Requirements
What Bookline needs to run, and what it works with.
- WordPress 6.5 or later.
- PHP 7.4 or later (PHP 8.1 or later recommended).
- MySQL 5.7+ or MariaDB 10.3+, as WordPress needs. Bookline keeps bookings in two tables of its own and uses the database's named locks (
GET_LOCK) to stop double bookings, which every MySQL and MariaDB host supports. - No WooCommerce or other plugin. If WooCommerce is active, Bookline leaves it alone.
Themes and editors
- Block themes (such as Twenty Twenty-Five): add the Booking Form block to any page or template.
- Classic themes (such as Storefront or Astra) and page builders: use the
[bookline]shortcode.
The form takes your theme's fonts, colours, fields and buttons.
Bookline sends its emails with WordPress's own mail function. If your site's password reset emails don't arrive, Bookline's won't either: use an SMTP plugin to send through a real mail service.
Time zone
Bookline works in your site's time zone, set under Settings → General → Timezone. Pick a city (for example "Los Angeles") rather than a UTC offset, so daylight saving changes are handled for you.
Caching
Pages with the booking form can be cached: the form asks the server for free times each time it's used, and gets a fresh security token with them. Customers' booking links (with ?bookline_booking=) must not be cached; most caching plugins skip addresses with query strings anyway.