To edit a module, either click the module name in the Module Manager or select the module on the list and then click the Edit icon on the Module Manager toolbar.. To make changes to a mo
Trang 1Editing and deleting modules
Existing modules can be edited from within the Module Manager To edit a module, either click the module name in the Module Manager or select the module on the list and then click the Edit icon on the Module Manager toolbar Regardless of which method you use, the system opens the Edit Module dialogue The Edit Module dialogue is identical to the New Module dialogue, with the same fields and requirements
To make changes to a module, simply alter the desired fields in the Edit Module 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 modules, follow these steps:
2 Select one or more modules.
3 Click the Delete icon.
Caution
Deleting a module is permanent and cannot be undone Moreover, there is no confirmation dialogue — click-ing the Delete icon immediately deletes the module! As a safety measure, it might be better to just unpublish a module if you are unsure if you will need it in the future.
Introducing the Site Modules
The workspace of each Site Module dialogue is divided into three areas: Details, Menu
Assignments, and Parameters, as shown in Figure 17.4 The Details and Menu Assignments por-tions of all the module types are identical; the differences lie in the Parameters area
The toolbar at the top of the module dialogue provides quick access to the following functions:
l Save: Click this icon to save your work, add a new module, and exit the New Module
dia-logue
l Apply: Click to save your work and create a new category without exiting from the New
Module dialogue This option lets you save without exiting the screen and is useful if you are interrupted or you otherwise wish to save yet keep working on this screen
l Cancel: Cancels the task and exits the Module Manager.
l Help: Displays the Help files related to the active screen.
Trang 2FIGURE 17.4
A typical module dialogue, in this case, the Archived Content module
The Details section of the workspace contains the following fields:
l Module Type: This identifier is set by the system and tells you the type of module being
created The module type cannot be changed
l Title: Use this field to give a name to your module This field is required.
l Show Title: This controls the visibility of the module’s title for the front-end visitor Set
the control to Yes if you want the module title to appear when the module appears The title appears immediately above the module The default state is Yes
l Enabled: Select Yes to publish the module The default state is Yes.
l Position: Controls the placement of the module on the page Use the combo box to select
from the list of eligible module positions This field is required
Trang 3options here are Public, Registered, and Special The default setting is Public.
l ID: A system-assigned identification number This cannot be changed.
l Description: Joomla! provides this description text to help users understand the use of
the module
Cross-Reference
For a discussion of placing modules inside the content area of your site’s articles, please see Chapter 7.
The Menu Assignment area of the workspace is used to assign the module to appear on only cer-tain pages of your site You have the option to assign the module to no pages, to all pages, or to only certain pages If you want to assign the module selectively, choose the option Select Menu Item(s) From the List and then pick the appropriate choices from the multiselect box; to select more than one choice, hold down the Option key (the Command key on a Mac) while you click The parameters section varies for each module Details on the parameters for each module are dis-cussed in the sections that follow
Archived Content module
The Archived Content module provides access to archived articles It is, essentially, a navigation menu for archived content items, as shown in Figure 17.5 When activated, the module displays a list of months for which there are archived content items Clicking on the name of the month takes the user to a page listing all the archived items for that time period
Cross-Reference
Working with archived content is dealt with in Chapter 5.
This module is not enabled in the default configuration However, if you have installed the sample data, an Archived Content module does appear in the Module Manager under the name archive Because the module is not enabled, it is not visible on the front end of the site
Note
The system name for this module type is mod_archive.
The Parameters section is divided into two sections: Module parameters and Advanced parameters Figure 17.6 shows the Module parameters.
Trang 4FIGURE 17.5
The Archived Content module viewed from the front end of the site
The
Archive
Module
The Module parameters section contains two controls:
l Count: This field contains an integer value which determines the number of items
dis-played by the module The default is 10
l Module Class Suffix: This field allows you to specify a suffix that will be automatically
appended to all CSS styles that affect this module The use of a specified suffix makes it possible for you to style this module individually
The Advanced parameters section contains only one option: Caching This control allows you to exempt a specific module from the site’s caching, as set in the Global Configuration Select the option No Caching to prevent the contents of this module from being cached The default setting
is Use Global
Trang 5The Archived Content Module parameters.
To add an Archive module to your site, follow these steps:
1 Go to the Extensions menu and select the Module Manager option The Module
Manager loads in your web browser
2 Click the New icon on the toolbar at the top of the Module Manager The New
Module dialogue opens Refer to Figure 17.2
3 Select the option Archived Content, and then click the Next button The Archived
Content dialogue loads in your web browser
4 In the Title field, type a name for the module This field is required.
5 Set the Enabled option to Yes.
6 Set the Position control to assign the module to a position on the page.
7 Set the Menu Assignment to specify the pages upon which the module will appear.
8 Select any additional options or parameters you wish; all other fields are optional.
Trang 6The Archived Content module is a necessity if you employ Joomla’s content-archiving functionality The mod-ule provides the links to give your site visitors easy access to archived content The links are organized chrono-logically and cannot be controlled by the administrator; the only option you have is to control the number of items displayed in the module.
