Introduction
In today’s global e-commerce landscape, supporting multiple currencies is crucial for reaching international customers. The WooCommerce Currency Switcher plugin offers a robust solution for handling multi-currency functionality, allowing merchants to set fixed prices in various currencies while maintaining seamless integration with WooCommerce.
Table of Contents
- Introduction
- The Genesis of WooCommerce Currency Switcher
- The Vibe Coding Journey
- Core Architecture
- Technical Implementation
- Performance Considerations
- HPOS (High-Performance Order Storage) Compatibility
- Best Practices and Implementation Details
The Genesis of WooCommerce Currency Switcher
Why Existing Solutions Didn’t Work
- Plugin Conflicts
Many existing currency switcher plugins caused conflicts with other WooCommerce extensions, particularly those handling:
- Custom pricing
- Advanced cart functionality
- Payment gateway integrations
- Order processing
- Feature Bloat
Most available plugins came with:
- Complex exchange rate systems
- Unnecessary analytics
- Over-engineered caching mechanisms
- Bloated database tables
- Outdated Code
Many plugins were:
- Using deprecated WooCommerce functions
- Not compatible with the latest PHP versions
- Lacking proper security measures
- Not following modern WordPress coding standards
- Broken Functionality
Common issues with existing plugins:
- Inconsistent price calculations
- Broken variation handling
- Cart synchronization issues
- Payment gateway conflicts
The Vibe Coding Journey
Inspired by the recent wave of vibe-coding game development on X.com, I decided to take a different approach to developing the WooCommerce Currency Switcher plugin. Instead of the traditional development workflow, I embraced an AI-lead methodology, leveraging AI tools to create a unique development experience.
The AI Tool Stack
- Windsurf (Cascade)
// AI Flow paradigm for code generation
$code = cascade->generateCode([
'context' => 'WooCommerce currency switching',
'requirements' => [
'multi-currency support',
'variation handling',
'performance optimization'
]
]);- Cursor AI
// Real-time code completion and suggestions
cursorAI->suggestCode([
'current_context' => $this->getCurrentContext(),
'code_style' => 'clean_woocommerce'
]);- GitHub Copilot
// Context-aware code completion
copilot->completeCode([
'file_context' => $this->getPluginFile(),
'current_line' => $this->getCurrentLine()
]);The Vibe Coding Process
- Initial Concept Phase
- Used Windsurf to generate initial plugin structure
- Created basic architecture using AI flow paradigm
- Established core components and their relationships
- Development Flow
- Switched between AI tools based on context
- Used Cursor AI for detailed implementation
- Leveraged GitHub Copilot for syntax and best practices
- Creative Problem-Solving
- Code Refinement
The Result
The WooCommerce Currency Switcher plugin emerged as a perfect blend of human creativity and AI assistance, creating a unique development experience that resulted in a robust, efficient, and well-structured plugin.
Core Architecture
The plugin follows a singleton pattern, ensuring only one instance exists throughout the application. It integrates with WooCommerce through a comprehensive system of hooks and filters, providing a seamless experience for both merchants and customers.
Key Components
- Currency Management
- Supports multiple currencies with customizable symbols
- Allows setting fixed prices for each currency
- Handles both simple and variable products
- Supports auto-detection of currency based on geolocation
- Price Handling System
- Implements a sophisticated price filtering system
- Supports both fixed and dynamic pricing
- Handles variations and parent-child product relationships
- Maintains price consistency across cart and checkout
Technical Implementation
Price Storage and Retrieval
The plugin uses WordPress custom post meta to store currency-specific prices. For each currency (except the default), prices are stored using a meta key pattern _price_[currency_code]. This allows for:
- Product-Specific Prices
public function add_custom_price_fields() {
global $post;
echo '<div class="options_group">';
echo '<p class="form-field"><strong>' . __( 'Fixed Currency Prices', 'woocommerce-currency-switcher' ) . '</strong></p>';
foreach ($this->currencies as $code => $symbol) {
if ($code === get_woocommerce_currency()) {
continue;
}
$meta_key = '_price_' . strtolower($code);
woocommerce_wp_text_input([
'id' => $meta_key,
'label' => sprintf(__('Price (%s)', 'woocommerce-currency-switcher'), $code . ' ' . $symbol),
'description' => sprintf(__('Fixed price in %s', 'woocommerce-currency-switcher'), $code),
'desc_tip' => true,
'type' => 'number',
'custom_attributes' => [
'step' => 'any',
'min' => '0',
],
]);
}
echo '</div>';
}- Variation Handling
- Supports variation-specific prices
- Falls back to parent product prices if variation prices aren’t set
- Maintains consistent pricing across variations
Currency Switching Mechanism
The plugin implements a clean AJAX-based currency switching system:
- Frontend Interface
- Customizable currency switcher widget
- Supports multiple themes and positions
- Real-time price updates using JavaScript
- Backend Processing
- Uses WordPress transients for caching
- Implements proper price recalculation
- Maintains cart consistency during currency switches
Payment Gateway Integration
The plugin includes smart payment gateway handling:
- Gateway Filtering
- Filters available payment gateways based on currency
- Supports currency-specific gateway restrictions
- Maintains payment method consistency
- Gateway Settings
- Allows per-product gateway restrictions
- Supports currency-specific gateway configurations
- Maintains payment method compatibility
Performance Considerations
The plugin implements several performance optimizations:
- Caching
- Uses WordPress transients for price calculations
- Implements proper cache clearing on currency switches
- Optimizes database queries for price retrieval
- Recursion Prevention
- Implements recursion protection for price calculations
- Prevents infinite loops in price filtering
- Maintains consistent price calculations
HPOS (High-Performance Order Storage) Compatibility
High-Performance Order Storage (HPOS) (previously known as Custom Order Tables) is a solution specifically designed for ecommerce needs that provides a simple-to-understand, solid database structure.
It uses Woo’s Create, Read, Update, Delete (CRUD) design to store order data in custom tables optimized for WooCommerce queries, with minimal impact on the store’s performance.
— https://woocommerce.com/document/high-performance-order-storage/
The plugin is fully compatible with WooCommerce’s HPOS system:
public function declare_hpos_compatibility() {
if (class_exists(\Automattic\WooCommerce\Utilities\FeaturesUtil::class)) {
\Automattic\WooCommerce\Utilities\FeaturesUtil::declare_compatibility('custom_order_tables', __FILE__, true);
\Automattic\WooCommerce\Utilities\FeaturesUtil::declare_compatibility('cart_checkout_blocks', __FILE__, true);
\Automattic\WooCommerce\Utilities\FeaturesUtil::declare_compatibility('email_templates', __FILE__, true);
}
}Best Practices and Implementation Details
- Price Consistency
- Implements a recursive price calculation system
- Maintains consistent pricing across variations
- Handles special cases like sale prices and discounts
- Currency Symbol Management
- Customizable currency symbols
- Supports regional variations
- Maintains proper symbol display in all contexts
- Security
- Implements proper sanitization for all inputs
- Uses WordPress’s security functions
- Prevents price manipulation through AJAX
