WooCommerce.com Update Manager

[adrianom]

Hi,
I have noticed that on some of the sites I manage, some WooCommerce extensions now require to connect the store to woocommerce.com and install a specific plugin to be able to update the extensions.

Is there any way to get around this new obstacle in order to continue updating the plugins from the MainWP Dashboard?

Thanks

[bojan (Bojan Katusic)]

Hey @adrianom

This sounds like it’s part of the WooCommerce licensing or update process, and right now, we do not offer ways to alter or bypass it.

After you connect the site to woocommerce.com and install that plugin, are you able to update the child site’s plugins via the MainWP Dashboard?

[adrianom]

Hi @bojan I haven’t tested it yet, but I assume that the update will not be automatic and can be pushed from MainWp. I will post an update here to let you know.

Edit: Added WooCommerce announcement url:

Introducing the WooCommerce.com Update Manager

[josklever]

You could install the plugin using MainWP and it would be enough to receive updates again, but you only need to know which sites need this plugin. It’s (somewhere) on my list to investigate this and try to find an option in the wp_options table that indicates this plugin is necessary, so we can use a code snippet with the Code Snippets extension. If I find the setting, I’ll let you know here.

[adrianom]

@josklever I appreciate the valuable information you have provided. As soon as I have time I will try what you have suggested and post an update here.

[josklever]

Hi @adrianom,

I’ve found the option _transient__woocommerce_helper_updates in the wp_options table containing an array with the products that are installed from WooCommerce.com.

So you can list them for all sites (or create a tag with all WooCommerce sites) with the Code Snippets extension, returning informations:

$wcupdate = get_option('_transient__woocommerce_helper_updates');
if ($wcupdate) {
	print_r($wcupdate['products']);
}

I only have to say that I don’t have a website anymore with Woo plugins, without the WooCommerce Update Manager installed, so I’m not sure if this option is present on sites without the update manager. You’ll have to check that.

[adrianom]

@josklever Using your snippet, it is possible to detect which sites need an update, without the need to install the WooCommerce Update Manager plugin.

Thanks!

[josklever]

But I think you still need the plugin to get the updates, because it does the license check. That’s a part that was removed from Woocommerce to comply with WordPress guidelines.

[adrianom]

Yes, unfortunately you still need the WoocoMerce Update Manager plugin to proceed with updates (and you have to connect the store to their website).

I have taken the opportunity to migrate WoocoMerce plugins to other plugins that simply reside within the WordPress repository. In my case I have been able to do this because there are few of them and it makes sense. I don’t quite understand the need for WoocoMerce to have made things more complicated.