Moving bfForms from Joomla 1.5.x to Joomla 2.5.x

Ok so this week I have been getting a lot of emails asking how to move forms from Joomla 1.5 to Joomal 2.5.x.  Lets be clear first that there is no such thing as an upgrade from Joomla 1.5.x to Joomla 2.5.x and you can expect that you will have to do a  lot of work on your new Joomla 2.5.x site to get it in a position you are happy with again.

The key with bfForms is that we have not made any schema changes to our database tables we use for forms and so the same tables will work in any version of Joomla.

So the key steps you need to take are:

Assumptions:

• We assume you now have Joomla 1.5 with bfForms installed, and a fresh Joomla 2.5.x site without bfForms installed
• We assume because you are undertaking this process then you have a certain level of expertise with php/sites/mysql
• For this demo I will use j15_ and j25_ as example database table prefixes

1. Backup your Joomla 1.5.x database.  Backup your Joomla 2.5.x database.
2. Identify your database prefixes for both Joomla versions.
3. Using phpMyAdmin identify in your Joomla 1.5.x database the tables that start with:
   j15_form_*
4. Export ONLY these tables as SQL using phpMyAdmin export feature
5. Import this SQL into your Joomla 2.5.x database
6. in you Joomla 2.5.x database, change the prefix of these imported tables to match your new prefix (j25_ for this example)
7. Obtain “bfForms for Joomla 2.5″ from your myJoomla.com account.
8. Make a new payment for this to us to help us support you now and in the future (Optional)
9. Install bfForms for Joomla 2.5 into your Joomla 2.5 site as per normal.
10. After installing bfFramework and xajax you should see your forms list intact.

No data is lost in this process at all. However if your form relies on file uploads then you will need to manually migrate the uploaded files and possibly change the path in the file upload element to where to store new uploaded files in Joomla 2.5.

Also you might want to now go and check your Joomla Global Configuration and ensure that you mail settings are set up right, remembering that bfForms will only use the settings you give it and so if emails are no longer set then you need to fix that.

If the above is beyond your skill level, or you just wish us to do it for you then we can, but we will charge you for our consultancy time at GBP50.00 per incident.  Please click the button below to find out more.

Get help moving bfForms →

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CloudApp, Share Screenshots with ease

When I last reinstalled my mac (after a hard drive failure) I decided not to install all manner of small apps that I found “just to try them out” but to use as much of Mac OS as I could with the default settings. After all, if Apple say thats the default and thats the best way to work then I’m sure they have their reasons. For example, I never reinstalled LaunchBar, in favor of using the Mac Spotlight feature.  I’m not really missing these little apps and I challenge you to do the same.

However. Occasionally an app comes along that just fits the way you work so well that you just cannot live without it after trying it.  CloudApp is such an app.

The main reason I use CloudApp is to instantly, and seamlessly, create screenshots of what I see and be able to share those by a url in an email, Skype chat or forum post.  If you take a screenshot using your Mac (CMD+Shift+4) it will instantly upload that screenshot to the cloud, and put into your clipboard a URL to the image!

Click here to see an example http://cloud.phil-taylor.com/400z2C1X0c0B2M1S1q0h

So why is this good?

• No more having to attach large images to emails (I have a 27″ screen!!)
• No more having to screenshot your screen, FTP upload to a server, and send that url
• By the time the image is uploaded and url is in my clipboard I can just paste (CMD+V) and the URL is there!
• Allows me to instantly show parts of my massive 27″ screen to people on Skype with ease
• Can be proxied using a custom domain (http://cloud.phil-taylor.com/)
• Basic level of 10 screenshots a day is FREE (But you will soon pay like I did!)
• The screenshot is laid out with a nice border and looks good.
• Its cloud based – gotta be good right?
• Has a mac app in the mac store, puts a small cloud in your menu bar that can be dragged to
• Has a web app for you to view previous uploads
• There are other apps that use the API so you can use this on Windows, iPhone, iPad
• You can also use it to share FILES (Example: Joomla 2.5 )or shortify your urls.
• The list goes on….

