WordPress 5.5 includes support for auto-updating themes and plugins. Version 3.6.12 of Software Licensing includes updates to the plugin and theme update classes, as well as how they are implemented in our sample code, which users who want to support auto-updates will want to implement.

The new versions of the update classes are:

• EDD_Theme_Updater — 1.1.0
• EDD_SL_Plugin_Updater — 1.8.0

Changelog:

• The theme updater class now populates the no_update property of the WordPress theme update transient
• The plugin updater class adds plugin and id to the plugin version information which is added to the WordPress plugin update transient (the no_update property population was initially added in Software Licensing 3.6.10)

The way theme and plugin authors initialize the updater classes will also need to be updated to work with the WordPress scheduled task. Plugin authors will note that the edd_sl_sample_plugin_updater function now uses the init hook, instead of admin_init. Both this function and the comparable updater method in the theme-updater-admin.php file now include a check for whether a cron job (scheduled task) is running, as well as the user privilege level.

Once you have updated your theme or plugin code to include these changes and it’s on your users’ sites, they will be able to enable auto-updates.

Documentation:

• Software Licensing – Updater Implementation for WordPress Themes
• Software Licensing – Updater Implementation for WordPress Plugins

Valid license holders can get these new sample files from within the Downloads section of your account.

Software Licensing version 3.6.10

Our focus for this update was to address a large number of lingering issues. We made twenty separate improvements to Software Licensing in version 3.6.10.

The complete list of items addressed:

• Fix: When Apache forced trailing slashes, update packages could fail to be downloaded.
• Fix: When upgrading a bundle, the child licenses may not have gotten their price IDs updated.
• Fix: It was not possible to renew multiple licenses for the same product, at the same time.
• Fix: When using bundle licenses with children, the license list table had some performance issues.
• Fix: Child licenses could have a different activation limit than their parent.
• Fix: License counts on the list table for license statuses could be incorrect when child licenses were used.
• Fix: Some of the Readme information was not being parsed correctly after the latest parser update.
• Fix: Searching for a child licenses could give incorrect results, or no results.
• Fix: Updates could intermittently cause the ‘Too Many Redirects’ error.
• Fix: Searching for partial license keys and email addresses could cause PHP notices and/or warnings.
• Fix: When jQuery was being loaded in the footer, some JavaScript errors could occur when managing licenses on the front end.
• Fix: Searching for a non-existent license key, returned all license keys in the list table.
• Fix: Improved the reliability of the checks to make sure an update can be downloaded.
• Fix: When using custom keys, it was possible to use a key length that exceeded the database column’s allowed length.
• Sample Theme:
  • Fix: The sample theme was missing the theme_slug parameter from the API calls.
  • New: The sample theme now supports the item_id parameter.
• Sample Plugin:
  • Fix: The “View Details” link on the plugin list was not always present.
  • Fix: Sample plugin did not define the EDD_SAMPLE_ITEM_NAME string.
• New: Changelogs now support the “Read More” tag, to allow reducing changelog information stored in the get_version API calls.
• Dev: The license list table columns are now filterable and sortable.

Reviews version 2.1.11

Like with Software Licensing, our focus for this update of the Reviews extension was fixing minor issues that have lingered for some time.

We fixed six bugs in version 2.1.11. Those bugs were:

• Fix: Ensure custom code snippets cannot cause undefined index errors in the [downloads] shortcode
• Fix: Enable review request emails to be sent when now is the selected time period
• Fix: Compare version and only show admin notification for upgrade with outdated versions.
• Fix: Verify that orders are complete or published before request review emails sent
• Fix: Remove unused variable $post_id in class review widget
• Fix: Use timestamp $now to ensure review request emails are being sent at correct time relative to store timezone.

Custom database tables

As we’ve been doing with our other migrations, store owners will be presented with a migration utility that allows them to move the data from the old custom post types, to the new data format. Since moving licenses is a multi-phase process, we had to rebuild the migration utility to be more flexible and verbose, so store owners could get a better picture of what was happening.

Initially, store owners will be presented with an expandable admin notice informing them of this upgrade, as well as the WP-CLI command to use to complete this upgrade.

