X-Cart:Social Feeds

Overview

What Social Feeds does

Connect with your customers and build a brand for the cost of some time and creativity. Promote your store and goods via Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and other social networks. Our module in its turn gives you a cozy tool for that.

Why Social Feeds?

X-Cart's Social Feeds add-on module:

• Supports a wide range of social networks: Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, Flickr
• Promotes your store and goods via social networks. You can boast of your new product collection via Instagram, make a video and upload it to YouTube, retweet a feedback and allow your customers to see it from your site.
• Induce customers to subscribe to your social accounts. Each feed gives an opportunity to subscribe to the channel.
• Easy to configure. No technical skills are required. Just follow a user guide

System requirements

To be able to successfully install and use the Social Feeds module, you must have a working copy of X-Cart GOLD / GOLD PLUS / PRO / PLATINUM version 4.4.0 or later installed on your server. Make sure that the version of the module is the same as the version of the installed copy of X-Cart.

Note: If you do not remember the version of installed X-Cart, find it in the Environment info section of the Summary page in X-Cart Admin area.

Installation

To install the module for X-Cart 4.5.0 or higher:

1. Obtain a distribution package for the Social Feeds add-on module by downloading it from the File Area section of your X-Cart Account. The distribution package you need is contained in the archive file social-feeds-x.y.z.tgz where x, y and z are the version numbers of the module. Make sure the version of the module is the same as the version of the installed X-Cart.
2. Copy the distribution package to the X-Cart root directory on your server or hosting account.
   • If you are using a Windows-based server, or a UNIX-based server without terminal access:

   a) Decompress the archive with the Social Feeds distribution package to a directory on your system using your favorite compression program (WinZIP or any other archiver with support for TAR files).

   b) Use an FTP client to upload all the files contained in the archive (retaining the directory structure) to the X-Cart root directory on your server or your hosting account.

   • If you are using a UNIX-based server with terminal access:

   a) Use an FTP client to upload the archive with the distribution package to the X-Cart root directory on your server or your hosting account.

   b) Decompress the package using the following command:

   tar -xzvf social-feeds-x.y.z.tgz

   Important: Make sure you keep the directory structure while unpacking and uploading the distribution package, otherwise some necessary files can be overwritten!

3. In a web browser, run the installation script httр://<YOUR_XCART_DOMAIN>/install-social-feeds.php replacing the variable <YOUR_XCART_DOMAIN> with the actual domain name of your X-Cart store.
4. Enter the Auth code, accept the License Agreement and click Next.
5. The installation script patches the files and activates the module. Click Next to continue the installation.
   
   Note: if you are using custom skin, you will need to manually apply the patches to it. Otherwise, the module will not work in this skin.
6. The installation script generates a new system fingerprint. Click Next to complete the installation.
7. Use the ADMINISTRATOR AREA link to log in to the Admin area.
   
   

Enabling the Social Feeds add-on module

After the Social Feeds add-on module installation has been completed, the module you have installed needs to be enabled in your store:

1. In Admin area, go to the Modules section (Settings menu->Modules).
2. Choose the Social Feeds module by selecting the respective check box on the left.
3. Click the Apply changes button. This activates the module.
   
   

Configuring Social Feeds add-on module

After the Social Feeds add-on module has been enabled in your store, you should check and adjust its configuration:

1. In the Modules section (Settings menu->Modules), click the Configure link opposite the module name ('Social Feeds').
   The module configuration page (titled by the name of the module) opens.
2. Adjust the settings on the module configuration page. Detailed information is available below.
3. Click the Apply changes button to save the changes.

Configuring Facebook Feed

Simply add the address of your Facebook page and save the changes. Facebook feed will be automatically displayed in your store.:

Configuring Twitter Feed

You need to get your Twitter widget ID:

1. Login to Twitter using your account

2. Go to https://twitter.com/settings/widgets/new

3. You may leave all settings default and click on Create Widget button.

4. As a result a widget code will be generated. One of the parameters is named as data-widget-id. Alternatively widget ID can be taken from the URL address as soon as you generate it. It looks like:

https://twitter.com/settings/widgets/xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx/

where xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx is your widget ID.

You should copy this value and paste into the "Twitter widget ID" field on the Social Feeds module configuration page:

Configuring YouTube Feed

Simply specify your YouTube ID/username in a corresponding field:

Configuring Instagram Feed

You need to obtain Instagram Client ID and Instagram Client Secret
1. Login to your Instagram account
2. Go here http://instagram.com/developer/clients/manage/
3. On the opened page click on the Register a New Client button (you will probably need to fill in your company details first to make this button appear) at the top-right corner and fill the required fields in:

Application Name - any application name, for instance "My_app"

Description - any description
Website - your website address

OAuth redirect_uri - http://www.example.com/admin/configuration.php?option=Social_Feeds

where www.example.com is an address of your X-Cart store.

4. After Client is created copy Client ID and Secret in the fields below and save the changes. After the page reloads the Get Instagram Access Token button will appear. Click on it and grant permissions so that the created Client could be able to access your Instagram details:

5. Instagram tag - specify a tag if you want to pull images by some tag instead of your account images.