miniShop2 Online Store Setup on MODX

Setting Up miniShop2 for an Online Store on MODX

miniShop2 is an e-commerce component for MODX Revolution developed by the Bezumkin team. It integrates seamlessly into MODX architecture: products are resources with additional fields, cart and orders are component-specific tables. The result is a catalog managed through the familiar MODX manager, not a separate admin panel.

Installation via Package Manager

Extras → Package Management → Search: miniShop2 → Download → Install

miniShop2 installs several components:

• miniShop2 — main component (products, orders, categories)
• pdoTools — optimized snippets for data output (required dependency)
• mSearch2 — search and filtering (recommended)
• msOptionsPrice2 — options affecting price (recommended)

After installation, new resource types appear in the context menu: "miniShop2 Product" and "miniShop2 Category".

Catalog Structure

MODX resources form a tree structure, which miniShop2 uses directly:

Catalog (msCategory)
├── Chairs (msCategory)
│   ├── Black Office Chair (msProduct)
│   └── Executive Chair (msProduct)
└── Tables (msCategory)
    └── Corner Table (msProduct)

Creating a category:

Resources → Create Resource → Type: miniShop2 Category
→ Title: Chairs
→ Alias: chairs
→ Published: Yes
→ miniShop2 Tab: product display settings

Creating a product:

Inside category → Create Resource → Type: miniShop2 Product
→ Title, alias, description
→ "Product" Tab:
   Price: 1499.00
   Old Price: 1999.00
   Article: CHAIR-BLK
   Weight: 12.5
   Quantity: 25
→ Gallery: upload images
→ Options: Color, Size

Catalog Output via Snippets

miniShop2 uses pdoTools snippets for data output. Product list output:

[[!msProducts?
    &parents=`15`
    &tpl=`tpl.msProduct.row`
    &limit=`24`
    &sortby=`{"price":"ASC"}`
    &where=`{"msProduct.price:>":0}`
    &includeTVs=`color,size`
]]

The tpl.msProduct.row template is a Chunk with placeholders:

<div class="product-card">
    <a href="[[+uri]]">
        <img src="[[+thumb]]" alt="[[+pagetitle]]">
    </a>
    <div class="product-title">[[+pagetitle]]</div>
    <div class="product-price">
        [[+old_price:notempty=`<span class="old-price">[[+old_price]] rubles</span>`]]
        <strong>[[+price]] rubles</strong>
    </div>
    <button class="ms2_add_to_cart" data-id="[[+id]]">Add to Cart</button>
</div>

The &parents parameter is the ID of the parent category resource or comma-separated list of IDs. &includeTVs includes additional TV-fields in the output.

Product Options (msOptionsPrice2)

Options are attributes that affect price, article, and inventory:

Extras → msOptionsPrice2 → Options → Create
→ Name: Color
→ Type: select

→ Values:
   Black [key=BLK, mod=0]
   White [key=WHT, mod=0]
   Red [key=RED, mod=150]  ← $150 surcharge

Binding options to a product is done through the "Options" tab in the product editor. For each option combination, a separate article and quantity can be set.

JavaScript handler for option changes (built into miniShop2):

// miniShop2 automatically updates price on option change
// via AJAX request to ms2/product/options/get processor
document.addEventListener('ms2_options_changed', function(e) {
    const { price, old_price, count } = e.detail
    document.querySelector('.product-price').textContent = price + ' rubles'
})

Cart and Order Checkout

The cart is managed via AJAX calls to miniShop2 processors:

// Add to cart
fetch('/assets/components/minishop2/index.php', {
    method: 'POST',
    body: new URLSearchParams({
        action: 'cart/add',
        id:     productId,
        count:  1,
        options: JSON.stringify({ color: 'BLK' })
    })
})
.then(r => r.json())
.then(data => {
    if (data.success) {
        updateCartCounter(data.data.total_count)
    }
})

Checkout form:

[[!msCart?
    &tpl=`tpl.msCart`
]]

[[!msOrder?
    &tpl=`tpl.msOrder`
    &deliveries=`1,2,3`
    &payments=`1,2`
]]

The msOrder snippet displays a form with delivery and payment selection and processes checkout via JavaScript + AJAX.

