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linkGeneral information

The addon is intended for meta tags (<title>, <description>, <keywords>) automatic generation on website objects (categories, products, pages, brands) page. Also, addon allows to exclude meta tag <keywords> from displaying.

linkCompatibility

Available add-on version CS-Cart/Multi-Vendor compatible versions
v2.3.0 4.11.4 – 4.17.2
v1.9.0 4.9.1 – 4.11.3

Add-on is compatible with the following Themes:

  • YoupiTheme (compatible with correspond CS-Cart version);
  • UniTheme2 (compatible with correspond CS-Cart version);
  • Responsive.

linkSupport

General technical support conditions are available at this link (be sure to review these conditions, all solutions from the AlexBranding development team come with limited technical support).

In order to use our technical support, you need to:

  1. Log in with your order owner account on https://cs-cart.alexbranding.com;
  2. Go to the page My Account → Orders;
  3. Find the corresponding order with the problem add-on in the orders list and pass to its details;
  4. Find the “Support” link next to the corresponding add-on name (near you can find Documentation link also) and click on it;
  5. Fill in the data with the problem, provide access to your CS-Cart installation (path to the administration panel, admin mail, admin password + FTP access) and create a ticket (after you will create the ticket, you will receive an e-mail and a special code to track the ticket in the future);
  6. Wait for the specialist answer in accordance with the regulations of the technical support service and the priority of your ticket.

If you didn't receive an answer within the deadlines, according to the chosen ticket priority, send e-mail info@alexbranding.com with the ticket number, for which you did not receive an answer in time, and the team manager will solve the problem in compliance with regulations.

Technical support by telephone calls and direct e-mails is not provided. Any help comes through tickets and helpdesk. Carefully learn documentation and technical support conditions before creating a request.

linkRestrictions and warnings

We recommend to note general restrictions:

  1. All solutions from AlexBranding developers team require pre-installation of the AB: Addons Manager service addon. It is delivered free of charge and is responsible for such services: installation, upgrades, license verifications. Excluding this service addon usage is not possible;
  2. Addon files may have a closed (encoded) part, in which only a license check is located;
  3. The addon will work only on those domains, that are specified in the user's license. If you try to use the solution on CS-Cart installations, whose domains are not included in the license, the addon will be automatically turned off;
  4. Local installation is not possible, so that the addon works on the additional domain (subdomain), enter this domain (subdomain) in the Domain field, when ordering (or write to info@alexbranding.com) - adding technical domains for the developing or for testing is always free.

linkUsage

linkInstallation

After your order has been processed by our manager, it will be transferred to Completed state, you will receive an email to your mailbox with ordered add-ons license numbers (usually it takes from 15 minutes to 8 hours depending on the day time and week day).

Then follow the steps below, which differs depending on your version of the CS-Cart platform:

If you have CS-Cart 4.16.1 and newer version

If you have CS-Cart 4.13.1 and newer version

If you have CS-Cart 4.12. *

If you have CS-Cart 4.11.5 and an earlier version

You can also install the add-on with a standard installation for CS-Cart. To do this, download the appropriate archive with an add-on version compatible with your version of the CS-Cart platform.
Go to the website cs-cart.alexbranding.com, log in under the account of the order holder and go to the page My Profile → Orders → Relevant Order, go to details and you will see a list of available archives for the ordered add-on. Download the version (archive) you need and make the installation (standard for CS-Cart installation: Add-ons → Downloaded add-ons and in the gearwheel menu select Manual installation).

Service add-on AB: Add-ons Manager must be installed and have Active status.

linkAdd Hook-s

To get correct add-on work, adding hooks is required.
This is a special markup in the templates, which allows you to dynamically change the resulting HTML-code of the page.

linkMeta tag description built-in autogeneration

Pay notice, that in CS-Cart works meta tag description built-in autogeneration. To use tag description, that generated with addon by your template, it needs to choose Redefine all in the override method selector, or comment option into file /config.php by putting // in the beginning of the string. As a result will be next:

Example of the file with changes

For access to the add-on settings you should go to the page Administration panel → Add-ons → Manage add-ons and at the add-on name in the gearwheel menu select appropriate menu item.
Add-on settings window

linkPattern creation and choosing type of redefining

To manage the objects meta tags automatic generation go to the page Administration panel → AB: Addons → AB: Extended meta tags → Patterns management. When you open the tabs you want, select the redefine way for every object type (categories, brands, pages and products):

  • Do not redefine — do not change the meta tags operation for the current object type;

  • Redefine empty — generate meta tags by the template only for unfilled fields;

  • Redefine all — replace generated by the template meta tags with existing. This doesn't remove manual meta tags from the fields but replaces them on the fly.

