The toolbar at the top of the Contact Category Manager provides quick access to the following functions: l Publish: Select one or more categories from the list, and then click this icon
Trang 1l Mobile icon: Select the icon from the combo box to show next to the Mobile field This
option is only applicable if you have chosen to display icons in the Icons/Text parameter
l Fax icon: Select the icon from the combo box to show next to the Fax field This option is
only applicable if you have chosen to display icons in the Icons/Text parameter
l Miscellaneous Icon: Select the icon from the combo box to show next to the
Miscellaneous field This option is only applicable if you have chosen to display icons in the Icons/Text parameter
E-mail parameters
Each individual contact includes the following optional e-mail parameters; any values set here that are in conflict with the settings in the Global parameters take precedence:
l E-mail form: Show or hide an e-mail form that allows site visitors to send an e-mail
directly to the contact
l Description text: Enter description text to accompany the e-mail form This option is
only applicable if the E-mail Form parameter is set to Show
l E-mail copy: Show or hide the option for the user to e-mail themselves a copy of the mail
they sent to the contact This option is only applicable is the E-mail Form parameter is set
to show
l Banned e-mail: To control SPAM, enter any terms you want to be banned from the e-mail
form If any e-mail address includes any of the banned terms, the form submission will be blocked Separate multiple terms with semicolons This is only applicable if the E-mail Form parameter is set to Show
l Banned subject: To control SPAM, enter any terms you want to be banned from the
e-mail form subject lines If any e-mail subject line includes any of the banned terms, the form submission will be blocked Separate multiple terms with semicolons This is only applicable if the E-mail Form parameter is set to Show
l Banned text: To control SPAM, enter any terms you want to be banned from the e-mail
form text If any e-mail address includes any of the banned terms, the form submission will be blocked Separate multiple terms with semicolons This is only applicable if the E-mail Form parameter is set to Show
Managing Contacts and Categories
Categories are created by the administrator for the purpose of grouping contacts Every contact must be assigned to a category
To view the categories available in your system, click on the Categories link at the top of the Contacts Manager The Contacts Category Manager loads in your browser, as seen in Figure 13.2
Trang 2FIGURE 13.2
The Contacts Category Manager
The toolbar at the top of the Contact Category Manager provides quick access to the following functions:
l Publish: Select one or more categories from the list, and then click this icon to publish
them
l Unpublish: Select one or more categories from the list, and then click this icon to
unpub-lish them
l Delete: Select one or more categories from the list, and then click this icon to delete the
category(s)
l Edit: Select a category from the list and then click this icon to edit the category’s details.
l New: Click to create a new category.
l Help: Click to access the online Help files related to the active screen.
Trang 3Two links are below the toolbar The Contacts link shows you the Contact Manager The
Categories link shows you the Contact Categories Manager
Below the two text links and above the list of categories are two sorting and searching tools to help you manage long lists of categories:
l The Filter field on the left works like a search box Type a word or phrase into the field
and then click Go The page reloads and displays the results of the search To clear the screen and return to a full listing, click the Reset button
l The Select State filter on the far right allows you to filter and display the categories
according to whether they are published or unpublished This provides an easy way to identify all categories that are currently active on the site To reset this filter, change the combo box back to the default setting
The main content area of the screen contains a list of all the Contact categories The columns pro-vided are:
l #: This field is an indexing number set automatically by Joomla! You cannot alter this
field
l Checkbox (no label): Click in a checkbox to select a category; do this if you want to use
several of the toolbar options, referenced previously
l Title: This field displays the full name of the category Click on the name to edit the
cate-gory’s details
l Published: A green checkmark in this column indicates that the category is published
The field shows a red X if the category is not published Administrators can toggle between the two settings by clicking on the icon shown
l Order: The numbers in this field affect the ordering of the categories on this list Change
the numbers and click the Save icon at the top of the column to reorder the categories
l Access Level: Indicates the access levels assigned to the category You can toggle between
the options Public, Registered, and Special by clicking on the words
l ID: The system-generated user ID number.
