We will set our basic localization settings in this recipe. We will see a detailed level of localization later in this book. So, stay with us for that. But for now, we will stick with the basic localization settings only.
1. Getting started
We will go to our admin section with our stored admin username and password. Then, we will go to System | Settings, and under it, we will select Local tab.
2. How to do it
Choosing the local tab, we will see the basic localization window before us.
We will see each field here:
- Country: We will set the country in which our store is located. There is a list of all the available countries.
- Region/state: After choosing the country, this field will be populated automatically. Then, we can select the appropriate one.
- Language: We will choose the appropriate language for our store. In this case, we have only English available to us.
- Administration Language: We will also choose the appropriate language for our store administration section. In this case also, we have only English available to us.
- Currency: By default, we have three currencies available: euro, pound sterling, and dollar.
- Auto Update Currencies: Currency rate changes frequently. OpenCart comes with a great feature that it will automatically update the currency values with the market price. If we select Yes, then it will work automatically.
- Length class: We will choose the length measurement unit in this field. We have three values available currently: centimetre, millimetre, and inch. We will leave it as it is—or you can choose one from the list.
- Weight class: We will also choose the weight measurement unit in this field. We have four values available currently: kilogram, gram, pound, and ounce. We will leave it as it is.
After setting that information, we will save it using the Save button. We can see the store front to view the changes.
3. There’s more
We can customize different options for our shop. In this section, we will set the tax display option, invoice initial number, selecting customer group, guest checkout option, and so on. We can also see the agreement on the terms and privacy policy of our store. This section enables product download option and also sets the download order status.
Here, we will set how many items we want displayed in the frontend and also in the admin section.
3.1. Setting up other options
For this recipe, we need to log in as admin using our stored credentials.
We need to go to the System | Settings section and then select the Option tab. The following window will open:
Lets’ see the different fields:
- Display Prices with Tax: There is a yes/no radio button to select the option. Selecting Yes will show the product price including the product tax value. We will select no so that it shows less price initially.
- Invoice Start No: For our order invoices, we will set a starting number. We will set it to 007.
- Invoice Prefix: This will show the invoice prefix of our site. We will set our invoice prefix as INP.
- Customer Group: We can select a customer group here. Currently, there is Wholesale and Default. We can add other customer groups. We will see that later in this book. But, for our store, we will set the default value.
- Login Display Prices: This option asks whether we need authentication to show the prices of a product. We will choose Yes, because this will increase our users on the store.
- Approve New Customers: This option will not allow a new customer to log in until their account has been approved. Choosing Yes may delay the registration procedure. It may discourage a user to register. So, we will set it to no, and then users can log in after creating their account.
- Guest Checkout: We will allow customers to check out without creating an account. This will not be available when a downloadable product is in the shopping cart. This option will give our customers a hassle free shopping experience. We will set it to Yes. When customers check out, they will see this page:
Then, we need to fill up our information with the provided form, like this:
- Account Terms: When a customer creates his/her account, he/she needs to agree with our policies. In this option, we will set which policies they need to abide by. It may be Terms & Conditions, Privacy policy, or About Us. We will set it as the default. So, this will force customers to agree with our privacy policy while they create their account with our store shop.
- Checkout Terms: Similar to the previous option, this field sets which agreement our customers need to abide by before checkout. It has the same three options as the previous one.
- Display Stock: We are not going to display stock quantity in the product page. So, we will select No. But, you can choose other options if you want. And this is also true for the other fields of the form. We are just seeing how to make a simple store here.
- Show Out Of Stock: This sets the message for when the product is out of stock. We will set it to Yes.
- Stock Checkout: This will allow customers to still check out even if the products they are ordering are not in stock. We will set it to No.
- Stock Subtract: We will set this to Yes, so, when an order is processed, stock quantity will be subtracted.
- Order Status: This will set the default order status when an order is processed. We will leave it as it is.
- Allow Downloads: OpenCart comes with a product download feature. This option enables us to download a product. We will set it to Yes.
- Download Order Status: We will set the Complete status, when a download will be complete.
- Default Items per Page (Admin): This attribute sets the number of items that will be shown on the admin page. We will leave it as it is.
- Default Items per Page (Catalog): This attribute sets the number of items that will be shown on the catalog page. We will leave it as it is.
- Display Weight on Cart Page: This sets whether we will show the weight value in the cart page. We will set it to Yes.
- Use Shipping Session: This enables us to automatically populate shipping values with session. We will set it to Yes.
We are done with setting different options for our shop. Now, we will save it. After successful submission, we will see this message:
4. See also
- Changing your shop’s general settings
Source: Hasan Tahsin (2011), OpenCart 1.4 Template Design Cookbook, Packt Publishing.