Open Source - PHP Desk

How to Install YII in Wamp?

2012-06-04T12:51:00.000+05:30

Now a days so many people are looking in to the "YII" Framework, including me. So I tried to install the YII in my local system, having Wamp 2.2c. Not sure about other, but I faced some issue to install "YII" on my local host.

So I explored some time and finally able to install successfully "YII" in local System. I am thinking that it would be good to share "How to Install YII in Wamp".

To install 'YII' follow the below steps to install "YII" in you wamp server.

1. First step is inserting the Environment Variable for "php" in to your windows system to run the "YIIC" command successfully.

I. Right Click on "My Computer" ==> and select "Properties"

II. Now you will see the System Properties window. Select "Advanced" tab.

III. From that tab click on "Environment Variables" above to "OK" button.

IV. From the "System Variables" select the "Path" and click "Edit" button.

V. Now you will see the "Edit System Variable" with "Variable name" and "Variable value" Fields

VI. Enter "D:\wamp\bin\php\php5.3.9" (php5.3.9 is my php version in the D:\wamp\bin\php folder) at the end of "Variable value" without double quotes.

VII. Now click "Ok" for all the opened windows.

2. Now I have downloaded the "YII" from 'http://www.yiiframework.com/download/' and I have extracted the zip file in to the "D:\wamp\www\yii\" folder.

3. Before running "YIIC" command check system requirement to satisfy the 'YII' framework by running this URL : http://localhost/yii/requirements/

(This 'YIIC' command is for generating the YII framework files and folder for your site). Once all the requirements are satisfied then follow the below steps.

4. Open command prompt by Win + R and type "cmd" then click ok.

5. Move the current directory from "C:\Documents and Settings\username>" to "D:\wamp\www\yii"

a. > D: (enter)

b. D:\>cd wamp\www\yii\framework

c. Run this command from here : yiic webapp d:\wamp\www\mysite (mysite is the your site folder name) then the output should be like below...

D:\wamp\www\yii\framework>yiic webapp d:\wamp\www\mysite
Create a Web application under 'D:\wamp\www\mysite'? [yes|no] yes

d. type 'yes' and press enter.

6. Now you have finished your installation and it show the below message : Your application has been created successfully under D:\wamp\www\mysite.

Now you are ready to use your application by accessing the URL : http://localhost/mysite/.

Thanks

hwdVideoShare Featured Videos Module

2011-06-15T22:59:00.002+05:30

This hwdVideoShare Featured Video module is an Extension specific module, to work this it requires the hwdvideoshare component.

hwdVideoShare provides the Featured Video module but that display only Featured video thumbnails. While clicking on that thumbnail only the video will open and will play.

But my hwdVideoShare Featured Video Module is for displaying the featured videos in a video player based on the module parameter which is specified in the Module Parameters. By default it will display only one Featured Video.

Note: This module will work with Joomla1.7 but the latest hwdVideoShare Nighty Builds only. See for more details: http://hwdmediashare.co.uk/news/392-joomla-17-compatibility

You can download the zip from here

Skip Plan selection in Joomla AEC with Jomsocial profile types

2011-01-21T11:13:00.001+05:30

Here I can explain you two things.

First thing, Suppose in Jomsocial if you have two profile types such as Partner and Member. Here if you what to show first 3 plans to Member profile type and 4th plan (Free) to Parter profile type only.

Solution: After creating plans go to Restrictions Tab : set "Yes" value for 'Use Custom Restrictions' and in the 'Custom Restrictions' textarea place [[user_js_23]] = 1 for the Member profile type plans and [[user_js_23]] = 2 for Partner profile type plans.

Your can find [[user_js_23]] = profile type under User Account Related data

E.g.
[[user_js_21]] => Arts Activities
[[user_js_22]] => Template
[[user_js_23]] => Profiletype
[[user_js_25]] => Organization Name

[[user_js_23]] = 1 ==> Member profile type id
[[user_js_23]] = 2 ==> Partner profile type id

Second thing, For Member profile type users set default plan to 3rd (Platinum) and skip the plan selection until 7 days trail period ends. After trail period ends then only show plan selection.

Solution: Create 1st (Silver) and 2nd (Gold) plans, set "No" to 'primary' option under plans tab and set "Yes" to 'Required used plan' and select 3rd plan (Platinum) for 'Plan'.
Create 3rd plan with Primary option to "Yes" and no plan restrictions.

