OpenCart

The SeekGist module works with OpenCart 2.x, 3.x and 4.x on PHP 7.4 or newer (with cURL and mysqli). It was tested on OpenCart 2.1.0.1, 3.0.4.0 and 4.0.2.3 with made-up test data.

What the module does

• Search results page. Your search page asks SeekGist for product ids, then OpenCart shows its own product cards. Prices, specials, tax and customer-group prices stay exactly as OpenCart computes them. Your search URL does not change.
• Safe fallback. If SeekGist does not answer within 300 ms, or answers with an error, the store's own search serves that request. After 5 errors in 60 seconds the module skips SeekGist for 30 seconds. See Store fallback.
• Suggestions while typing, keyboard and screen-reader friendly, right-to-left for Arabic. Recent searches stay only in the shopper's browser.
• Tracking of clicks on results, add-to-cart and orders, sent later by the cron job.
• Product sync right after you save a product, from a cron job every 5 minutes (it also catches stock changes from orders), and a full sync once a day.
• Translation write-back (optional): approved translations from SeekGist are written into your store's language rows. Text a person typed is never replaced.

1. Before you start

1. Create your store in the SeekGist dashboard and choose OpenCart in the setup wizard.
2. Open Settings > API keys and copy two keys: the public key (sg_pub_..., used in your pages) and the secret key (sg_sec_..., used only by your server for product sync).
3. Make a backup of your store files and database.
4. Pick the package for your OpenCart version:

2. Install

OpenCart 4.x

1. Extensions > Installer: upload seekgist.ocmod.zip, then click Install next to it.
2. Extensions > Extensions, choose Modules, find SeekGist Search, click Install.
3. Click Edit and go to Settings.

OpenCart 3.x

1. Extensions > Installer: upload seekgist-opencart-3.x-1.0.0.ocmod.zip.
2. Extensions > Extensions, choose Modules, find SeekGist Search, click Install (the green +).
3. Click Edit (the pencil) and go to Settings.

OpenCart 2.x

OpenCart 2.x copies extension files only through FTP, and most stores do not set that up. So:

1. Unzip the package. Upload the contents of the upload/ folder into your store's main folder (the one with index.php), with FTP, SFTP or your hosting file manager.
2. Extensions > Extension Installer: upload seekgist.ocmod.xml (it is in the package, next to upload/).
3. Extensions > Modifications: click Refresh (blue button, top right).
4. Extensions > Modules: find SeekGist Search, click Install, then Edit.

If your theme or another extension changed catalog/model/catalog/product.php a lot, check Extensions > Modifications > Log after the refresh. Each of the 4 hooks must say it was found. If one says NOT FOUND, the store keeps working without SeekGist.

3. Settings

Click Save, then:

1. Test connection. Both keys must say OK. This also adds your store to the SeekGist dashboard.
2. Sync all products now. The status table shows how many products were sent.
3. Search for something on your store, in Arabic and in English.

4. Cron job (needed)

The cron job sends changed products, events and approved translations. Add this line to your server's crontab (the admin page shows the exact path for your store):

*/5 * * * * php /path/to/your/store/system/library/seekgist/cron.php >/dev/null 2>&1

On OpenCart 4.x the file is extension/seekgist/system/library/seekgist/cron.php. Options: --task=all (default), delta, full, outbox, writeback, and --root=/path if the script cannot find your store folder.

If your host has no command-line cron, use the web address shown on the admin page with your host's "URL cron" tool. Keep its token secret: anyone with it can start a sync.

5. Check the fallback (optional)

The admin status table shows Fallbacks to the store search (24 hours) and the Safety switch state. To try it on a test copy of your store, set API address to an address that does not answer (for example https://localhost:9). Searches must still show results (your store's own), and the fallback counter goes up.

Uninstall

Extensions > Modules (2.x) or Extensions > Extensions > Modules (3.x, 4.x): Uninstall. This removes the module's events, settings and its 4 tables (seekgist_state, seekgist_outbox, seekgist_kv, seekgist_written). On 2.x also delete the modification in Extensions > Modifications and click Refresh. Your products and your own search are not changed.

Problems

What is stored and sent

• Sent to SeekGist: product data (names, descriptions, brand, model, SKU/EAN, price, special price, stock, categories, attributes, image and product URLs), search text, and anonymous events (a hash of the session id, never names, emails or addresses).
• Stored in your database: sync state, an outbox of events waiting for the cron job (kept 7 days), run status, and which translations the module wrote.
• The secret key stays on your server. Only the public key is put into your pages.