The home of Lalu

Redirect in components to login in Joomla 1.6

April 21st, 2011

Lalu

If you do not know component development in Joomla 1.6, then please follow this link: Joomla Component Development

Here is the scenario:

You are developing your own component for Joomla 1.6 and you need users to have logged in to access certain part of the component. In that case, you need to redirect users to the login page of the com_users component or develop your own login form in the component.

I am showing here, how you can manage users to redirect in the com_users component’s login page, in case users need to login before accessing certain part in the component.

Captcha Slider using MooTools

April 4th, 2011

Lalu

MooTools Captcha Slider

Captcha Images are very much important in blocking responses generated automatically by the computers but there involves lots of pain to type the curly texts present in the Captcha Images and submit the form. This discomfort of manually typing text in the Captcha Images have driven people towards the alternative of the Captcha Images. Such one alternative is Sliding Captcha. I have provided the tutorial and code for creating the Captcha Slider using MooTools 1.3 and PHP.

You can use this slider in your own website and provide users with the luxury of submitting forms without the need to type text like in the Captcha Images. However, I am unaware of the validity and security of this captcha. Please use it at your own risk and try googling for its validity. Please provide some comments if you found anything related to this matter.

You can also include this application in your extension if you are a Joomla Developer or you can simply use the custom coding extension like JUMI to include this application in your Joomla site.

So, lets see how we can create a Captcha Slider using MooTools. First of all, check the demo here. Now, if you have watched and seen the demo working, lets explain what I have done to create this demo. At the end of this tutorial, you can also find the link to download the script, that I have used in the demo.

Smooth Scrolling for Go to Top using MooTools in Joomla

February 23rd, 2011

Lalu

Go to Top scrolling in Joomla

Joomla template developers may often use Go to Top link in their templates which on clicking scrolls the page to the top. However, by default the scrolling is not smooth and it looks a bit nasty. However, In Joomla, we can add a smooth scrolling effect to the existing HTML Top link using MooTools Javascript library.

MooTools library is by default supported by Joomla CMS. Hence, we only need to enable the library for the template and write only a couple of lines to make it feel better and more professional. So, lets move on to create a simple yet effective scrolling Go to Top link.

Joomla Template Tutorial for 1.6, 1.7 and 2.5

February 15th, 2011

Lalu

This is a basic tutorial that describes how to create a template for Joomla Version 1.6, 1.7 and 2.5. If you don’t know about Joomla, click here, for further information about Joomla extensions development, click here.

To start the tutorial, let’s first set our goal. I have had some designing in the photoshop with the goal and created a sample design. We will create a 3 column based template. The template will have collapsible module positions and will completely be a CSS based design. After the completion of this tutorial, we will create the following template.

Update 1: (April 9, 2011) This tutorial has been updated to support custom logo image or text from template parameters.

Update 2: (January 30, 2012) Some small errors are corrected.

Create Desktop and Mobile Applications with Web Technology

February 11th, 2011

Lalu

For a long time I was thinking what if there is a way by which I can develop all types of applications from the programming language I know.

: Appcelerator Titanium

As, I am a PHP programmer, I used to think about developing mobile and desktop applications with PHP [Well you can consider me lazy to learn other languages]. But, suddenly google search made my day, as it was like dream come true. I found Appcelerator Titanium, that does exactly what I used to think about.

So, what is Titanium then?

Titanium is a free and open source application development platform, Titanium lets you create native mobile, tablet and desktop application experiences using existing web skills like Javascript, HTML, CSS, Python, Ruby, and PHP. Titanium makes cross-platform native application development easy. Appcelerator is the company behind Titanium.

Free and Open Source Document Management System for Enterprises

November 19th, 2010

Lalu

Making Paperless Office is one of the most challenging jobs in introducing Information and Communication Technology in Nepal’s Government Offices. I have been searching best Document Management System for a long time and finally landed in the website of OpenKM Document Management System.

I have had a very hard time for selecting right application for my organization to convert documents into electronic documents. I have tried several applications for choosing best Document Management System. Finally, I have got OpenKM and installed it successfully. Now, several departments are using it and are busy in converting their documents into electronic form.

Playing game in Youtube

October 16th, 2010

Lalu

A few days ago, I unknowingly find a game placed in Youtube while waiting for the video to be loaded. I found this amazing and a very nice concept for sticking youtube users to the site. We can play Snake Game while waiting for the video to be loaded.

To play the game, wait for the loading icon to display in the middle of the video. While loading icon is displayed, click on the video and use left/right arrow keys. You will see that the loading icon has changed to a moving snake. Use the snake to get the blinking dots. Snake game is a common game and can be found in mobile phones, video games and in computers.

If you have a slower internet connection, the game mainly reduces the pain of waiting for the video. At least it can keep you busy while the video will be loading. Such hidden secrets are known as Easter Eggs. Who knows, Youtube Engineers have placed more Easter Eggs in Youtube.

Print Edit Printing Addon for Firefox

October 15th, 2010

Lalu

Print Edit Add-on for Firefox

Many times we need to print the web pages of our interest. However, there may be unnecessary images and texts that we wish if can be deleted or removed before printing the web page.

Now, I have found a Firefox add-on that helps to remove all the unnecessary text and images from the web page and print only needed area. And I am going to share it here.

Print Edit is a Firefox Browser add-on that installs inside Firefox and works as an extension of it. Print Edit allows editing of the web page content while in Print Preview mode. Editing the web page prior to printing can compact the layout and remove unwanted content such as adverts, sidebars and blank pages. Any element can be formatted, hidden or deleted.

Using Ajax in Joomla – Joomla Extensions Development

September 26th, 2010

Lalu

By default Joomla uses Mootools Javascript Framework. So, lets use Mootools library in Joomla to provide Ajax Functionality. In this tutorial, we will learn creating two different things that are useful in different places.

1. Getting data when changing values in Combobox.

2. Saving data when clicking on the button.

Most of the developers use these two functions very often in their sites. So, I am going to talk about using these two things using Ajax. Lets start with Number 1:

Payway Merchant Gateway API for Virtuemart

September 25th, 2010

Lalu

Recently, I have created the Payway Payment Module for Shopping Sites created with Joomla CMS and Virtuemart Component. Web Developers can implement this payment module to accept payments from Payway. This is a tutorial on how to implement the payway payment module in your site:

[Please note that, this is a virtuemart payment module and only work with Joomla and virtuemart based sites, I will create payment modules for other CMSs also. Please check for the updates. ]