Finally, at the bottom of the screen, below the content area, is the Display # option Change the value in the combo box control to alter the number of categories that are displayed on the page The default value can be altered by changing the List Length option on the Global Configuration Manager
Creating a new category
Categories are created from within the Contact Category Manager by clicking the New icon on the toolbar Category data is entered into the New Contact Category dialogue, shown in Figure 13.3
Trang 4FIGURE 13.3
The New Contact Category dialogue
The toolbar at the top of the New Contact Category dialogue provides quick access to the follow-ing functions:
l Save: Click this icon to save your work, create a new category, and exit the New Contact
Category dialogue
l Apply: Click to save your work and create a new category without exiting from the New
Contact Category dialogue This option lets you save without exiting the screen and is useful in case you are interrupted or you otherwise want to save yet keep working on this screen
l Cancel: Cancels the task and exits the New Contact Category dialogue.
l Help: Displays the Help files related to the active screen.
Trang 5The workspace in this dialogue is broken down into two sections, Details and Description The Details section contains the following fields:
l Title: Type into this field a title for the Contact category This field is the only required
field
l Alias: The alias is an internal label for the category The alias is also used in the creation of
a search engine friendly path for the category This field only accepts small case letters, with no spaces Note that if you leave this blank, the system automatically uses the value you entered into the title field
l Published: A green checkmark indicates that the category is published A red X means it
is not published You can click on the icon to toggle the state
l Section: This field is not applicable to the Contact category, and as a result the system
displays only n/a
l Category order: This field cannot be controlled when a new category is created New
cat-egories always default to last on the list The order can be changed from the Contact Category Manager or by editing the category
l Access Level: This field is not used for Contact categories.
l Image: Provides the option to display a small image next to the category name on pages
listing the categories This is optional The Image Position control is related to this option Note that the image you want to select must be located in the folder images/stories
l Image position: Controls placement of the image relative to the category name The
choices are limited to left or right Left is selected by default Note that this control is only applicable if an image is selected from the Image control
The Description field at the bottom of the screen provides c a place to add a description of the cat-egory The description will not appear on any pages on the front end of the site; this description is purely for your information The text box enables you to use images and formatting for the description The Image button at the bottom of the Description field gives you easy access to con-trols for inserting an image into the description, if you so desire
To create a new category, follow these steps:
1 Log in to the admin system on your site.
2 Access the Contacts Category Manager.
To do so, go to the Components menu and select the Categories option from the submenu under the heading Contacts The Contacts Category Manager will load in your browser
3 Click the New icon on the toolbar at the top of the Contacts Category Manager.
The New Contacts Category Dialogue opens
(Refer to Figure 13.3.)
4 In the Title field, type a name for this category.
This is the only required field
Trang 65 Add additional information or optional settings as you see fit.
6 Click the Save icon on the toolbar at the top right to save your new Contact
Category The dialogue closes and returns you to the Contact Category Manager. Editing and deleting categories
Existing contact categories can be edited from the Contact Category Manager To edit a category, either click the category name in the Contact Category Manager or select the category on the list and then click the Edit icon on the Contact Category Manager toolbar Regardless of which method you use, the system opens the Edit Category dialogue
The Edit Category dialogue is identical to the New Category dialogue, with the same fields and requirements as discussed in the previous section
To make changes to a category, simply alter the desired fields in the Edit Category dialogue and then click the Save or Apply icon on the toolbar Any changes you have made are applied immediately
To delete one or more categories, follow these steps:
1 Open the Contact Category Manager.
2 Select one or more categories.
Caution
Deleting a contact category is permanent and cannot be undone Moreover, there is no confirmation dia-logue— clicking the Delete icon immediately deletes the category! Note, however, that a category cannot be deleted if contacts are assigned to that category If you want to delete the category, you need to first delete or move any contacts to another category.
Adding a new contact
To add a new contact to your site, visit the Contact Manager and click the New icon on the tool-bar The New Contact dialogue opens in your browser, as shown in Figure 13.4
The toolbar at the top of the New Contact dialogue provides quick access to the following functions:
l Save: Click this icon to save your work, add a new contact, and exit the New Contact
dialogue
l Apply: Click this icon to save your work without exiting from the New Contact dialogue.
l Cancel: Cancels the task, exits the New Contact dialogue, and returns you to the Contact
Manager
l Help: Displays the Help files related to the active screen.
