My Blog: Documentation
From AzrulStudio
Contents |
Installation
The My Blog package downloaded from the Support Site (com_myblog_pro_unzip_first.zip for the Professional Edition, and com_myblog_std_unzip_first.zip for the Standard Edition) should contain the following files:
- com_myblog_<edition>.zip
- This is the main My Blog component file. To install this, go to Joomla Administrator -> Installers -> Components. Browse for this file under 'Upload Package File' and click 'Upload File and Install'
- cb.myblogtab.zip
- This is the Community Builder plugin for My Blog. You do not need to worry about this file if you do not have Community Builder installed. This file, when installed, creates a tab in each CB profile that contains a list of the blog entries by the user, some simple statistics for the user's blog as well as commenting on the user's blog. To install, Go to Joomla Administrator -> Components -> Community Builder -> Plugin Management, and under the 'Install New Plugin' section, browse for this file and click 'Upload File and Install'. You might need to publish the plugin after installation.
- mod_myblog.zip
- This file contains the My Blog module that provides a 'WordPress'-like module for displaying Latest Entries, Latest Comments, Tag Clouds, Most Popular Bloggers and Archive. To install, go to Joomla Administrator -> Installers -> Modules , browse for this file and click 'Upload File and Install'. You will need to publish/configure the module after installation by going to Joomla Admin -> Modules -> Site Modules and clicking on the MyBlog Module.
- sef_myblog.zip
- This is the ARTIO SEF plugin for My Blog. This plugin will enable ARTIO SEF to rewrite My Blog URLs into SEF in a nicer manner. To install, go to Joomla Admin -> Components -> Artio JoomSEF, then click on the Install button on the top right of the page. Browse for this file and click 'Upload File and Install'.
Configuring My Blog
Creating menu links
The first thing that should be done would be to create menu links for My Blog. The My Blog Dashboard link is automatically created on installation in the User Menu, which opens up in the Dashboard in a new window. If you would like to have the Dashboard open up in a Thickbox instead, you will need to edit the Dashboard menu link and select 'Open in Parent Window' and also change the link to 'index.php?option=com_myblog&admin=1&lightbox=1'.
Another important link that should be created is the menu link to the My Blog Component, which will bring users to the My Blog frontpage that lists out all Blog Entries posted for My Blog. To do this, go to Joomla Admin->Menu->(menu where you want the blog link to go into) and click the New button. Select Component under Components, enter a name for the menu link and select 'My Blog' in the list and click 'Save'.
Here are also a couple of other links that can be created (most of them should be created as a link-url):
Useful URL links
- Main URL: index.php?option=com_myblog
- extra params : (cannot be used in combination with each other)
- task=blogs - list of blogs
- task=userblog - view current logged in user's blog.
- admin=1&lightbox=1 - open My Blog Dashboard in a thickbox
- more params: (not for task=blogs or userblog or admin=1&lightbox=1. can be used in combination with each other)
- blogger=bloggername - show blog for bloggername
- category=tagname - show blogs tagged with tagname
- keyword=keywordname - show blogs containing keywordname
- task=rss - rss feed
- show=permalink - show the blog entry associated with the permanent link 'permalink'
Using the above params, you can construct URLs used in My Blog, example:
- To open My Blog Dashboard in a thickbox, url = index.php?option=com_myblog&admin=1&lightbox=1
- To show all blog entries for the user 'admin', url = index.php?option=com_myblog&blogger=admin
- To show all blog entries for the user 'admin' that are tagged 'myblog', url = index.php?option=com_myblog&blogger=admin&category=myblog
etc..
Selecting sections to use with My Blog, Permissions, Layout settings
Go to Joomla Administrator -> Components -> My Blog. You should be taken to the My Blog configuration settings. Here are some basic and more important settings:
- General Tab -> Manage Sections using My Blog
- By selecting the sections you would like to use with My Blog, you will be able to view/edit/manage your content that was created in the selected sections. This is a way of 'importing' old content into My Blog, though no actual movement of content in the database will occur.
