Joomla VirtueMart Tips

Virtuemart Development Example 2

2013-03-29T00:00:00Z

VirtueMart 2.0
Development 2

Below is a recent example of some of the types of Virtuemart development we do.

This client ineeded to be able to set up a particular buyer group that other buyers could add their Cart to this buyers Cart.

This Virtuemart development was successfully completed. When a buyer reached the checkout page he could, with a dropdown menu, either checkout to his own account or select a member of the special shopper group to check out his/her order to.
If he chose this option a "Saved Cart" was established under the special shoppers account with all the original shoppers details.

The special shopper is notified by email and can login to the front end to view the orders and either add them to a "bulk" cart order or delete them.
He/she can then checkout in the normal manner - inthe admin area each order is kept separate.

VirtueMart 2 Pre-configured Shipping Component

2013-03-29T00:00:00Z

VirtueMart 2.0
Pre-configured Addresses

We have finished development of a Joomla / VirtueMart component to allow pre-configured shipping addresses to be setup for your Virtuemart checkout. This can be a very useful service to shops selling gifts in a defined area to for example hospitals (maternity gifts, flowers etc) or jails ;)

The pre-configured addresses appear as links in the shipping addresses dialog, clicking on the lik fills the address into the shipping address fields.

You can download it here - Download Price is €40.00

TaxCloud.net VirtueMart 2 Integration

2013-03-02T00:00:00Z

VirtueMart 2.0
TaxCloud

The problem of USA sales tax limits the usabiliy of Virtuemart for any US based online shop.

By law the relevant sales tax must be charged according to the delivery address in the United States if you have a "presence" in that state.

We have now integrated the TaxCloud service to enable the automation of this tax requirement.

Download Withdrawn - Price is €50.00

AusPost VirtueMart 2.0 Shipping Plugin upgraded for GST handling

2013-02-16T00:00:00Z

VirtueMart 2.0
AusPost Shipping v1.2.2

Our very popular Australian Post VirtueMart 2.0 Shipping Plugin has just had another upgrade for better handling of GST in the cart.

The AusPost servers return just the gross sum (GST included) for the shipping queries. We have coded an integration that effectively subtracts the GST at the rate entered in your VirtueMart Tax configuration and allows VirtueMart to re-add it in the cart. Therefore the cart display accurately reflects the total GST charged.
This is all selectable in the plugin configuration.

You can download it here - Download Price is €40.00

Virtuemart 2.0 Postcode shipping Updated

2013-02-02T00:00:00Z

VirtueMart 2.0
Postcode - ZIP code Shipping Module

We have upgraded our VirtueMart 2.0 Postcode - ZIP code Shipping Plugin to extend its shipping calculation possibilities.
This now gives a lot more alternative configurations for combinations of weight, price and trigger levels.

You can download it here - Download Price is €40.00

VirtueMart 2 Add to Cart button on Category Page

2013-01-31T10:17:41Z

This is a simple copy and paste of how to show the "Add to Cart" button on the VirtueMart 2 category pages.

So your code isn't overwritten on the next update make sure you do this with a template overide!

Construct the following folder hierarchy in your current Joomla template folder.

VirtueMart 2.0 Attention, could not find currency code in the table for id

2013-01-31T09:16:21Z

Your happily building your Virtuemart 2.0 site and see in the administration currencies a load the listed currencies that you will never use, 163 in fact. Obvious solution is to delete the ones you don't need as there is a big delete button on the top right - job done!

AusPost VirtueMart 2.0 Shipping Plugin upgraded for error handling

2013-01-26T00:00:00Z

VirtueMart 2.0
AusPost Shipping v1.2.1

Our very popular Australian Post VirtueMart 2.0 Shipping Plugin has just had another upgrade to handle the false postcode failure much better.

Up to now if the customer entered a wrong Australian Postcode the error would be returned BUT the customer could also checkout with the zero postage.
This is because of the way Virtuemart 2.0 handles the returns from the shipping plugins - anything that is not a number or is empty is treated as 0.00.

You can download it here - Download Price is €40.00

Virtuemart 2.0 UK Postcode Shipping Plugin example

2013-01-12T13:43:34Z

VirtueMart 2.0
UK Postcode Shipping Module

Many people have asked for further explanation of our VirtueMart 2.0 UK Postcode Shipping Plugin that fully integrates and allows a complete UK Postcode area solution with only one setup.
Below is a configuration example for a relatively simple UK postage scheme.

You can download it here - Download Price is €40.00

Improve Virtuemart 1.1 metatags & SEO

2013-01-12T11:55:04Z

VirtueMart 1.1
Metatags

Below are some simple hacks to improve your VirtueMart 1.1 metatags especially the html title.

Html titles are critical to good search engine visibility and the meta description and meta keywords play a part as well.

Virtuemart Development Example 1

2013-01-10T14:02:19Z

VirtueMart 2.0
Development 1

Below is a recent example of some of the types of Virtuemart development we can do.

This client is developing a Computer games price comparison site using Joomla 2.5 with Virtuemart 2.0. Each game in Virtuemart is a Parent product and the Children products are the available games for price comparison. Therefore all the children need to be visible on the product page and ordered by price.

This we did by building a new Virtuemart 2.0 product details template and additionally we re-developed parts of the product model to provide the correct ordering.

VirtueMart 2.0 & 1.1 ccBill payment Gateway

2013-01-09T00:00:00Z

VirtueMart
ccBill Payment

ccBill is the largest and most popular of the internet Adult Payment gateways.
For more information see their documentation for ccBill online merchants.

Here at GJC Web Design we have completed a number of ccBill Payment Gateway integrations including for Virtuemart.

These are installable Virtuemart Payment extensions that operate in the normal Virtuemart way and provide notification of successful feedback etc.

