Joomla

Change the default Joomla Error template

: Category: Joomla; 04 April 2013; Hits: 16733

What?
This is a quick article on what I change the error page for Joomla websites to. I like a clean error page, for a demo visit http://www.joellipman.com/my_error_page.

Applies to Joomla 1.6.x, 1.7.x, 2.5.x

How?

Backup the file \templates\system\error.php
Create a replacement file called error.php including the below code
Change the message "The Page you are looking for..." to what you want.
Change the link "www.joellipman.com" to the "www.yoursitename.com".
[Optional] If you want the image that creates the shadow you can download it here. I put it in the folder \templates\system\images.

: Category: Joomla; 27 January 2013; Hits: 90711

What?
Apologies for posting yet another article on how to access the Joomla Database using the Joomla classes but this is just a quick note for myself as a reference sheet. Plus the official documentation don't have enough examples in my view. Source: http://docs.joomla.org/ for v1.5.x and for v2.5.x

This article applies to Joomla 1.5.x, 2.5.x and 3.x.

: Category: Joomla; 11 February 2011; Hits: 22170

What?
So this is a note to myself so that I have a checklist and can quickly update any extensions designed for Joomla 1.5.x and make these compatible with Joomla 2.5.x websites.

In the past, I have only ever changed the words <params> to <fields> but for more stability, there are a few more tweaks to do.

How?
For demo purposes we will be referring to a Joomla module called "mod_moduletoupgrade" in British English (en-GB). I don't think it actually exists in reality but you replace the name "moduletoupgrade" with whatever you're upgrading and follow the below instructions.

I'm also going on the basis tha.

: Category: Joomla; 19 December 2012; Hits: 52591

What?
More for others than for myself, but this article is for those who do not have development/test environments of their Joomla website.

I have been doing this for years and still come across clients who have the one version of their website. They experiment on their customer-facing website and in most cases, they are paying for a hosting package which would allow them to have several copies of their website.

: Category: Joomla; 04 December 2012; Hits: 13708

What?
Quick article here as googling/binging for how to refer to Joomla articles after versions 1.5.x wasn't obvious. This article is to demonstrate how to write the webaddress for a Joomla article even when you have Search-engine-friendly website addresses enabled.

How?
Basically you have to include &view=article as opposed to Joomla v1.5.x when the option and id parameters would suffice:

- SEF URL
http://www.joellipman.com/support/documentation/449-module-joes-word-cloud-jwc.html

- Direct Link (irrespective of SEF)
http://www.joellipman.com/?option=com_content&view=article&id=449

Warning call_user_func: First argument is expected to be a valid callback

: Category: Joomla; 22 November 2012; Hits: 36816

What?
If you get something like the following error:

Warning: call_user_func() [function.call-user-func]: First argument is expected to be a valid callback in /home/.../templates/rt_affinity/rt_sectionrows.php on line 311

How?

Copy & backup the file /public_html/.../templates/rt_affinity/rt_sectionrows.php

Find the following piece of code around line 311:

foreach($this->horizontalCookie[$row] as $block) {
	$block = str_replace('-', '', $block);
	$this->module_row1 .= call_user_func($block, $this, $mClasses);
}

And change it to:

foreach($this->horizontalCookie[$row] as $block) {
	if(!empty($block)) {
		$block = str_replace('-', '', $block);
		$this->module_row1 .= call_user_func($block, $this, $mClasses);
	}
}

Adding a selectable background to a Yootheme template

: Category: Joomla; 19 November 2012; Hits: 28207

Applies to:

Joomla 2.5.8
Yootheme Template 2012

What?
For any web-developer who can program in PHP/HTML, this would be easy to hard-code and override. However, the article below demonstrates how to make this an option that your client can switch off/on using the Joomla Admin Panel.

How?

: Category: Joomla; 27 August 2012; Hits: 41866

Applies to Joomla 1.6+

What?
This is an article to describe how to add an article modal button in the Joomla Admin Panel (at time of print version 2.5.6) of your component including the all important clear button. What I found was that no one posted this solution which I found is compatible with almost any site and with all my components without having to modify the below script.

Why?
The article modal is a much easier way for the end-users to select a Joomla! article in the component parameters/options. The "clear" button is essential as some article_modal fields may not be required and are difficult to clear once set.

How?