  • Set the desired meta tags for patterns General pattern or Additional pattern in the appropriate fields, by using placeholders list, placed in tooltips. For General pattern there is a setting Enable that allows to disable the template for a specific tag.

Example of pattern creation

Pay attention that the same placeholders can be used in standard meta tags fields on objects editing pages.

Remember to save your data before closing the page!

Path dividers in categories, pages and products placeholders can be changed on the page Administration panel → Administration → Languages → Translations, through variables ab__emd.category_path_delimiter, ab__emd.page_path_delimiter and ab__emd.product_path_delimiter respectively. One product feature variant separator (features with multiply values) — language variable ab__emd.features_variants_delimiter.
Placeholders of minimum and maximum prices for categories and brands are specified without taking promotions into count.

For multilanguage sites, meta tags are filled for each language separately using the standard widget.

linkChanging using pattern for products and categories

You can use different meta tags templates (either primary or secondary) for different categories, and you can change the products template in these categories (only the primary product category is taken into count). Go to the category editing page, into the Add-ons tab and choose needed options:

Example of alternative pattern choosing

linkBrands
linkPages

linkAlternative name for categories, products, pages and brands

Add-on adds the field Alternative name for categories, products, pages and brands with appropriate placeholders. To edit this field go to the edit page of the corresponding object and open the tab Add-ons.

Example of alternative name

linkAdditional information

Add-on adds settings Meta tags viewing and Meta tags management in user's privileges:

  • Meta tags viewing — allows to view meta tags autogeneration parameters;
  • Meta tags management — allows to edit this data.

linkIntegrations

1. Add placeholders with a field value "AB: Custom H1"
Relevant for add-ons:

Integration between add-ons is implemented in two stages:

1) Placeholders [category_custom_h1], [product_custom_h1], [page_custom_h1], [brand_custom_h1] (in all uppercase/lowercase forms) of meta tags contains values from the field AB: Custom H1.
Block "Meta data"

2) Placeholders are added to the field AB: Custom H1 that is located in the tab AB: Custom H1 PRO. You can view placeholder list in the tip under the field.
Field "AB: Custom H1" in the tab "AB: Custom H1 PRO"

2. Management of meta-tag patterns with placeholders for promotion pages
Relevant for add-ons:

Management of meta-tag patterns with placeholders support was added for promotion pages. It allows to form meta tags for promotion pages automatically. Thus, you will get the additional functionality to promote promotion pages.

To manage patterns go to the page Advanced meta tags and placeholders → Patterns management → "Promotions" tab and fill in appropriate fields.
Page "Patterns management" tab "Promotions"

Full list of available and actual placeholders, that you may use for content filling of promotion pages, you can see below. This list is available in the tooltip on the page of patterns management.

Placeholders for promotions

3. Placeholders from a category pattern are available for geo pages
Relevant for add-ons:

During the integration with AB: Advanced meta tags and placeholders add-on, placeholders from a category pattern are available for the template of geo pages. Full list of available and actual placeholders you may review on the page Categories placeholders.

4. Use placeholders of extended meta tags in the multi-descriptions texts
Relevant for add-ons:

Thanks to integration with add-ons, there is a possibility to use placeholders of extended meta tags in the multi-descriptions texts. Thus, you will get the additional functionality to promote pages.

In multi-description of pages of features with "Brand, author, etc." purpose you have a possibility to use placeholders of the add-on Advanced meta tags and placeholders. For example: [BRAND], [Storefront], [total_products] etc.
Pay attention to the placeholder [ab__mcd_name], which follows the behavior of the placeholder [category] and for feature variant pages ‒ behavior of the placeholder [brand].
Example of placeholder use

Full list of the available and actual placeholders, that you may use for content filling of multi-descriptions, you can see by reference.

