VibeFox LP Express for OpenCart — Help

Requirements

OpenCart: 3.0.x (tested on 3.0.5.0) or 4.0.2 and later (tested on 4.1.0.3), with the default theme and the standard OpenCart checkout.

PHP: 8.0 or later.

LP Express: no API account is needed. LP Express has no public price API, and the extension does not use the Unisend API, so you enter your own (contract) prices. Create the parcels in your Unisend ("Mano siuntos") account.

Parcel terminal list: the extension uses the open LP Express terminal list (https://www.lpexpress.lt/index.php?cl=terminals&fnc=getTerminals). No key is needed. If this online list is unavailable, the extension uses the last downloaded copy if there is one, otherwise your own list. Be ready to enter your own list (see Configuration).

Lithuania: the country must be enabled in System > Localisation > Countries.

VibeFox license key: bought on vibefox.net. One key works on one domain.

Installation

The download is one zip file with the packages for both OpenCart versions. Unpack it on your computer. It contains README.txt, the OpenCart 3 package vfd_lp_express-oc3-(version).ocmod.zip and the OpenCart 4 package vfd_lp_express.ocmod.zip. Install only the package for your OpenCart version. The license key is the same for both versions.

OpenCart 3

1. In the admin go to Extensions > Installer, click Upload and choose the file vfd_lp_express-oc3-(version).ocmod.zip. The extension adds no OCMOD modifications, so you do not need to refresh Extensions > Modifications. Instead of the Installer, you can copy the contents of the upload folder of this package into the root folder of your store.

2. Go to Extensions > Extensions and choose the extension type Shipping. Find VibeFox LP Express and click Install (the green + button).

3. Click Edit (the pencil button) to open the settings page.

4. Paste your VibeFox license key into License key in the license block at the top of the Edit page and click Activate (see License key).

5. Fill in the price table (at least one row; the first new row is Lithuania) or a fallback cost. Check the status line about parcel terminals at the top of the page and add your own terminal list if the online list is not available. Turn on Enable/Disable and click Save.

OpenCart 4

1. In the admin go to Extensions > Installer, click Upload and choose the file vfd_lp_express.ocmod.zip. Do not rename the file: OpenCart 4 takes the extension code from the file name, and a renamed package does not work.

2. The package appears in the list of installed extensions on the same page. Click Install (the green + button) next to it.

3. Go to Extensions > Extensions and choose the extension type Shipping. Find VibeFox LP Express, click Install (the green + button), then Edit (the pencil button).

4. Enter the license key and the settings as in steps 4 and 5 for OpenCart 3. The settings page and its fields are the same in both versions.

On install the extension creates two small tables (the chosen terminals and the cached terminal list) and registers its OpenCart events for the checkout and the order page. The method is off until you turn on Enable/Disable and save. If you install the extension again after an uninstall, the settings you kept are used again.

Configuration

All settings are on the extension page: Extensions > Extensions > Shipping > VibeFox LP Express > Edit. The sections are listed on the left. One Save button at the bottom saves the whole page without reloading it. Every save also reloads the terminal list. Only admin users with the modify permission for this extension can save the settings.

At the top of the page, notices show problems and the terminal status. A warning appears when no price is set or no parcel terminal is available, because then the method is not shown at checkout, and when the store has no weight class with the unit kg, because then product weights are read by their unit name (kg, g, lb, oz) and any other unit as kg. An info line shows how many parcel terminals in how many cities are available and from which source: the online list, a saved copy of the online list (with its date) or your own list.

When you save, a method title that is empty or contains one of the characters < > ; = # { } is refused with Enter a valid method title., and a title longer than 64 characters is refused too. A sort order that is not a whole number is refused as well. In these cases nothing is saved. An amount or weight that is not a number (or is negative) is reported, and its previous value is kept. A Minimum weight (kg) greater than Maximum weight (kg) (30 kg when the maximum is empty) is reported too, because the method would never be shown, and both weights keep their previous values. Prices in the table that are not numbers are reported and left empty. The other values are saved.

General

Enable/Disable: shows or hides LP Express at checkout (the status of this extension). Default: off.

Method title: the shipping method name shown to customers in the cart and at checkout. Default: LP Express parcel terminal. Required, at most 64 characters.

Tax class: --- None --- (default) means the prices below are final. With a tax class, OpenCart adds the shipping tax on top of the prices below.

Sort order: the position of LP Express among the shipping methods at checkout. A whole number.

Prices (in your store default currency, shown in the section title; decimals may be written as 2.99 or 2,99)

Price table: one row per destination country. Click Add country to add a row and the remove button to delete one. Choose * Any other country for every country without its own row. Each row has a Base price and weight columns: XS up to 1 kg, S up to 2 kg, M up to 3 kg, L up to 5 kg and XL above 5 kg. The weight is the cart weight, or the weight of one item with Per item. An empty column uses the base price of the row. 0 means free. A row without any price is not saved.

