Plugin prevents WooCommerce extension updates

Could you please provide more information what exactly should block it, and how? We don’t have any WooCommerce extensions so we cannot test it.

Your plugin is being used on my WordPress site that simply uses WooCommerce for my eCommerce business. All I know is that your plugin is conflicting with the WooCommerce extensions and their function and preventing them from automatically updating. Other than this, I’m not sure why your plugin is causing the problem.

Many of our users also use WooCommerce and don’t report this issue. So it seems that there is something else going on on your site too.

Please try this plugin https://www.ads-software.com/plugins/ultimate-social-media-plus/ to see if it makes a difference.

Sorry, there is nothing else going on except a conflict with your plugin. The extensive testing singled it alone as the culprit.

Are you recommending that I purchase the premium version of your plugin rather than you fixing the version that I use? There is not guarantee this will work + seems an upsell than actually fixing the issue.

The plugin I proposed is free as well.

OK, thanks! I’ll try it and if there continues to be an issue, I’ll let you know. Appreciate your assistance!

Hello again, I’ve set this new plugin up and deleted the old one and the same problem continues with your plugin. When I deactivate it, my WC extensions work fine. When I re-activate it they do not. Is it possible for you to trouble shoot and fix this conflict? I hope so because I really like your plugin and would like to continue using it. Thanks!

This sounds like a different issue now – is the issue that the plugins don’t update (as originally reported), or that they malfunction when our plugin is activated?

No, sorry for the confusion. Issue is the same. I was referring to the original thread when I said they weren’t working. They work on the front end. However when your plugin is activated, they do not automatically update or show that they are being used on the site when they are. WC is wondering if the same snippet of code is being used in the previous plugin as in this one? I’m not sure but perhaps that could be the culprit?

“or show that they are being used on the site when they are” – what do you mean exactly?

In the WP Dashboard > WooCommerce > Extensions > Subscriptions tab, there is an auto update time notification and if and how many sites the plugin is being used on that reads, “Subscription: Using 1 of 1 sites available.” This is also noted in the WC account Dashboard > Subscriptions. For some reason one of the WC extensions was showing that it wasn’t being used on the site “Using 0 of 1 site available” in both of these places when it is being used and active on the front end of the website. This part of the functionality issue appears to have resolved itself, perhaps when adding your second plugin. However, there is still a WC extension that is still not auto updating. That is the main ongoing issue.

Ok, this is the first time we hear that our plugin stops other plugins from updating. Please consult the WC people – we cannot tell why their plugins are not updating.

Yes, I have checked with WC as described. The issue has been tested and determined that it is your plugin causing this prevention. I am checking back with them but I bring this to your attention in hopes that you’ll be able to resolve this conflict with your plugin. Thank you.

Hello, I have more information for you about what is specifically causing the problem. WC tested both their plugin that is not updating and your plugin on their test site and discovered the following:

I went ahead and had a closer look at the code which was used. You might want to pass the following information on to the plugin developers so they can have a look at this.

In the code there is a function called sfsi_checkmetas. This code is loaded right away for any admin page and doesn’t use any hooks. In this function, there is a call to get_plugins. WordPress explains the use of this function here: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/Function_Reference/get_plugins

If we have a look at the notes section it mentions the following:

Results are cached on the first run of the function, therefore it is recommended to call the function at least after the ‘after_setup_theme’ action so that plugins and themes have the ability to filter the results.

WooCommerce does exactly that, which is filter the results. Since the function sfsi_checkmetas is called too early it doesn’t allow WooCommerce to filter the plugin results. So my suggestion would be to call this code at a later stage by using the after_setup_theme action hook.

Can you please let me know if this code is something you can use in your plugin to fix the problem. Many thanks!

Yes, that is more helpful, thank you. We’ll have a look.