5. Use placeholders of extended metadata in SEO pages for filters
Relevant for add-ons:

Integration between add-ons allows to use placeholders of advanced meta tags in SEO pages for the category texts on the page Administration panel → Advanced meta tags and placeholders → Patterns management → "Categories" tab.
List of available and actual placeholders, which can be used for content filling of SEO pages for filters, you can see following this link.

6. Placeholders and meta-tags are available on tag pages
Relevant for add-ons:

Management of meta-tag patterns with placeholders support was added for tag pages. It allows to form meta tags for tag pages automatically. Thus, you will get the additional functionality to promote tag pages.

To manage patterns go to the page Advanced meta tags and placeholders → Patterns management → "Tags" tab and fill in appropriate fields.
Page "Patterns management" tab "Tags"

Full list of available and actual placeholders, that you may use for content filling of tag pages, you can see below. This list is available in the tooltip on the page of patterns management.

Tags placeholders

7. Placeholders and meta-tags on review pages
Relevant for add-ons:

Management of meta-tag patterns with placeholders support was added for review pages. It allows to form meta tags for review pages automatically. Thus, you will get the additional functionality to promote review pages.

To manage patterns go to the page Advanced meta tags and placeholders → Patterns management → "AB: SEO for reviews" tab and fill in appropriate fields.
Page "Patterns management" tab "AB: SEO for reviews"

Full list of available and actual placeholders, that you may use for content filling of review pages, you can see below. This list is available in the tooltip on the page of patterns management.

Placeholders for review pages

linkHow to update

To have possibility to update an add-on, you must have an active subscription period for add-on license.

AB: Add-ons Manager will notify you about available updates (you will see an indicator of new alerts). The recommended way is to update via the CS-Cart Upgrade center (a regular procedure of the platform). This method will allow lossless configuration of the transition to the new add-on version, that is guaranteed to be compatible with your CS-Cart platform version.

Before updating, always make a full database and your store files backup (we recommend backing up using server or hosting tools).

To make updates procedure:

  1. Go to the Administration panel → Administration → Upgrade center;
  2. Find the appropriate update among the available updates and click the Update button;
  3. Follow all the instructions, that will be shown during the upgrade procedure;
  4. Clear CS-Cart cache and start using new add-on version.

If you have an earlier version of the add-on (without the Upgrade center support)

linkList of releases


Subscribe to our Telegram-channel to get info about new releases.

v2.3.0 from 06 December 2022

New features and improvements:
[+] Added a new setting "Enable" to the template management. This setting allows to enable or disable the template for a specific tag.
[+] Added forced selection of UTF-8 coding when processing placeholders (error could occur under certain configurations of a server).

v2.2.3 from 21 December 2021

Bug fixes:
[!] W3C validator displayed a warning message when excluding meta tag "keywords".
[!] "Export to Yandex.Market" add-on. On the product page placeholders of feature values didn't count values "Unit measure (YML)". Fixed.

v2.2.2 from 16 September 2021

Bug fixes:
[!] "AB: Custom H1 PRO" add-on. When using customer header that was generated with the use of category placeholders in the template of meta tags, placeholders in meta tags didn't work. Fixed.

v2.2.1 from 28 May 2021

Bug fixes:
[!] The "Products additional patterns" weren't working. Fixed.

v2.2.0 from 28 May 2021

New features and improvements:
[+] "SEO" add-on. Added tooltips for standard meta-tags fields ("Page title", "Meta description" "Meta keywords") for categories, products, pages and brands, on pages of editing corresponded objects, about possibility to use placeholders.
[+] Added variation of placeholders "The first letter is lowercase others as is".
[+] Added field "Alternative name" for categories, products, pages and brands, on pages of editing corresponded objects, with addition of corresponded placeholders.

Bug fixes:
[!] If there was a meta description in the category and selected option "Redefine empty" for products (located on the page "Patterns manageme" → "Products" tab), the category description was displayed on the product page with an empty meta description. Fixed.

v2.1.0 from 23 December 2020

New features and improvements:
[+] Added compatibility with CS-Cart 4.12.1.