AusPost VirtueMart 2.0 Shipping Plugin upgraded for free shipping

2012-12-13T22:19:18Z

VirtueMart 2.0
AusPost Shipping

Our very popular Australian Post VirtueMart 2.0 Shipping Plugin has just had an upgrade to include natively a Free Shipping setting.
This can now be set in the Plugin admin and the labels change in the cart and Shipping Select pages.

You can download it here - Download Price is €40.00

Virtuemart 2 Joomla 2.5 Cart with Shipping Module released

2012-12-09T00:00:00Z

VirtueMart 2.0
Cart with Shipping DISPLAY Module

We are happy to announce a VirtueMart 2.0 Cart with Shipping Display Module that displays the shipping price separately.
Installs as a native Joomla 2.5 Module.

You can download it here - Download Price is €12.00

Virtuemart 2 Joomla 2.5 AusPost Shipping Estimator Module released

2012-11-29T00:00:00Z

VirtueMart 2.0
AusPost Shipping Estimator Module

We are happy to announce a VirtueMart 2.0 AusPost Shipping Estimator Module that fully integrates and allows live quotes from the AusPost Server.
Installs as a native Joomla 2.5 Module.

You can download it here - Download Price is €40.00

Virtuemart 2 Joomla 2.5 Postcode - ZIP code Shipping Plugin released

2012-07-27T00:00:00Z

VirtueMart 2.0
Postcode - ZIP code Shipping Module

We are happy to announce a VirtueMart 2.0 Postcode - ZIP code Shipping Plugin that fully integrates and allows a complete Postcode - ZIP code area solution with only one setup.
Installs as a native VirtueMart 2.0 Joomla 2.5 Shipping Plugin.

You can download it here - Download Price is €40.00

Virtuemart 2 Joomla 2.5 NZ Post New Zealand Shipping Plugin released

2012-05-30T00:00:00Z

VirtueMart 2.0
NZ Post Shipping Module

We are happy to announce a VirtueMart 2.0 NZ Post "New Zealand Post" Shipping Plugin that fully integrates and shows
real time quotations based on vendor and customer postcodes in the checkout process.
Installs as a native VirtueMart 2.0 Joomla 2.5 Shipping Plugin.

You can download it here - Download Price is €40.00

Virtuemart 1.1 AusPost Australia Shipping new api Plugin released

2012-05-04T00:00:00Z

VirtueMart 1.1
AusPost New Api

We are happy to announce a VirtueMart 1.1 NEW api AusPost "Australia Post" Shipping Plugin that fully integrates and shows
real time quotations based on vendor and customer postcodes in the checkout process.
Installs as a VirtueMart 1.1 NEW api Joomla Shipping Plugin.

You can download it here - Download Price is €40.00

Virtuemart 2 Joomla 2.5 AusPost Australia Shipping Plugin released

2012-05-03T00:00:00Z

VirtueMart 2.0
AusPost Shipping Module

We are happy to announce a VirtueMart 2.0 AusPost "Australia Post" Shipping Plugin that fully integrates and shows
real time quotations based on vendor and customer postcodes in the checkout process.
Installs as a native VirtueMart 2.0 Joomla 2.5 Shipping Plugin.

You can download it here - Download Price is €40.00

Virtuemart 2 Joomla 2.5 e-go Australia Shipping Plugin released

2012-04-22T19:37:56Z

VirtueMart 2.0
e-go Shipping Module

We are happy to announce the VirtueMart 2.0 e-go "Australia's #1 Cheap Courier & Freight Service" that fully integrates and shows real time quotations based on vendor and customer postcodes in the checkout process.
Installs as a native VirtueMart 2.0 Joomla 2.5 Shipping Module.

Virtuemart 2.0 shipping module Australia e-go.com.au

2012-04-22T00:00:00Z

VirtueMart 2.0
e-go Shipping Module

We are happy to annouce a VirtueMart 2.0 e-go "Australia's #1 Cheap Courier & Freight Service" that fully integrates and shows real time quotations based on vendor and customer postcodes in the checkout process.
Installs as a native VirtueMart 2.0 Joomla 2.5 Shipping Module.

Joomla 2.5 Page Views Plugin updated for Joomla 2.5

2012-04-09T00:00:00Z

Joomla 2.5
plg_jpageviews

Our popular Joomla Page Views plugin has been updated for Joomla 2.5. This Joomla 2.5 Plugin allows you, with just a short tag, to insert the number of page views (hits) of any article along with the linked title to the page.
As well some standard text can be included before and after the page views number and a left or right float can be specified.
New to this release the texts can come from the included language files allowing translation of the texts.

You can download it here - Download Price €8.00

A Joomla 2.5 Plugin to insert the rel="nofollow" attribute within outgoing links updated

2012-04-09T00:00:00Z

Joomla 2.5
plg_metaNoFollow

Our very popular Joomla nofollow plugin has been updated to Joomla 2.5 compatibility. The "nofollow" is an HTML attribute value used to instruct some search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the link target's ranking in the search engine's index.
We have now updated it to exclude chosen authors from having a nofollow link.

Joomla 1.7 Page Views Plugin updated for Joomla 1.7

2011-10-29T12:49:47Z

Joomla 1.7
plg_jpageviews

Our popular Joomla Page Views plugin has been updated for Joomla 1.7. This Joomla 1.7 Plugin allows you, with just a short tag, to insert the number of page views (hits) of any article along with the linked title to the page.
As well some standard text can be included before and after the page views number and a left or right float can be specified.
New to this release the texts can come from the included language files allowing translation of the texts.