Instead of immediately starting the upgrade, as we have previously done, the user needs to click to start this process. There are a possible 3 steps that need to be completed on the initial view:

• Upgrade Licenses
• Update bundle licenses
• Update license logs

Only the relevant options will be shown:

Starting the upgrade will use our batch processing API to upgrade a limited number of licenses at a time, to help reduce any risks of causing errors due to server resources. When step 1 is completed a check is run to see if the number of legacy license keys matches the number of new license keys. If these numbers match, any remaining steps will be automatically started. If the numbers are different, however, the remaining steps will not be started automatically, allowing store owners to go see if there was a reason for this, and verify any necessary data was migrated prior to starting the remaining steps. When all steps are completed, users will be notified they can navigate away from the upgrades page to verify data. At this point their store is 100% using the new license tables. The old data still exists, until the final ‘Remove Legacy Data’ step is performed.

If you are running a large store, with more than a thousand licenses, we recommend running this migration over WP-CLI with the provided command. This will ensure the fastest and most reliable method of upgrading a large data set.

The new table schema for these tables is defined below.

wp_edd_licenses

• id
• license_key
• status
• download_id
• price_id
• payment_id
• cart_index
• date_created
• expiration
• parent
• customer_id
• user_id

wp_edd_licensemeta

• meta_id
• license_id
• meta_key
• meta_value

wp_edd_license_activations

• site_id
• site_name
• license_id
• activated
• is_local

New license capabilities

In the past, Software Licensing has always used some of the Easy Digital Downloads roles and capabilities to restrict who can view and modify licenses. In version 3.6, we’ve added 3 capabilities, which allow a granular customization as to what roles can view, edit, and delete licenses from a store. By default, the mappings for license capabilities are tied to EDD Core roles, but can be customized to your preference with a role management plugin or custom integration.

• view_licenses: Allows viewing the list table and details page of individual license keys. The capability has been added to these roles:
  • Shop Manager
  • Shop Worker
  • Administrator
• manage_licenses: Allows modifying license data. The capability has been added to these roles:
  • Shop Manager
  • Shop Worker
  • Administrator
• delete_licenses: Allows deleting license records. The capability has been added to these roles:
  • Shop Manager
  • Administrator

Download betas from the front-end

In version 3.5, we added support for adding beta versions of licensed products. If the API request for `get_version` was called with the `beta` flag, instead of delivering the latest stable version, the beta was delivered. Previously the only way to get this was via the license handler. In version 3.6, users are able to download beta versions from within their accounts, just like they do with stable versions. These beta files will appear anywhere that EDD outputs download files by default.

Swap variable price assignment

If a license is attached to a product that has variable pricing enabled, users with the ‘modify_licenses’ capability can now change the variable price assignment of a license.

Other improvements

• More information has been added to the Licenses list table.
• Item ID has been added to the API responses.
• License search has been improved to allow partial license search.
• Front-end tables have the .edd-table class added to allow better theme support.
• Changelog output can now be filtered.
• Refunding a renewal payment rolls back the license expiration.
• Better tool-tips for license management.
• Removed final keyword from the EDD_SL_License class.
• License export tool now uses batch processing API to avoid timeouts.
• Upgrade and Renewal dates are now stored in License meta.

Notable bug fixes

• Improved overall performance of license count checks.
• Lifetime child license expirations are now tied to their parent licenses.
• activate_license API call logged the activation twice in the license logs.
• Upgrading from lifetime to a bundle caused some issues with the expiration dates.
• Deleting a payment record now properly affects license meta for renewals and upgrades.
• Beta file URLs are no longer forced to http.
• Sample plugin now uses time() instead of current_time( 'timestamp' ).
• Using the empty_cart function now removes any renewal session data.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why did the status counts change after the migration?

You may notice, after running the migration, that some of the status counts in the license list table have changed. This is because during the migration, some checks were run against the licenses to correct any incorrect statuses. While you may see some differences in the counts for individual statuses, the overall license count should remain the same.

Can my store still receive new payments and generate licenses while this migration is running?

Yes! While this migration is running, your store will still be able to process payments and generate new licenses, while the old data is being migrated.

Beta testing

This is a significant update for Software Licensing and so we are testing it as extensively as possible, and we’d love help! If you’d like to help us test the beta, please see this guide.

