Staging Manager
Deutsch Demo shop View in the StoreStore

Example How do I test a new plugin without touching the live shop?

A new plugin brings settings, tables and often texts of its own. In the copy you set it up at your own pace, and the comparison tells you afterwards what of it is missing in the live shop.

The situation

Setting up takes time, and nothing should happen live meanwhile.

A plugin for payment methods, shipping or product advice is rarely set up in five minutes. In the live shop customers would see every intermediate state, and some plugins already send data to their vendor on the first save.

In the copy you try, discard and try again. What should stay in the end is in the comparison, and exactly that is what you repeat live.

How to go about it

Step by step in the administration.

  1. 1Have a copy ready

    A built staging environment, or "Rebuild" if the last one is older.

  2. 2Install the plugin in the copy

    Open the administration of the copy through "Open staging environment", install the plugin there and set it up.

  3. 3Test

    Play through checkout, storefront and mails; mails land in the copy's mail archive, calls of apps and webhooks in the log. For test orders, set up the payment provider's sandbox.

  4. 4Compare

    "Start comparison": extensions and settings shows the new plugin and every saved setting, content the new records, files changed theme files line by line.

  5. 5Repeat live

    Install the plugin in the live shop and work through the list from the comparison.

More on this:Services and pluginsDifferences to the live shopEmails and calls

What to watch

What the plugin sends outside.

  • The copy blocks Shopware's app and webhook calls by default. It does not fully catch a plugin's own connections to its vendor; if you need a test account there, enter it in the copy.
  • Every build compiles the theme by itself; if you change theme files in the copy, you compile there anew.
  • "Rebuild" and "Refresh data" overwrite what you set in the copy. Compare first, then rebuild.
Questions

What shop owners ask about it.

Are the plugins licensed correctly in the copy?

Yes. Plugins from the Shopware Store are licensed to the domain of the shop. By default the staging environment lies in a subdirectory of the same domain, such as your-shop.example/stage1, so every plugin in the copy is licensed correctly.

Can I switch off a plugin in the copy that disturbs the test?

Yes: before the first build in the tab "Setup", where you unlink the purple chain of the plugin and switch it off; afterwards in the confirmation before "Rebuild" or "Refresh data", for that run only, or directly in the copy's administration. The live shop stays untouched either way.

How do I see what the plugin created in the database?

The comparison lists new and changed records by kind under "Content", and new tables under "Database structure".

More examples

  • The Shopware update

    The update in the copy first, in maintenance mode if you like, and only then in the live shop.

  • Access for the agency

    Address, password and an admin login of its own, only for the copy and only until the agreed date.

  • The daily copy

    A schedule refreshes the data every night; in the morning you test with the state of the day before.

  • Testing an interface

    Block and log calls from apps and webhooks first, then let them through on purpose.

  • Documents with real orders

    Design invoices and delivery notes on real, anonymized orders.