You can download it here - Download Price €8.00

A Joomla 2.5 Plugin to show the number of page views anywhere in your content

2011-10-29T00:00:00Z

Joomla 2.5
plg_jpageviews

This Joomla 2.5 Plugin allows you, with just a short tag, to insert the number of page views (hits) of any article along with the linked title to the page.
As well some standard text can be included before and after the page views number and a left or right float can be specified.
New to this release the texts can come from the included laguage files allowing translation of the texts.

You can download it here - Download Price €8.00

How it works -

It replaces a unique tag {*jpageviews 00 none} (asterisk inserted to prevent parsing) with the number of page views (hits) of the chosen article along, optionally, with the linked title to the page.
N.B. For the first 9 ids a leading 0 is nesscesary e.g 02
If the required page views (hits) is the currently displayed page then the number to insert is 00.
If you require another page then insert that article id number.
If you require a left or right float then use those words, otherwise use none.
The text boxes accept html so if you wanted a different text colour, font etc you could apply a class and style it in your css sheet or just add a span styling in the first and last text box.

e.g. 1st text box - <span style="color:red;">The number of hits for
3rd text box - visitors.</span>

Installation -

Install in the normal way via Extensions-->Install/Uninstall.
Enable the plugin via Extensions-->Plugin Manager.
Fill in any text you may want in the text boxes.
Choose whether you want the article titles and whether the title is linked.

Example -

Below you can see the plugin working if you refresh this page a few times.
The html for this is as follows - (asterisk inserted to prevent parsing)


{*jpageviews 00 none}
{*jpageviews 58 none}
{*jpageviews 22 none}
{*jpageviews 239 none}

You can see a demo page here - J2.5 Pageview Demo

If you have any comments, suggestions or need any help please use the support page.
Thanks.

A Joomla 2.5 Plugin to insert the rel="nofollow" attribute within outgoing links

2011-10-29T00:00:00Z

Joomla 2.5
plg_metaNoFollow

We have successfully upgraded the Meta noFollow Plugin to work with Joomla 2.5. The "nofollow" is an HTML attribute value used to instruct some search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the link target's ranking in the search engine's index.
It tells the search engines not to count this link in their search ranking calculations.
This could be of use for your own search engine ranking if you had pages with many outward bound links.

You can download it here - Download - The price is €8.00.

How it works -

If the page is from a category enabled via the parameters the plugin is parsed unless the page id is specifically excluded. If you need all categories to have no-follow insert a all in the text area.

It also excludes any authors whose IDs are entered in the parameters.

It parses the page content for links.

It then inserts the rel="nofollow" attribute on any link that is not from the site, i.e. only external links.

N.B.
As with ALL Joomla plugins this ONLY operates on content.
If you need the ability to make Menu items nofollow contact us for this solution.

Installation -

Install in the normal way via Extensions-->Install/Uninstall.
Enable the plugin via Extensions-->Plugin Manager.
Insert the category id of the articles you want to include the rel="nofollow" in. Insert all if all categories are included.
You can exclude particular articles by inserting their id in the 3rd text box.
You can exclude particular authors by inserting their id in the 4th text box.
Multiple id's should be comma separated, no spaces e.g. 3,4,5
You can choose whether the external links open in a new window i.e. include the target="_blank" parameter.

The links will be changed from -

<a href="http://www.GJCWebdesign.com">GJC Web Design</a>
to
<a href="http://www.GJCWebdesign.com" rel="nofollow">GJC Web Design</a>

If you have any comments, suggestions or need any help please leave a comment below.
Thanks.

A Joomla 1.7 Plugin to insert the rel="nofollow" attribute within outgoing links updated

2011-10-29T00:00:00Z

Joomla 1.7
plg_metaNoFollow

Our very popular Joomla nofollow plugin has been updated to Joomla 1.7 compatibility. The "nofollow" is an HTML attribute value used to instruct some search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the link target's ranking in the search engine's index.
We have now updated it to exclude chosen authors from having a nofollow link.

How to use Joomla Plugins in VirtueMart 1.1

2011-06-09T16:43:18Z

Joomla 1.5
VM 1.1

Although VirtueMart 1.1 has a Configuration setting to enable content mambots / plugins in descriptions this only seems to work within the actual product description field.
If you need the plugin to render elsewhere in VirtueMart do the following.

Book Review - Mastering Joomla! 1.5 Extension and Framework Development : 2nd Edition

2010-11-28T00:00:00Z

Packt Publishing's Mastering Joomla! 1.5 Extension and Framework Development : 2nd Edition by James Kennard is the heavy weight title in Packt's range of Joomla titles!
This is a book for developers who want to know the full story of Joomla 1.5 architecture.

Book Review - Building job sites with Joomla!

2010-10-20T14:39:43Z

Joomla 1.5
Building job sites with Joomla!

Packt Publishing's Building job sites with Joomla!, by Santonu Kumar Dhar covers a lot of ground!
It tells you all you need to know about the Jobs! Pro component but also gives an excellent grounding on installing and configuring Joomla 1.5.

Installing and Configuring Joomla! 1.5

2010-10-16T10:43:02Z

Joomla 1.5
Joomla Jobs!

by Santonu Kumar Dhar | September 2010 | Joomla! Open Source
Before we start how to develop a jobsite with Joomla!, we need to install and configure Joomla! 1.5 and Jobs! extension along with all of its modules.

Joomla! 1.5 JavaScript jQuery book review

2010-10-07T00:00:00Z

Joomla 1.5
Mod & Comp build

Packt Publishing's Joomla! 1.5 JavaScript jQuery by Jose Argudo Blanco is much more than the title suggests!
It gives a very good grounding in jQuery modules & plugins available, building your own Joomla 1.5 modules and components and intergrating various jQuery scripts and plugins into your Joomla 1.5 mods and components.