That's it for second thing. But this will work only when the payment is not recurring payment processor.

vBulletin add-on for making Private Message as archived / unarchived v1.1

2010-12-25T17:53:00.003+05:30

Hello to all,

I developed v1.1 for my previous post vBulletin add-on for making Private Message as archived / unarchived

vBulletin add-on for making Private Message as archived / unarchived

2010-11-27T10:31:00.001+05:30

Hello to all,

vBulletin is a forum software that allows users to send Private Messages (PMs) to each other. One of my client used this vBulletin Forum. He wants an addon that will show a list of all the PMs in the DB and if you click one, it should show the contents of the PM. This will run in the administrator control panel, so only the admins can use this add-on.

If admin feels the message is spam, he can select the PM and click an "archive" button and it will copy the message out of the live PM tables to some backup tables, so the message won't get delivered to site member.

Later on, if admin decided that the message is NOT spam, there will be an "un-archive" button to remove it from the backup tables and put it back into the live PM tables.

To achieve this I developed an add-on, which will help admin to make PM's archived or unarchived.

click here to get the code.. unzip and follow the instructions...

Installtion Instructions:

1. Upload the below two files in specified path below.

forum_folder/admincp/all_pms.php

forum_folder/includes/xml/cpnav_allpms.xml

2. Import the forum.sql file from PhpMyAdmin

Creat a full Installation Package of your developed site in Joomla

2010-11-13T10:18:00.000+05:30

Hello to all Joomla! fans,

If you have developed a template or custom component for Joomla, you can provide with a custom Joomla installation package that includes your demo setup to your clients by following the below steps.

Create a separate copy to your developed site's folders and files.
Very Important: Remove the "configuration.php" file.
Go to Joomla.org, Download and save the standard Joomla installation package for the version you are using to develop the site.
Extract the standard Joomla installation package and/or Save the "installation" folder to your developed Site copy folder.
Go to phpMyAdmin and Export a copy of the database with Structure, Data and Drop Table options.
Save file the sql file to your developed site copy folder as "\installation\sql\mysql\developed_site_folder_name.sql"
Select all folders and files of the developed site copy folder and zip those.
Now your installation file is complete.
You can gave that zip file to your clients.
They can install your site as Standard Joomla Installation

Hope this helps Joomla Fans like me :)

Show Categories & Sub-Categories in a tree format

2010-11-11T16:01:00.003+05:30

This post will explain how to show categories and sub-categories in a tree format in a directory.

Example:
We need to create a table called `categories` and the table Fields:
" id ", this should be a int(11), primary, and auto-increment.
" name ", this should be varchar(255) [ Name of the category ]
" parentid ", this should be int(11), [ " id " of the Parent category, if this is a sub-category, If " parentid " is 0, that means the category is a top-level category ]

Code for display Categories Dropdown:
$connection = mysql_connect('localhost', 'root', '');
if (!$connection) {
   die('Could not connect: ' . mysql_error());
}

$db = mysql_select_db ('test1', $connection);
$sql = "SELECT * from categories order by name ASC";
$cats = mysql_query($sql) or die("Could not select category");

echo "<select name="category">";
recall (0,0,$cats);
echo "</select><br>";

Function recall() is the actual function that is going to generate the tree structure for our categories and sub-categories. We initially pass it values of 0,0,and $cats for its root, depth, and the actual query data. We pass is 0 and 0 for root and depth because initially we want to start from top level directories.

Now the recall function:

function recall ( $root, $depth, $sql ) {
   $row = 0;
   while ( $acat = mysql_fetch_array ($sql) ) {
   if ( $acat['parentid'] == $root ) {
   echo "<option value='" . $acat['id'] . "'>";
   $j = 0;
   while ( $j < $depth ) {
   echo "-";
   $j++;
   }
   if ( $depth > 0 ) {
   echo "-";
   }
   echo $acat['name'] . "</option>";
   mysql_data_seek ( $sql,0 );
   recall ( $acat['id'], $depth+1, $sql );
   }
   $row++;
   mysql_data_seek ($sql, $row);
   }
}

The mysql_data_seek function is to rebuffer the query. So that you can go through it again at the end of each iteration.

