In this particular article of mine I would want to address an issue that most new comers may have had to experience with Joomla 1.0. Being a new entry at any software, one always tends to work on the first version before moving on towards the latest releases. When I installed the Joomla 1.0 I also faced the similar problem, but with the help of a senior colleague I finally managed to crack it down. I am stating the problem here so that any of you facing the problem may help themselves out.
I firstly received the error message when I first tried to install Joomla 1.0. A friend of mine received the same error message when he tried to install new components or Mambots on his copy of Joomla 1.0. T he message mostly included the following terms which of course were alien to me at that time.
“Upload mambot - Upload Failed ERROR: Could not find an XML setup file in the package Upload mambot - Failed" or "Upload mambot - Failed XML setup file is not for a mambot”
I did an extensive research on the internet but couldn’t understand any thing. My colleague then explained some techniques to me and I starting experiment them. After a series of trial and errors I finally managed to sort out the problem. I was making mistakes in categorizing the installer files. For example if a file named mod is placed under the mambots category it definitely will give you an error. That file should be installed under the modules category. This way com files would go under components and any third extension would go under mambots. I seemed very silly after I discovered my initial mistakes.
However it’s our mistakes that make us learn and become experts. The second problem was that sometimes the file needed to be uploaded to the Joomla in the same zip format which was downloaded for the internet. However in the case of a few other files there was another zip file inside the first zip file and the inner zip file was the one that got accepted. This is why I call my methods trial error ones.
I tried to point out the main problems while uploading to Joomla so you may not have to get as frustrated as I was when Using Joomla for the first time. I had even made my mind to dump Joomla if I hadn’t had a chat with that senior colleague of mine. Best of Luck with your Joomla
Thursday, March 20, 2008
DataBase Backup ~ Taken from Mambo
As well all know Joomla 1.0 was originally derived from Mambo. Although it has now advanced to the ever famous Joomla 1.5, however Mambo cannot be denied as not being the back bone of Joomla. Joomla got its earlier features from mambo. The database functionality still reflects the original Mambo database component.
A nice tip I would like to share here with you regarding the database functionality of Joomla is connected to its database. I used to apply this method when I was learning Mambo. One day while using Joomla 1.5 I decided to give it put a try and to my surprise it worked very well.
In order to execute queries we always need to access the admin panel and enter our queries there. However you may not need any PHP MyAdmin panel if you are a pro at SQL queries. You can write down your own query and get the desired results in no time. This used to be the method in Mambo. But however this step of writing your queries has been masked behind the admin panel in Joomla as to reduce code complexity. The backup functionality was also removed from the code completely. The only reason behind doing so was to secure the content without going through the trouble to install anything.
The Joomla people probably were concerned for new web developers. As new people may get confused at times and that would screw up the entire website. It is being largely commented that the database functionality actually belonged to some other person. Here are comments from a blogger pointing out what I just said:
“I can tell you that the reason we lost the Database functionality from Mambo is that this functionality was essentially an external `library` created by another author (who I believe was formerly part of the team that created Mambo) asked for it to be removed from Mambo “
Anonymous
Whatever the reason, this functionality is said to be removed for good. And a bunch of new functionalities have been added which I guess should be enough to compensate for the loss.
A nice tip I would like to share here with you regarding the database functionality of Joomla is connected to its database. I used to apply this method when I was learning Mambo. One day while using Joomla 1.5 I decided to give it put a try and to my surprise it worked very well.
In order to execute queries we always need to access the admin panel and enter our queries there. However you may not need any PHP MyAdmin panel if you are a pro at SQL queries. You can write down your own query and get the desired results in no time. This used to be the method in Mambo. But however this step of writing your queries has been masked behind the admin panel in Joomla as to reduce code complexity. The backup functionality was also removed from the code completely. The only reason behind doing so was to secure the content without going through the trouble to install anything.
The Joomla people probably were concerned for new web developers. As new people may get confused at times and that would screw up the entire website. It is being largely commented that the database functionality actually belonged to some other person. Here are comments from a blogger pointing out what I just said:
“I can tell you that the reason we lost the Database functionality from Mambo is that this functionality was essentially an external `library` created by another author (who I believe was formerly part of the team that created Mambo) asked for it to be removed from Mambo “
Anonymous
Whatever the reason, this functionality is said to be removed for good. And a bunch of new functionalities have been added which I guess should be enough to compensate for the loss.
Joomla ~ The Best Content Management System
My personal favorite Joomla is an Open Source Content Management System. I have used Joomla at many of my website projects and Joomla has always adapted in a very pretty manner to all my themes. I have always managed to attain 100 percent results with Joomla 1.5. It has mostly been observed that content management systems are quiet expensive and complex to use. However on the other hand Joomla is not much complex and is free to use as long as you know how to use it properly. Joomla extensions have effect no lesser than a dynamite if used properly.