The Basics of Joomla! Module Creation and Creating a "Send us a question" Module

2010-10-06T13:20:38Z

by Jose Argudo Blanco | July 2010 | Joomla! Open Source

To date, Joomla! has been well known as a great content management system (CMS). There are many sites using it throughout the world, some of them having great features that impress their visitors. Most of the time, these appealing and powerful features work thanks to JavaScript.

A Joomla Module to show SOBI2 Category Descriptions - SOBI2 Show Category Descriptions

2010-05-03T18:24:09Z

Joomla 1.5
Modules

We needed the ability to show the decriptions from each SOBI2 Categories of each item. Here is the result, the SOBI2 Show Category Descriptions Module.
Now you can show any SOBI2 Category Description exactly where you want and configure which fields are displayed and style the display as you want it.

e-go.com.au VirtueMart Shipping Module released today

2010-02-19T15:14:11Z

VirtueMart 1.1
e-go Shipping Module

We have built a VirtueMart 1.1 e-go "Australia's #1 Cheap Courier & Freight Service" that fully integrates and shows real time quotations based on vendor and customer postcodes in the checkout process.
Installs as a native VirtueMart Shipping Module.

e-go.com.au Shipping Module for VirtueMart 1.1

2010-02-19T08:45:10Z

VirtueMart 1.1
e-go Shipping Module

A Joomla 1.5 Plugin to insert the rel="nofollow" attribute within outgoing links updated

2010-02-13T12:21:29Z

Joomla 1.5
plg_metaNoFollow

The "nofollow" is an HTML attribute value used to instruct some search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the link target's ranking in the search engine's index.
We have now updated it to exclude chosen authors from having a nofollow link.

A Joomla Module to show SOBI2 Category Contents - SOBI2 Show Category updated

2010-02-10T10:51:54Z

Joomla 1.5
Modules

The SOBI2 Show Category Contents Module has been updated to allow you to display the items by different parameters and order.
You can now show the required number of items orderd by date, id number or hits, ascending or descending.

Enable VirtueMart Paypal Notifications when Administrator folder is htaccess protected

2010-02-06T12:08:50Z

VirtueMart 1.1
Paypal IPN

The automatic notification of your Paypal payments received through your VirtueMart Shop will not work if your administrator folder is .htaccess protected (as it should be!).
Here's what you need to do to get it working.

Joomla 1.5 nofollow Plugin updated to include new window attribute

2010-01-25T09:46:28Z

Joomla 1.5
Plugin noFollow

We have updated our Joomla 1.5 nofollow Plugin to include the ability to select whether the outgoing link opens in a new window or not.
This is set in the backend parameters.

SOBI2 Show Category Contents module finally released

2010-01-21T17:10:45Z

Joomla 1.5
Modules

Sorry about the delay but today we finally released the SOBI2 Show Category Contents module.
As it's the first release and although it's been extensively tested, if there is a problem please report it immediately.
The price is €10.

A Joomla Module to show SOBI2 Category Contents - SOBI2 Show Category

2010-01-08T15:28:35Z

Joomla 1.5
Modules

We needed the ability to show items from particular SOBI2 Categories at the bottom of articles. Here is the result, the SOBI2 Show Category Contents Module.
Now you can show any SOBI2 Category exactly where you want and configure which fields are displayed and style the display as you want it.

Joomlaxi Captcha 1.0 Released

2009-12-30T19:16:06Z

Joomla 1.5
Captcha Plugin

Have just tried the new Joomlaxi Captcha 1.0 Plugin and are totally impressed.
Works straight out of the box and should be part of Joomla Core.

No menus appear for mod_product_categories VirtueMart

2009-12-27T13:27:16Z

Joomla 1.5
VirtueMart 1.1

You install your VirtueMart mod_product_categories to have a nice drop down or flyout VirtueMart Categories menus but the only menu you can get to show is the simple list!

New Joomla Show Images Module released

2009-12-20T20:22:33Z

Joomla 1.5
Modules

Today we released another free module.
A client ask for a module to show a set of images from a folder. There was nothing available from Joomla Extensions so we coded this.
I have no idea whether this would be useful to someone but here it is.

A Joomla Module to show images from a folder - Show Images

2009-12-20T15:12:39Z

Joomla 1.5
Modules

A client ask for some how to show a set of images from a folder in a module. There was nothing available from Joomla Extensions so I wrote this.
I have no idea whether this would be useful to someone but here it is.

Separate links for Briask ImageSlideShow module images Part 2

2009-12-14T13:19:11Z

Joomla 1.5

The ImageSlideShow module from briask.com is an excellent and simple image gallery which shows any images from a designated folder and have one link from the images. Clients (and I see on Briask's own forum) have asked whether it would be possible to have individual links to individual images.
This hack allows you to link any image to any url.

Separate links for Briask ImageSlideShow module images

2009-12-13T17:31:17Z

Joomla 1.5

Wrong currency symbol shown in VirtueMart Paypal checkout

2009-12-10T12:35:41Z

VirtueMart 1.1

This is actually a major bug in the VirtueMart Paypal integration. In a multi-currency store the currency symbol is completely ignored by the Paypal payment module and is passed as the VirtueMart store default currency symbol
I found this solution in the VirtueMart Forums.

Disable Joomla php error reporting with @ (at) symbol

2009-12-07T11:00:21Z

Joomla 1.5
VirtueMart 1.1

I have had a couple of occasions when uncooperative, client chosen hosts have overridden the Joomla error reporting setting.
In this case unimportant "Notice" errors can be disabled from within the code.

Change the VirtueMart Currency Symbols for Multi-Currency

2009-12-03T08:44:53Z

Joomla 1.5
VirtueMart 1.1

The VirtueMart default currency symbol is configured in the Admin-->Store-->Edit Store-->Currency Display Style but in a multi-currency Shop you just have the default currency symbols like EUR and USD for the other currencies.
I found this hack to solve this in the VirtueMart forums.