It looks bit complicated but basically its going through all the categories in the while loop and seeing if the current categories is equal to root. Since initially the root is zero, it just prints the category without indentations. It also sets a variable, j, to keep track of how deep in the tree a category is, so it can print the appropriate number of indentations (-) segments so the tree will look right. Also if the depth of the categories is not zero, that means its a sub-category, it will print a dash indicating its a sub-category of a higher level category.

Then the function calls itself and adds one to the depth only if the " parentid " is not zero. This way, it will keep transversing the nodes of the tree until it goes through all the categories and subcategories. Calling itself and incrementing the depth by 1 ensures proper level of the category within the tree. When the while loop finishes, you will have all the categories displayed in tree format.

How to Create a Joomla! Plugin

2010-04-27T18:42:00.009+05:30

Introduction

Joomla! plugins serve a variety of purposes. As modules enhance the presentation of the final output of the Web site, plugins enhance the data and can also provide additional, installable functionality.
This tutorial looks at the general principles used to design and build a plugin.

Plugin Types

While the number of possible types of plugins is almost limitless, there are a number of core plugin types that are used by Joomla!. These core types are grouped into directories under /plugins/. They are:

authentication
content
editors
editors-xtd
search
system
user
xmlrpc

Authentication plugins allow you to authenticate (to allow you to login) against different sources. By default you will authenticate against the Joomla! user database when you try to login. However, there are other methods available such as by OpenID, by a Google account, LDAP, and many others. Wherever a source has a public API, you can write an authentication plugin to verify the login credentials against this source. For example, you could write a plugin to authenticate against Twitter accounts because they have a public API.

Content plugins modify and add features to displayed content. For example, content plugins can cloak email address or can convert URL's into SEF format. Content plugins can also look for markers in content and replace them with other text or HTML. For example, the Load Module plugin will take {*loadmodule banner1*} (you would remove the *'s in practice. They are included to actually prevent the plugin from working in this article), load all the modules in the banner1 position and replace the marker with that output.

Editor plugins allow you to add new content editors (usually WYSIYWG).

Editor-XTD (extended) plugins allow you to add additional buttons to the editors. For example, the Image, Pagebreak and Read more buttons below the default editor are actually plugins.

Search plugins allow you to search different content from different components. For example, search plugins for Articles, Contacts and Weblinks are already provided in Joomla!.

System plugins allow you to perform actions at various points in the execution of the PHP code that runs a Joomla! Web site.

User plugins allow you to perform actions at different times with respect to users. Such times include logging in and out and also saving a user. User plugins are typically user to "bridge" between web applications (such as creating a Joomla! to phpBB bridge).

XML-RPC plugins allow you to provide additional XML-RPC web services for your site. When your Web site exposes web services, it gives you the ability to interact remotely, possibly from a desktop application. Web services are a fairly advanced topic and will not be covered in much detail here.

The Basic Files

While a plugin can have any number of files, there are two you need as a minimum and there are specific naming conventions you must follow. Before we look at the files, we must decide what sort of plugin we are going to create. It must either fall under one of the built-in types (authentication, content, editors, editors-xtd, search, system, user or xmlrpc) or your can create your own type by adding a new folder under /plugins/. So, files for an authentication plugin will be saved under /plugins/authentication/, files for a system plugin will be saved under /plugins/system/, and so on.

Let's look at an example creating the basic skeleton for a system plugin called "Test". There is no restriction on the file name for the plugin (although we recommend sticking with alpha-numeric characters and underscores only), but once you decide on the file name, it will set the naming convention for other parts of the plugin.

For this plugin you will need to create a PHP file, test.php, which is the file actually loaded by Joomla! and an XML file, text.xml, which contains meta and installation information for the plugin as well as the definition of the plugin parameters.

test.php

The skeleton test.php has the following source:

// no direct access
defined( '_JEXEC' ) or die( 'Restricted access' );

jimport( 'joomla.plugin.plugin' );

/**
 * Example system plugin
 */
class plgSystemTest extends JPlugin
{
 /**
  * Constructor
  *
  * For php4 compatibility we must not use the __constructor as a 
  * constructor because func_get_args ( void ) returns a copy of 
  * all passed arguments
  * This causes problems with cross-referencing necessary for the 
  * observer design pattern.
  *
  * @access protected
  * @param object $subject The object to observe
  * @param  array   $config  An array that holds the plugin configuration
  * @since 1.0
  */
 function plgSystemTest( &$subject, $config )
 {
  parent::__construct( $subject, $config );

  // Do some extra initialisation in this constructor if required
 }

 /**
  * Do something onAfterInitialise 
  */
 function onAfterInitialise()
 {
  // Perform some action
 }
}

Let's look at this file in detail. Please note that the usual Docblock (the comment block you normally see at the top of most PHP files) has been omitted for clarity.

