Installing, licensing, and what to do when it goes wrong
Everything here applies to every plugin we sell. Anything specific to one of them is in its own README, inside the zip.
- Download the zip from your account. Links are one-time — take a fresh one whenever you need it, as often as you like.
- Upload the folder anywhere inside your exchange. It does not matter where, or what you call the folder — the plugin discovers where your exchange lives rather than assuming it, and records the path it was installed at.
- Log into your admin panel first. The installer refuses to run otherwise, so nobody can install a plugin on your site by finding the URL.
- Open
install.phpin your browser and paste your licence key when asked. You can leave it blank — the plugin works without one; a key is what gets you updates. - When every step is green, delete
install.php.
The installer is safe to run twice. Every step is written so that running it again changes nothing, which is also how you upgrade: upload the new files over the old ones and open it again.
One thing does land outside the plugin's own folder: if it
has a surf-bar display, that module is copied into your surf_modules/
directory, because your script loads those by filename rather than by path. The uninstaller
removes it again — and it matters that it does, because a copy left there after the plugin folder
is gone would still be loaded on every surf page.
- Your existing files
- Nothing is edited
- New tables
- Its own, under its own prefix
- How it hooks in
- Rows in your script's own hook tables
- Files added elsewhere
- A surf-bar module, if the plugin has one
- Removing it
uninstall.phptakes all of it back out- Your data on uninstall
- Kept, unless you tick the box
A licence covers one live domain, and comes with 12 months of updates and support.
Staging is free. localhost, 127.0.0.1, anything ending
.test, .local or .localhost, and any private network
address activate without using up your site. Everybody stages somewhere; charging you for it
would be mean.
Your site address is tidied before it is stored.
https://WWW.Example.com:8080/surf/ and example.com are one site to us,
so moving between http and https, or adding and removing the www, never costs you a seat.
When the 12 months end, nothing switches off. The plugin keeps running exactly as it did, for as long as you want it. What stops is new versions and support.
Where a plugin is sold with a renewal, renewing extends the date on the key you already hold rather than issuing a new one, so nothing on your site needs changing. Where it is not, the version you have is yours to keep and there is nothing further to pay.
If our licence server is unreachable, your plugin carries on. It keeps the last answer it got and trusts it for 14 days, then quietly stops offering updates. It never stops working. Our downtime is not allowed to become yours — that is the whole design, and it is why the licence check can never disable anything.
Moving to a new domain? Release the old one from your account and activate the new one. No need to ask.
The folder is outside your exchange's directory. It has to live somewhere inside the site, at any depth.
Usually the database user cannot
CREATE TABLE. Grant it and run the installer again.
Most often the host blocks outbound HTTPS from PHP. Install anyway — the plugin runs regardless; you just will not be told about updates. Ask your host to allow outbound connections.
The cron is not running. Most plugins here need one; check your panel, and make sure the job changes directory first.
Usually an old domain, or a staging site on a real-looking address. Release it from your account.
Write to support@teplugins.com with your licence key and what the screen says. Support runs on the person who wrote the plugin, so you will not be asked to clear your cache.