Select VirtueMart Currency By Language

2009-12-01T22:00:12Z

VirtueMart 1.1
Joomla 1.5
Joomfish 2.0

Have seen a few times the request for the VirtueMart currency to be set by the chosen language.
After a fair amount of trial and error I've finally got this to work.

Joomla & VirtueMart How To's by RSS Feed

2009-11-29T20:51:27Z

Joomla 1.5
VirtueMart 1.1

We at GJC Web Design are pleased to announce that all our tips and how to's are available by RSS feed.
Simply click the Feedburner icon on the top right to subscribe to our RSS service or enter your email address to be notified when new articles are added.

How to Customize the VirtueMart Home Page (Shop Page)

2009-11-28T15:09:44Z

VirtueMart 1.1

If you make a link just to the VirtueMart component as many do as a Front Page to their shop you get a rather boring list of top level categories and/or category thumbnails.
It can be made a lot more interesting and helpful to your visitor.

VirtueMart 1.1 Product Reviews message when not logged in

2009-11-14T17:43:21Z

Joomla 1.5
VirtueMart 1.1

If your using JoomlaWorks Tabs for your VirtueMart product pages and a separate tab for adding a product review, if your not logged in the tab is just blank.
Here's how to leave a message like "You must be logged in to leave a review".

How to show correct modules on ccNewsletter thank you pages

2009-11-04T11:15:44Z

Joomla 1.5
ccNewsletter

If you have different module layouts on different pages the thank you and other acknowledgement messages (subscribe, un-subscribe etc ) from ccNewsletter component won't return the correct module layout.
This is because the return urls are lacking an Itemid.

How to add the VirtueMart Breadcrumbs to the Browse Pages

2009-10-27T17:44:11Z

Joomla 1.5
VirtueMart 1.1

Adding the Virtuemart Breadcrumbs to your Browse pages is not native to Virtuemart.
Here are the steps and files needed to achieve this.

How to find a Whois Server response for automated lookup

2009-10-22T10:04:37Z

Joomla 1.5 + 1.0

When I was installing the new Whois Lookup Module I noticed a real lack of documentation on how to discover the correct server response from the various Whois servers .
I set out below how to do this.

Changing the Joomla Offline page how to

2009-10-19T11:30:50Z

Joomla 1.5

When you take your Joomla site "Offline" it is nice to have a page that fits in with your site design and explains to the visitor whats going on.
Here are the steps and files needed to achieve this.

How to enable Content Plugins in your VirtueMart Flypage

2009-09-17T15:25:47Z

Joomla 1.5
VirtueMart 1.1

If you enable Joomla Plugins via the VirtueMart Configuration this only enables them for the description etc of your flypage when it comes to the JoomlaWorks "Tabs & Slides" Plugin.
A bit of extra code is required.

VirtueMart 1.1 router.php returns to shop page

2009-09-12T00:00:00Z

Joomla 1.5
VirtueMart 1.1

The new "Joomla inbuilt SEF Router for Virtuemart" works problem free apart from re-directing to the "component=com_virtuemart" page when you click the "Checkout" button".
The problem is the router.php re-writes the url to "http://www.yourshop.com/shop/checkout/ssl_redirect".

Double entry in Joomla Breadcrumbs with VirtueMart 1.1

2009-09-04T00:00:00Z

Joomla 1.5
VirtueMart 1.1

When you make a normal VirtueMart category menu a double entry (iteration) appears in the Joomla breadcrumbs.
I found this solution in the VirtueMart forums.

How to make a login link Joomla 1.5

2009-08-09T00:00:00Z

Joomla 1.5
com_user

How to make a login link in Joomla 1.5 is asked quite regularly in forums.
Here's how to do it and add a bit of interactivity with the user.

Joomla! 1.5 Template Design & AJAX

2009-07-17T05:42:50Z

Joomla 1.5
Template Design

Packt Publishing's brand new Joomla! 1.5 Template Design by Tessa Blakeley Silver is the book we've all be waiting for.
Here is an excert explaining how to take advantage of AJAX on in Joomla! 1.5 template.

No Thumbnail Images in VirtueMart Category view

2009-06-28T16:36:47Z

Joomla 1.5
Virtuemart 1.1

No thumbnail images plus the no lightbox image in the VirtueMart details view is one of the most asked questions on the VirtueMart forums.And one of the least answered.

Joomla! Template Design book review

2009-06-04T09:08:20Z

Joomla 1.0
Template Design

I've just read Packt Publishing's Joomla! Template Design by Tessa Blakeley Silver.
This book goes into all aspects of a custom Joomla 1.0 template design process from initial design ideas through to the final packaging for distribution and installation.

After reading this book you will be well on the way to building your own template designs within the Joomla 1.0 environment.

Joomla! 1.5 Template Design book review

2009-06-04T09:08:20Z

Joomla 1.5
Template Design

Packt Publishing's Joomla! 1.5 Template Design by Tessa Blakeley Silver is out at last.
Now that Joomla 1.0 is long dead there has been a real need for a concise book on the Joomla 1.5 Template design process.
And this is the book you need!

Identifying Key Elements for Joomla! Template Design

2009-05-29T19:09:57Z

Joomla 1.0
Templates

Before beginning the actual coding of the template you need to get an overall idea of where everything will be and how it will look.
But thanks to Packt Publishing I can publish the relevant chapter from "Joomla! Template Design" by Tessa Blakeley Silver.

