    January 3, 2013 at 5:49 pm #

    This is awesome! Thanks Woo Team for taking WordPress e-Commerce to next level!

  6. diskette
    January 3, 2013 at 5:56 pm #

    I saw the trackback on the older blog post and read about the “Product Factory” in Coen’s post.

    Is this part of the beta now? It says “a great way for developers”, so I am scared I won’t be able to figure out how to code what I need. How the Gravity Forms Product Add Ons interacts with everything else is poor.

    I don’t even understand exactly what this Product Factory feature is supposed to be, but I will try to make time to test the beta soon.

    blog post: http://coenjacobs.me/2012/12/04/woocommerce-release-version-2-0/

    • Coen Jacobs
      January 3, 2013 at 8:36 pm #

      Yes, the Product Factory is already in the beta. In fact, it powers all the product objects since beta 1. Our extensions aren’t fit for the new Product Factory yet, Subscriptions and Gravity Forms Product Add Ons are still in the process of ensuring compatibility is done before the release of 2.0.

      What the Product Factory basically is, is a way to create new product types with more freedom. You can create your own class to manage everything the product can or can’t do. We haven’t documented the use yet, but we will write some documentation on the matter soon.

      • syed
        January 8, 2013 at 10:53 am #

        Thanks Coen,
        Its a v. good move “Product Factory” I have sneaked into this new code and I am liking it, it will allow me to modify products freely (or create my own ;)).

        Thanks for your hard work @woo & Coen, Mike etc.

        Do you have any estimated date in mind, when it will be feasible for you to release 2.0, as I have tested 3 payment gateway extensions with beta 2 and none worked :D. So curious to know when 2.0 be available to either I myself or plugin developers can adjust the extensions properly 🙂

        Thanks,
        Syed

  7. urban55
    January 3, 2013 at 5:56 pm #

    Hi

    speed improvements and layerd nav now showing selection are the things for me.

    When will it be fully released?

    Thanks

    mark

    • Coen Jacobs
      January 3, 2013 at 8:38 pm #

      Beta 2 is a big step towards the final release, but maybe we will still need another beta. When we’re confident that the final beta has the right quality, we will freeze that state as a release candidate and that can be the final release if nothing weird or any bugs have been found.

      We’re aiming at the end of this month, but that is not carved in stone.

  8. ergent
    January 3, 2013 at 10:43 pm #

    I try use it, after actual WooCommerce.
    And have a problem in my site
    Fatal error: Cannot redeclare class WC_Widget_Cart in /home/luxefilm/public_html/luxe-film.ru/wp-content/plugins/woocommerce-2.0.0-beta2/classes/widgets/class-wc-widget-cart.php on line 119

    • Ryan Ray
      January 4, 2013 at 4:54 am #

      Just to be sure, install the beta 2 on a clean WordPress site.

      We can’t provide support via a blog comment, and can’t provide support for a plugin in beta.

  9. Matt Mikulla
    January 3, 2013 at 10:53 pm #

    Good news guys.

    Is it possible to create product variation selection lists using radio buttons with 2.0?

    Or is that something the Product Factory feature will enable?

    I’ve asked previously and Adii hinted it might be included in the next WC version a while back.

  10. woomeger
    January 4, 2013 at 12:10 am #

    There is a issue with the payment system. I’ve tried to purchase Canvas with all my 3 credit cards, I even call all my banks and all of them said that there is no request for the money, which means that the payment system had some issue.

    Then I fired 3 tickets and in the ticket section it was not mentioned that I submit even one ticket.

    Then I email various admin/info/contact/support emails and there is no response.

    Tell me how can I purchase your theme, all my credit cards are fine, I tested two of them just now!

    Please if some admin see this, PLEASE email me back to the email assossiated with this usernam! I WANT TO PURCHASE !

