# Cartdini release guide

**Free 1.0.0 / Pro 1.0.0 · 25 September 2026**

This is the first matched stable release. It retains the checkout behavior from Free RC11 and Pro RC8, aligns package metadata and minimum Free requirements, and uses Cartdini.com for documentation, downloads and optional Pro update checks. Website builds remain versioned separately.

Free retains its six Classic input types, three Blocks types and four answer-display controls. Pro adds guided checkout recipes, product/final-total rules and reviewed transfers alongside its existing Classic types, text limits and reusable configurations. Proposed Pro pricing remains $49 / $99 / $199 annually for 1 / 5 / 25 update-and-support sites. Paid sales remain closed.

## Install or update

1. Back up the WordPress store and test on staging with its actual theme and gateways.
2. Update Free first using `cartdini-1.0.0.zip` through Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin.
3. Pro 1.0.0 requires Free 1.0.0 or newer. Keep Free active and update Pro using `cartdini-pro-1.0.0.zip`, or an eligible dashboard update offer. Existing Pro RC5 installations still need a manual update to gain the updater introduced in RC6.
   Older Pro builds that still point to the previous `chatgpt.site` service also need a manual ZIP update to use Cartdini.com. If the optional license connection does not work afterward, reconnect with an eligible key or contact support.
4. Open WooCommerce → Cartdini. Review checkout detection, field availability and answer-display choices.
5. Review existing Blocks conditions before making the changes live. Text/radio-based conditions are Classic-only, and conditional contact fields need WooCommerce 10.1+. Unsupported saved definitions are retained but not registered in Blocks. Unconditional contact fields remain supported on WooCommerce 9.9+.
6. Keep the previous configuration and matching plugin pair before updating. Releases before Free RC11 / Pro RC8 do not understand product/total rules and transfer metadata. Restore a configuration supported by the earlier pair before rolling back both plugins.

## Field and display support

| Capability | Classic | Blocks |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Text, select, checkbox | Free + Pro | Free + Pro |
| Textarea, email, telephone | Free + Pro | Not registered |
| Number, date, radio | Pro | Not registered |
| Field-answer conditions | Pro: text/select/checkbox/radio | Pro: select/checkbox from WC 9.9 |
| Product and final-total conditions | Pro | Pro; WooCommerce 10.1+ |
| Conditional contact fields | Pro | Pro; WooCommerce 10.1+ |
| Four answer-display destinations | Free + Pro | Free + Pro |

In **Where answers appear**, choose admin order details, customer order details, admin emails and customer emails independently. All four default to on. Turning off a destination hides its output without deleting the stored answer. Answers to hidden conditional fields are excluded from new orders. Historical order data is retained.

While a field definition exists, its current display settings apply to existing and new orders. After deletion, saved snapshots use their recorded display settings; legacy snapshots without these settings are visible by default. These controls change presentation and do not provide access control or encryption.

Maximum text lengths apply to text, textarea, email and telephone inputs. Dates, numbers and choice values use their own validation; a short legacy text limit no longer invalidates them. The release does not add uploads, fees, tax-service validation or payment customization.

## Conditions, preview and retained Pro fields

Combine up to five rules per field using Match all (AND) or Match any (OR), without nested groups. Field comparisons use equals or does not equal against earlier, enabled, unconditional fields in the same location: text/select/checkbox/radio on Classic, select/checkbox on Blocks. You can combine these with exact simple-product or variation IDs using contains any / contains none, or a final cart/order total greater than or equal to, or less than, a threshold in the store currency. Product lists accept up to 50 IDs; selecting a variable parent does not include its variation family. The final total is after discounts and includes tax and shipping.

Field-only Blocks rules with select/checkbox sources remain available from WooCommerce 9.9. Product and cart-total rules in Blocks require WooCommerce 10.1 or newer, as do conditional contact fields. Unsupported saved definitions remain retained without being registered. Text/radio-source conditions and the six Classic-only input types remain Classic-only.

Nested groups, chained field dependencies, cross-location field comparisons, category rules, shipping-method rules and payment-method rules are not included. Product rules do not expand variable-parent IDs into variations. Collecting an answer does not apply a surcharge or change tax, shipping or payment settings.

The condition tester uses sample answers without saving them as customer or configuration data. It marks unsupported fields unavailable for the detected checkout and WooCommerce version. It previews supported structure and state, not your theme. Required rules apply only while the field is visible. Hidden answers are excluded from new orders even if submitted contrary to the browser state.

Deactivating Pro pauses Pro-only and conditional fields. Their definitions remain saved and locked, so unrelated Free edits do not silently change them. You may explicitly delete a paused field, or reactivate Pro to edit it. Free textarea/email/telephone fields continue working on Classic.

Start with one of three guided recipes: a gift checkbox with a conditional gift message, a business-purchase select with a purchase-order text field, or product-specific instructions. Review the generated fields, locations and rules before saving. Free includes contextual Preview Pro controls; saving Pro conditional workflows still requires the Pro add-on.