Fallback cost: used when the price table has no row (or no price) for the destination country. Leave it empty to hide the method for such countries.

Calculation: how the price is counted.

Per order (tier by total cart weight): one price for the cart, with the weight column chosen by the total cart weight. This is the default.

Per item (each item priced by its own weight x quantity): every product is priced by its own weight and multiplied by its quantity, and the prices are added up.

Free shipping from: the cart total (products that need shipping, after discounts, tax excluded) from which LP Express is free. It applies before the price table, so it also covers countries without their own row. Leave it empty for no free shipping.

Availability

Minimum weight (kg): hide the method when the cart is lighter. Empty or 0 means no limit.

Maximum weight (kg): hide the method when the cart is heavier. LP Express terminals accept parcels up to 30 kg. Default: 30. 0 means no limit. Empty means 30 kg, or no limit when Ignore shipping zones is on.

Minimum cart total: show the method only from this cart total (products that need shipping, after discounts, tax excluded). Leave it empty to always show it.

Geo zone: the method is offered only for addresses in this geo zone. All Zones (default) means everywhere. Geo zones are managed in System > Localisation > Geo Zones. The geo zone is not checked when Ignore shipping zones is on.

Ignore shipping zones: offer LP Express for the countries below, whatever the geo zone is. The geo zone is not checked in this mode. When it is off, the countries are defined by the geo zone. This is recommended. Default: off.

Countries (without zones): the destination countries for that mode. This field is used only when Ignore shipping zones is on. Leave it empty to offer the method for all countries.

Parcel terminals

Terminal list: where the terminals come from.

LP Express online list: the online list is downloaded once a day. When it cannot be loaded, the last downloaded copy is used, then your own list below. This is the default.

Only my own list: only the terminals you enter below are offered.

Advanced

Debug log: writes price calculation and terminal list details to storage/logs/vfd_lpex_debug.log.php (on OpenCart 4 system/storage/logs/vfd_lpex_debug.log.php). The file cannot be read from the web. Errors, such as an unavailable terminal list or an order without a terminal, are always logged. No customer data is logged. When the file reaches 5 MB, a new log is started.

Log: shows the size and the latest entries of the log. Click Clear log to empty it.

Remove data on uninstall: when on, uninstalling the extension deletes the settings, the saved terminal list, the log and the terminals of unfinished checkouts. When off (default), the settings are kept for a re-install. The terminal saved in orders is always kept.

Import / Export

Export: click Download JSON to save the settings as a JSON file.

Import: paste previously exported JSON and click Import to restore the settings, for example on another store. The values are checked like a normal save.

How it works at checkout

When OpenCart shows the shipping methods, it asks the extension for the LP Express price. If a Geo zone is set and the address is outside it, LP Express is not offered. With Ignore shipping zones the geo zone is not checked: LP Express is offered only for the listed countries (all countries when the list is empty). Only products with Requires Shipping set to Yes count: other products add no weight and are not included in the cart total. The cart total is the price of these products after the coupon discount and before tax. Gift certificates, reward points and store credit are not taken into account.

The extension checks the cart weight and the minimum cart total. If free shipping applies, the price is 0. Otherwise the price comes from the row of the country (or the * row): the weight column, else the base price, else the fallback cost. If there is no price, or no parcel terminal is available, the method is hidden, so the customer never sees a checkout that cannot be completed.

Prices and amounts are in your store default currency. The price is rounded to its decimals and shown to the customer in their currency with the tax of the selected Tax class.

The online terminal list is cached for 24 hours. A failed download is remembered for 15 minutes, so the checkout does not wait for the list on every refresh. The download timeout is 10 seconds. Only active terminals from the list are offered. Terminals without a city are listed under Other.

On OpenCart 4 the customer clicks Choose in the shipping method block of the checkout page and picks LP Express in the window Shipping method options. The prices are the same as on OpenCart 3.

The extension does not request LP Express or Unisend prices, create shipments, print labels, call a courier or track parcels. Create the parcels in your Unisend ("Mano siuntos") account. Courier (door-to-door) delivery is not part of this method.

Pickup points

When the customer selects LP Express in the delivery method step, the block LP Express parcel terminal appears under it with two lists: -- Select city -- and -- Select parcel terminal --. The terminal list is loaded only when LP Express is selected. The city of the delivery address is pre-selected when it matches a city in the list. Each terminal is shown with its name, address and ZIP. The choice is saved for the checkout right away, so it is not lost when the checkout refreshes.

A terminal is required. When the customer clicks Continue, the server checks the terminal against the list again. Without one, the checkout shows Please select an LP Express parcel terminal. A forged or outdated terminal ID is refused with The selected LP Express parcel terminal is not available any more. Please select a parcel terminal again. If no terminals can be loaded, the customer sees The LP Express parcel terminal list is temporarily unavailable. Please try again later or choose another shipping method.

On OpenCart 4 the block LP Express parcel terminal with the two lists appears in the window Shipping method options, under the LP Express option, when the customer selects it. The Continue button of the window does not go on without a valid terminal, with the same messages.