    • Ryan Ray
      January 4, 2013 at 4:51 am #

      Please contact us directly for these sorts of issues, they can’t be handled via a blog comment. 😉 – support[at]woocommerce.com

      • Jgchess
        January 6, 2013 at 6:40 am #

        Its interesting that the person above did not get any responses from support.
        As you know that is exactly my issue. I did email you recently. I would appreciate a
        response.
        thank you

  11. Tim
    January 4, 2013 at 1:51 am #

    I have a couple of sites I want to use WC for right now – will the upgrade process to WC2 be easy enough if I start with the current version of WC/ and extensions? When WC2 is available will the extensions be available for both WC and WC2 in my dashboard?

    I guess what I’m asking is if the upgrade process to WC2 will be smooth… or do you think I should try to hold out on my current sites for WC2?

    • Coen Jacobs
      January 4, 2013 at 2:07 am #

      We have written an update script that is already available in the betas (so please test it 😉 ) and should provide a smooth update from 1.6.x plugins to the new 2.x version.

  12. dvsdevise@live.com
    January 4, 2013 at 2:53 am #

    Looking good so far. Thank you all for your hard work.

    I must express a little disappointment that the below issue has been moved to 2.1

    show the add to cart button even when variations aren’t selected:
    https://github.com/woothemes/woocommerce/issues/1984

    I’m sure I’ve seen Woocommerce sites do this. It’s a bit of a sin to hide your add to cart button.

    • Coen Jacobs
      January 4, 2013 at 3:10 pm #

      We are aware that there are people doing this – in fact, the creator of that issue showed me an example – and want to provide better support for it. But we’re not keen on shipping something that is not well thought out, so we decided to make it part of a bigger rewrite for the variations as planned for 2.1.

      • dvsdevise@live.com
        January 5, 2013 at 10:56 am #

        Thanks, sounds good! For now I will just hack away.

  13. slipperx
    January 4, 2013 at 7:03 am #

    While your extension developers are working on compatibility issues it would be nice if they would also make the existing extension s work together – particularly the Groups / Woocommerce Groups ?Subscriptions plugins to work with the Role Based Plugins such as Dynamic Pricing and Role Based Shipping and Payments – couldn’t there be a little more collaboration?

  14. jenvasko41
    January 4, 2013 at 9:54 pm #

    I noticed that my table rate shipping extension plugin has been affected by “something”…my table rates for my shipping zones are no longer available. Will this beta version correct this problem…I hope?

    • samuelmaes
      January 5, 2013 at 12:50 am #

      i too am affected by this, i am looking into this currently.

      Im sure the woo devs already are fixing it for releases. It isnt woo commerce that has broken the plugin, just the way woocommerce is now written the plugin needs to match. 🙂

      • jenvasko41
        January 5, 2013 at 2:45 am #

        I hope so samuelmaes! It was working fine earlier this week and suddenly just stopped. 🙁

        Please reply here if you read of a fix!

        • Ryan Ray
          January 5, 2013 at 6:51 pm #

          First check for any existing issues, then create one for us if you find it’s not been reported. As the blog post outlines, you can do so here.

          https://github.com/woothemes/woocommerce/issues

          Our devs can’t keep track of issues via blog comments. 😉

        • James Koster
          January 6, 2013 at 1:48 pm #

          Just in case you missed it in both beta posts, please do not use WooCommerce 2.0 on a production site yet as issues with extensions (and minor bugs) are bound to be present.

  15. Humayun
    January 5, 2013 at 3:24 am #

    Great news!!! Woocommerce is the future of ecommerce cms

  16. david
    January 5, 2013 at 6:38 am #

    Do any of the woothemes currently work with the woocommerce beta2?

    As you mentioned the css totally changed, I wanted to try out the new beat2 on a real theme to see what is going to be involved in building a custom theme.

    • Ryan Ray
      January 5, 2013 at 6:52 pm #

      Setup a test environment and help us find out. 😉

    • James Koster
      January 6, 2013 at 1:50 pm #

      They will work but right now there will be minor styling issues. We’re currently preparing the themes to be compatible with both 1.6.6 and 2.0 +.

      • anagio
        January 20, 2013 at 5:51 am #

        Hi James, I have woocommerce 2.0 beta 2 installed with the latest version of Canvas. Are the styles for woocommerce-tabs and other classes below this ul missing?