Notes:

• Access to the beta is restricted to active license holders. Don’t have one? Purchase one today.
• You will need Easy Digital Downloads 2.6.17 or later in order to use the automatic beta install option.
• Valid license holders can also download a copy of the beta version from within their account.

Please let us know what you think! If you notice any problems, you may let us know in the comments below or by submitting a support ticket.

For information on how you can gain access to the beta, please see the bottom of this post.

Let’s take a quick look at what’s new in version 3.5.

New license details screen

Previously there has never been a good way to view all of the information about an individual license key. In 3.5 we have introduced a new screen dedicated to license details.

This screen displays all relevant information for the license key, including related payments, related license keys, upgrade paths, and more. From this screen, site admins can easily edit attributes of the license and perform actions such as sending renewal notifications. If your site has multiple renewal notifications configured, you will also be able to select which email notice you wish to send:

The Related Payments section provides a list of all renewal and upgrade payments so it is easy to quickly view the history of a license.

With the Upgrade Paths section, site admins can easily see what upgrade options are available and even copy a direct purchase URL for an upgrade that can be sent to customers.

With this single license view, we have also cleaned up the main list table view for license keys.

New EDD_SL_License class

For developers, working with license key data hasn’t been very easy in the past due to a heavy reliance on WordPress post objects and postmeta and a significant lack of API methods within the plugin.

In version 3.5, we have introduced a new EDD_SL_License class that provides a significantly easier system for working with license keys. See the documentation for complete details on this new class.

Time based proration

Software Licensing has supported license upgrades since version 3.3, but the proration method used with upgrades was always a pseudo proration that only took into account the cost difference between the license levels. In 3.5 we have introduced a new option that allows site admins to choose whether they wish to use cost-based or time-based proration for license upgrades (if any).

With time-based calculations, the cost of an upgrade takes into account how much time is left on the existing license and then prorates the new purchase accordingly.

Note: time-based proration is disabled by default so you must enable it if you wish to use it.

Beta versions

Successful software update releases often include beta versions (like 3.5 of Software Licensing) so we have introduced a new feature that allows you to release beta versions as well. In a very meta way, we are actually using this same beta feature to release this beta version.

See our documentation for more information.

Per-item renewal discounts

Renewal discounts have been supported for a long time in Software Licensing. In version 3.5, we have introduced support for setting per-item renewal discounts. This means that site admins can set a global renewal discount that applies to all products but then set a specific discount rate for individual products.

Improved file organization

The file and folder organization of Software Licensing really began to show its age during this development cycle. We decided to take care of it once and for all and do some significant improvements. For developers this change will make it easier to grok the code base. For non developers there shouldn’t be any noticeable change.

It is important to note, however, that if you have written any custom features that manually load files from Software Licensing, you will need to update your code to account for the new file names and locations.

Other improvements

Along with the new features noted above, we’ve made a significant number of additional improvements as well.

• A new option has been added to enforce email matching on license renewals. This allows site admins to require that license renewals be purchased with the same email address as the original license.
• The EDD_SL_Plugin_Updater class has improved caching and support for beta versions. Please update your integrations.
• The EDD_Theme_Updater class has been updated with support for beta versions. Please update your integrations.
• New action hooks have been added to the license renewal process.
• New filters have been added to get_licenses_of_purchase() and get_licenses_by_purchase().
• License keys are now included in the /sales/ endpoint of the EDD REST API.
• License keys for bundles are now grouped in the [edd_license_keys] shortcode display.
• License upgrade purchases can now be performed through a direct URL.
• License keys and associated meta data are now deleted when a complete store reset is done.
• The license keys metabox in View Order Details has been improved.
• Inline upgrade links can now be shown on purchase buttons.
• MD5 checksums are now included in all license REST API responses.
• A new {expiration_time} template tag has been added to license renewal notice emails.
• A new option has been added to disable discount codes on license renewals.
• Banner images can now be added to WordPress plugins through the ReadMe.txt parsing.
• License keys list table can now be filtered by download product ID by entering download:# in the search field.
• Improved labels and layout of the licensing metabox.

Important bug fixes

A number of major and minor bugs have also been fixed.