The terminal ID, name and city are saved with the order. The panel LP Express parcel terminal on the admin order page (Sales > Orders, order info) shows the city, the terminal and its Terminal ID. The shipping method of the order shows the method title, a colon, the city and the terminal (for example LP Express parcel terminal: Kaunas, …), so it appears in the customer's order details, in the order e-mails and on the invoice. If an order has no terminal, the admin order page shows No parcel terminal was chosen for this order. The panel is also shown for placed orders while the extension is disabled. On OpenCart 4 it is shown above History. OpenCart 4 keeps one order for the checkout and updates it each time the customer confirms again, and the terminal of the order is updated with it. If the customer switches that order to another shipping method, its terminal is removed.

License key

The extension works with a VibeFox license key from vibefox.net. The license block License — VibeFox LP Express is the first block on Extensions > Extensions > Shipping > VibeFox LP Express > Edit, above the settings. Paste the key into License key and click Activate. After that the block shows the key masked, the status (for example the date the license is active until and your domain) and the buttons Check now to check the status again, Change key to enter another key and Remove key to remove the key from this store. Below them are the line Product: opencart-shipping-lp-express and the link Manage licenses and domains in your account, which opens your vibefox.net account. Only admin users with the Modify permission for the extension can change the key. The texts of the block follow the admin language (English and Russian are included).

If the key is not accepted, the block says why, for example Key not found, This key belongs to another product, Domain limit reached or License expired on a date. After the store address changes, or after you free a domain slot in your account, click Check now. If the license server cannot be reached, the extension keeps working on the last known status.

One key works on one domain: the store address from the OpenCart configuration. Removing the key from the store does not free its domain slot. Free the slot in your vibefox.net account.

Without an active key, the LP Express shipping method is not shown to customers at checkout and no rate is calculated. An admin user who is logged in to the admin in the same browser still sees the method in the store, marked (unlicensed — visible to admins only), so you can set up and test the extension before you buy a key. On OpenCart 4 this preview is not available: the store does not see the admin login, so without an active key the method is hidden for everybody. After you have opened the Edit page once, a reminder appears on the admin Dashboard. Close it with × to hide it for 7 days. Existing orders are not affected.

When a license expires, the extension keeps working, but updates and support need a renewal. The status is checked again automatically when you open the admin Dashboard or the Edit page: once a day for the first 14 days after the key is entered, then once a week. No cron job is needed. Uninstalling the extension always removes the license key and license status.

Troubleshooting

LP Express does not appear at checkout: check that the license is active and Enable/Disable is on. Check Geo zone (or that Ignore shipping zones is on and the country is allowed). Open the extension page: a warning explains if no price is set or no parcel terminal is available. Also check the weight limits and Minimum cart total, and that the products have Requires Shipping set to Yes. With Debug log on, the Log field on the extension page shows why the method was hidden.

No parcel terminals: the online list could not be loaded and there is no saved copy or own list. The extension retries every 15 minutes. Enter your own list in Own terminal list, or choose Only my own list.

The terminal list is outdated: click Save on the extension page. This reloads the terminal list. With your own list, update the lines yourself.

The customer cannot continue: a parcel terminal must be chosen. If the customer sees the message that the terminal list is temporarily unavailable, no terminals are available right now. Add your own list.

The terminal selector does not appear: the selector is added to the delivery method step of the standard OpenCart checkout (on OpenCart 4 to the window Shipping method options) and was tested with the default theme. A heavily changed theme or a third-party checkout extension may not show it.

In which currency are the prices: in your store default currency. Customers paying in another currency see the price converted with the OpenCart currency rate.

The page says "Warning: You do not have permission to modify VibeFox LP Express!": your admin user group may only view the settings. Give the group the modify permission for extension/shipping/vfd_lp_express (OpenCart 3) or extension/vfd_lp_express/shipping/vfd_lp_express (OpenCart 4) in System > Users > User Groups.

For developers: the terminal list address can be replaced with the setting vfd_lpex_feed_url (for tests); it has no field on the settings page.

Uninstall

Go to Extensions > Extensions, choose the type Shipping and click Uninstall (the red − button) next to VibeFox LP Express. The license key and license status of this extension are always removed. OpenCart always resets Enable/Disable, Sort order, Tax class and Geo zone. The extension events are always removed, and the cached terminal list is cleared. If Remove data on uninstall is on, the settings, the log, the saved copy of the terminal list and the terminals of unfinished checkouts are removed as well. If it is off, the other settings and the saved copy are kept and are used again when you install the extension again. The terminal saved in orders is never deleted, and existing orders keep the terminal in their shipping method.

On OpenCart 4, to remove the files of the extension as well, go to Extensions > Installer after the uninstall and click Uninstall (the orange − button) next to VibeFox LP Express in the list of installed extensions, then Delete (the red bin button) to remove the uploaded package.

LP Express is a trademark of its respective owner. This extension is not affiliated with or endorsed by LP Express.