The file starts with the normal check for defined( '_JEXEC' ) which ensures that the file will fail to execute if access directly via the URL. This is a very important security feature and the line must be placed before any other executable PHP in the file (it's fine to go after all the initial comment though). The importance of having this check your PHP files cannot be overemphasised.

Next we use the jimport function to load the library file with the definition of the JPlugin class.
You will notice that a plugin is simply a class derived from JPlugin (this differs from previous versions of Joomla!). The naming convention of this class is very important. The formula for this name is:
plg + Proper case name of the plugin directory + Proper case name of the plugin file without the extension.

Proper case simply means that we capitalise the first letter of the name. When we join them altogether it's then referred to as "Camel Case". The case is not that important as PHP classes are not case-sensitive but it's the convention Joomla! uses and generally makes the code a little more readable.

For our test system plugin, the formula gives us a class name of:
plg + System + Test = plgSystemTest

Let's move on to the methods in the class.
The first method, which is called the constructor, is completely optional. You only require this is you want to do some work when the plugin is actually loaded by Joomla!. This happens with a call to the helper method JPluginHelper::importPlugin( ). This means that you even if the plugin is never triggered, for whatever reason, you still have an opportunity to execute code if you need to in the constructor.

In PHP 4 the name of the constructor method is the same as the name of the class. If you were designing only for PHP 5 you could replace this with the name of __constructor instead.

The remaining methods will take on the name of "events" that are trigger throughout the execution of the Joomla! code. In the example, we know there is an event called onAfterInitialise which is the first event called after the Joomla! application sets itself up for work. For more information on when some events are triggered, see the API Execution Order page on the Documentation Wiki.

The naming rule here is simple: the name of the method must be the same as the event on which you want it triggered. The Joomla! Framework will auto-register all the methods in the class for you.

That's the basics of the plugin PHP file. It's location, name and methods will depend on what you want to use the plugin for. One thing to note about system plugins is that they are not limited to handling just system events. Because the system plugins are always loaded on each run of the Joomla! PHP, you can include any triggered event in a system plugin.

The events triggered in Joomla! are:
Authentication

onAuthenticate

Content

onPrepareContent
onAfterDisplayTitle
onBeforeDisplayContent
onBeforeContentSave (new in 1.5.4)
onAfterContentSave (new in 1.5.4)

Editors

onInit
onGetContent
onSetContent
onSave
onDisplay
onGetInsertMethod

Editors XTD (Extended)

onDisplay

Seach

onSearch
onSearchAreas

System

onAfterInitialise
onAfterRoute
onAfterDispatch
onAfterRender

User

onLoginUser
onLoginFailure
onLogoutUser
onLogoutFailure
onBeforeStoreUser
onAfterStoreUser
onBeforeDeleteUser
onAfterDeleteUser

XML-RPC

onGetWebServices

For more detailed information on how to create specific plugins, visit the Plugins Category on the Documentation Wiki.

text.xml

The skeleton test.xml has the following source:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-8"?>

<install version="1.5.2" type="plugin" group="system" method="upgrade">
 <name>System - Test</name>

 <author>Author</author>
 <creationDate>Month 2008</creationDate>
 <copyright>Copyright (C) 2008 Holder. All rights reserved.</copyright>
 <license>GNU General Public License</license>

 <authorEmail>email</authorEmail>
 <authorUrl>url</authorUrl>
 <version>1.0.1</version>
 <description>A test system plugin</description>

 <files>
  <filename plugin="example">example.php</filename>
 </files>
 <params>
    <param name="example"

    type="text"
    default=""
    label="Example"
    description="An example text parameter" />

