Anna's Mambo Tips

[red3]

Hey Anna,
Thank you so much for the tutorials, tips and tricks, they really helped a lot. But I have a question.
I am trying to delete sections, but I can't be cause they have categories. I try to delete the categorioes, but I can't do that because they have "records." My question is, are records the same as content?
I've already deleted all of the content, but records.....

Thanks a so much,

red3

[FiReStOrM]

great tips . thx

[Asphyx]

Is there a systematic approach to paring down the options available so all the 'bells and whistles' of mambo/joomla are not shown, only the ones for the site.

You can give him editor level privs which will remove most of the nuts and bolts access but still give them ability to create edit and approve content items

[red3]

Hey Anna,
I downloaded the latest calendar module from the Mambo Forge, and then downloaded the latest events component.
I got the calendar to publish, but when I publish events, it doesn't show on the calendar. Would you know how to fix this problem?
Please email me at redavis3@adelphia.net
Thanks,
red3

['L' plates]

Excellent tips etc. Anna - Thanks!

[k3software]

Hey Anna,

This really help...thanks a lot...

How I just installed a fresh copy of 4.5.3 but none of my "new" buttons not working....new menus, new catagory, new sections etc...
Any tips here..I'm stucked....

Anyboby?

K3

[Thanathos]

Originally Posted by Jerubaal

If I download a Mambo template and want to modify the Logo (because my client is not Mambo) and replace it with something more specific to his site, how do I go about doing that?

Am I limited to writing code? I saw your reference to the Dreamweaver MX Tutorial for new templates. Is that what I need if I want to design something specific for my client? i must be missing something huge somewhere.. Thanks for taking time to help. I am really stuck!

As Anna said, you can change the files once installed the template, using ftp and remote access.
But there is another way.
You can modify the template before installing it into Mambo.
First, download the desired template to your machine, decompress the files maintaining the directory structure and search for the logo image on the "images" folder using some picture viewing software.
Once you found the file, open it on your favourite image retouching software and make the changes needed to put your customer's logo.
If you save the image without changing any of the parameters of the image (I'm referring to pixel size, name and format of the file) the template will use your modified file as if it were the original.
Then you can recompress the file in zip format and install your modified template as usual.

[Thanathos]

Originally Posted by Atombi

Hi Jazztpt

I finally figured out a partial solutions to inserting pictures into my website. It was the clue you gave about the flowers. I tried it and it worked but it only works when a registered user logs into the site. If a visitor comes to the site they will only see the text and not the pictures. Any suggestions

Mosimage, as any other mambot, must be published to be available to use.
I think that maybe you have published it with the "Registered" access level.
If this is the case, please change the access level to "Public", this should solve the problem.

[Thanathos]

Originally Posted by melgoza

How do you add flash files?

Go to http://mamboforge.net/search/ and do a search of FLASH. there are lots of projects to integrate flash and mambo, from mambots to components with menus, games, etc.

[seldar]

Hello Anna,
i'm just a programmer that must develop some modules for mambo, and that fast. Your tips&tricks helped me a lot to understand the Mambo "way to go".
Great explanation!

Thanks.

PS: lovely songs

[martindudziak]

I am new to Mambo. Have a site up with a lot of content, understand how to do all the basics with making changes to menus and content as such. Here is my big problem. I have tried to use some PHP code techniques that work fine on non-Mambo sites, for instance with cookies, with global variables, to control what I want, but with Mambo, some things appear to not be refreshed in the headers, for instance, and I am just not seeing what to do.

There is a group of clients that want "co-branding." They want to have the same basic site (menus, content, modules, all the basic services and options for the visitors) but tailored with their specific logo up in the header, and also variations with text, links, etc. for material that will be always up there about the left, right, and center parts of the main body. In other words, the same basic site but with different sponsor-specific data to be displayed in well-defined places, depending on the current "focus" . This "focus" is something that in our scheme will come from one of the following options:

(a) the home page is a subdomain; e.g., abc.oursite.com as opposed to def.mysite.com or the main one, mysite.com
Same basic template always, same styles, fonts, layout, just different logos and text here and there.

(b) a user logs in and has an assigned code, and this value, being a field in a row in a DB table, is used to govern the "co-branding" specifics.

So, for example, in the default header is image foo.jpg, then a user logs in.
Let user1 have code 1, user2 have code 2, and:
if code=1, the header should be redisplayed to have image abc.jpg, but if code-2, the header will now show image def.jpg.

And meanwhile, everything is the same within the content panes of the main body.

I know how to do dynamic stuff in that content, because there, when a content item comes up, it will run any embedded PHP that is in the content item. The problem seems to be that once the headers are put up through index.php of the Template, things never go back there again.

[GeetzRomo]

Anna,
is it possible to create further drill down from a Content Item?
Basically I'd like to have something like this:

Section

Category

Content 1

Content 2

Sub Content A

Sub Content B

Content 3

thoughts?

thanks,

Geetz

[elvislivz2]

I have a client running Mambo - a retail store in hip woman's fashion and I nearly had a heart attack after looking at Mambo. The light is slowly coming on - but I still have the urge to fire up DreamWeaver and redo the entire site in straight html/php.

Thanks for the tips!