• Action links on license keys list table should return user to previous screen.
• Extra paragraphs added to license renewal notice emails
• Expiration dates are shown in GMT instead of local time.
• Incorrect renewal flags and discounts left in cart when removing renewal from cart.
• Invalid download message returned when using “item_name” instead of “item_id” in licensing REST API.
• Incorrect license keys generated when re-generating keys for a purchase.
• Updating customer email does not update the email address on license keys.
• Error message shown when loading “View Update Details” modal window multiple times.
• Upgrade paths shown for expired and disabled license keys.
• Incorrect upgrade path set as the default when products contain variable prices.
• Extend license link missing from View Licenses page in frontend Purchase History.
• Duplicate license keys created when regenerating license kets on a purchase.
• Site URLs can still be managed by customer when license is disabled.
• Setting a license key to lifetime does not update the status of the license.
• License keys improperly set to disabled when a refund is processed for a renewal.
• Extra dash shown on checkout when renewing a license key without variable prices.
• Deleting a renewal payment also deletes the associated license key.

Template file changes

To fix a bug with customers still being able to manage the site URLs for a disabled license, we needed to update the templates/license-keys.php template file. If you have copied this file to your theme’s folder, please update it with the new version to ensure this bug is fixed on your site.

How to get the beta

There are two ways to access the beta version.

1. Download and install manually

The 3.5 beta is available for download from your account page. Navigate to your Downloads tab, locate the row for Software Licensing, and click the download link edd-software-licensing-3.5-beta.zip. Once you have downloaded it, you can install it manually just like any other plugin.

2. Download and install automatically from plugins.php

With the introduction of extension beta version support in Easy Digital Downloads 2.6.11, you can now navigate to Downloads > Tools > Beta Version in your WordPress site that has Easy Digital Downloads installed and then select the extensions you would like to receive beta update notifications for.

Check the box for Software Licensing and the update for the 3.5 beta will show up on your Plugins page just like any other update.

Notes:

• You must have Software Licensing installed and activated on your site already in order to opt into beta updates through plugins.php.
• Access to the beta is restricted to active license holders. Don’t have one? Purchase one today.
• You will need Easy Digital Downloads 2.6.17 or later in order to use the automatic beta install option.

Please let us know what you think! If you notice any problems, you may let us know in the comments below or by submitting a support ticket.

1.6.8 includes a few changes:

• Small adjustments for the upcoming beta release feature in Software Licensing
• Fixes update notifications not showing up when plugins do not have banner images set in the ReadMe.txt file
• Removes deprecated testing code

What you need to do

If you have used the EDD_SL_Plugin_Updater class in any of your own plugins, please incorporate the 1.6.8 version into your plugin and release an update to all customers to help prevent this problem from affecting any sites using your plugins.

As long as you have not made changes to the EDD_SL_Plugin_Updater class itself, updating to the new version is as simple as replacing the class file.

You can download the new version of the class from your account page. Locate your purchase record for Software Licensing and then download the “edd-sample-plugin” file. The latest version of the class is included within that sample plugin. You can also obtain the latest version from this GitHub repository.

Since version 1.0, we have relied on the Transients API to cache responses from the licensing server when checking for updates in the EDD_SL_Plugin_Updater class. Occasionally, however, the use of transients resulted in severe performance problems due to a conflict with certain configurations of object caching. When this happened, typically on sites using W3 Total Cache, the licensing API response caches did not work, resulting in repeated calls to the licensing server. This caused significant performance problems because remote calls to the licensing server would be made on every single page load within the WP admin area.

To resolve the issue, we have moved our caching mechanism over to the Options API, which is not susceptible to conflicts with object caching configurations.

If you would like to see additional details, and exact changes, for this, please refer to issue 5294 in the main Easy Digital Downloads GitHub repository.

What you need to do

If you have used the EDD_SL_Plugin_Updater class in any of your own plugins, please incorporate the 1.6.7 version into your plugin and release an update to all customers to help prevent this problem from affecting any sites using your plugins.

As long as you have not made changes to the EDD_SL_Plugin_Updater class itself, updating to the new version is as simple as replacing the class file.

