Troubleshooting Variable Products #

“My variation purchase is not creating a license” #

Check the Licensed checkbox. Go to the WooCommerce product, open the Variations tab, expand the variation, and confirm the Licensed checkbox is checked. Without it, DDLS skips license creation for that variation entirely.

Check the product type. The product must be set to Variable product. If it was recently converted from a Simple product, save it again after switching the type.

Check order status. DDLS creates licenses when the WooCommerce order reaches the “Processing” or “Completed” status. If the order is stuck in “Pending” or “On Hold”, the license has not been created yet. Check the order in WooCommerce > Orders.

“The license has the wrong activation limit” #

Check the resolution chain. The effective activation limit is determined by the three-level inheritance. Review:

The variation-level value wins if it is set. If the variation panel shows a value you did not intend, open the variation, correct the field, and save the product.

“Parent settings are not pre-filling when I open the variation panel” #

Pre-fill reads saved parent values. If you changed the parent Licensing tab but did not click Update or Publish, the variation panel will pre-fill from the previously saved values. Save the parent product first, then reopen the variation panel.

“All variations appear to have the same license settings after purchase” #

Each variation must be expanded and configured individually. WooCommerce generates variations with shared defaults; DDLS does not automatically differentiate them. Open each variation panel, check Licensed, set the per-variation fields, and save.

Verify the result by checking the license records in DDLS > Licenses after placing test orders for each variation. The Variation column in the licenses table shows which variation generated each license.

“The Lifetime variation is still showing an expiration date” #

The Is Lifetime behavior is set on the License Type, not on the variation directly. Confirm:

In v1.2.2 and later, the Is Lifetime flag on the License Type always results in a null expiration on the generated license.

“I changed a variation’s settings but existing licenses still show old values” #

This is expected. DDLS stamps license settings at creation time. Editing a variation after the fact does not retroactively update licenses. To correct an existing license, go to DDLS > Licenses, find the license, click it to open the detail view, and edit the relevant fields directly.

Related Topics #

• [Creating a Variable Product with Licensing](#)
• [Per-Variation Licensing Settings](#)
• [How Settings Are Resolved](#)
• [The Licenses Screen Overview](#)

Summary #

You now understand:

• Variable product support was added in v1.2.0; each variation can have its own complete licensing configuration
• Each variation needs the Licensed checkbox enabled for DDLS to create a license on purchase
• The three-level inheritance model resolves settings at purchase time: License Type → Product → Variation
• License settings are stamped onto the license record at creation; editing variation settings does not change existing licenses
• Common use cases: tiered pricing tiers, annual vs. lifetime options, support bundles, trial variations
• Troubleshooting: check the Licensed checkbox, the product type, order status, and the resolution chain for unexpected values

Next Steps #

• Create [License Types](#) (Part 13) for your variation tiers before configuring variations
• Review [Product Configuration](#) (Part 4) for parent product licensing settings
• See [Extension Integration](#) (Part 16) for developer hooks on order processing filters

Document Created: 2026-03-22 | Updated: 2026-03-22 for v1.2.2
Category: Variable Products (ddls-variable-products)
Total Docs: 6
Status: Ready for BetterDocs import