How to Style the Joomla 1.5 Breadcrumbs Display

2009-05-11T12:17:10Z

Joomla 1.5
mod_breadcrumbs

The standard Joomla 1.5 breadcrumbs display can be quite plain.
Here's how to brighten it up a bit.

Adding Back Buttons to VirtueMart 1.1 Account Maintenance pages

2009-05-05T12:21:15Z

Joomla 1.0 & 1.5
Virtuemart 1.1

When the customers of VirtueMart alter their Account Information or Shipping Address it is nice to have a "Back" button along side the submit button for when the want to just check their info without altering it.

Part of the "delight" of Virtuemart is finding where the coding
is done for any particular element.

Improved configuration of the VirtueMart 1.1 Paypal payment module

2009-04-28T07:26:45Z

Joomla 1.0 + 1.5
VirtueMart 1.1
PayPal payment module

The configuration for the Paypal payment module shipped with VirtueMart 1.1 is extremely basic, providing very little information for the customer and even misleading information e.g. no matter how many products the customer buys the Paypal interface shows Quantity : 1.

With a few changes the Paypal payment method can be much more informative.

How to pass Joomla 1.0 parameters to an iframe (wrapper) page

2009-04-27T10:43:23Z

Joomla 1.0
com_wrapper

If we are using an iframe (wrapper) within our content we sometimes need to pass Joomla parameters to the called page.

If were still using Joomla 1.0 we have to change the core files.

A Joomla 1.5 Plugin to show the number of page views anywhere in your content

2009-04-25T19:23:16Z

Joomla 1.5
plg_jpageviews

This Joomla 1.5 Plugin allows you, with just a short tag, to insert the number of page views (hits) of any article along with the linked title to the page.
As well some standard text can be included before and after the page views number and a left or right float can be specified.

You can download it here - Download Price €8.00

How it works -

It replaces a unique tag {*jpageviews 00 none} (asterisk inserted to prevent parsing) with the number of page views (hits) of the chosen article along, optionally, with the linked title to the page.
If the required page views (hits) is the currently displayed page then the number to insert is 00.
If you require another page then insert that article id number.
If you require a left or right float then use those words, otherwise use none.
The text boxes accept html so if you wanted a different text colour, font etc you could apply a class and style it in your css sheet or just add a span styling in the first and last text box.

e.g. 1st text box - <span style="color:red;">The number of hits for
3rd text box - visitors.</span>

Installation -

Install in the normal way via Extensions-->Install/Uninstall.
Enable the plugin via Extensions-->Plugin Manager.
Fill in any text you may want in the text boxes.
Choose whether you want the article titles and whether the title is linked.

Example -

Below you can see the plugin working if you refresh this page a few times.
The html for this is as follows - (asterisk inserted to prevent parsing)

  

{*jpageviews 00 none}
{*jpageviews 58 none}
{*jpageviews 22 none}
{*jpageviews 239 none}

Here the plugin is parsing the tags -

{jpageviews 00 none}
{jpageviews 58 none}
{jpageviews 22 none}
{jpageviews 239 none}

Updates

Version 1.1
Oh happy days, problem with more than 2 digits in the Page ID fixed, just un-install the old version, download version 1.1 and install.
All your page codes will still work. The last example above has a page ID of 239.

If you have any comments, suggestions or need any help please leave a comment below.
If you use it on a commercial site please leave a small donation.
Thanks.

How to pass Joomla 1.5 parameters to an iframe (wrapper) page

2009-04-23T15:13:58Z

Joomla 1.5
com_wrapper

If we are using an iframe (wrapper) within our content we sometimes need to pass Joomla parameters to the called page.

By using Joomla's template override system we don't have to touch any core files.

How to display the number of article hits & creation date in the Latest News Module - Joomla 1.5

2009-04-22T09:52:33Z

Joomla 1.5
Module mod_latestnews

The Latest News module (mod_latestnews) can be adapted to show the creation date of your latest articles.

With a couple of small changes you can show the number of page views as well.

Learning Joomla! 1.5 Extension Development book review

2009-04-20T08:36:54Z

Joomla 1.5
Exension Development

I've just read Packt Publishing's Learning Joomla! 1.5 Extension Development by Joseph L. LeBlanc.
LeBlanc takes us step-by-step through the building of a Restaurant Reviews Component along with Modules & Plugins.

By using this example he is able to demonstrate the various methods and skills needed to develop these extensions within the Joomla 1.5 enviroment.

A Joomla 1.5 Plugin to insert the rel="nofollow" attribute within outgoing links

2009-04-19T17:17:38Z

Joomla 1.5
plg_metaNoFollow

The "nofollow" is an HTML attribute value used to instruct some search engines that a hyperlink should not influence the link target's ranking in the search engine's index.
It tells the search engines not to count this link in their search ranking calculations.
This could be of use for your own search engine ranking if you had pages with many outward bound links.

You can download it here - Download - The price is €8.00.

How it works -

If the page is from a section or category enabled via the parameters the plugin is parsed unless the page id is specifically excluded.
It also excludes any authors whose IDs are entered in the parameters.
It parses the page content for links.
It then inserts the rel="nofollow" attribute on any link that is not from the site, i.e. only external links.

N.B. If you enter a Section ID then all articles in that Section will have nofollow except if they are entered in the ignored articles box.
As with ALL Joomla plugins this ONLY operates on content.
If you need the ability to make Menu items nofollow contact us for this solution.

Installation -

Install in the normal way via Extensions-->Install/Uninstall.
Enable the plugin via Extensions-->Plugin Manager.
Insert the section or category id of the articles you want to include the rel="nofollow" in.
You can exclude particular articles by inserting their id in the 3rd text box.
You can exclude particular authors by inserting their id in the 4th text box.
Multiple id's should be comma separated, no spaces e.g. 3,4,5
You can choose whether the external links open in a new window i.e. include the target="_blank" parameter.

