Knowledge Sharing » Web

New Release of Joomla 1.5.12

Dagu — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 12:38:36 +0000

From the Joomla Security newsletter, I know that there’s a new version of Joomla. But, my email provider sent it to spam folder. I just don’t know why.. huff.. :(

From the official Joomla website:

The Joomla Project is pleased to announce the immediate availability of Joomla 1.5.12 [Wojmamni Ama Woi]. This release contains a number of bug fixes and three moderate-level security fixes. It has been less than a month since Joomla 1.5.11 was released on June 3, 2009.

This release marks an important milestone for the Joomla Project due to the upgrade of the PEAR library to the new BSD licensed version, which brings the codebase into full compliance with the GPL. In addition, this release contains an important upgrade to TinyMCE v 3.2.4.1.

The Production Working Group’s goal is to continue to provide regular, frequent updates to the Joomla community.

Download Joomla 1.5.12 (Full package)
Download Joomla 1.5.11 > 1.5.12 update package
All 1.5.12 Packages

Facebook Addict, a Free WordPress Theme

Dagu — Tue, 05 May 2009 23:20:47 +0000

Tobacamp has released a new WordPress theme, Facebook Addict. It is a facebook-clone, just like the previous theme. But, I think it’s more Facebook than before.

Screenshot:

It has many features such as:

Facebook-like
Widget ready
Three columns layout
Auto thumbnail
Custom headline
FREE OF CHARGE

You can see the demo first or download it.

Convert an Image to an Icon using Online Generator

Dagu — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 05:16:14 +0000

I need to make a favicon for my website. Usually, favicon has *.ico extension. Meanwhile, my graphic software can’t generate it. And yes, I was googling for the answer and it pointed me to Dynamic Drive. Dynamic Drive is a web that provide a lot of javascript & css codes. They are available for free.

To make an icon, from this tool is not difficult. You only need to upload your image. It must be in jpg, gif, bmp or png format. If you need to make it transparent, you should upload the image in gif or png format. The maximum file size is 150 KB.

Upload Image

After that, click on “Create Icon” button, then wait for a while. You can download the icon after “Download FavIcon” button appear.

Download Favicon

Happy Converting!

Rename htaccess.txt to be .htaccess in Windows

Dagu — Wed, 05 Nov 2008 02:00:26 +0000

In default Joomla 1.5 installation, there is a file named htaccess.txt. This file will be used if we use Joomla SEO, that is option Use Apache mod_rewrite. Before it can be used, this file should be renamed to .htaccess. In Linux OS, this case is not a big problem, because it allows creation this kind of file (file name is started with “dot” character). For Windows user this case is a problem, because Windows doesn’t allow creation this kind of file. If we force it, then a warning is appear like shown below:

Error while renaming htaccess.txt to .htaccess

In order to rename htaccess.txt to .htaccess, we could do it through command prompt. Syntax:

ren [htaccess.txt directory]\htaccess.txt .htaccess

Example:

ren DaGu\htdocs\joomla15\htaccess.txt .htaccess

That’s it!

Activate mod_rewrite in Apache

Dagu — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 23:51:31 +0000

On the Internet, we often find URL which has many query strings, like show below:

http://blog.danigunawan.com/joomla15/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=27

URL with form above will be hard to be indexed by the search engine if we compare with the URL below:

http://blog.danigunawan.com/joomla15/joomla-overview

URL which has many query strings can be formatted like in second example using rewrite URL. To rewrite URL, it could be done using certain class in web programming language. I won’t discuss it here. Besides, it can be done using a module in apache web server named mod_rewrite. As default, mod_rewrite is not active.

Module mod_rewrite can be activated by editing apache configuration file. Apache configuration file is usually saved in httdp.conf file. Apache configuration file for XAMPP Windows version can be found in [XAMPP installation directory]/apache/conf. Open httpd.conf with text editor and find the word “mod_rewrite”. For XAMPP Windows version it usually can be found in line 118. As default, in inactive module, there is character “#” in the start of the line (It means that line will not be executed by apache). Example:

#LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

To activate it, we need to remove character # only. After that, restart apache. Module mod_rewrite will active after apache run.

