Joomla - Cache Management

In this chapter, we will study about Joomla Cache Manager. You can install the cache controller plug-in which helps to improve the performance of Joomla. You can also turn off the cache on the particular pages and component.

Joomla Cache Management

Following are the simple steps used to set up the Joomla cache manager −

Step (1) − Click on Cache Management in Joomla Global Configuration. You will get the screen as shown below.

Following are the details of the fields present in the Joomla Cache Management page −

• Configure − It is used to select the system for which your site should be used for caching. It also caches your PHP opcode.
• Access Administration Interface − It allows users to access the administration interface.

Toolbar

Following are the toolbar options in Cache Management.

• Save − Saves your Cache Manager Setting.
• Save & Close − Saves the Cache Manager Setting and closes the current screen.
• Cancel − Cancels the Cache Manager Setting in Joomla.

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Joomla - Users Setting

In this chapter, we will study about Joomla Users Setting. It gives options on how to configure the new users and provides various options that help restrict new users from providing unwanted details.

Joomla Users Setting

Following are the simple steps used for to set the Joomla users setting.

Step (1) − Go to System → Global Configuration as shown in the following screen.

Next, click on Users Manager in Joomla Global Configuration. You will get the screen as shown below and select the fields with appropriate values.

We can view the different tabs present in the screen shown above. By default, the Component tab is displayed.

Below we have mentioned the details of the fields present in the Component tab.

• Allow User Registration − It allows the new user registration and set it to Yes.
• New User Registration Group − The default group which allows the user to register via front-end.
• Guest User Group − Setting up the Guest user.
• Send Password − If it is set to Yes, password will be mailed to the registered user as a part of registration mail.
• New User Account Activation − If it is set to None the new user will be registered immediately. If it set to Self, The new user gets the activation mail which helps to activate the account themselves.
• Notification Mail to Administrators − If it is set No, It sends the new user activation mail to the admin.
• Captcha − Provides the captcha options to activate the new user.
• Front-end User Parameters − It is set to show, the user will be able to modify their language, editor and help websites.
• Front-end Language − It is set to show, the language option will appear during the new user registration.
• Change Login Name − If it is set to Yes, it allows the new user to edit the login name.
• Maximum Reset Count − It defines the maximum reset of password for the user and 0 indicates no limits.
• Time in Hours − Time for the reset counter in hour.
• Minimum Password Length − Specifies the length of the password.
• Password Minimum Integers − It specifies the minimum number of integers that must be included in the password entry.
• Password Minimum Symbols − It specifies the minimum number of symbols that must be included in the password entry.
• Password Upper Case Minimum − It specifies the minimum number of upper case characters that must be included in the password entry.

Step (2) − The User Notes History tab is used to save history of the user notes.

• Save History − It saves the version history of the component when selected as Yes. Otherwise no version history is saved.
• Maximum Versions − It always saves the maximum number of versions for an item.

Step (3) − The Mass Mail tab is used to save setting for the mass mail.

• Subject Prefix − Automatically text is inserted before the subject of mass mail.
• Mailbody Suffix − Automatically text is inserted after the body of the email.

Step (4) − In Permissions tab,we can view the six actions as can be seen in the screen below. This tab is used to manage the permission settings for the user groups.

• Configure − It allows users to edit the user option.
• Access Administration Interface − It allows users to access the administration interface.
• Create − It allows users in group to create the content present in the extension.
• Delete − It allows users in group to delete the content present in the extension.
• Edit − It allows users in group to edit the content present in the extension.
• Edit State − It allows users in group to change the state of content present in the extension.

Toolbar

Following are the toolbar options in the Users Setting.

• Save − Saves your user settings.
• Save & Close − Saves the user settings and closes the current screen.
• Cancel − Cancels the user settings in Joomla.

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Joomla - Debug

In this chapter, we will study about Debug in Joomla. By enabling the debug mode it helps to troubleshoot the various issues of Joomla. It shows details of how Joomla is rendering Session Data, Profile Information, Memory Usage and Database Queries.

Joomla Debug

Following are the simple steps used to set the Joomla debug.

Step (1) − Go to System → Global Configuration as shown in the following screen.

Next, click on the System tab in Joomla Global Configuration as shown below.

Below we have mentioned the details of the fields present in the Joomla Debug Setting section.

• Debug System − It is a debugging system of Joomla which provides debug information by setting it to "Yes". It provides various forms such as diagnostic information, language translations and SQL errors. The default setting is "No".
• Debug Language − It provides debug language translations for Joomla site by setting it to "Yes".

