Installing Plugins

Hello, I'm very new to nopCommerce. After a little over a week, I finally got installed NC2.30... Now, I am trying to configure it with plugins and widgets.... The problem is, I don't have a clue on how to do this... It seems that all the plugins need to be compiled using Visual Studio's.... I have VS2010 Ultimate, running on Windows 7 x64...

I have created customer customer P.O.S. software using VB and MS-SQL, but have never used C or C#.

If I could only figure out how to install one plugin, such as the GooglePlus plugin, or the PayPal Express plugin, I should be able to figure out the others. I don't really understand why these plugins are not ready to go; drag and drop as it where, but that is beside the point.

This is the first of several issues, I will post here; hoping to get some help; but for the time-being, I would appreciate any help possible on this one issue.

Thank you in advance!

1) Download plugin

2) Unzip the downloaded file.  

3) In your nopCommerce web folder, you will see a Plugins folder, in it...

4) Create a sub folder with plugin name (e.g. Payments.PayPalDirect)

5) Copy all the files from the zip download into the subfolder

6) Either

  a) restart the nopCommerce application, or

  b) login in as Administrator, goto Administration > Configuration > Plugins > click the button "Reload list of Plugins"

7) after the list reloads, scroll down to the line with new plugin name, and click the "Install" link.

8) after the page reloads, you should see the "Configure" link in the plugin line (if it has configuration)

Thank you for your reply... I have been trying exactly what you instructed when attempting to install plugins. When I do copy/move the plugin into the plugins folder in my nopCommerce website, I recieve an error:

Server Error in '/' Application.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
Description: An unhandled exception occurred during the execution of the current web request. Please review the stack trace for more information about the error and where it originated in the code.

Exception Details: System.NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.

Source Error:

An unhandled exception was generated during the execution of the current web request. Information regarding the origin and location of the exception can be identified using the exception stack trace below.  

Stack Trace:


[NullReferenceException: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.]
   Nop.Core.Plugins.PluginManager.PerformFileDeploy(FileInfo plug) in f:\Own\NopCommerce\Sources\src\Libraries\Nop.Core\Plugins\PluginManager.cs:274
   Nop.Core.Plugins.PluginManager.Initialize() in f:\Own\NopCommerce\Sources\src\Libraries\Nop.Core\Plugins\PluginManager.cs:114

[Exception: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
]
   Nop.Core.Plugins.PluginManager.Initialize() in f:\Own\NopCommerce\Sources\src\Libraries\Nop.Core\Plugins\PluginManager.cs:163

[InvalidOperationException: The pre-application start initialization method Initialize on type Nop.Core.Plugins.PluginManager threw an exception with the following error message: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
.]
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.InvokePreStartInitMethods(ICollection`1 methods) +423
   System.Web.Compilation.BuildManager.CallPreStartInitMethods() +306
   System.Web.Hosting.HostingEnvironment.Initialize(ApplicationManager appManager, IApplicationHost appHost, IConfigMapPathFactory configMapPathFactory, HostingEnvironmentParameters hostingParameters, PolicyLevel policyLevel, Exception appDomainCreationException) +677

[HttpException (0x80004005): The pre-application start initialization method Initialize on type Nop.Core.Plugins.PluginManager threw an exception with the following error message: Object reference not set to an instance of an object.
.]
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.FirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +9089964
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.EnsureFirstRequestInit(HttpContext context) +97
   System.Web.HttpRuntime.ProcessRequestNotificationPrivate(IIS7WorkerRequest wr, HttpContext context) +256




This type of error has occured for every plugin I've tried from the nopcommerce website except the following:

The SevenSpikes.Nop.Plugins.CategoriesHeaderMenu and SevenSpikes.Core plugins both installed without any error, as per your instructions.

When I view the downloaded plugins it appears that they may be uncompiled C# code, which I am not faniluar with at all... I am working quickly to learn just enough to modify the website to meet our needs. Which isn't all that much...

As soon as I remove the copied plugins out of the plugins directory, the site will load fine once again.

The instructions above are for installing already compiled plugins.  A "compiled plugin" will typically only contain 3 files: pluginname.dll, pluginname.pdb, and Description.txt.  Sometimes there may be additional notes.txt or install.txt, and soometimes there are additional .dll (and .pdb) file.  (Sometimes there may not be a .pdb file).

You cannot "install" source code files in the manner above.  They must be compiled with Visual Studio 2010.   Look for .dll files in the subfolders of zip file - typically would be a subfolder named ...\bin\Release, but probably just safest to search the entire archive.

If there are no .dll files, and you cannot compile them yourself, then you can try PM'ing the plugin author and ask if he can provide a compiled version.

Thank you for your continued support; I reviewed each of the plugins, and in all buy one case, I located the mentioned files in the folder "obj/Debug" or "obj/Release" foders... I created a folder using the same folder name the plugin was decompressed in (ie Nop.Plugin.Widgets.GooglePlus) or also (ie Widgets.GooglePlus) and now I do not recieve an error, but when i restart the website or reload the plugin list, nothing new appears and no new plugins need to be installed.

I've tried to load the solution in VS2010-Ultimate and then "Build" it, but even then I recieve errors, such as:

The type or namespace name 'Web' does not exist in the namespace 'Nop' (are you missing an assembly reference?)  

C:\Users\...\Desktop\Nop.Plugin.Widgets.GooglePlus\Models\PublicInfoModel.cs 

Nop.Plugin.Widgets.GooglePlus

I have made simple point-of-sale/customer management database apps in VB, but have not used C# before; and I am not certain if there is a specific way of opening the solution before it can be compiled or not... I don't know if I need to have the full source copy of nopcommerce installed in any certain fashion first... I set up my local nopcommerce site using Microsoft WebMatrix.

Perhaps you can give me, possibly, one last bit of advise before I need to contact the author of each of the plugins.

Regards...

The subfolder you should create in your runtime Plugins folder is e.g. Widgets.GooglePlus  (no prefix of "Nop.Plugin")

I downloaded Google+ plugin to see what your getting.   You should NOT use the obj/ dlls.  The bin/ folders are empty, so there are no compiled dll's here - just source code.  (FYI, if when present, be sure to always use the one in  /Release rather than /Debug).

You cannot build a Plugin project standalone.  You require the entire source code version of NopCommerce 2.30
In this case, you would need a subfolder Nop.Plugin.Widgets.GooglePlus (as it is in the rar file with the "Nop.Plugin" prefix) in the Plugins folder of the Solution - i.e Extract rar into ...\src\Plugins subfolder.  Then in VS right-click the root Plugins folder (not the one in Nop.Web), and "Add Existing Project".

If you go this route, I'd recommend you build the NopCommerce solution as-is first without adding a new plugin.  After verifying you can build, then add plugins.

You should note that the NopC full source code includes Deploy.bat file - you should read instructions on how to use it.  Once app is Deployed locally, you can point WebMatrix to it.   (Caveat, if you have an HP desktop, you may have problem using Deploy.bat)

Thank you, that was the hammer on the nail... I was able to install the plugins locally; should have no problems uploading to hosting server now.

I even figured out how to work with the source version on nopcommerce. One thing I did note however, although the nopcommerce website is built to the "deployable" folder, plugins are built to the "presentation" folder; just an FYI for anyone else who is having an issue with installing plugins...

Again, thanks for the help; it was much appreciated...

Good to see someone could help. :)

fallowing these steps but Not Show plugin in Admin panel.

Hi ,

I had created a new plugin Plugins folder.Am able to build solution without errors but when i go to admin->plugins->reload list of plugins. I could not see my newly created plugin name there. Please suggest me how to get my newly created plugin installed.

Thanks