Extension creator asking for login details to my shop

Is this a normal thing? Have asked an Extension creator for help with something and they are asking for shop login and FTP login. Not sure I'm comfortable with doing this.

It's fairly common, if you've installed other modifications and have a non-standard OpenCart installation. Developers can only guarantee that their extensions work on a standard OpenCart installation, so if there are issues on your installation but not a standard one, it's likely a conflict with another mod.

The only way to diagnose and fix that is to provide the developers admin and FTP info. You should be sure to make a backup of your site and database first, then create an admin user and FTP user specifically for them. You can then change the password for access afterwards.

While it can be risky if the developer is unethical or incompetent, I rarely hear of issues caused by giving out that information. It's up to you, though -- if you're not comfortable with it, you should set up a fresh test installation and test out the issue you are experiencing. If you can reproduce it there, you shouldn't need to give out access, since it's a bug in their extension, and not a conflict with anything else.

If it *is* due to a conflict with another mod, and you don't provide access, that generally doesn't qualify for a refund since no developer can guarantee an extension will work when you've modified how OpenCart works.

I would say it's common rather than normal. No one really wants to give access to a stranger but I have done it many times. If you want the problem fixed you kind of have to.

Thank you both for your replies. Guess I'm going to be doing it then!

This is beyond being comfortable. You can be liable for legal problems associated with giving out the access and also lose the trust of your customers. What I do is clone my site and the database. All customer data is removed. The developer can test his changes and once it is completed, I apply these changes to the Live site. It's a good compromise which has worked for me.

That's a good solution, but is time-intensive, and beyond the technical capabilities of some store owners. I'd recommend it if you know how to and can do it.

It's not as difficult as you think. The whole thing takes about 15 minutes. If you create a sub-folder on your website then all the copying is done through cpanel which is quicker than even your pc. The instructions below is if you rename your admin folder otherwise you can skip that part. These are for Opencart V1.5.x but it should be the same for v2.x after you've copied your site to a subfolder. Clone your database in phpmyadmin with new user/password.

NOTE: Before making any changes, make sure you're in the subfolder and not the main site.

1. Rename admin to newadmin in admin\config.php file - admin directory
2. Change the path in config.php from http://www.websitename.com/admin/ to http://www.websitename.com/subdirectory/newadmin/
3. Change the path in config.php from /public_html/admin/ to /public_html/subdirectory/newadmin/
4. In admin\config.php, change the database to new DB & user/password
5. Make the same changes for config.php in the root
6. Rename pathReplaces.php in vqmod directory
7. Clear vqmod cache $ error log
8. Clear any Cache modules you use
9. index.php & htaccess ((needed for Crawlprotect path to subdir) (if you use Crawlprotect)
10. Rename admin in any module that hard codes it. This might not be needed if your tests don't include a particular module.
11. In .htaccess, change RewriteBase / TO RewriteBase /Subfoldername
12. Create a special FTP account in cpanel that can only access this subfolder and give this to the developer.

This would be a highly valuable Solution, when it comes to grant 'limited' Server/shop/-Access to someone:

CodeManager - Web-based IDE framework for OpenCart free, OC v.1.5.x - 2.1.0.2:

CodeManager is the easiest way for OpenCart store owners and developers to work shoulder-to-shoulder. No more FTP access, server problems, port issues. CodeManager allows you to give access to developers directly from your OpenCart admin.
Author Spec's:
> Web-based IDE framework
> Grant user permissions
> Create, edit and delete files
> Upload and download files
> Duplicate files
> Change permissions of files
> Super simple upload of pictures
> Preview pictures
> Pictures can be opened in full screen
> Search in files & folders
> Editor screen splitting
> Color themes for the file editor
http://www.opencart.com/index.php?route ... n_id=17423
...


Just to mention it!
Ernie