Toolbar

Following are the toolbar options in the debug.

• Save − Saves your configuration setting.
• Save & Close − Saves the configuration setting and closes the current screen.
• Cancel − Cancels the configuration setting in Joomla.

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Joomla Advanced -Template Manager

In this chapter, we will study about Template Manager in Joomla. It manages the various templates that are used in the website. The templates can be used without changing the content structure of the website.

Template Manager

Following are the simple steps to edit the Template Manager in Joomla.

Step (1) − Click Extensions → Template Manager as shown below.

Step (2) − Template Manager:Styles page get displayed as shown below. Here, you can click directly on any of the templates listed in Template column.

Step (3) − After clicking on any one of the above templates you will get the screen as shown below. In the Editor tab, template files are listed on the left side of the page as seen in the screenshot below −

Step (4) − Select any of the files by clicking on it for editing.

Step (5) − Click on Create Overrides tab, you will see the list of Modules, Components, and Layouts present in the template manager as shown below. Here you can easily override the new templates.

Step (6) − Click on any one component and you will see many sub components present inside it as shown below.

Step (7) − When you click on any one sub component then you will get the following message.

Step (8) − You can go back to Editor tab to check if override file is available for editing or not as shown below.

Step (9) − Click on Template Description tab, you will see the detailed description of the selected template as shown below.

Toolbar

Following are the toolbar options in the Template Manager.

• Save − Saves your template manager.
• Save & Close − Saves the templates and closes the current screen.
• Copy Template − Enter the template name and click on Copy Template button. This will copy the template.

• Manage Folders − It creates a new folder inside the template. Enter the folder name in the field and click on Create button.

• New File − You can select the file type by clicking on the dropdown of File Type and enter the name of the file and click on Create button. This will create a new file. The second block is used to upload a file directly from your system and the last block is used to copy the file.

• Rename File − Enter the new name for the file and click on Renamebutton.

• Delete File − Deletes the particular file.
• Close File − Closes the current file.

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Joomla Advanced- Customize Template

In this chapter, we will study about Template Customize Manager in Joomla. The Customize template allows editing or creating new files in the template.

Customize Template

Following are the simple steps to customize the template in Joomla.

Step (1) − Click Extensions → Template Manager as shown below.

Step (2) − After clicking on Template Manager, the Template Manager: Styles page will get displayed.

Step (3) − Next, click on Templates as shown above, you will get the following screen. Here select any one of the Templates.

Step (4) − After selecting a template you will get the screen as shown below. In the Editor tab, template files are listed on the left side of the page as seen below.

Step (5) − Select any of the files by clicking on it for editing.

Step (6) − Click on Create Overrides tab, you will see the list of Modules, Components, and Layouts present in the template manager as shown below. Here you can easily override the new templates.

Step (7) − Click on any one component and you will see many sub-components present inside it as shown below.

Step (8) − When you click on any one sub-component then you will get the following message.

Step (9) − You can see the overrides file is available for editing or not by going back to the Editor tab as shown below.

Step (10) − After clicking on Template Description tab, you will see the detail description of the selected template as shown below.

Toolbar

Below we have mentioned details about the fields on toolbar in the Template Manager.

• Save − Saves your template manager.
• Save & Close − Saves the templates and closes the current screen.
• Copy Template − Enter the template name and click on Copy Template button which will help you to copy the template.

• Manage Folders − It creates a new folder inside the template. Write the folder name in the field and click on Create button.

• New File − You can select the file type by clicking on the dropdown of File Type and write the name of the file and click on Create button which will create a new file. The second block is used to upload a file directly from your system and the last block is used to copy the file.

• Rename File − Enter the new name for the file and click on Renamebutton.

• Delete File − Deletes the particular file.
• Close File − Closes the current file.

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Joomla Advanced -Adding Template

In this chapter, we will study how to add / install Template in Joomla.

Adding Template

Following are the simple steps to add / install template in Joomla.

Step (1) − Click on Extensions → Extension Manager as shown below.

Step (2) − After clicking on Extension Manager, you will get the following screen. Here you can Upload / Install the template file either from the Web, package, Directory or URL. Choose the template file which is available on your system and later click on the Upload &Install button.

Step (3) − After installing the template successfully, you can go to the template manager and see the new installed template present in the list as shown below.

Toolbar

Following are the options on the toolbar of the Adding Template screen −

• Default − Select the default template.
• Edit − Select the template for editing.
• Duplicate − Duplicate the copy of the selected template.
• Delete − Delete the template from Joomla site.