 </params>
</install>

This is a very typcial format for most meta XML files (sometimes called manifests). Let's go through some of the most important tags:
INSTALL
The install tag has several key attributes. The type must be "plugin" and you must specify the group. The group attribute is required and is the name of the directory you saved your files in (for example, system, content, etc). We use the method="upgrade" attribute to allow us to install the extension without uninstalling. In other words, if you are sharing this plugin with other, they can just install the new version over the top of the old one.
NAME
We usually start the name with the type of plugin this is. Our example is a system plugin and it has some some nebulous test purpose. So we have named the plugin "System - Test". You can name the plugins in any way, but this is a common format.
FILES
The files tag includes all of the files that will will be installed with the plugin. Plugins can also support be installed with subdirectories. To specify these just all a FOLDER tag, test. It is common practice to have only one subdirectory and name it the same as the plugin PHP file (without the extension of course).
PARAMS
Any number of parameters can be specified for a plugin. Please note there is no "advanced" group for plugins as there is in modules and components.

Packaging Plugins

Packaging a plugin is easy. If you only have the two files (the PHP file and the XML file), just "zip" them up into a compressed archive file. If your plugin uses a subdirectory then simply include that in the archive as well.

Courtesy: developer.joomla.org

Advanced Module Manager

2010-04-16T19:40:00.000+05:30

Advanced Module Manager is an extension that changes the way your Module manager works. It adds a few functions. With Advanced Module Manager you have extra options and functionalities to control your modules.

See what modules are active for the menu item you are editing
Edit modules in modal popup windows
Option to not show modules that have no output (handy for things like dynamic menus)
Option to show modules on all pages except the selected menu items (reverse functionality of normal selection)
Many other publishing limits for your modules! You can limit by (AND/OR):
- Menu Item
- Sections / Categories
- K2 Categories (NEW)
- Articles
- Components
- URL (NEW)
- Date
- User Group Levels
- Users (NEW)
- Languages
- Templates
- PHP evaluation (NEW)
You can also choose to mirror the assignment settings of another module!

You can download this from here

The Advanced Module Manager package installs/updates all necessary extensions, like components, module and plugins. (If the package contains plugins, they will be published after install, so you won't have to do that by hand.)

The package makes use of a special installer. This checks to see if it needs to install the extension(s) or update them. So you can just run this package through the Joomla installer without having to uninstall the older version.
You might experience problems during install for certain setups. In that case you can install the extension(s) manually. Please read the INSTALL.txt in the package...

Courtesy: NoNumber.nl

Changing a Login Menu Link to Logout

2010-04-02T15:47:00.001+05:30

I have seen the question: "How do I change my Login menu link to read Logout?" asked number of times and in various ways in forums and on blogs.

If you use the User > Login > Default Login Layout (Figure 1) link in any of your Joomla menus, you've probably noticed a couple of limitations associated with it. One limitation is that the name of the link doesn't change, or rather, there is not an option to change the text for users who have successfully logged into the site.

Figure 1

Well, there is a relatively simple solution using a third party extension called MetaMod. Follow the below steps :

Step 1: Create a Joomla 'Login' Menu Item

To start, create a link called "Login" on the "Main Menu" in a default Joomla installation. If you don't know how to do this, then tracking down a more basic Joomla tutorial on creating menu items would make things easier. Remember to publish the menu item.

Step 2: Make a copy of the Menu

Next, use the Menu Manager to make a copy of the Login menu that contains the 'Login' link.
After saving the new menu, you'll want to immediately select it in the Menu Manager to edit one of the fields that Joomla created for you. The field is called 'Unique Name'. It will contain the same text you entered for the other fields. For consistency and to stay true to the tooltip recommendation, you'll want to change it to a name without spaces. It's probably not a bad idea to keep it short and only use lower case characters too.

Step 3: Edit the 'Login' Menu Item on the New Menu

While in the Menu Manager, select the icon in the 'Menu Item(s)' column. You'll want to select the 'Login' menu item to edit its details. Change the value of the Title' field to 'Logout'.

Step 4: Configure the Menu Modules

After you have made a copy of the menu containing your link, you'll need to edit a few of the settings for each menu module. In the Joomla Module Manager, click on the new module to edit its settings.
Review the following settings and change where necessary:
Details:

Show Title: 'No'
Enabled: 'Yes'

Menu Assignment: 'None'

For the original 'Login' module, use the same settings. You'll probably want to change the title of this module too for consistency.

