A Few Choice Technical Challenges Bruce Scherzinger Northern Virginia JUG Co-Founder and Chair Professional Aerospace Software Systems Engineer First presented July 20, 2017
Agenda Investigating and fixing a template problem Integrating Dada Mail with Joomla Using Jaspersoft iReport to print a member directory Note: This presentation is designed for parallel demonstration using a live Joomla website.
JoomlART Purity III / T3 Platform Template Problem Investigation
JoomlART Purity III Template Template: JoomlArt’s Purity III (v1.2.0) Requires T3 framework (v2.6.5) Joomla: v3.7 Issue: Front end article editing not possible Diagnostic tools used: Chrome browser element inspector Joomla site debug mode Patience and persistence
Template Symptoms Editing an article in site front end, no editor toolbar or buttons present, no page styling at all. No way to cancel the edit, so article remained locked until unlocked in back end editor, which was working. Using Chrome’s inspector, template code was simply not there. Page was stark in content. Article HTML (content) did load into editor text box. At first it appeared to be an editor or ACL problem, but it occurred regardless which editor was used.
Finding the Error Using Chrome, right-click page, Inspect Element. Usual <head> tag was empty. Immediately apparent, template was not being loaded. Set site error level to Development. Reloaded page. PHP error reported identified an illegal object reference in a file in the t3-assets templates subfolder. Found additional similar references in the same area of the file.
Debugging Symptoms Front-end editing an article Using Google Chrome’s element inspector, you can see there’s very little HTML on this page. It is clear the template code did not load.
Debugging Symptoms Using Development level error reporting and reopening the editor in the front end caused this error to be reported: Fatal error: Cannot use object of type ContentViewForm as array in /home/userid/public_html/mydomain.co m/plugins/system/t3/base- bs3/html/layouts/joomla/edit/params.php on line 13
The Devil is in the Details Lines 13-15 are using the $displaydata object as an array. Searching for another params.php file in the t3 folders that might hold a clue.
Workaround/Temporary Fix Found same-named file in another t3 folder and found different code there. Copied the lines of code used in the presumably correct code to replace the errant code. PROBLEM SOLVED!
Applying the Workaround Found similar code in the file plugins/system/t3/ base /html/layouts/joomla/edit/params.php that did not use $displaydata as an array. Copied the base-bs3 code to the base params.php file for the fix. t3/ base-bs3 / file t3/ base / file
Voila! This is how the editor is supposed to look! (looks like I need to work on that Captcha box alignment)
Follow-up Reported issue to JoomlArt via their user support forum using the same screen clips used here. Checked with others using the Purity III template on a fresh Joomla 3.7 installation. Symptoms not present. So…How Did This Happen? Some ideas… Template update process did not replace the errant file. JA style management maintains many copies of similar files. Perhaps I stumbled onto one that didn’t update; one that was generated from my customizations.
Purity III Template Links Note: Accessing some links may require a user account. Forum post/discussion of my report of the issue https://www.joomlart.com/forums/topic/bug-found-in-t3-2- 6-5 Purity III Template Download https://www.joomlart.com/downloads/free- templates/purity-iii/ JoomlART Free Templates https://www.joomlart.com/downloads/
Website Member-based Community Email Lists by Integrating Dada Mail with Joomla
Integrating Dada Mail with Joomla Does your community site need an email list? Are you tired of paying for a third party service? Is PHP-based mailing not cutting it for you? Do you want your site login to provide access? YOU NEED AN INTEGRATED SOLUTION! Dada Mail may be the answer.
Dada Mail A Perl script written by Justin Simoni. Over a decade of development and support. Free to use, support requires a subscription. Free version supports up to 3 lists. Has its own web interface, mainly for administration. Uses any email account with POP3/SMTP access. Not dependent on Joomla site server being up and running. Uses text files or MySQL for data management. MySQL option allows integrating with Joomla. Cronjob runs script at scheduled interval. No site activity required. Site can be in maintenance mode. Dada Bridge plug-in allows members to use their favorite email client or service.
Dada Mail Subscriptions CB Plugin I developed the Dada Mail Subscriptions CB plugin for my HOA community website in 2006. Still in use. Need arose when neighbors couldn’t keep website and Mailman logins straight. Demanded integrated solution. Allows site members to click checkboxes to subscribe to and unsubscribe from lists. Notifies user & admin of subscription changes Hasn’t changed much. Just maintaining compatibility. Still based on Community Builder, but future version using Joomla custom profile fields might be possible.
Setting it Up Install DadaMail using the same database as the Joomla site. Configure DadaMail to your preferences, USE MySQL. Create your lists. Recommend making lists “closed”. Install Community Builder. Configure to preference. Add one profile field per email address to support. Install and configure Dada Mail Subscriptions CB Plugin. Enter Dada Mail settings database table name (dada_settings) Identify email address fields by name (email, cb_email1, etc.) Multiple email addresses must be enabled if desired Setup notification messages Set to admin, user, or both Email subject, return address, etc. Message/subject tags: [USER], [SITE], [EMAIL], [OLD], [LIST]
CB Email List Profile Fields Each email list needs a field setup like the one on the left. Use single for only one list or multiple for several lists. Add one option for each list, e.g.: • Account Email • Email #2 • Email #3 Each email address in addition to the account email needs a field like the one on the right. It is recommended that all of these fields be located on a profile tab specifically for email lists.
Plugin Configuration Panel
Email List Field Options It is critically important that you specify the options for the email list in the exact same order you specify the email address database field names in the plug-in configuration. List field options configuration Plug-in fields configuration
User Profile Layout A separate profile tab for Email Lists is recommended. Explain for each list: Usage Restrictions Privacy policy Create a multi-select checkbox field for each list: One checkbox field for each email address supported Could use multi-select drop list field, but uglier Put fields for additional email addresses on this tab.
Sample Email Lists Tab Layout Use of the Regular Labs Tabs & Sliders plugins is highly recommended
How it Works Uses the Community Builder event system. Events generated for front or back end profile updates Plugin checks for changes to named email fields Updates Dada Mail subscriptions table directly Sends email notifications as configured Event generated for new, approved site registrations Auto-subscribe option in plugin configuration Event generated for user deletion Plugin deletes all Dada Mail subscription records for all addresses in named email fields Sends an unsubscribe notification email
Change Management & Distribution JoomlaCode.org is where open source Joomla developers archive their code. I also use this as my release and download system
Dada Mail Integration Links Dada Mail Product webpage http://dadamailproject.com Download There’s a free download link on this page http://dadamailproject.com/purchase/pro.html Community Builder Joomlapolis account required for free downloads http://joomlapolis.com Dada Mail Subscriptions CB Plugin http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/dadamailmanager/frs/ Note: The manager component is obsolete
Creating Reports from Your Joomla Site Database with Jaspersoft iReport Designer
Jaspersoft iReport Designer A free report design tool (no longer supported) An Eclipse-based replacement is available, but is HUGE Uses a combination of SQL and Java to produce beautiful reports. Similar in concept to MS Access report designer. Yes, you need to write code! Yes, you need to understand the database schema. But it’s largely a visual tool. Accesses your MySQL server directly. May require IP permission grant by hosting company. Queries can be any combination of database tables.
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