The links will be changed from -

<a href="http://www.GJCWebdesign.com">GJC Web Design</a>
to
<a href="http://www.GJCWebdesign.com" rel="nofollow">GJC Web Design</a>

If you have any comments, suggestions or need any help please leave a comment below.
Thanks.

How to display the number of article hits in the Article layout - Joomla 1.5

2009-04-18T13:54:45Z

Joomla 1.5
com_content

This change will display the number of times each article has been read (hits) in the Joomla 1.5 Article layout.

You can see how it looks on the article pages.

Show the number of views (page hits) in the camp26 latest news module

2009-04-18T10:24:01Z

Joomla 1.5
Module mod_camp26_latestnews

The Camp26 Latest News module provides a nice sidebar listing of your latest articles.

With a couple of small changes you can show the number of page views as well.

Customise the VirtueMart 1.1 Related Products display

2009-04-18T08:46:53Z

Joomla 1.5 + 1.0
VirtueMart 1.1

The default layout for the VirtueMart 1.1 Related Products display is a maximum of 4 products displayed in a horizontal row.

It's quite easy to change this and also to display rounded corners i.e <div><div><div><div> layout but you need to change the core files.

How to enable line wrap in the Joomla Geshi plugin

2009-04-16T18:53:46Z

Joomla 1.5 + 1.0
GeSHi Plugin

The default css for the Joomla GeSHi (Generic Syntax Highlighter) plugin prevents any line wrapping until the end of any code snippet. This can often break your page layout.

By adding these couple of lines to the template css the code breaks nicely to fit within your layout.

Joomla! E-Commerce with VirtueMart book review

2009-04-15T18:56:06Z

Joomla 1.0 & 1.5
VirtueMart 1.1

I've had the chance to read Packt Publishing's Joomla! E-Commerce with VirtueMart by Suhreed Sarkar and as a complete "how to" for Joomla and VirtueMart it's perfect.

It really does contain all you need to get up and running a full e-commerce site using these components.

How to display the number of article hits in the Blog layout - Joomla 1.5

2009-04-14T16:37:11Z

Joomla 1.5
com_content

This change will display the number of times each article has been read (hits) in the Joomla 1.5 Content Blog layout.

You can see how it looks on this page.

Managing Manufacturers, Vendors, and Product Categories with Joomla! E-Commerce VirtueMart

2009-04-10T15:52:19Z

Joomla 1.0 & 1.5
VirtueMart 1.1

Managing VirtueMart 1.1 Manufacturers, Vendors, and Product Categories can be quite confusing the first time.
But thanks to Packt Publishing I can publish the relevant chapter from "Joomla! E-Commerce with VirtueMart" by Suhreed Sarkar.

Using the VitueMart 1.1 Popup (vmPopupLink function)

2009-04-10T09:45:47Z

Joomla 1.5
VirtueMart 1.1

The VirtueMart vmPopupLink function can come in handy when you need a simple information popup in your shop.
An example could be a link to your data protection policy at registration time or on your product pages.

Joomla 1.5, VirtueMart 1.1 & Joomfish 2.0

2009-04-09T12:18:34Z

Joomla 1.5
VirtueMart 1.1
Joomfish 2.0

There is a lot of confused posts about how to enable Joomfish 2.0 compatibility with Joomla 1.5 & VirtueMart 1.1
Here (hopefully) are the steps and files needed to get these 3 components to work together.

Allow html formatting in VirtueMart's "Terms of Service"

2009-04-09T09:34:29Z

Joomla 1.5 + 1.0
VirtueMart 1.1

If your "Terms of Service" that shows on the last stage of VirtueMarts checkout is more than a couple of lines long then it can be quite unreadable.

With this hack we can enable the text area (the "Legal information text (short version)." as VirtueMart calls it) of the VirtueMart configuration page (first tab) to accept html formatting.

Display Meta Tags in your Joomla Content

2009-04-08T10:34:29Z

Joomla 1.5
Template

To raise your keyword count in your Joomla content for the Search Engines you can use native Joomla 1.5 calls to display the meta-keywords and meta-descriptions somewhere on your page.

This is a similar technique as Tag Clouds but has the advantage of being totally controllable by the author, the input fields are already present in the Joomla installation and the content appears as full sentences rather than a series of keywords.

Joomla 1.5 Automatic Login after Registration

2009-04-07T17:41:26Z

Joomla 1.5
com_user

This change will log your Joomla 1.5 users in to your site as soon as they have completed the registration process.

This works only if the user doesn't have to confirm his/her registration by email.
The registration welcome email will still be sent.

VirtueMart 1.1 Alpha Numeric search module

2009-03-28T09:18:27Z

An A to Z, 0 to 9 (Alpha-numeric) search/listing module for VirtueMart.

Search for VirtueMart products by first letter or number and display the results in the standard VirtueMart search results page.
If only one result is found it redirects to the product page.
You can try it here - Demo ... and download it here - Download

How it works -

It just utilises the standard Virtuemart search but filters it by product name and 1st letter or number.
It needs the installation of this module and two very small hacks in classes/ps_main.php and html/shop_browse_queries.php

The module installs as normal and publish it somewhere.
The only only parameters are pre and post text and module classes.
It's simply a list of search urls and is very simple to style differently directly in the mod_az_virtuemart.php file or with css.

Styling

Give the module a class then style the resulting menu class

a.mainlevel-az {
padding-left:5px;
text-decoration:none;
}

... An image for each letter would be even better.