Bug fixes:
[!] Placeholders of the feature values were not applied in some cases. Fixed.

v2.0.0 from 13 August 2020

Attention!
If you use the "AB: Custom H1 header PRO" add-on, then you should upgrade the add-on to version v1.9.1.
If you use the "SEO pages for filters" add-on, then you should upgrade the add-on to version v7.3.0.
If you use the "Multiple descriptions + FAQ (with JSON-LD rich snippets)" add-on, then you should upgrade the add-on to version v3.2.0.

New features and improvements:
[+] Added ability to integrate with other add-ons be schema implementation. Read more in documentation.
[+] Added placeholder [storefront] - the name of the storefront.
[+] Added placeholders [currency] and [currency_nohtml] - active currency symbol.
[+] Added Ukrainian language.
[+] Multi-Vendor. Added placeholder of vendor's name on product page.
[+] Multi-Vendor. Added management of meta tags of vendor store page.
[+] Multi-Vendor. Added Multi-Vendor Ultimate support.
[+] Added Smarty-hook ab__extended_metadata:placeholders to the template of placeholders list.
[+] Added Smarty-hook ab__extended_metadata:setting_value" to the template of each setting of meta tags pattern. [+] Added Smarty-hookab__extended_metadata:settings_tab_extrato the template of settings tab of meta tags pattern. [+] Added PHP-hookab__emd_replace_placeholders_pattern, which allows you to influence the regular expression pattern when searching for a placeholder. [+] Added PHP-hookab__emd_replace_placeholders_pattern`, which allows you to create custom types of placeholders.

Functionality changes:
[*] Updated users' privileges.

v1.9.0 from 17 September 2019

New features and improvements:
[+] Minimal CS-Cart platform version is 4.9.1;
[+] Placeholders [min_price_prefix], [min_price_suffix], [max_price_prefix], [max_price_suffix] for categories and brands pages are added.

Functionality changes:
[*] Placeholders [category_origin_name] and [category_name] (and they variations) are deprecated;
[*] Addon item description in the "AB: Addons" menu is deleted.

v1.8.0 from 22 April 2018

Feature additions:
[+] Added UpgradeCenter/Connector for the next updates;

Bug fixes:
[!] Language variables are corrected;

v1.7 from 12 June 2018

https://cs-cart.alexbranding.com/en/ab__extended_metadata.doc

v1.6 from 03 May 2018

https://cs-cart.alexbranding.com/en/ab__extended_metadata.doc

v1.5 from 27 October 2017

https://cs-cart.alexbranding.com/en/ab__extended_metadata.doc

v1.4 from 25 October 2017

https://cs-cart.alexbranding.com/en/ab__extended_metadata.doc

v1.3 from 24 August 2017

v1.3 August 24, 2017

~ expanded help;
~ split placeholders "category name" and "AB: Custom H1 for category page"

v1.2 August 10, 2017

  • added compatibility with PHP 7.1;
    ~ extended prices placeholders;
    ~ optimized database queries;

v1.1 March 16, 2017

  • added addon support - Addon - Custom Н1 header for category page (https://cs-cart.alexbranding.com/en/custom-h1-for-category-page.html);
  • new types of placeholders added, allowing to output data in various formats (lowercase, uppercase and first capital);
  • added placeholders replace for standart meta-tags;
  • added changelog;

    v1.2 from 10 August 2017

    v1.2 August 10, 2017

  • added compatibility with PHP 7.1;
    ~ extended prices placeholders;
    ~ optimized database queries;

v1.1 March 16, 2017

  • added addon support - Addon - Custom Н1 header for category page (https://cs-cart.alexbranding.com/en/custom-h1-for-category-page.html);
  • new types of placeholders added, allowing to output data in various formats (lowercase, uppercase and first capital);
  • added placeholders replace for standart meta-tags;
  • added changelog;

    v1.1 from 16 March 2017

    v1.1 от 16 марта 2017

  • added addon support - Addon - Custom Н1 header for category page (https://cs-cart.alexbranding.com/en/custom-h1-for-category-page.html)
  • new types of placeholders added, allowing to output data in various formats (lowercase, uppercase and first capital)

    v1.0 from 06 March 2017