Add-on Scheme

addon.xml

Important

Every add-on must have a file called addon.xml in the root directory of the add-on—app/addons/[addon_name]/addon.xml

This file contains parameters of the add-on, such as a unique text identifier, name, description, add-on’s position number in the list, etc.

Every time someone goes to Add-ons → Manage add-ons in a store’s Administration panel, the system scans all the directories within app/addons/ and reads the addon.xml files of the add-ons that aren’t installed yet. These add-ons show up on the list of available add-ons.

When installing an add-on, the system saves all data of addon.xml to the database, except for the settings structure that is read from the file every time you work with the add-on.

For already installed add-ons, the system calls addon.xml when editing an add-on on the Manage add-ons page.

Available Schemes

The addon.xml file contains the scheme of the add-on. There are two possible schemes:

  • Scheme 2.0 is used in CS-Cart 2.x — 4.х. Add-ons with the old scheme will not be displayed on the Add-ons → Manage add-ons page, nor will they work correctly without a proper scheme conversion.

    Here you can download a fully commented example of an addon.xml.

  • Scheme 3.0 is used starting from CS-Cart 4.2.x. The main difference is that in scheme 3.0 translations and language variables are stored in the .po files, while in scheme 2.0 they are defined in the add-on scheme.