Today version 0.9.2 of the WP-Members PayPal extension has been released. There are a number of enhancements in this version that make it worth updating. You must be a site member to download this extension, so please subscribe today and you can get this extension along with a number of others that provide enhanced functionality and features to our WP-Members plugin.
Automatic Renewal Reminders
Automatic renewal reminder emails were added on 0.9.0, and as long as you have WP-Members 3.1 or higher, this feature adds a custom email to the Emails tab in the plugin settings where you can create the renewal reminder email.
Also, on a technical note when you complete a new install the process is now much cleaner and you should no longer see any errors when setting up the extension for the first time.
cURL Enhancements
Probably the biggest single enhancement in this release is something that most users will never actually see nor need to use.
The extension uses cURL to process the PayPal IPN messages. PayPal has made some enhancements to this process in 2016 that require the use (and of course proper installation and setup) of updated security protocols. For most people, unless you manage your own hardware, this is done by your host and should be trouble-free if you use a reputable hosting company.
But there are always those instances where things don’t work quite right. That may require the ability to change some settings for how cURL is used. With this update, the cURL options can be filtered so that certain settings can be changed if need be. This can be filtered with wpmem_exp_curl_options. (More on this to come – I’ll be updating documentation soon.)
PayPal HTML Variables
PayPal has a host of HTML variables that can be passed in the PayPal button. These specify things like payment information, but also other things like the type of payment page to be used.
In the past, the main variables needed for the button were assembled by the extension (different sets for basic transactions and recurring billing). But the variables used were set, and if additional variables were desired, you had to do a little complex filtering on the final button HTML to slip in your custom variables.
No more! Now there is a wpmem_paypal_html_variables that allows you to add/remove variables (be careful if you remove!!) as needed for your customziation. The filter passes an array of variables where the array key is the actual PayPal variable name. Set keys and values for variables needed and return the array.
The button building function takes it from there, looping through the array and building the HTML fields for the button based on the PayPal HTML variables in the array. Much easier than before!
Refund Processing
In the past, if you processed a refund at PayPal and you wanted to shut the user access off, you needed to manually expire the user account.
This update adds an option in the extension’s settings to expire the user automatically upon receipt of the IPN message PayPal will send when processing a refund.
Note that this is a global setting and if you generally process full refunds and expire the user’s access, then enable it. Otherwise, if you tend to give partial refunds and/or leave user access alone, then you may find the manual process to be better. Either way, it’s a new option for you.
Other Enhancements
Additional work was done on the code where some additional functions were moved into the main object classwhile deprecating others that were no longer needed.
Inline documentation was updated, and I generated a full list of filters and actions from previous updates. I will be documenting these additions on the site over the next few days. You can see the list here. All of theseenhancements have some level of documentation on the new code.