If you are familiar with an earlier content management system Mambo, then learning Joomla would not be difficult for you. As Joomla is a refined and more secure version of Mambo. The Joomla interface is very well organized with menus, categories, sections and items. A menu links to category and the categories are further linked to sections. There definitely is much more into the Joomla scene tan these items. However they are good to begin you Joomla experience. You automatically will start experiencing more components as you get familiar with the former ones first.
The best thing about Joomla is that is offers a wide assortment of extensions, templates and themes over the internet that are absolutely free to use. Of course there also are components that are commercial however if you search a little you may find a similar component for free. If you are PHP expert you can modify these components to an extent to get the results you desire. Nothing is as flexible as Joomla 1.5 for a developer. The original Joomla website Joomla.org also allows you to test run your website before making it live to the audience out there, This way you can check for bugs and errors before making the website available to the readers.
Joomla works with just two main technologies. PHP is used for coding and MySQl gives it the database support. This is just all about the so very versatile Joomla! However it definitely is not the end. You will learn and explore more and more once you start working with Joomla. Try Joomla out for yourself and keep checking back to read on new articles I’ll be adding regularly.
If you are familiar with an earlier content management system Mambo, then learning Joomla would not be difficult for you. As Joomla is a refined and more secure version of Mambo. The Joomla interface is very well organized with menus, categories, sections and items. A menu links to category and the categories are further linked to sections. There definitely is much more into the Joomla scene tan these items. However they are good to begin you Joomla experience. You automatically will start experiencing more components as you get familiar with the former ones first.
The best thing about Joomla is that is offers a wide assortment of extensions, templates and themes over the internet that are absolutely free to use. Of course there also are components that are commercial however if you search a little you may find a similar component for free. If you are PHP expert you can modify these components to an extent to get the results you desire. Nothing is as flexible as Joomla 1.5 for a developer. The original Joomla website Joomla.org also allows you to test run your website before making it live to the audience out there, This way you can check for bugs and errors before making the website available to the readers.
Joomla works with just two main technologies. PHP is used for coding and MySQl gives it the database support. This is just all about the so very versatile Joomla! However it definitely is not the end. You will learn and explore more and more once you start working with Joomla. Try Joomla out for yourself and keep checking back to read on new articles I’ll be adding regularly.
Joomla ~ The Best Content Management System
My personal favorite Joomla is an Open Source Content Management System. I have used Joomla at many of my website projects and Joomla has always adapted in a very pretty manner to all my themes. I have always managed to attain 100 percent results with Joomla 1.5. It has mostly been observed that content management systems are quiet expensive and complex to use. However on the other hand Joomla is not much complex and is free to use as long as you know how to use it properly. Joomla extensions have effect no lesser than a dynamite if used properly.
If you are familiar with an earlier content management system Mambo, then learning Joomla would not be difficult for you. As Joomla is a refined and more secure version of Mambo. The Joomla interface is very well organized with menus, categories, sections and items. A menu links to category and the categories are further linked to sections. There definitely is much more into the Joomla scene tan these items. However they are good to begin you Joomla experience. You automatically will start experiencing more components as you get familiar with the former ones first.
The best thing about Joomla is that is offers a wide assortment of extensions, templates and themes over the internet that are absolutely free to use. Of course there also are components that are commercial however if you search a little you may find a similar component for free. If you are PHP expert you can modify these components to an extent to get the results you desire. Nothing is as flexible as Joomla 1.5 for a developer. The original Joomla website Joomla.org also allows you to test run your website before making it live to the audience out there, This way you can check for bugs and errors before making the website available to the readers.
Joomla works with just two main technologies. PHP is used for coding and MySQl gives it the database support. This is just all about the so very versatile Joomla! However it definitely is not the end. You will learn and explore more and more once you start working with Joomla. Try Joomla out for yourself and keep checking back to read on new articles I’ll be adding regularly.
If you are familiar with an earlier content management system Mambo, then learning Joomla would not be difficult for you. As Joomla is a refined and more secure version of Mambo. The Joomla interface is very well organized with menus, categories, sections and items. A menu links to category and the categories are further linked to sections. There definitely is much more into the Joomla scene tan these items. However they are good to begin you Joomla experience. You automatically will start experiencing more components as you get familiar with the former ones first.
The best thing about Joomla is that is offers a wide assortment of extensions, templates and themes over the internet that are absolutely free to use. Of course there also are components that are commercial however if you search a little you may find a similar component for free. If you are PHP expert you can modify these components to an extent to get the results you desire. Nothing is as flexible as Joomla 1.5 for a developer. The original Joomla website Joomla.org also allows you to test run your website before making it live to the audience out there, This way you can check for bugs and errors before making the website available to the readers.