Step 5: Configure the 'MetaMod' Module

Here's where the magic happens. If you haven't used MetaMod before, it's one of those invaluable third party extensions that every Joomla site should have installed (no we don't know the developer and he didn't pay us to say that).
Using the Joomla Module Manager, locate the 'MetaMod' module and click on it to edit its settings. If you just installed MetaMod, there should be an instance that is unpublished. If you had it installed previously and are using it for something else, simply select 'New' in the Menu Manager to create a new instance.
Review the following settings and change where necessary:
Details:

Title: 'Main Menu'
Show Title: 'Yes'
Enabled: 'Yes'
Position:
Access Level: 'Public' (otherwise there's no point in displaying a login link)

Menu Assignment: 'All' (or on whichever particular pages you want it to appear)

Figure 2

Figure 2: The MetaMod code

After filling in the basic information, look at the Parameters > Module Parameters section on the right side of the page. If your original menu had a Module Class Suffix, you'll want to fill that in at the top. Then, about half way down the page, in the 'PHP' text box, type in the code as depicted in Figure 2, replacing my module ID numbers with those that correspond with your Joomla site.

What is a Widget ?

2010-03-25T10:48:00.002+05:30

A web widget is a portable chunk of code that can be installed and executed within any separate HTML-based web page by an end user without requiring additional compilation. They are akin to plugins or extensions in desktop applications.

Other terms used to describe a Web Widget include Gadget, Badge, Module, Capsule, Snippet, Mini and Flake. Web Widgets often but not always use Adobe Flash or JavaScript programming languages.

Joomla has one Drawback ! So how to avoid ?

2010-03-23T19:23:00.001+05:30

Joomla has one drawback, any web user can easily know the site is created in Joomla! by typing the URL to access the administration area (i.e. www.site name.com/administration). This makes hackers hack the site easily once they crack id and password for Joomla!.

So to avoid this I suggest that use jSecure Plugin.

This jSecure Authentication plugin prevents access to administration (back end) login page without appropriate access key.

Download the jSecure plugin

Installation steps:

Go to Installer -> select the plgSystemJSecure.zip file.

Click on Install & upload.

Once the plugin is installed there are few manual steps which needs to be followed to make the plugin work:

Go To Plugins->System

Click on System - jSecure Authentication link

Enable the plugin and set the optional parameters specified below

Save the plugin.

Default key to access login page is "jSecure".

Note: The key is case sensitive and can **ONLY** contain alphanumeric values. PLEASE dont use numeric values

How to Use :
http://www.site name/administrator/?keyname

keyname: key name is the key specified in the jSecure Authentication module.

Set the Parameters:

jSecure Authentication module provides following parameters:

Key: This is secure key which will be used to grant access to administration area.

Redirect Options: This parameter specifies what action to take if the key does not match. There are two choices:

Redirect to index page: Redirect unauthorized user back to home page

Custom Path: Provide relative path to custom page, for example 404 page not found.

For More information http://joomlaserviceprovider.com

How to Install Joomla! 1.5

2010-03-23T19:05:00.000+05:30

Chris Davenport, the documentation Team Leader for Joomla!, announced the release of the Joomla! Installation Manual.

Thanks for developing this manual.

Great work!

Explanation on Joomla Components, Modules and Plugins

2010-02-25T16:56:00.008+05:30

Joomla is a fantastic piece of software and once you know how to use it, it's very user friendly. Certainly Joomla 1.5 has taken a huge step forward in usability. But for someone new, certainly for someone who never used a CMS before, it can be quit overwhelming in the beginning. We all had the same feeling the first time we installed Joomla: where do I start? Well a good start of course is to learn the basics. So if you are already familiar with Joomla, you can stop reading now (really!). In this article I'll explain the difference between the 3 types of extensions for Joomla: components, modules and plugins.

Components

A component is in fact a separate application. You can think of a component as something that has it's own functionality, it's own database and it's own presentation. So if you install a component, you add an application to your website. Examples of components are a forum, a newsletter, a community system, a photo gallery, etc. You could think of all of these as being a separate application. Everyone of these would make perfectly sence as a stand-alone system. A component will be shown in the main part of your website and only one component will be shown. A menu is then in fact nothing more then a switch between different components. You can compare it a bit with your windows taskbar, where you see a tab for each open application.