You can download the new version of the class from your account page. Locate your purchase record for Software Licensing and then download the “edd-sample-plugin” file. The latest version of the class is included within that sample plugin.

Deprecate _edd_sl_site_count post meta

This post meta item was found to be created with a license, but never updated or used to calculate the number of sites. We’ve written an upgrade routine to remove these entries and also a backwards compatibility check so that if it is requested, a proper site count is returned using the helper function edd_software_licensing()->get_site_count(). When WP_DEBUG is enabled, a deprecated notice will show.

Updated Sample Theme

We made a few changes to the sample theme to improve it’s reliability in showing the update counts properly. Please update your themes with the new version of the updater.

Updated Sample Plugin

The Sample plugin has been updated including the primary class EDD_SL_Plugin_Updater. The new version is 1.6.4 and is included in the sample plugin, and fixes some issues with using the updater on a network enabled site. If you use this class in your plugin, you’ll want to update it.

Sample Theme/Plugin error handling

Both the theme and plugin examples have been improved to include inline error handling. If a license fails to activate or deactivate, error messages will be shown as an Admin Notice to the user. This will make debugging customer activation issues much easier. You’ll need to take a look at the samples and implement them in your customer activation and deactivation methods.

Manage Sites template changes

We’ve updated the customer facing Manage Sites view. It now includes the license key and product the license is for, making it easier for your customers to know which key they are working with. If you’ve modified this template, they will be overwritten by this update. If you’re using our templating methods, and want the changes, you’ll need to update your custom template in your own theme.

Retroactive Licensing Rewrite

The process for generating missing license keys has been greatly improved. Previously we ran 3 different routines depending on if you wanted to generate keys for a download, payment, or the entire store. This caused some pain points as each was slightly different and sometimes caused improper license key generation. With 3.4.8, we’ve rewritten this entire process to use the same routine in the Downloads&rarro;Tools section. By consolidating these tools into a single one, we’ve vastly improved it’s reliability.

Those are the big changes in store for this version. Here is the remainder of the changes:

• Added Grunt tasks to the project to generate .pot and minified asset files.
• Better clarification of error messages in API response.
• Do not show upgrades for a download when a license key is part of a bundle.
• Improve license activation limit label.
• Add Tool Tips to all Settings.
• Error message is incorrect when trying to add upgrade and renewal to the cart.
• Removed script for unused selector in [edd_license_keys].
• Add filter for check_item_name.
• Custom date ranges break when crossing year boundary in reporting.
• Lifetime licenses claim to expire today.
• Fix undefined indexes by relying on EDD_Payment for data.
• edd_sl_override_history_content doesn’t check if main query or in_the_loop.
• Multiple upgrades for the same license are able to be added to the cart.
• Translation issue in the {expiration} shortcode.
• Improve check_item_name method.
• edd_get_success_page_url() is deprecated.
• Create table data even when payment record has no products.
• Fix typo in sample theme license.
• Clarify that renewal_link is a full HTML link, introduce renewal_url.

A few months ago, in version 3.4, we made a change to the Software Licensing API that made it so a valid license key was not required in order to use the get_version request. This decision was made for two primary reasons:

1. It dramatically improved performance of get_version requests
2. It made sense to display update notifications to all customers, even if their license key was invalid

We made that change with the goal of increasing the number of customers that see and install updates, while also increasing renewal rates for store owners. When customers see an update available, they are more likely to renew their license.

There was a caveat with this change, however. A license key was still required; it just didn’t matter whether the license key was active, inactivate, expired, or any other status.

In version 3.4.4, we have adjusted the get_version request to always return a response, regardless of whether there is a license key supplied or not. The following will now return a complete response:

http://example.com/?edd_action=get_version&item_id=8

The package and download_link keys, however, will be blank if a license key is not supplied.

This version also increments the version number on the EDD_SL_Plugin_Updater class to version 1.6.3. If you are using the updater class in your own plugins, please update it to version 1.6.3. The latest version can be downloaded from the sample plugin on your account page.

Complete changelog:

Version 3.4.4, December 31, 2015

• Tweak: get_version no longer requires a license key
• Fix: View Version Details link shows blank page
• Fix: Renewal discount can be incorrect for old variable priced items
• New: Added new edd_sl_column_{column_name} action