Joomla works with just two main technologies. PHP is used for coding and MySQl gives it the database support. This is just all about the so very versatile Joomla! However it definitely is not the end. You will learn and explore more and more once you start working with Joomla. Try Joomla out for yourself and keep checking back to read on new articles I’ll be adding regularly.
Technologies Behind Joomla
Till now all I have done is talk talk and talk about how good Joomla is, how to install, upgrade and migrate from one version of Joomla to the other. However what we haven’t discussed yet is about the actual technologies working behind the power Joomla!. The technologies those are best compatible with Joomla in order to make you website function excellently. There only two things behind Joomla. One is the coding language and other is the database. For the coding in a Joomla website, PHP is used and MySQL provides the database support required.
PHP is the base for Joomla and I would advise you to learn it as soon as possible if you intend to make a mark in Joomla or any other Content Management system. PHP is not that difficult to lear. It’s a coding language and if yu have studied the basic of programming, then learning a coding language should not be a big deal for you. PHP supports HTML and can have HTML embedded into it easily. PHP more or less looks like PEARL. Some developers say it looks like JAVA. But I say it looks like a programming language and is the easiest one to learn.
Now coming towards MySQL, MySQL is the only database Joomla supports. MySQL is also the most flexible DBMS. The Joomla itself creates the tables on intallation but one must have appropriate permissions from the MySQL to do so.
When talking about platforms, Linux is said to be the best platform for Joomla. This doesn’t mean that no other platform supports Joomla. Joomla does run effectively on all platforms.
As far as systems requirements are considered. The performance of Joomla depends on the CPU and, but more on the bandwidth available. The greater the bandwidth the faster it will work. Secondly also depends on the graphics of your website. If you website is too glittery and full of graphics Joomla will automatically tend to slow down a bit.
Joomla comes with a long list of extensions for you to browse and select according to your requirements. The Joomla 1.5 beta has now come with into the scenario and is being liked by all web developers.
PHP is the base for Joomla and I would advise you to learn it as soon as possible if you intend to make a mark in Joomla or any other Content Management system. PHP is not that difficult to lear. It’s a coding language and if yu have studied the basic of programming, then learning a coding language should not be a big deal for you. PHP supports HTML and can have HTML embedded into it easily. PHP more or less looks like PEARL. Some developers say it looks like JAVA. But I say it looks like a programming language and is the easiest one to learn.
Now coming towards MySQL, MySQL is the only database Joomla supports. MySQL is also the most flexible DBMS. The Joomla itself creates the tables on intallation but one must have appropriate permissions from the MySQL to do so.
When talking about platforms, Linux is said to be the best platform for Joomla. This doesn’t mean that no other platform supports Joomla. Joomla does run effectively on all platforms.
As far as systems requirements are considered. The performance of Joomla depends on the CPU and, but more on the bandwidth available. The greater the bandwidth the faster it will work. Secondly also depends on the graphics of your website. If you website is too glittery and full of graphics Joomla will automatically tend to slow down a bit.
Joomla comes with a long list of extensions for you to browse and select according to your requirements. The Joomla 1.5 beta has now come with into the scenario and is being liked by all web developers.
Joomla 1.5 Article Parameter Tabs and Plugins
The article parameter tabs in Joomla 1.5 are far better and useable than they were in Joomla 1.0. The look now is much clean and sophisticated. Tools are used from motools to create a pleasant animated effect. The tabs seem to slide on mouse over or click. They change effects on different article parameters. The interface on the whole is much cleaner and sophisticated than the earlier versions.
Joomla allows the developer to set the basic component configuration. You may call it as the base for the component behavior. This behavior is then set as a default for the entire article. Next when we select a menu. We tend to give the component a specific configuration this time. Once you understand this well, you have then mastered the most basic principle of what a menu item is. The specific configuration will give you rights to override the basic configuration whenever you want and that is exactly what a menu item does. Now coming towards article parameters; Article parameters allow you to request a specific data model for that article.
The plug-ins are now numerous. I hope my readers are now not confused by the terms plug-ins, components or modules. They all refer to the very same thing in Joomla 1.5. In Joomla 1.0x these were known as Mambots. A plug-in I’d like to introduce here is the Legacy Plug-in. It claims to allow you to use your 1.0x extensions with your Joomla 1.5. However I would not advise any one of you to use it because I’ve heard many cases saying that all there pages turn blank after using the plug-in. This means your website may be disabled.
Experts have clearly and repetitively mentioned that NO Joomla 1.0x extension can be used in Joomla 1.5. Always keep this in mind and don’t go after small tips and tricks that claim to allow you to use your 1.0 extension in 1.5. You may end up losing your entire website if you don’t have a decent backup.
Rest left for you to explore. Joomla 1.5 has a wide range of plug-ins. Test and try each one of them to see how it works. You may end up finding something really rare which could be a positive enhancement to you Joomla 1.5 website.