Modules

Modules are extensions which present certain pieces of information on your site. It's a way of presenting information that is already present. This can add a new function to an application which was already part of your website. Think about latest article modules, login module, a menu, ... . Typically you'll have a number of modules on each web page. The difference between a component and a module is not always very clear for everybody. But if you think about it, it's really not that difficult. A module doesn't make sense as a standalone application, it will just present information or add a function to an existing application. Take a newsletter for instance. A newsletter is a component. You can have a website which is used as a newsletter only. That makes perfectly sense. Although a newsletter component probably will have a subscription page integrated, you might want to add a subscription module on a sidebar on every page of your website. You can put this subscribe module anywhere on your site. You'll probably agree with me that a site with just a subscription module and no actual newsletter component would be rather ridiculous.

Plugins

They used to be called mambots in Joomla 1.0.x, but since Joomla 1.5.x they're called plugins. A plugin is a function which is performed on a part of Joomla before this part is shown. This part can be on content, on the editor, on the complete system, etc.

Courtesy by Others

Installing WAMP on Windows ...

2010-02-04T17:42:00.003+05:30

Are you not a Linux fan and Looking for a free way of setting up a PHP environment on your Window? Read this how to installing Apache, MySQL and PHP on a Windows based machine, also known as WAMP.

What is Apache ?

Apache is our web server. It’s free, reliable and well supported for PHP. It is basically serves web pages from the server to the client browser. For every page you see when connecting to the internet, somewhere there is a network server sending it to you. The pages are usually sent in html format, along with images and other media.

What is MySQL?

MySQL is the world's most popular open source database, recognized for its speed and reliability. A Database is a place for you to store data, whether it is user details or article text. MySQL is highly configurable and easy to use. [From mysql.com]

What is PHP?

PHP is a widely-used general-purpose scripting language that is especially suited for Web development and can be embedded into HTML. It allows web pages to be dynamically created, that is they can be easily updated and changed quickly. I’m assuming if you want to use PHP you have some idea what it is, and what it can do, if not, there are too many possibilities to be summed up in a paragraph. [From php.net]

So the Combination of these four : Windows, Apache, Mysql and PHP is called WAMP.

Download WAMP Server

Download the latest release of Wampserver 2.

It will combine all the setup files Such as Apache, Mysql and PHP. Once you download WAMP, double click the icon and begin the install process.

Steps to Follow

1. Click Next to begin

2. After agreeing to the WAMP license, select the destination location. Leave the default location as "c:'wamp" and click Next.

3. Leave the default Start Menu shortcut as "WampServer" and click Next.

4. Select automatically launch WAMP5 on startup. This will allow to act as a server whenever it is started. Select the check box and click Next.

5. WAMP will summarize your selections. Click Install and WAMP will begin the install process.

6. WAMP will prompt you to enter the SMTP server to be used by PHP to send emails. Leave the default value as "localhost" and also prompt you to enter the default email address to be used by PHP to send emails. Put your email address in this field and click Next.

7. If you have Firefox installed, WAMP will ask you if you would like to use Firefox as the default browser with WAMP. This is a personal preference, so feel free to choose "Yes" or "No." I will choose "Yes" and then click Next.

8. You will likely be prompted by Windows whether the Windows Firewall should allow or block the features of WAMP. You want to allow all of the features of WAMP, so click Unblock.

9. Congratulations, the installation process is complete, click Finish and Launch WAMP5 now.

10. Open a browser and enter "localhost" as the URL, and you will see a summary of the installation process [Restart the system before launching the wamp]

Now Test your WAMP

open notepad and save a file called "test.php" (putting the quotes around the name insures that notepad saves it as test.php, and not test.php.txt. Notepad sometimes tries to be too helpful!).

In this file type the following:

<?php
echo 'PHP Working';
echo phpinfo();
?>

Save this file in your doc root (C:\wamp\www)

Open your web browser and navigate to http://localhost/test.php you should see the line 'PHP is working' and a whole load of info about the current PHP configuration.

If the above scripts all work as planned, then your WAMP environment is set up correctly! Tune in to the next PHP Tutorial for some actual coding!