Choose **Add fields to current setup** to merge selected fields, or **Replace current fields** to replace the custom-field list. Core-field overrides stay unchanged unless **Replace core overrides too (otherwise keep current overrides)** is selected; restore-point reviews select it by default, ordinary file imports do not. Review keep, replace or rename decisions for conflicting field keys. Include required source-field dependencies and review their remapped keys before loading the draft. External or legacy product IDs require explicit mapping to this store; currency thresholds require explicit confirmation when currencies or decimal precision differ or the source precision is unknown. Click **Load reviewed draft** and inspect the result. Before saving, **Recover previous draft** returns to the draft from before loading and discards changes made since loading. Click **Save changes** to apply the reviewed setup. Saving keeps a recovery point from the previous configuration. The limits remain 20 local templates and ten restore points.

## Optional Pro dashboard updates

After an administrator explicitly connects an eligible license in Settings → Cartdini Pro License, successful daily/manual checks can supply WordPress update offers. The updater uses the encrypted installation credential, a fixed HTTPS endpoint, no redirects and an exact-version SHA-256 check before installation. It checks the required Free version first. No keys or installation tokens are included in update URLs or WordPress update transients.

Cartdini does not enable automatic installation. Expired, disconnected or unavailable update service access does not disable installed checkout features. Free updates remain manual. The public website and update endpoint are hosted at https://cartdini.com. Pro downloads require an eligible connected installation; publishing the website does not open paid sales. Stripe setup, policy review and payment lifecycle validation remain separate commercial-launch requirements.

## Version 1.0.0 checks

The exact Free and Pro 1.0.0 packages passed fresh-install and RC-upgrade checks in an isolated WordPress 7.1.2 / WooCommerce 11.1.1 / PHP 8.5.4 / MariaDB store on 25 September 2026. Existing settings, templates, history and order answers were retained. Free-only and Pro Classic/Blocks checkouts completed offline-payment test orders, including required-field rejection, hidden-answer cleanup, product rules and final totals with tax, shipping and discounts. HTML/plain-text order emails were rendered locally.

The optional Pro updater installed the authenticated, checksum-verified package through an isolated license service with payment verification simulated. Expired and revoked access failed closed while installed checkout features stayed usable. No live payment gateway or outbound email delivery was tested. PHP and native WooCommerce frontend contract checks cover the documented compatibility boundaries; those fixtures are not full browser-store certification for every older environment.

## Historical RC11 / RC8 verification

These results were recorded for Free RC11 / Pro RC8 on 24 September 2026; they are not relabelled as 1.0.0 results.

**297 website/editor tests; 4,024 PHP assertions on each of PHP 8.0 and 8.4; 600 new native WooCommerce 10.1 frontend rule cases passed.**

A local WordPress 7.1.2 / WooCommerce 11.1.1 / PHP 8.5.4 / MariaDB store passed 46 workflow checks, plus a final mobile-tab layout check. These cover authorized product lookup, exact variation matching, coupons, final totals with shipping/tax, hidden required fields, direct server rejection, order metadata, recipe saves, cross-store mapping, reviewed recovery and undo. Classic and Blocks each completed a GBP50 offline bank-transfer test order after a coupon. A returning customer also completed a GBP20 order; stale hidden answers were removed from both the saved customer profile and the new order. No real payment, external gateway or outbound email delivery was exercised.

See `tests/RC11-RELEASE-VERIFICATION.md` in the source package. Automated checks and these recorded store flows do not certify every theme, extension or host.

## Historical RC10 / RC7 acceptance checks

**Free RC10 / Pro RC7: 270 website/editor tests, 2,687 PHP assertions on each of PHP 8.0 and 8.4, and 36 native frontend checks passed.** Actual WordPress 7.1.2 / WooCommerce 11.1.1 / PHP 8.5.4 / MariaDB acceptance completed Classic and Blocks orders, including changed answers, hidden required fields, server rejection, retained metadata and HTML/plain email visibility. Free editing after Pro deactivation also passed. These were isolated zero-total test orders; no external payment gateway or email delivery was tested. See `tests/RC10-RELEASE-VERIFICATION.md` in the source package for evidence and limits. Earlier RC9/RC6 and RC1 results remain historical evidence for those packages.

Test all/any outcomes, false checkboxes, select choices, Classic radio switching, empty text, hidden required fields, failed submissions and direct server submissions. Verify guest/returning shoppers, separate billing/shipping answers, checkout refreshes, all four display destinations and deactivation followed by unrelated Free edits. Check keyboard navigation, labelled errors, old imports and rollback. Include supported Blocks conditions on the minimum version and conditional contact fields on WooCommerce 10.1+.

Tests using controlled WordPress APIs and upstream WooCommerce schema validators are not certification of a complete live store, MySQL or real payment gateway. The homepage Free walkthrough uses real Free RC10 captures with Pro inactive. Those captures show the basic Free workflow; they are not 1.0.0 screenshots or proof of the Pro workflows.

## Launch and future work

Keep current sales gates until Stripe setup, seller details, policy review and payment lifecycle validation are complete. Follow `STRIPE_SETUP.md` and `SECURITY.md` in the source archive.

Further Blocks inputs and category/shipping/payment conditions remain follow-on work in `PRODUCT-ROADMAP.md`. No plugin telemetry or collection of shopper answers has been added.