Source Changes Needed

The change needed to html/shop_browse_queries.php is to make a new $search_limiter parameter so it only searches for the 1st letter.
around line 110 insert after switch($search_limiter) {

case "az":
$sq .= "\n `#__{vm}_product`.`product_name` LIKE '$searchstring%' ";
break;

so it looks like

switch($search_limiter) {
case "az":
$sq .= "\n `#__{vm}_product`.`product_name` LIKE '$searchstring%' ";
break;
case "name":
$sq .= "\n `#__{vm}_product`.`product_name` LIKE '%$searchstring%' ";
break;

In the file classes/ps_main.php the function "vmGetCleanArrayFromKeyword" ignores the search unless there's more than 2 letters.
I change this to 1 letter to get it to work.
I tried to use a different keyword parameter e.g. keyword3 but I couldn't get it to work but this would be a "nicer" way to do it rather than hook in to the already used parameter.
Perhaps someone can achieve this?

So in classes/ps_main.php around the line 1260 change the

if( $strlen > 2 ) {

if( $strlen > 0 ) {

{loadposition user14}

Updates!

Version 0.2
Code re-written so that the urls are formed by php, a smaller package now (ver0.2)

Version 0.3
Fixed problem with search urls and SEF components

If you have any comments, suggestions or need any help please leave a comment below.

If you use it on a commercial site (if it's Virtuemart I guess it's got to be commercial ;) ) please leave a small donation.
Thanks.

A Joomla 1.5 (Native) module for live (AJAX) searches of Virtuemart 1.1.0 product names

2009-03-11T13:40:12Z

Joomla 1.5
mod_virtuemart_live_product

16.06.2009
A new version released today with all bugs in IE fixed.
If you have an old version please download mod_virtuemart_live_product_1.1.2.j15.v0.6.zip and replace the previous one. (uninstall/re-install)
Added an option added in the backend to input the folder for url-redirect if your installation is not in the root.
The language string for no results has to be changed as well. See below.

A simple module for live VirtueMart product searches.
This is based on the excellent mod_pixsearch live search module designed by Henrik Hussfelt

You can try it on the right side ... and download it here - Download

How it works -

The string that is typed in the search box is sent as a search request to the normal VirtueMart search page.
The returned result has the product names and product page urls extracted and displayed under the search box.
If there is only one result a message is displayed and the browser is re-directed to the product page.
If there is no result this is displayed in the results box.
You can select via the back-end whether you want to search only for "Product Names" or "Product Names, Descriptions, SKU and Categories".
A minimum of 3 letters is needed, if you want one or two letter minimum this can be changed in the code but a hack is also needed in the VirtueMart core file classes/ps_main.php around the line 1260.
```
if( $strlen > 2 ) { 
```
change to
```
if( $strlen > 0 ) { 
```
for 1 letter etc....

Installation -

Install in the normal way via Extensions-->Install/Uninstall.
Enable the module in the desired position.
To detect the "no result" condition you need to add a class to the "no result" text in all the relevant VirtueMart language files.
Open administrator/components/com_virtuemart/languages/common/your_language.php and on ~ line 57 add these span tags to the translation text like so...
```
'PHPSHOP_NO_SEARCH_RESULT' => 
'Your search returned 0 results.
'
```
Do this for each installed language.
English, German, Czech, Hungarian, Dutch & French language files are included.
Any other translations you make please include in a comment below, it's only 6 lines :lol:

Configuration -

A text can be included before and after the search box.
If your installation is not in the root you can input the sub-folder with a trailing slash.
"VM Searchpage URL" refers to the VirtueMart Extended search url
(normally " index.php?option=com_virtuemart&page=shop.browse&Search=Search")
The default CSS is at
"your-site/modules/mod_vm_live_product/css/vm_live_product_default.css".
The absolute positioned results div can be adjusted by margins in the parameters.
Choose whether you want to search by "Product Names" or "Product Names, Descriptions, SKU and Categories".
You must select the correct VirtueMart Browse Template for the extraction to be able to find the resulting product names and urls.
You can see which template your using at
Components-->Virtuemart--> and then Administration-->Configuration-->Site-->Category Template.
It doesn't function with 'Managed'or 'browse_lite_pdf'.
If you have modified the selected Template enter "other" and fill in the element in the field below.

Fine tuning if a non-standard VirtueMart Browse template is used.

The module uses Javascript to extract the product names and urls from the returned search results.
If you have changed the standard distributed templates the Javascript needs to know in which elements it has to look for this information.
To do this you need to look at the source code of a returned search result and find which element is unique to the product name.

Example

Do a normal VirtueMart search in your shop for a search phrase that will return more than one result.
Then display the source code of the results page and find the first product title.
In this example it is contained within a h3 tag. So that is the element we would insert in the "Other Template Element" field.

Code extract
<td><div class="browseProductContainer"> <div class="jamod module"><div><div><div> <h3 style="border-bottom: none;padding:10px 10px 0px 10px;text-align:center;min-height:30px"> <a style="font-size: 13px; font-weight: normal;text-decoration:none;" href="http://www.gjcwebdesign.com//Piatnik-Deutschland/Spiele-fur-Familien-Freundeskreis/ab-4-Jahren/Activity-Kinder.html?keyword=kinder"><b>Activity Kinder</b></a> </h3> <p style="height:53px"> <span class="productPrice"> EUR 18,89 inkl. 19 % MwSt. </span>
etc etc .....

Updates

{loadposition user14}

Version 0.4
Better handling of no result - now the "no result" message is displayed in the results box

Version 0.5
Now able to select via the back-end whether you want to search only for "Product Names" or "Product Names, Descriptions and Categories".

Version 0.6
All bugs in Internet Explorer fixed.
Option to add non-root installation folder.

If you have any comments, suggestions or need any help please leave a comment below.
If you use it on a commercial site (if it's Virtuemart I guess it's got to be commercial ;) ) please leave a small donation.
Thanks.

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