Well, this has been a long time coming 👀
While the blog hasn’t been very active (in a long time actually), the behind the scenes work has continued strong in order to create a new version of WP Dispensary that will be the foundation for the next decade of growth.
On November 26th we will be releasing version 4.0 of the WP Dispensary plugin, along with a major update for our Pro plugins (more on that in a separate post).
We’re publishing this post today to give you a sneak preview of what’s coming. There will be so many upgrades to the system you’re used to – including some breaking changes – and I want you to know about this ahead of time 💯
When WPD v4.0 is released, you will want to make sure that you have full backups of your website and database before upgrading.
The official release notes on Friday will include more details on exactly how to make the upgrades.
Hint: it’s gonna be as easy as the click of a button 😎
With that out of the way, let’s check out some of the amazing new features included in WP Dispensary v4.0
Adding translations for 10 languages 🗣️
In order to increase WP Dispensary’s reach and ease of use, I made it a priority to include as many languages as possible so that the plugin can be used around the world and auto-translate to your language.
While I was not able to include ALL of the languages in the world (there’s over 7,000 of them!) I did include some of the most frequently used languages from countries that have medical or recreational marijuana.
Language List:
- English (default)
- Spanish
- Italian
- German
- French
- Croatian
- Czech
- Georgian
- Hebrew
- Maltese
- Dutch
This list is only the beginning, with plans to add another dozen (or more) language translations into WP Dispensary by the time version 5.0 is released.
If you would like to see WP Dispensary translated into another language, send a message to let us know.
Brand new REST API route
This is one of the changes I’m most happy with, to be honest.
The default WP REST API added endpoints for each of the product types in WP Dispensary, but the data was not structured in a way that made it easy to dig in and make stuff happen – at least not without going through the usual WordPress clutter to get there.
WP Dispensary v4.0 now includes a custom REST API route with an endpoint for your products.
This endpoint has all of the data you’d need for each product, without all the extra fluff cluttering up your screens.
URL Example: https://yourwebsite.com/wp-json/wpd/v1/products
Below is an example of what the data looks like for a flower product.
This new REST API route will also be expanded in subsequent releases to include separate endpoints for categories, vendors, strain types, and other taxonomies.
The end goal is to have all of the necessary information available via the REST API so WP Dispensary can be easily used to build mobile apps (more on this soon).
Restructured Product Types, Categories, Taxonomies and Metaboxes
The main focus for the version 4.0 release has been reorganizing how products are created and managed.
The original build of WP Dispensary included each product type as separate WordPress custom post types.
This has been one of the biggest issues while working on updates because of the sheer amount of redundant code that was required in order to update each custom post type with the exact same changes.
In WP Dispensary version 4.0, products are now consolidated to one custom post type named – you guessed it – products.
There’s a new “Product Type” meta field added to each product for you to organize them into – you guessed it again – product types.
WP Dispensary v4.0 also reduces the Categories taxonomies to one – instead of one for each product type. Again, this removed code redundancy while also setting the plugin up for smoother updates moving forward.
The taxonomies (vendors, strain & shelf types, etc) and metaboxes (product details, prices, etc) have all been reworked to reduce code bloat, as well as changes to the naming structure used.
Overall, while version 4.0 is an “update” to WP Dispensary, it feels like a completely new plugin under the hood.
5+ years of legacy code has been greatly reduced and this release sets the stage for continued clean up over the next few months.
Please note: These changes will affect any custom code you may be using in your website, because we’ve changed key names for all of the categories, taxonomies and metaboxes.
20+ New Helper Functions and Filters
These were included to clean up code redundancy and also make it easier for developers who are creating custom solutions for clients with WP Dispensary.
Can you spot the trend here? REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE 💯
… and SO MUCH MORE 🔥🔥🔥
The above notes do not include the new import/export settings, shortcode updates, new widget and various other changes that will be included in WPD v4.0
The official release notes will be published this upcoming Friday and will include all of the above info in much greater detail, plus some other things that I am not at liberty to discuss right now 😎
Overall, this is an update that’s over a year in the making, and will be well worth the wait as WP Dispensary steps out of the baby years and starts the next leg of it’s journey.
Make sure to keep an eye out for the release notes published on Friday!
Here’s to the next 10 years together 💚💚💚