Joomla allows the developer to set the basic component configuration. You may call it as the base for the component behavior. This behavior is then set as a default for the entire article. Next when we select a menu. We tend to give the component a specific configuration this time. Once you understand this well, you have then mastered the most basic principle of what a menu item is. The specific configuration will give you rights to override the basic configuration whenever you want and that is exactly what a menu item does. Now coming towards article parameters; Article parameters allow you to request a specific data model for that article.
The plug-ins are now numerous. I hope my readers are now not confused by the terms plug-ins, components or modules. They all refer to the very same thing in Joomla 1.5. In Joomla 1.0x these were known as Mambots. A plug-in I’d like to introduce here is the Legacy Plug-in. It claims to allow you to use your 1.0x extensions with your Joomla 1.5. However I would not advise any one of you to use it because I’ve heard many cases saying that all there pages turn blank after using the plug-in. This means your website may be disabled.
Experts have clearly and repetitively mentioned that NO Joomla 1.0x extension can be used in Joomla 1.5. Always keep this in mind and don’t go after small tips and tricks that claim to allow you to use your 1.0 extension in 1.5. You may end up losing your entire website if you don’t have a decent backup.
Rest left for you to explore. Joomla 1.5 has a wide range of plug-ins. Test and try each one of them to see how it works. You may end up finding something really rare which could be a positive enhancement to you Joomla 1.5 website.
Methods to Convert from Joomla 1.0 to Joomla 1.5
As I had mentioned in my previous articles that Joomla 1.5 doesn’t comes with any path that will allow direct upgrading from Joomla 1.0x to 1.5 and the only way to is to create new website using Joomla 1.5 and migrate the contents of your earlier website to Joomla. The so called upgrading to Joomla 1.5 can be achieved using two methods. First is the semi automatic method and the second one and the most dangerous one is the manual method. The manual method should never be attempted by any person who is not an expert developer or you’ll get stuck in a rut.
In order to start with the first method, Semi automatic method, you would require a migrator component. This is a Joomla 1.0 x component and is available for free. It is known as com_migrator. Now, what the migrator will do is shift the Joomla 1.0x tables from your old website completely. This com-migrator is basically a backup tool. It won’t delete your tables but rather shift them into three different files. The first file will hold the complete backup of all the tables, the second file will only hold the core Joomla tables and all remaining tables apart from the core Joomla would be shifted into the third file.
In case of third party tables, it is not always ensured that during the shift process their encoding will remain intact. There may or may not be a change. Also once they are backed up by the com_migrator they wont be used anywhere in your website. It can’t be foreseen. That’s why I pointed out in my previous article to remove all third party components before conversion. The com_migrator will not effect or change ay coding in the tables apart from the third party ones.
After that all you have to do is install Joomla 1.5 and create a new empty website with it. Then you can transfer all your tables from the com_migrator to your new Joomla 1.5 website. The installation wizard will do all the import and conversions for you. All the menu/s will be reconstructed as they were in you Joomla 1.0x and all the core modules would be appended in the same way as they were in your old website.
On the other hand Upgrading manually is a nightmare. It involves a lot of code complexities so I won’t advise any one to do that. The semi automatic system gives you the almost 100% result. The only thing you have to do is to re install the third party plug ins on you Joomla 1.5 and set up components once again. It may take a few days time to get along completely, but once you move on to the 1.5 platform all you hard work would definitely be paid off.
In order to start with the first method, Semi automatic method, you would require a migrator component. This is a Joomla 1.0 x component and is available for free. It is known as com_migrator. Now, what the migrator will do is shift the Joomla 1.0x tables from your old website completely. This com-migrator is basically a backup tool. It won’t delete your tables but rather shift them into three different files. The first file will hold the complete backup of all the tables, the second file will only hold the core Joomla tables and all remaining tables apart from the core Joomla would be shifted into the third file.
In case of third party tables, it is not always ensured that during the shift process their encoding will remain intact. There may or may not be a change. Also once they are backed up by the com_migrator they wont be used anywhere in your website. It can’t be foreseen. That’s why I pointed out in my previous article to remove all third party components before conversion. The com_migrator will not effect or change ay coding in the tables apart from the third party ones.
After that all you have to do is install Joomla 1.5 and create a new empty website with it. Then you can transfer all your tables from the com_migrator to your new Joomla 1.5 website. The installation wizard will do all the import and conversions for you. All the menu/s will be reconstructed as they were in you Joomla 1.0x and all the core modules would be appended in the same way as they were in your old website.
On the other hand Upgrading manually is a nightmare. It involves a lot of code complexities so I won’t advise any one to do that. The semi automatic system gives you the almost 100% result. The only thing you have to do is to re install the third party plug ins on you Joomla 1.5 and set up components once again. It may take a few days time to get along completely, but once you move on to the 1.5 platform all you hard work would definitely be paid off.
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