Onboarding Setup Wizard

The first time you access J2Commerce, a guided Setup Wizard appears to help you configure your store. This step-by-step wizard walks you through every setting needed to launch your store, from your business address to payment processing.

Overview

The Setup Wizard is a 6-step modal that appears automatically when:

• J2Commerce is installed for the first time
• The onboarding has not been completed (onboarding_complete = 0)

You can re-run the wizard anytime from the Dashboard by clicking Setup Wizard -> Run Onboarding Wizard

Accessing the Setup Wizard

Automatic Display

On first access to Components -> J2Commerce -> Dashboard, the wizard displays automatically if setup is incomplete. If you click out of it without finishing the steps, you can get back into it by going back to your Dashboard -> Setup Wizard -> Run Onboarding Wizard

Manual Access

To re-run the wizard:

1. Click the Setup Wizard button in the Dashboard toolbar
2. Or navigate directly: index.php?option=com_j2commerce&view=dashboard&rerun_onboarding=1

The Six Steps

Step 1: Store Info

Purpose: Set your basic store identity and location.

Fields:

Field	Required	Description
Store Name	Yes	Your business name is displayed to customers
Address Line 1	No	Primary street address
Address Line 2	No	Additional address info
City	No	Store city
Country	Yes	Store country (dropdown of enabled countries)
State/Zone	Yes	Store state/province (dynamically loaded based on country)
ZIP/Postal Code	No	Postal code for shipping calculations
Admin Email	No	Email for order notifications
Weight Class	No	Default weight measurement unit
Length Class	No	Default length measurement unit

What it creates:

• A default geozone matching your country and zone
• Syncs weight and length conversion values

Country defaults:

• US (223): USD, pound, inch, tax excluded
• UK (222): GBP, kilogram, cm, tax included
• Canada (38): CAD, pound, cm, tax excluded
• EU countries: EUR, kilogram, cm, tax included

Step 2: Currency

Purpose: Configure your store's currency and measurement units.

Fields:

Field	Required	Description
Currency	Yes	Default currency for pricing
Currency Auto-Update	No	Enable automatic exchange rate updates
Currency Mode	No	Single currency or multi-currency

Currency Modes:

• Single Currency: Only the selected currency is enabled
• Multi-Currency: Multiple currencies available with base rate setting

What it does:

• Enables/disables currencies based on mode selection
• Sets base currency value to 1.0 for multi-currency mode

Step 3: Tax

Purpose: Configure how tax is applied to your products.

Fields:

Field	Required	Description
Prices Include Tax	Yes/No	Whether product prices include tax
Tax Rate %	No	Default tax rate (0-100)

What it creates:

• Geozone Rule (for your default zone)
• Tax Rate
• Tax Profile
• Tax Rule linking everything together

tip

For more complex tax situations, use the Tax Profiles section in Catalog after completing the wizard.

Step 4: Product Type & Shipping

Purpose: Define what you're selling and configure shipping.

Fields:

Product Types (multi-select):

• Physical Products: Tangible items that ship
• Digital Products: Downloadable files
• Services: Non-physical offerings

Shipping Options:

Field	Required	Description
Require Shipping	No	Whether products require shipping
Offer Free Shipping	No	Enable free shipping option
Shipping Rate Type	No	How shipping is calculated

Fixed Shipping Method Types:

• Per Order (flat rate)
• Per Quantity
• Per Price (percentage of subtotal)
• Per Item (flat per item)
• Per Item Weight (weight-based per item)
• Per Order Weight (weight-based total)
• Per Item Percentage

Rate Table Columns:

• Geozone (where rate applies)
• Weight Range (min-max, optional)
• Cost (base rate)
• Handling Fee (additional charge)

What it creates:

• Free shipping plugin with a minimum subtotal threshold
• Shipping method record
• Shipping rate records for configured zones and weights

Step 5: Payment

Purpose: Configure your payment methods.

Fields:

Field	Required	Description
Payment Plugins	No	List of installed plugins (checkboxes)
Enable Unpublished	No	Button to reveal and enable more plugins
Default Payment Method	No	Primary payment option
PayPal Configuration	Conditional	Shown when PayPal is selected

PayPal Fields (when PayPal is selected):

Field	Required	Description
Have Keys	Radio	Select if you have API credentials
Need Help	Radio	Link to PayPal documentation
Client ID	Conditional	PayPal app client ID
Client Secret	Conditional	PayPal app client secret

What it does:

• Enables/disables selected payment plugins
• Saves PayPal API credentials if provided
• Sets the default payment method

Step 6: Ready!

Purpose: Review your settings and optionally load sample data.

Summary Display: The wizard displays a summary of all configured settings:

• Store name and location
• Currency and measurement units
• Tax configuration
• Product types selected
• Shipping methods configured
• Payment methods enabled

Actions:

Load Sample Data: Creates demo products, customers, and orders for testing

info

Note: Load Sample Data will set up everything for you so you know what the whole process is supposed to look like. Remember, these are "fake" products and information; you should click the Remove Sample Data button before going live

tip

Tip: Load Sample Data will NOT appear if you already have products set up. It only appears for new stores

Add Your First Product: Opens the product creation form

Explore Dashboard: Closes the wizard and opens the Dashboard

Configure More Settings: Opens the component configuration

What it does:

• Sets onboarding_complete = 1
• Marks setup as finished
• Optionally creates sample data via the j2c_load_sample_data MCP function

Progress and Resume

The wizard saves progress as you complete each step. If you close and return:

1. You resume from your last incomplete step
2. Completed steps show checkmarks in the stepper
3. Step progress saved in onboarding_last_step config

Re-Running the Wizard

When to Re-Run

Consider re-running the wizard when:

• Starting a new store from scratch
• Testing different configurations
• Wanting to reset all store settings

How to Re-Run

1. Go to Components -> J2Commerce -> Dashboard
2. Click the Setup Wizard in the toolbar
3. Click the Run Onboarding Wizard link
4. Confirm the action

Or navigate directly:

index.php?option=com_j2commerce&view=dashboard&rerun_onboarding=1

Stored Configuration

All wizard settings are saved to component params (#__extensions table) as JSON:

Key	Description
store_name	Store display name
store_address_*	Store address fields
country_id, zone_id	Store location
admin_email	Notification email
config_weight_class_id	Default weight unit
config_length_class_id	Default length unit
config_currency	Default currency code
config_currency_auto	Auto-update setting
config_including_tax	Tax inclusion setting
require_shipping	Shipping requirement
onboarding_shipping_rate_type	Shipping calculation type
onboarding_product_types	Selected product types
default_payment_method	Default payment plugin
onboarding_complete	Wizard completion flag
onboarding_last_step	Last completed step number

Settings vs Wizard

The Setup Wizard configures basic settings to get you started. For full control, use:

• Settings -> Global Configuration (gear icon): Component-wide settings

• J2Commerce -> Localization -> Tax Profiles: Advanced tax rules
• J2Commerce -> Localization -> Geozones: Shipping zone management

• J2Commerce -> Setup -> Configuration: Detailed store settings
• J2Commerce -> Setup -> Payment Methods: Detailed payment gateway settings
• J2Commerce -> Setup -> Shipping Method: Additional shipping methods and rates

The wizard is designed for initial setup; the settings pages handle ongoing configuration.

What's Next?

• Dashboard: Monitor your configured store
• Store Setup: Access all store settings
• Product Types: Start adding products
• Custom Fields: Configure checkout fields