Banner module
The Banner module controls the placement of banners on your site, as shown in Figure 17.7 As discussed previously in the book, this module works in conjunction with the Banner component
Cross-Reference
The use of the Banner component and a further discussion of the Banner module can be found in Chapter 12.
FIGURE 17.7
The output of the Banner module, viewed from the front end of the site, seen here in the Footer module position
The Banner Module
Trang 7modules are named Banners and Advertisement The Banners option is assigned to the Footer posi-tion and Advertisement to the Right posiposi-tion The two Banner modules are used to control the banner ads that are part of the sample data included with the Banner Component
The Parameters section is divided into two sections: Module parameters and Advanced parameters,
as shown in Figure 17.8
Note
The system name for this module type is mod_banner.
The Module parameters section contains the following controls:
l Target: This control allows you to specify the browser’s behavior when a user clicks on a
Banner that is linked to another web page By default, the system opens the link in a New Window with Browser Navigation You can, however, select from two other options: Parent Window with Browser Navigation or New Window without Browser Navigation
l Count: An integer value that specifies the number of different banners that will be shown
by this module The default value is 1
l Banner Client: This optional parameter allows you to restrict the module to showing only
those banners belonging to a specific Banner client The available clients are listed in the combo box If set to the default position, the module will show banners from all clients
l Category: This optional parameter allows you to restrict the module to showing only
those banners belonging to a specific Banner category The available categories are listed
in the combo box If set to the default position, the module shows banners from all cate-gories
l Search by Tags: Choose Yes to enable the system to control banner display by matching
banner keywords with content keywords The default value is No
l Randomize: This control determines the order in which the banners are displayed inside
the module If you chose the option Sticky, Ordering, the system will display the banners
in order with those marked as Sticky in the Banner Manager showing first If you chose the option Sticky, Randomize, the system displays the banners randomly with those marked as Sticky in the Banner Manager showing first
l Header Text: Enter into this box any text you want to appear above the banner in the
module position
l Footer Text: Enter into this box any text you want to appear below the banner in the
module position
l Module Class Suffix: This field allows you to specify a suffix that will be automatically
appended to all CSS styles that affect this module The use of a specified suffix makes it possible for you to style this module individually
Trang 8FIGURE 17.8
The Banner module parameters
Cross-Reference
The creation and management of Banner Clients and Banner Categories, and the upload of Banner graphics, is discussed at length in Chapter 12.
The Advanced parameters section contains two options:
l Caching: This control allows you to exempt a specific module from the site’s caching, as
set in the Global Configuration Select the option No Caching to prevent the contents of this module from being cached The default setting is Use Global
l Cache Time: The time, in minutes, you want the contents to be cached Enter an integer
value here The default value is 900 minutes, meaning that after 900 minutes the system will re-create, or refresh this module Note this control is only meaningful if the caching
Trang 91 Go to the Extensions menu and select the Module Manager option The Module
Manager loads in your web browser
2 Click the New icon on the toolbar at the top of the Module Manager The New
Module dialogue opens Refer to Figure 17.2
3 Select the Banner option and then click the Next button The Banner dialogue loads
in your web browser
4 In the Title field, type a name for the module This field is a required.
5 Set the option Enabled to Yes.
6 Set the Position control to assign the module to a position on the page.
7 Set the Menu Assignment to specify the pages upon which the module appears.
8 Select any additional options or parameters you wish; all other fields are optional.
9 Click the Save icon on the toolbar at the top right to save your new module The
sys-tem creates the module, closes the dialogue, and returns you to the Module Manager
Tip
Sites frequently employ more than one instance of this module, because running multiple Banner modules allows you to run ads in different positions and on different pages With the available parameters and the abil-ity to run multiple instances, it is possible to get quite a bit of variation out of this module Copying an existing Banner module is the fastest way to create multiple modules.
Cross-Reference
See Chapter 12 for information on implementing the Banner module.
Breadcrumbs module
The Breadcrumbs module of your Joomla! system is responsible for the display of the breadcrumbs
trail on your web site’s pages, as shown in Figure 17.9 A breadcrumb trail is a position marker, in
the sense that it shows users where they are in the site, and provides a way for users to navigate back or up to higher levels in the site’s hierarchy
Note
The system name for this module type is mod_breadcrumbs.
The Parameters section is divided into two sections: Module parameters and Advanced parameters,
as shown in Figure 17.10