Joomla! 1.5 SEO

Dagu — Tue, 04 Nov 2008 14:57:04 +0000

SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. It is a great way to make our web “read” by the search engine. Many web owners hire SEO professional to optimize their web. But for the Joomla 1.5 users, they should be happy because in this version, Joomla had improved better features for SEO. There are three techniques for SEO in Joomla, they are Search Engine Friendly (SEF) URLs, mod_rewrite (only for Apache), and suffix. If you want to apply SEO, you should choose at least SEF option. If you wan to use mod_rewrite, SEF option must be choosen. It will much better if we use suffix too. With suffix, in the end of the URL will be added .html. Available combinations for SEO in Joomla are:

SEF
SEF + suffix
SEF + mod_rewrite
SEF + mod_rewrite + suffix (recommended)

The difference among combinations above are the URL produced. If we don’t use SEO, the URL will be:

http://blog.danigunawan.com/joomla15/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=19&Itemid=27

For the SEF option, the URL will be:

http://blog.danigunawan.com/joomla15/index.php/joomla-overview

The URL can be read easily than the URL without SEF. Notice that there is "index.php" in the URL. If we add suffix option, then in the end of the URL will be appended html extension like shown below:

http://blog.danigunawan.com/joomla15/index.php/joomla-overview.html

Compare if we use Apache mod_rewrite, the result is shown below:

http://blog.danigunawan.com/joomla15/joomla-overview

If we use mod_rewrite, URL will look nice and tidy without "index.php". Html extension can be appended by choosing suffix option. The result is shown below:

http://blog.danigunawan.com/joomla15/joomla-overview.html

SEO Implementation in Joomla! 1.5
SEO Implementation in Joomla 1.5 is very very easy.

Login to Joomla back-end as super administrator.
Choose menu Site > Global Configuration.
In Global Configuration there are three tabs that are Site, System dan Server. In tab Site, look at the SEO Settings. Choose the combination as you need.
Click Save or Apply.

Joomla! 1.5 SEO Settings

Remember!

If you want to implement option number two (Use Apache mod_rewrite), the web server should be Apache with mod_rewrite module is active (Read article: Activate mod_rewrite in Apache). After that rename htaccess.txt in the Joomla root directory to be .htaccess (Read article: Rename htaccess.txt to be .htaccess in Windows). If you get error message while implementing SEO option number two, try to edit .htaccess file, find this line:

Options +FollowSymLinks

Add "#" character. So the line will be:

#Options +FollowSymLinks

Restart your Apache web server.

Avoid Direct Download

Dagu — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 02:29:00 +0000

Case study:
We would like to provide pdf files to be downloaded by visitors, but the file location is hidden. Visitors can download file with URL given only. Programming language used is PHP.

Analysis:
We could make a link directly to the file location. Example:

Download MyEbook

What happen if the link above clicked? It depends to the visitors’ browser. If the plugin to read pdf is installed, then browser will open that file inside browser. But, how if there’s no pdf reader plugin? Then a save file dialog box appear. We could save that file.

A problem is done if the visitors don’t have pdf reader plugin. But what about the visitors who have it? Of course the problem is not solved. Another problem is the visitors know the file location, so it allows the visitors to download the file directly (download it directly by typing/copy paste the URL in the browser, without clicking from link given).

Solution:
We need a bit code (PHP) to solve this problem.

The code to avoid direct download is shown below:

$task = $_REQUEST['task'];

switch($task) {
case 'download':
// file location
$file_path = 'dl/myebook.pdf';
// function to get file name without path
$file_name = basename($file_path);
// get file size
$fsize = filesize($file_path);
// set headers
header("Pragma: public");
header("Expires: 0");
header("Cache-Control: must-revalidate, post-check=0, pre-check=0");
header("Cache-Control: public");
header("Content-Description: File Transfer");
header("Content-Type: application/pdf");
header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="' . $file_name . '"');
header("Content-Transfer-Encoding: binary");
header("Content-Length: " . $fsize);
// start downloading from here
$file = @fopen($file_path,"rb");
if ($file) {
while(!feof($file)) {
print(fread($file, 1024*8));
flush();
if (connection_status()!=0) {
@fclose($file);
die();
}
}
@fclose($file);
}
break;
default:
echo 'Download MyEbook';
break;
}

You need to concern to this line:

header('Content-Disposition: attachment; filename="myebook.pdf"');

This line forces browser to show save dialog box for “myebook.pdf” although there’s pdf reader plugin in the browser.

To change file type (exe or zip), we need to change Content-Type only. Here are the lists:

// archives
application/zip

// documents
application/pdf
application/msword
application/vnd.ms-excel
application/vnd.ms-powerpoint
// executables
application/octet-stream

// images
image/gif
image/png
image/jpeg

// audio
audio/mpeg
audio/x-wav

// video
video/mpeg
video/quicktime
video/x-msvideo

File starts downloading from the line after this line:

// start downloading from here

There’s a question. Why do we need to avoid direct download? The purpose is to check how many times a file has been downloaded. If the visitors are allowed to download files directly, I’m sure it will be difficult to know how many times a file is downloaded. If you don’t need to check how many times the visitors download your files, you could use both direct download or indirect download.