[sjeeps]

Nice tutorials, thanks.












http://henawi.com

[btos]

Originally Posted by jazztpt

Templates determine the look of your site, or of different sections of your site. If you go to the Template page of your admin (Site -> Template Manager -> Site Templates), you will see a few templates listed. Try clicking on one (the buttons to the far left, not the template name) and then clicking the “default” icon in the toolbar. Then browse to your site to see how the template changed the look of your site.

What is a Template? Templates are sets of files that determine the look of your site. The main file is “index.php,” which includes html code for layout elements like tables, your logo, etc, and inserts php code for dynamic elements. The next most important file is the style sheet or css file, which determines fonts, colors, and borders for each element in the site.

Check out this visual of your “index.php” file:
http://www.annacallahan.com/images/template_layout.gif

“header.jpg” is your logo. “body” is a block that will contain content. The orange blocks in the figure are Positions, which you can place in table cells. Remember that these Positions can contain any number of modules, and those modules can be turned on and off . (Imagine that in the “top” position you have a search module and a date module, for example, and in the “left” position you have a menu and a login.) When you make a template, you’re just setting aside the space on the page by inserting a position. The positions are placed in the table cells of your website with php code that looks like this: <?php mosLoadModules ( 'left' ); ?>

The style sheet. Your template also has a style sheet that controls the fonts, colors, borders, etc. of each element of the page. Here are some explanations of the naming convention:
for download - http://www.mambohut.com/index.php?op...&filecatid=107.
on the web - http://www.mambonotes.com/content/view/30/101/
with visuals - http://www.mamboos.de/Mambo_CSS_Guide/

Well, that’s the basic explanation of templates. The following are specific instructions on downloading or designing templates:

Downloading templates. I haven’t used other people’s templates, but I’m sure there are lots of places you can get them. Start at http://mambohut.com/.

Designing templates. Absalom Media has a good tutorial on designing templates here:
http://www.absalom.biz/tutorials/Mam..._Tutorial.html
If you want to design your own and use Dreamweaver, I recommend this tutorial: www.mambosolutions.com/dw_tutorial/. It will guide you through downloading a Dreamweaver extension that allows you to design templates there. It also recommends you download MSAS, the Mambo Stand Alone Server, which essentially puts a mini-server with MySQL & Apache right on your computer so that you can see your template before uploading it to the web. Another even more detailed step-by-step tutorial is at:
http://www.allmambo.com/index.php?o...&id=13&Itemid=2 (thanks jetzkr8!).
(Note: some of these tutorials are for 4.5.1. If you come across a more current or better or shorter tutorial, please let me know!)

Now that you’ve got a template, we’re going to put some modules in the positions you just created.
Next tip: Modules and pages.

I was moving along thinking I was making progress by following the links on this page. I downloaded the Mambo Server, MSAS 452. I spent awhile finding the right extension for my version of Dreamweaver to get this program working and streamline the template design process. I was unprepared for what happened next. I opened the executable file for the server and was told that Mambo would be extracted. When I went into Dreamweaver and started preparing the tutorial, I was informed AT THAT POINT, that this was for a 4.51 version of Mambo. I had already begun using the latest 4.53 version and uploaded it to a remote server and had wanted to manipulate the local files to upload to the remote. What a convoluted mess, what with so many versions of incompatible issues with the new version I am completey confused. Did I mention I wasted a LOT of time? I gave this learning curve two weeks but had to opt for an asp site for my intended project, due to the extreme confusion surrounding this program. I bought a domain and host to experiment on too. This is all a little too much as far as organization goes. I want to ask you what I should do about the MSAS server version that seems to have installed Mambo again...an earlier version? Should I remove this or the other standalone 4.53 version- if I want to edit the site locally with Dreamweaver MX?

[samasyeo@gmail.c]

Hi Anna,

I'll like to make a section page where nmy members can download/upload files like Mp3 and Mpeg where we can share on the site. But I can't find resources over here. Can you guide me about this? Thanks alot.

Samas

[btos]

I didn't get a reply from my post subject but was led here...by email to a resoponse to my inquiry. ...TIP 5... total confusion! My thread was about finding out if the MAMBO server was compatible with the new version of Mambo. AND Is this support only for an older version or the newer version? I cannot post a url to clarify, because there isn't one!

[btos]

This simple explanation does not work. I try to enable the tinyMCE and get nothing upon saving. I have no idea what NO WYSIWYG is for but I CANNOT change it.
The interface has:
NAME: No WYSIWYG Editor
FOLDER: editors
MAMBOT FILE: none
MAMBOT ORDER: 0
ACCESS LEVEL: public
RADIO: Y/N

TNY MCE cannot be activated. What a mess this is! Do you have an older version of Mambo? I'm about ready to give up on this.

[samasyeo@gmail.c]

How abt if I don't to let members uploading files. But I want to let them listen to the mp3 I've uploaded. If their my members, I'll provide them to download also. Where can I get the resources? Please help. Thanks alot.

[arcticbear]

Thank you, this is an excellent overview of Mambo's functionality. But I do have a question or two regarding sections/categories/content.

Basicly is there anyway to create a "sub-category"? I have a project that would greatly benefit from having the ability to add one more level container.

Secondly, regarding content in a specific section/category. Is there some way to create a template of core information that could serve as an outline for someone that might want to add say a standardized report in that section?

Ideally, I'd like to be able to set up a section, have it hold about a dozen major categories with each one have numerous sub cats. Then have a standard content page that registered users can fill out and submit be held until an editor authorizes it. It seems the Mambo has everything to do that, but I've not figured out the template part yet.