I recommend you check out CloudApp today, you might find it changes the way you work with screenshots forever.

(This is a non-paid post, I’m simply sharing my joy at finding something good that works )

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How to: Delete a remote Git tag

You probably won’t need to do this often (if ever at all) but just in case, here is how to delete a tag from a remote Git repository. (Thanks to this page I found this, republished here for the good of everyone)

If you have a tag named ‘mytag’ then you would just do this:

git tag -d mytag
git push origin :refs/tags/mytag

That will remove ‘mytag’ from the remote repository (E.g Github).

It works!

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Add a form into your Joomla content or a form in a module

New Features Highlight: bfForms for Joomla 1.5.x – all versions over v0.2.83

I’m going to try and blog on some of the new features available in bfForms over the next few days. There are LOADS of new things to try out.

The number ONE feature requested, without doubt, was the ability to embed forms into Joomla Content Items and Joomla Modules.

I am pleased to announce that bfForms now comes with FREE plugins for Joomla 1.5.x, a content plugin that provides form embedding in Joomla contentembedding forms into Joomla Module positions and a module that allows .

Its so simple.  To embed in content you use {form 1} where 1 is the id of the form you want to show – thats it!!!!! no other configuration in the content item is required! Simple, quick and easy!

For the module, all you need to do is assign the bfForms module to the position you want it and specify the form id in the params. – again amazingly simple!

Watch our blog for further hints and tips on the new features over the next few days.

NEW: Follow us on twitter: blueflameit

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A Blank White Page Is Still An Error Page

Sometimes, due to a PHP error, a Joomla Extension can stop working and, without displaying an error, lead you to a blank page.

In that case, to find out why, do following:

1. Check server error logs (not access logs) if you have access to them. (cPanel or other control panels often allow this)
2. Go to Joomla Administration → Global configuration and enable Error Reporting to Maximum, you can also turn on debugging. – try the action again – if you still get a blank page then goto 3
3. put the following code at the END of the configuration.php file BEFORE the closing ?>

   ini_set( 'display_errors', true );
   error_reporting( E_ALL ); 

4. Check the source of the white page – there might be still some HTML/Errors in the Page Source (Look in your web browser for the “View Source” option)

One of these should give you a nice detailed error message – which you can either email me directly or Google to find a  solution

Remember this: A White Page is just an Error Page where the error message has been suppressed by your configuration.

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Easy Regex Programming for Joomla Developers

ok the title of this blog post is an oximoron

I read a blog post on another Joomla related site today regarding easy regex’ing and I wanted to share a couple more links that I personally use while developing – and I actually DO use these myself.

This is the first one:

http://regexpal.com/

And the second is a plugin for the Eclipse Development platform, I use it in Zend Studio for Eclipse

http://myregexp.com/eclipsePlugin.html

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How to check Joomla! download file for hacking

It has come to our attention that there is a site on the internet that is distributing Joomla’s full version zip files that are modified to add code to allow a hacker to break into your site.

This post is subtitled “How to check your downloaded Zip file is genuine and unmodified“.

Rule number #1:  ONLY EVER download from a TRUSTED SOURCE (This is the joomlacode.org site) unless absolutely necessary.

Rule number #2:  Check that your downloaded file is unmodified by checking the md5 sum of the file.

The md5 what?

Well check out this page (Click the files tab):

http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/joomla/frs/?action=FrsReleaseView&release_id=8897

You will see the main download Joomla_1.5.8-Stable-Full_Package.zip has a md5 of 36b9c161b46bf973a96201135e933219

We can check this md5 hash in several ways, for example on linux we can type

md5sum Joomla_1.5.8-Stable-Full_Package.zip

which will give us:

36b9c161b46bf973a96201135e933219     Joomla_1.5.8-Stable-Full_Package.zip

We can then compare that output with the md5 hash on the above web page – if they are different, even by only one char, then the zip file you have downloaded has been modified in some way – however little – DO NOT USE it if the md5hash does not match EXACTLY.