Shipping and Payment

miniShop2 → Shipping → Create
→ Name: Courier Delivery
→ Cost: $300
→ Free from: $2000
→ Description: City delivery 1–2 business days

miniShop2 → Payments → Create
→ Name: Bank Card
→ Class: msPaymentRobokassa (requires separate package)
→ Settings: login, password1, password2, test mode

For courier services, parcel services, or postal services — separate packages are installed:

Package Management → Search: msCdek → Download → Install
→ miniShop2 → Shipping → CDEK
→ Enter API key and sender city

Order Statuses

miniShop2 comes with basic statuses: New, Paid, Completed, Cancelled. Custom statuses:

miniShop2 → Statuses → Create
→ Name: Handed to Shipping Service
→ Color: #2196F3
→ Customer Notification: Yes (email template)

Change status programmatically:

// In a plugin or snippet
$order = $modx->getObject('msOrder', $orderId);
$order->set('status', 4); // Custom status ID
$order->save();

// Send notification (miniShop2 does this automatically via events)
$modx->invokeEvent('msOnChangeOrderStatus', [
    'order'  => $order,
    'status' => 4,
]);

Filtering and Search (mSearch2)

mSearch2 provides faceted search across the catalog:

[[!mFilter2?
    &filters=`price||ms|numrange,color||ms|select,size||ms|select`
    &tpl=`tpl.Filter`
    &parents=`15`
    &element=`msProducts`
    &sortby=`{"price":"ASC"}`
]]

Filtering works via AJAX — updating the filter refreshes the product list without page reload.

For facet optimization — the ms2_properties field in the modx_ms2_products table is indexed:

ALTER TABLE modx_ms2_products ADD INDEX idx_price (price);
ALTER TABLE modx_ms2_products ADD INDEX idx_count (count);

Product Import

miniShop2 doesn't include an importer out of the box. Use additional components:

Package Management → Search: Commerce2 (or msImportExporter)

For large catalogs (thousands of products) — direct load script via MODX API:

// Batch import from CSV
$rows = array_map('str_getcsv', file($csvPath));
foreach ($rows as $row) {
    $resource = $modx->newObject('msProduct');
    $resource->fromArray([
        'pagetitle'  => $row[0],
        'alias'      => $modx->filterPathSegment($row[0]),
        'parent'     => $categoryId,
        'published'  => 1,
        'class_key'  => 'msProduct',
    ]);
    $resource->save();

    $product = $modx->getObject('msProductData', $resource->id);
    $product->fromArray([
        'price'   => (float) $row[2],
        'vendor'  => $row[3],
        'count'   => (int) $row[4],
        'article' => $row[5],
    ]);
    $product->save();
}

SEO Configuration

miniShop2 products are MODX resources, so SEO works via standard means:

• Meta Title = longtitle or pagetitle resource
• Meta Description = TV-field description or built-in description

For meta tag auto-generation — use seoSuite plugin or pdoPage with custom templates.

URL structure for catalog is configured via System Settings:

System Settings → friendly_url: Yes
System Settings → friendly_alias_path: Yes
→ Catalog Resource → alias: catalog
→ Category: catalog/chairs
→ Product: catalog/chairs/black-office-chair

Implementation Timeline

• Component installation + basic setup: 1 day
• Catalog templates, product cards, cart: 3–5 days
• Shipping + payment setup: 1–2 days
• Product import from Excel/CSV: 1–2 days
• mSearch2 with faceted filtering: 2–3 days
• SEO + schema.org markup: 1 day

Total typical miniShop2 store: 1.5–2 weeks.