Installing Same Order Invoice Number
A few quick notes before installing your extension:
- It's a great idea to install any new extension on a test site before adding it to your live site. Once you have successfully installed the new extension on your test site and are happy with its performance, repeat the extension installation on your live site. Distributed version control systems (such as git or mercurial) can be used to sync live and test sites with minimal effort
- The instructions below are for basic setups (one server which provides Apache, Mysql and PHP). For more advanced setups, the steps are still applicable but need to be adjusted to your particular setup. Your system administrator or web host can provide you with details
- We don't recommend installing extensions via Magento Connect - please follow the instructions below
If you prefer, we can install the extension for you for NZ$49 (24-48 hour turnaround time, Monday-Friday).
Summary
Step 1 - Turn off Magento’s Compilation Mode
Step 2 - Turn on Magento’s Configuration Cache
Step 3 - Install the Extension
Step 4 - Refresh Magento’s Cache
Step 5 - Log Out of the Backend and Log Back In
Step 6 - Rerun Magento’s Compilation Process
Step 1 - Turn Off Magento’s Compilation Mode
Check to see if Magento’s compilation mode has been enabled. If it has, turn it off before installing an extension or making any code changes (go to System > Tools > Compilation). In a worst case scenario, not disabling compilation mode before installing an extension could make your site inaccessible (including the admin area). Yikes!
Command Line Equivalent:
php -f shell/compiler.php -- clear
As part of this step we also recommend:
- Backing up your Magento files so you can revert back to a previous version if something unexpected happens during installation. If this is your first backup, take additional care to verify that the backup is both complete and functional by performing a trial run of your recovery process
- Refreshing the cache to ensure your site is running up-to-date code, refresh your Magento cache (see Step 4). Verify that your current site works as expected (this is a good list of what to look for). If you identify any issues with your existing site, it’s much easier to resolve these before adding a new extension
- Taking your store offline before taking a database backup (below). If we kept the store online and needed to rollback to this backup, we would lose any orders placed after the backup was taken. The alternative to this approach would be to keep the store live, but to re-add those orders manually if you needed to revert back to the old database. To take your site offline to customers, but retain access to the backend yourself, you can redirect users (excluding yourself) to a static page saying that the site is currently unavailable but will be back online shortly
- Creating a database backup
Step 2 - Turn On Magento’s Configuration Cache
Turn on Magento’s configuration cache – this will prevent Magento from trying to install the new extension too early. If the extension needs to make any database changes, triggering the installation too early could miss some database changes and create errors which are difficult to fix later on.
Step 3 - Install the Extension
3.1 Download the extension, either from your account on our website or via the direct link sent to you in the order confirmation email. Once you have the files on your computer unzip the extension files into a separate folder.
3.2 Upload the extension by uploading the unzipped files to your Magento server via FTP or SFTP (an excellent option is to use the free opensource program Filezilla). To do this:
- Connect to the server
- Navigate to your Magento root folder
- Upload the previously unzipped files to your root folder by dragging them from your local computer to your Magento root folder
Having issues locating your Magento Root Folder? Check this FAQ.
3.3 Check the file permissions of the newly uploaded files: Files need to be readable by the webserver. Pay particular attention to the user and group of the files, and to the files’ read/write permissions. It’s not possible to give a generic recommendation for which settings to use because it depends entirely on your individual webserver setup. Compare file permissions of the newly uploaded files and folders against existing files on the server. Alternatively, ask your webhost or server administrator for the best settings to use.
The ideal scenario is to give the server the absolute minimum access rights needed to perform a given task. Granting universal read/write/execute (777) permissions can be unsafe and is generally not recommended.
Step 4 - Refresh Magento’s Cache
Refreshing the Magento cache allows Magento to register the addition of the new extension and to run any necessary installation routines. Alternatively, turning off the cache will have the same effect.
Step 5 - Log Out of the Backend and Log Back In
Log out and back into Magento to reload any access rules for the backend and prevent a potential “Access Denied” error on newly added admin areas that you haven’t been granted access to. Logging back in with a full administrator account will grant you the new permissions required.
Check your site to make sure your newly installed extension works as advertised, and the rest of your store still behaves as you would expect (you can use the same checklist we linked to earlier).
If you took your store offline before installing the extension, bring it back online.
Step 6 - Rerun Magento’s Compilation Process
If you're using Magento’s compilation mode, you need to hit the “Run Compilation Process” button to update the compiled state with the newly installed extension (go to System > Tools > Compilation).
Command Line Equivalent:
php -f shell/compiler.php -- compile
Installation Complete!
Troubleshooting
If you run into any issues, check out the Installation Help FAQ.