I develop a Joomla component. At the moment whenever I release a new version I ask the user to download a zip file and to manually upload the changed files via FTP. While this is ok for small releases, when a lot of files have been modified it is a slow, painful and error prone process. As alarming as it may be, many users installed Joomla via Fantastico one-click install and are not familiar with or comfortable using FTP.
I have recently added support for Joomla 1.6 which seems to provide a nice update facility for automated updates. Unfortunately the documentation seems to be lacking, e.g. what is the tags element, can the download type not be "full" and if so what would that look like?
Can any one explain the update process better or provide any good examples?
Joomla 1.5 is going to be around for a long time, is there a similar update process for 1.5?
For Joomla 1.5 at least, there is no need to use FTP for updating. In your XML manifest you can set the component to update. Rather than download, upzip, and FTP up, all your users would need to do is download the entire package, then install via the Joomla admin.
I am not sure about 1.6, your best bet would be to take apart a 1.6 component. It is my understanding that it is a rather simple process.
Related
Good day/night great minds,
I have a perfectly functional website hosted online at the following url: www.gmaworld.com (malware infected). Unfortunately This site is infected with malware. I am looking to transfer the contents to another setup to get rid of the malware.
My concern however is how to backup/retain the current addons that i have in the current set up so i dont loose them during the new setup.
I have read through most of the migration/upgrade articles for joomla and none seem to mention anything in this regard. If it does help, I am using the shaper_qubic theme.
I will appreciate every bit of advice to help me ensure a successful transfer of my addons.
Thank you.
If you are rebuilding your website to eradicate malware, the best course of action is to re-download Joomla and third party extensions from the official websites and start again.
It's possible (by examining the contents of the extension XML install file) to download all the relevant folders and files which you could then zip back into a Joomla install file but this would be a tedious process, likely prone to manual error and possibly still have vulnerabilities if these aren't the latest versions.
To keep a website secure, you should be installing Joomla and third party extension updates on a regular basis. If you have commercial extensions on your website, you'll need to renew your subscriptions in order to have access to updates.
If cost is an issue, then try to replace commercial extensions with free extensions or try to implement features using core Joomla instead. This is often possible when new features are implemented in the core.
An alternative way to retain your extensions is to clean up the malware without rebuilding your site.
The myjoomla.com audit / clean up tool does this quite well and is a much quicker way to recover your website compared to a complete rebuild.
You will probably still need to update Joomla and third party extensions to the latest versions to prevent a recurrence.
You have best free options available and not only that it is super easy to take backup and restore your site anywhere either in localhost or any other webhost. I hope you have access to backend Administrator side
Steps
Download Akeeba backup http://extensions.joomla.org/extension/akeeba-backup and install it.
Take a backup of your entire site going to components->Akeeba Backup .backup will have extension JPA backup.jpa format. it wont open in normal extractors. To open the zip file follow the next step.
Download the extract wizard from https://www.akeebabackup.com/products/akeeba-extract-wizard.html . This will help you to extract the backup file in your desktop.
To Clean the website files use kaspersky Internet Security demo version. it cleaned many of my infected files. And do a vulnerability scan installing it in localhost to know where are the loopholes.
A friend has asked me to do some work on his existing site which was built in Rapidweaver. I'm on Windows, so is there another way I can access and edit his site?
The Rapidweaver project file is meant to be edited only in Rapidweaver, really. As far as I know, the only way around would be to use an HTML editor to modify the pages that are already in the server. However, I would not reccomend you to do it unless you are not going back to Rapidweaver anymore. Because changing the files in the server does not update your local Rapidweaver files. So, you could end up editing something in the server, then getting back to Rapidweaver and upload a "new" version that would not be completely up to date (the previous changes in the server version would be overriden by the older rapidweaver project).
For that kind of work, a CMS (Content Management System) is a more flexible way to work. Nowadays, one of the most common is Wordpress. It will require an inicial setup but after it is working it can be updated from anywhere via web browser, or even from an app in your iPhone. But it is not a Rapidweaver based sollution.
There are a couple CMS related plugins or stacks (Dropkick CMS, Armadillo, Easy CMS, Total CMS...) for Rapidweaver that could also be useful in this context. Once again, first you would need to buy a licence and to setup the website using one of those plugins or stacks. Only then you would be able to edit on the go.
I am pretty new to cms and hope you can help me. I'd like to install modx on a ftp server. My problem is my predecessor created a website with joomla. Now I want to create a completely new website out of the old one (just content, layout and design will be new), but with modx. I know how to built it, but i do not understand how to install modx and building the new website without crashing the existing.
Can someone give me a little step by step (if possible as simple as you can, cause i'm really not so familiar to the topic) on where to install (some kind of subdirectory?!); and what i have to adjust in modx so while developing the old website can be used without some kind of crossing (or if possible, to install modx localy on a flashdrive and upload the website somehow when finished?).
And how, if the website is finished, to delete the old one (deinstall joomla,...) and get the new one to the root directory.
Ps. Sorry for my English, isn't the best... I am a German :)
Thanks :))
I you have access to the server management or some kind of control panel, I would suggest create a new subdomain, such as new.yourdomain.com and install MODx there. I would also suggest using a separate database, evenou though that is not crucial as you can use the default modx_ prefix to easily tell one set of tables from the old joomla ones.
Once you are happy with the new site, either transfer it:
http://rtfm.modx.com/revolution/2.x/administering-your-site/moving-your-site-to-a-new-server
or just change the DNS of your server to point the main domain to the new subdirectory. That would depend on your hosting prvider.
I am looking for an extension to my joomla site where users can download pdf instruction sheets, forms, etc from a list of files available. I would must rather it forced them to log into the site to be able to download but I can adjust that by just making the module accessible to registered people only. So that is not a must have.
Anyone knows of any extension like this one? I know JoomlaShine has this extension in their JSN CUBE template but they don't offer it by itself.
Akeeba Release System (ARS on JED) is probably the best solution of it's kind and is free to download, we use it on several of ours and our client sites.
You can also combine it with the Akeeba Subscriptions (AkSubs on JED) system to manage site access including integrated access to file downloads.
Of course there are lots of document download extensions on the the Joomla Extension Directory.
how to update my own joomla 1.5 components?
i have 2 components i made with my team, that we use on our web site. (on joomla 1.5..... we didn't upgrade for the moment)
we often make updates to fix bugs, to add new featers etc...
to put update on production server , we use FTp, and we change the files that have to be changed........ needless to say, how bad it is.....
i am looking for joomla component, plugin .... to make me able to make updates on my components/template , faster and safer (i imagine, a Zip file containing what have to be changed, and a rollback function, that allow to restore a version if there is problems)
All i found is components that allow to update the joomla core (to 2.5 for exemple).
any idea?
You could use Akeeba Live Update. It's basically a 1 click update system that downloads the update zip you upload to the FTP or other host, then unzips it, updating the extension. The first time you try it out, it might be a bit hard to get used to and will probably take a little trial and error, however its the best and I think only out there at the moment. The likes of Kunena also use this system.