Trang 7FIGURE 13.4
The New Contact dialogue
The workspace is divided into three areas: details, information, and parameters The Details section
of the workspace contains the following fields:
l Name: Type into this field the full name of the contact This field is required.
l Alias: The Alias field is an internal identifier for your contact This is used in some cases
to create search engine friendly URLs for the item You can specify the contents of this field if you want, but note that it only takes lowercase letters with no spaces If you do not specify the contents of this field, the system will automatically create the alias based on the contact’s name
Trang 8l Published: Select Yes to publish the contact The default state is Yes.
l Category: Assign the contact to a category using the combo box This field is required.
l Linked to User: Use the combo box to link the contact to a registered user on the site If
you do not want to link it to a user, select the value No User
l Order: Note that this control is not available for a new contact New items are placed by
default in the last position on the list After you add your contact, you can adjust the list position from either the Contact Manager or by editing the contact item
l Access Level: Set the access level to control the visibility of the contact The options are
Public, Registered, and Special The default is Public
The Information section of the workspace contains the following fields:
l Contact’s Position: Type the contact’s position into this field.
l E-mail: Type the contact’s e-mail address into this field.
l Street Address: Type the contact’s street address into this field.
l Town/Suburb: Type the contact’s town/suburb into this field.
l State/County: Type the contact’s state/county into this field.
l Postal Code/ZIP: Type the contact’s Postal Code/ZIP into this field
l Country: Type the contact’s country into this field.
l Telephone: Type the contact’s phone number into this field.
l Mobile Phone Number: Type the contact’s mobile phone number into this field.
l Fax: Type the contact’s fax number into this field.
l Web URL: Type the contact’s web site address into this field.
l Miscellaneous Information: Type into this field any additional information you want to
display with the contact
l Contact Image: Select from the combo box an image to display with this contact Images
are drawn from the images/stories directory You can add your own images by using the Media Manager
To add a new contact, follow these steps:
1 Log in to the Admin system on your site.
2 Access the Contacts Manager To do so, go to the Components menu and select the
Contacts option The Contact Manager loads in your browser.
3 Click the New icon on the toolbar at the top of the Contacts Manager The New
Contact dialogue opens (Refer to Figure 13.4.)
4 In the Name field, type a name for the contact This is a required field.
5 Select a Category for the contact from the Category combo box This is a required
field
Trang 96 Select any additional options you wish; all other fields are optional.
7 Click the Save icon on the toolbar at the top right to save your new contact The
dia-logue closes and returns you to the Contacts Manager
Editing and deleting contacts
Existing contacts can be edited from the Contacts Manager To edit a contact, either click the contact name in the Contacts Manager or select the contact and then click the Edit icon on the Contact Manager toolbar Regardless of which method you use, the system opens the Edit Contact dialogue
The Edit Contact dialogue is identical to the New Contact dialogue, with the same fields and requirements as discussed in the previous section
To make changes to a contact, simply alter the desired fields in the Edit Contact dialogue, and then click the Save or Apply icon on the toolbar Any changes you make are applied immediately
To delete one or more contacts, follow these steps:
2 Select one or more contacts.
Caution
Deleting a contact is permanent and cannot be undone Moreover, there is no confirmation dialogue — click-ing the Delete icon immediately deletes the contact as well as any cached content of the feed.
Creating Contact Forms
The Contact Manager is the key to setting up contact forms for your web site Creating a generic contact form for your site visitors to use is a two-stage process The first stage is to create a specific contact to receive the output of the form Creating a new contact is discussed previously The sec-ond stage is to create a new menu item of the type Standard Contact Layout, making sure that you enable the form functionality for the menu item Associate the menu item with the contact you have created to receive the form output
Cross-Reference
Creating a new menu item and a discussion of the Menu Item Types is discussed in Chapter 8.
Trang 10In this chapter, we covered the Contacts Manager You learned the following:
l How to create new contacts
l How to edit and delete contacts
l How to create contact categories
l How to edit and delete contact categories
l How to create a generic contact form for your site