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Joomla Advanced -Creating Template

In this chapter, we will study how to create a template in Joomla.

Creating Templates

Following are the simple steps to create templates in Joomla −

Step (1) − Create a folder called MyFirstTemplate inside your Joomla → Templates folder. Inside MyFirstTemplate folder, create 2 more folders named as images and CSS to save all the images and CSS files.

Step (2) − Inside MyFirstTemplate folder, create a file called as templateDetails.xml, without this file the template will not get displayed in Joomla.

templateDetails.xml

<?xml version = "1.0" encoding = "utf-8"?>

<extension version = "3.0" type = "template">
   <name>Tutorials Point</name>
   <creationDate>2015-06-13</creationDate>
   <author>Tutorials Point</author>
   <authorEmail>tutorials@example.com</authorEmail>
   <authorUrl>http://www.example.com </authorUrl>
   <copyright>Jack 2015</copyright>
   <license>GNU/GPL</license>
   <version>1.0.2</version>
   <description>My First Template</description>
 
   <files>
      <filename>index.php</filename>
      <filename>templateDetails.xml</filename>
      <folder>images</folder>
      <folder>css</folder>
   </files>
 
   <positions>
      <position>breadcrumb</position>
      <position>left</position>
      <position>right</position>
      <position>top</position>
      <position>user1</position>
      <position>user2</position>
      <position>user3</position>
     <position>user4</position>
     <position>footer</position>
   </positions>
 
</extension>

Details of the code

• <files> − It contains the available files and folders in MyFirstTemplate folder.
• <folder> − It takes the entire available folders in MyFirstTemplatefolder.

Step (3) − Create a file called as index.php. This helps in executing all the Joomla pages.

index.php

<?php defined( '_JEXEC' ) or die( 'Restricted access' );?>
<!DOCTYPE html>

<html xmlns = "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang = "<?php echo $this->language; ?>" lang = "<?php echo $this->language; ?>" >

   <head>                                         //head section
      <jdoc:include type = "head" />
      <link rel = "stylesheet" href = "<?php echo $this->baseurl ?>/templates/system/css/system.css" type = "text/css" />
      <link rel = "stylesheet" href = "<?php echo $this->baseurl ?>/templates/system/css/general.css" type = "text/css" />
      <link rel = "stylesheet" href = "<?php echo $this->baseurl ?>/templates/<?php echo $this->template; ?>/css/template.css" type="text/css" />
   </head>

   <body>                                          //body section
      <jdoc:include type = "modules" name = "top" />
      <jdoc:include type = "component" />
      <jdoc:include type = "modules" name = "bottom" />
   </body>
 
</html>

?>

Details of the code

<?php defined( '_JEXEC' ) or die( 'Restricted access' );?>
<!DOCTYPE html>
<html xmlns = "http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang = "<?php echo $this->language; ?>" lang = "<?php echo $this->language; ?>" >

This code is used to tell the browser which type of html page is being used and begins the HTML document by describing the language used in the website.

<head>                                         //head section
   <jdoc:include type = "head" />
   <link rel = "stylesheet" href = "<?php echo $this->baseurl ?>/templates/system/css/system.css" type = "text/css" />
   <link rel = "stylesheet" href = "<?php echo $this->baseurl ?>/templates/system/css/general.css" type = "text/css" />
   <link rel = "stylesheet" href = "<?php echo $this->baseurl ?>/templates/<?php echo $this->template; ?>/css/template.css" type = "text/css" />
</head>

These lines are used to link the various stylesheets for the template in Joomla.

<body>                                          //body section
   <jdoc:include type = "modules" name = "top" />
   <jdoc:include type = "component" />
   <jdoc:include type = "modules" name = "bottom" />
</body>

Here in the body section, the jdoc is used to include the output in Joomla from some parts of Joomla system. The name = "top" is used to set the menu at the top.

Step (4) − After creating these two files, login to Joomla and click on Extension → Extension Manager and the following page will get displayed.

Step (5) − In the above page, click on Discover link, the following page is displayed.

Step (6) − Next, click on the Discover button to discover the new created template as shown below.

Step (7) − Click on the checkbox to select the template and click on Installbutton to install the template in Joomla.

Step (8) − After installing template you can view your new created template by clicking on Extension → Template Manager. You will see your new created template is listed as shown below.

Toolbar

Following are the toolbar options in the Template Manager −

• Default − Select the default template.
• Edit − Select the template for editing.
• Duplicate − Duplicate the copy of the selected template.
• Delete − Delete the template for Joomla.
•