Post Types Overview

Important Note: The WooCommerce Auto Comments plugin does not create any custom post types, custom taxonomies, or custom meta fields. Instead, it works with existing WordPress and WooCommerce data structures.

How the Plugin Works with Existing Data

The plugin operates entirely within WordPress and WooCommerce’s existing framework:

WordPress Comments System

The plugin uses WordPress’s built-in comment system to store product reviews. When a customer submits a review through the plugin:

Storage Location: WordPress `wp_comments` table
Comment Type: ‘review’ (WooCommerce standard)
Rating: Stored as comment meta with key ‘rating’
Auto-Rating: All reviews are automatically assigned 5 stars
Approval Status: Comments are set to pending approval (0)

WooCommerce Products

The plugin works with standard WooCommerce products:

Post Type: ‘product’ (WooCommerce standard)
No Modifications: Plugin doesn’t alter product data
Review Association: Reviews are linked to products via post ID
Compatibility: Works with all product types (simple, variable, grouped, etc.)

WooCommerce Orders

The plugin queries existing order data to determine eligible products:

Post Type: ‘shop_order’ (WooCommerce standard)
Order Status: Checks configurable order statuses
Customer Association: Links orders to customers via user ID
Product Extraction: Identifies purchased products from order items

Data Flow

Customer Login: Plugin identifies logged-in customer
Order Query: Retrieves customer’s orders with configured statuses
Product Extraction: Gets unique products from order items
Review Check: Queries existing reviews to exclude already-reviewed products
Form Display: Shows comment form only for unreviewed products
Review Submission: Saves new review as WordPress comment with WooCommerce review format

Database Tables Used

wp_comments: Stores submitted reviews
wp_commentmeta: Stores review ratings
wp_posts: Product and order data
wp_postmeta: Order item details
wp_woocommerce_order_items: Order line items
wp_woocommerce_order_itemmeta: Product details in orders
wp_options: Plugin settings storage

Review Data Structure

When a review is submitted, it creates a WordPress comment with these properties:

Comment Fields

comment_post_ID: Product ID being reviewed
comment_author: Customer’s display name
user_id: Customer’s WordPress user ID
comment_type: ‘review’
comment_content: Customer’s review text
comment_approved: 0 (pending approval)

Comment Meta

rating: 5 (automatically assigned)

No Custom Fields or Meta

The plugin intentionally avoids creating custom fields or meta to maintain:

Compatibility: Works with any theme or other plugins
Simplicity: Uses standard WordPress/WooCommerce structures
Data Integrity: Reviews appear in standard WooCommerce review lists
Easy Migration: No custom data to migrate if switching plugins
Theme Support: Reviews display in any WooCommerce-compatible theme

Managing Reviews

Since the plugin uses standard WordPress comments, you can manage reviews through:

WordPress Admin: Comments → All Comments
WooCommerce: Products → Reviews (if available in your WooCommerce version)
Product Edit Page: Reviews section when editing individual products