There are more secure ways of “signing” package files, with GPG Encryption/Signatures, but the Joomla Project Team are behind the times with GPG and have not yet taken advantage of the same system that linux package maintainers use – GnuPG.

There are many other ways to compare md5 hashs – and some windows applications as well

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How To Add Forms Into Joomla Content or Modules

Using Phil-a-form you used to be able to put forms into modules or embed them into content articles using a mambot syntax.

I am getting a lot of emails from existing customers of Phil-a-form who are migrating to Joomla 1.5 and Joomla Forms asking how to do this in Joomla 1.5 – well at the moment you CANT with Joomla Forms ! (and we have said this a few times before! – And yes we know competing products have this )

But we are working on it! Along with a load of new features the next release – you will not be disappointed with the next release There are a lot of hidden gems in it and we are taking our time in getting it right.

Thanks for your patience – Joomla Forms is already a fantastic application and we are working harder and harder to make it better.

I’ll post again shortly when this feature is released

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Red Flag Green Flag Cross Tick

This article applies to the latest versions of Joomla Forms, Joomla Knowledgebase and Joomla Tags extensions.

It came to our attention some time ago that using green and red flags to indicate published/unpublished states was not very easy on the eyes, and especially for those people who have trouble with colour-blindness or other disabilities.

Therefore we have a hidden tweak in the above extensions If you would prefer tick and cross icons instead of the flags you need to edit the file:

/plugins/system/blueflame/bfTweaks.php

And change the line that says this:

define ( 'bf_useflags', true ); // DEFAULT: true

to this:

define ( 'bf_useflags', false ); // DEFAULT: true

job Done

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Using Prism To Administrate Joomla Safer

A lot of talk has gone on recently regarding CSRF and Joomla 1.0.13/1.5. CSRF is a problem for all web based applications and the upcoming Joomla 1.0.14 and Joomla 1.5 stable have both been hardened against such security vulnerabilities. Hardened, not made secure, as it is practically impossible to secure against each and every CSRF there is without interrupting workflow. Joomla, as do most other webapps, has made it as difficult as possible to use CSRF to hack a Joomla site.

The advice issued by ourselves recently is still just as valid now as it will be when Joomla 1.0.14/1.5 are released – Please follow these rules:

– ALWAYS click LOGOUT in Joomla Admin when you finish
- NEVER browse other websites while logged in to Joomla Admin
- If you allow users to upload/modify your site through any third party component then don’t browse/or limit your surfing of your own site while logged in to Joomla Admin
- NEVER click on links to “Upgrade this component” in 3rd Party Components
- NEVER browse forums while logged into Joomla Admin

However, there is always a better, more secure option,

Introducing PRISM

Prism (formerly, Webrunner) is a prototype application that lets users split web applications out of their browser and run them directly on their desktop. What this really means in non-techie speak is that you can launch a scaled down web browser in its own process and use that to administrator your Joomla Site. Prism is a scaled down Firefox web browser that is designed for web applications – so already its more secure as its not Internet Explorer based

We have been highly active in using webrunner/prism since the first release – and we are addicted.

Learn More

• Introduction to Prism
• Prism Prototype Now Available for Mac and Linux

Get Prism

• Download Prism for Windows
• Download Prism for Mac OS X
• Download Prism for Linux

Once you have prism installed, simply double click its icon and you will be prompted to give a URL and NAME (and a few optional options).

For the URL set this as your admin console – like http://www.mysite.com/administrator/

and the NAME set to “Administrator for mySite” – also check the desktop shortcut icon.

Then you will be promptly shown your admin page – you can now login securely and continue administrating your Joomla site in Prism and NOT IN YOUR REGULAR BROWSER – this creates separation between your normal surfing and your Joomla Administrator.

By doing this you 100% protect yourself from the CSRF vulnerability reported in Joomla and other web apps – once you get addicted (as are we) to Prism you will never use your browser for web applications again!!!

Hope you like the tip!

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