- General Tab -> Save My Blog entries in section
- Select a section where new My Blog entries will be saved into. NOTE: Please make sure the section selected here is ALSO SELECTED in the 'Manage Sections using My Blog', otherwise newly saved blog entries will not appear.
- General Tab -> Show logged in form if not logged in?
- Select 'Yes' if your site does not have a login form, or if you plan to use My Blog from the Joomla Administrator (this is because Joomla seperates front-end login from backend login, and you would need to be logged in to the frontend to access the Dashboard).
- Permission Tab -> Allow Posting From / Allow publish/unpublish by
- Select the user groups that you would like to grant permissions to post / publish entries in My Blog. You will need to select EACH user group that you want to grant permissions to.
- Permission Tab -> Set image root directory
- This is the directory that users will be able to browse for images. User-uploaded files will be uploaded into <image_root_directory>/<user_id>/ directory.
- Permission Tab -> Restrict user to own directory
- Select 'Yes' if you want users to be able to browse ONLY THEIR OWN DIRECTORY.
- Layout Tab -> Use Avatar
- If you have Community Builder, SMF Forums or Fireboard or if your users have Gravatar avatars, selecting one of these options will display the user's avatar in their blog posts.
- Layout Tab -> Use mambots on My Blog frontpage
- Selecting 'Yes' will integrate the Joomla content Mambots into My Blog's list of blog entries view. If 'No' is selected, the mambots will only be integrated when a user views a blog entry, not the list of blog entries.
Integrating Joomla Content Mambots with My Blog
To integrate content mambots with My Blog entries, click on Content Mambots Integration in the My Blog component backend admin, and publish the mambots that you would like to use with My Blog entries. Only mambots that are published in the Joomla Admin->Mambots->Site Mambots will be shown on this list.
Using My Blog
Please visit this link for a basic tutorial on using My Blog: My Blog: Tutorial
Troubleshooting
Common issues
- Clicking on the 'Save' button in My Blog Dashboard's Write/Edit entry throws an error, or nothing happens
- If the error is a 'jax is not defined' error, please check the Azrul System Mambot is published in the Joomla Admin -> Mambots -> Site Mambots. If it is published, try downloading the latest Azrul System Mambot installer from the Support Site and reinstalling the Mambot. Make sure you republish the mambot after reinstalling. If the error still occurs, make sure file permissions are set to 700 and directory permission set to 711 for the folder <joomla>/mambots/system/pc_includes/
- If the error is a 'tinyMCE is undefined' error, try to head over to http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=103281&package_id=179496 and download the latest TinyMCE compressor (v1.1.0).
- Unzip the downloaded file to a temporary directory of your choice.
- Open the directory where you unzipped the file, copy the files tiny_mce_gzip.php and tiny_mce_gzip.js into <joomla_directory>/mambots/editors/tinymce/scripts/tiny_mce/
- When saving an entry, I am brought back to the Dashboard Home but the new entry does not appear.
- Please make sure that the section you saved My Blog entries to is also selected as 'Managed using MyBlog'
- Visiting the My Blog Dashboard results in an blank page
- This means that you are not logged in to the frontend. Please either log in to your site's front end, or enable 'Show login form if not logged in' in the My Blog General Settings.
- 'Cannot find the entry. The user has either change the permanent link or the content has not been published' error when viewing an entry
- Please make sure the entry associated with the permalink is published and exists. If the permalink contains accented characters, please edit the entry and replace the accented characters, or go to the My Blog backend admin -> Maintenance -> Fix permalink. NOTE: This will modify all permalinks that have accented characters or invalid characters (valid characters in permalink are alphanumeric (A-Za-z0-9), dash (-), underscore(_) and period (.) characters.)
Other issues / Above solutions do not help
If you have other questions / issues with My Blog, please try visiting the My Blog support forum. Or you could visit our support site at [1] and login and write a support ticket, or send us an email at support@azrul.com