      • anagio
        January 20, 2013 at 5:59 am #

        Hi James, I have woocommerce 2.0 beta 2 installed with the latest version of Canvas. Are the styles for woocommerce-tabs and other classes below this ul missing?
        …..
        Never mind I just updated all the styles in css/woocommerce.css to use the new standard name and they’re all working.

  17. Chris
    January 6, 2013 at 10:00 am #

    would love to see a What to Expect list with features that may be rolling out and stuff… that kind of stuff gets me all crazy excited lol

    • James Koster
      January 6, 2013 at 1:51 pm #

      Prepare to get excited. :-p

  18. Jgchess
    January 7, 2013 at 7:43 am #

    Please explain to me how to get a response from support.
    Thank you

    • Jgchess
      January 8, 2013 at 4:47 am #

      Daniel did contact me. Thanks
      Jeff

  19. sai
    January 7, 2013 at 11:02 am #

    I don’t why some basic function is still missing

    1. Set min/max Amount per order. (NOT quantity)
    2. Turn off phone required
    3. Stored cart item in shopping cart longer than 1 week/month.

    Some secondary function
    4. Grid list toggle, it is nice but the plugin is not working properly.
    4. Turn off address required

  20. Sam Freedom
    January 8, 2013 at 3:49 pm #

    You guys are truly inspiring. I drift away for a while sometimes but when I come back, or get a catchy email from you, there you are… stronger and better all the time. Please keep it up!

    Waiting on your next killer deal 😉

  21. sabrim
    January 12, 2013 at 11:59 pm #

    add bitcoin in payment methode please

    • TAK
      January 28, 2013 at 10:24 am #

      +1 to that!

  22. pandora smycken
    January 14, 2013 at 9:36 am #

    this info is very good,i like it

  23. chrismlay
    February 6, 2013 at 7:19 am #

    Is there a place to suggest ideas For 2.0?
    I know wc ideas but that seems like one general stomping grounds for all ideas.. id like to suggest things i feel should be built in for more business friendly stuff..?

    Order note stats “X Days ago” when the item is noted as Shipped.. i would love to see the date instead, does Today count as a day when it says shipped 16 days ago I can’t figure if that counts today or not lol

    Make note whenever an “Order Email” is “Re-Sent” manually… for verifying if and when an Order email was “Re” sent to the customers email… this will keep track of employees re-sending info when a customer asks


    Order notes should have the Logged in Shop Manager/users name to identify which Shop Manager processed an order, modified an order etc.. this will help narrow down issues to know which shop manager did what and when

    thanks WC !

  24. Daniel
    February 6, 2013 at 10:19 am #

    Hi,

    1.)
    is there a mail text editor coming with woocommerce 2.0??
    This would be very nice and helpfull!
    I am not very lucky with the current way to change the Mail subjects and texts in php documents of the mail template. 🙁

    2.)
    Is it possible to set production times on the products?
    We are producing our products on demand. So there have to be production times like “2-3 weeks”….
    It would be very nice if there is an textfield in the product variations where i can place a note (displayed to the right of the price or something)

    Theese are the only two things i wish, you think about to add them 🙂

    Apart from that, excelent work you did there 😉

    Greets,
    Daniel

  25. Justin Janson
    February 18, 2013 at 11:11 pm #

    Thanks for the great update. I just noticed your Woocommerce Branding plugin isn’t working with Woocommerce 2.0. It still is with the current version but when I activate the 2.0 version the branding tab disappears.

    Is there an update coming up for this plugin as well?

    Thanks!
    Justin

  26. Tryggvi Rafn
    March 3, 2013 at 4:01 pm #

    Love your themes, use it for all my sites, not just Ecommerce! But I am glad to hear about the update there are some issues I would like to see resolved with the new release. I would also love to be able to use your Woocommerce for affiliate sites with the ability to use datafeeds for price comparison etc. but I guess that is asking to much. Best, Tryggvi.