JOMDIRECTORY

• Quick Start - JomDirectory
• Configuration Steps
• Menu Items
• Administrator's Guide
• Dashboard
• Address
• Categories
• Custom Fields
• Listings
• Products
• Membership
• Reviews
• Messages
• Configuration
• User Guide
• Front Admin Overview
• Manage Listings
• Manage Reviews
• User Membership
• Listings Messages
• Profile & Settings (User Profile)
• Modules
• Latest Items Module
• Search Module
• Shopping Cart Addon Module
• Live Search Maps Module
• Slideshow PRO Module

Quick Start - JomDirectory

Overview

This guide will help you get started with using the JomDIrectory extension quickly. It highlights preliminary steps that are a must for JomDirectory configurations. After you are done with them, you can go ahead and create the listings on your site.

Creating Administration Menu Links

This step is not needed if new installation being made.

Go to the System -> Administrator modules and insert new. Than choose Administrator Menu. From the presets, select Comdev and place it under menu position. Do the same for the JomDirectory:

Creating Menu Links

Menus are used to control website navigation. A menu contains one or more menu items which provides your users with a navigational experience.

The menu items in our case must point to the JomDirectory. It is mandatory that you create menu links such that Items menu and the Front Admin access is created.

Get started with creating menu links using the information given in the Menu Items documentation in the Administrative Guide.

Creating Groups

In order to add users to groups for membership plans, you must create a super group named JomDirectory, then create groups for each of your membership plans underneath your super group. These groups are used to provide Group ID when creating a membership plan. Users created using User Manager can be linked to each of these membership plan groups.

To begin creating groups for membership plans, follow the Creating a Group documentation in the Administrative Guide.

Creating Membership Plans and Memberships

Memberships in JomDirectory are required to set user group level based on the monthly/Yearly pay plan the user selects. Using membership plans, you can decide how much to charge a user and how many listings a user can make a particular membership plan.

Before you can create a membership plan, you must create Joomla groups using the above section information. Read more about creating membership plans for your site using the Memberships section in the Administrative Guide.

Adding a New Address

The Address feature lets you provide the country, region and city for the associated product listing. The advantage with the Address field in JomDirectory is that after you configure a particular address, it is shared across various components in the Comdev extension.

Get started with creating addresses that will be used in your listings by referring to the Address documentation in the Administrative Guide.

Adding a New Category

Categories allow the site owner to categorise listings into appropriate sections. JomDirectory categories are independent of the Joomla category system. Nested categories (sub-categories) are supported in JomDirectory. The component comes with a default category named "UNCATEGORIZED", which holds listing items that are not attached to any category (same function as the default Joomla system).

To start creating categories, follow the Categories documentation in the Administrative Guide.

Adding Custom Fields

Custom fields are a powerful tool to build content. We provide a variety of field types with the ability to outline into groups. Each field can be assigned to a single category or all categories. Custom fields in JomDirectory provide multiple options such as dropdowns, text area, radio buttons, and so on. Based on your requirement create a custom field and make it searchable for better user experience.

Read more about how to create custom fields in the Custom Fields section from the Administrative Guide.

Creating a New Listing

Listings are nothing but the product listings that you want to create in the directory. Each listing is attached to a category. They are created in the same manner as Joomla articles but are not related to Joomla articles in the definition.

Get started with creating listings for each category by referring to the Listings section in the Administrative Guide.

Configuration Steps

Overview

These configuration steps need to be done in order for the component to work correctly

Create Menu links

More about menu links can be found here.

Items menu link needs to be created.

Joomla / Directory Groups

Membership Plans are based on the Joomla Groups therefore before creating any of the Membership plans - corresponding Joomla groups needs to be created. The main group for the component needs to be called JomDirectory. Each of the plans needs to be placed under that JomDirectory parent group e.g. 

JomDirectory

Permissions

It is important to set the right permissions for the components: Comdev and Directory, in order for the users to access the Front Admin. Otherwise, Users won't be able to access the Front Admin (Permissions Denied) or get 500 Error when trying to upload the images.

An example below shows access for the Registered Group. Same settings should be applied for each group that should have access to the Front Admin. 

Setting permissions for the Comdev Extension

Setting permissions for the JomDirectory Extension

Menu Items

Overview

In this section, we will learn how to create menu items to access JomDirectory. 

Menus are used to control website navigation and are a set of menu items. Menu items provide the navigational experience to your users. The menu items in our case must point to the JomDirectory. 

Creating Administration Menu Links

This step is not needed if new installation being made.

Go to the System -> Administrator modules and insert new. Than choose Administrator Menu. From the presets, select Comdev and place it under menu position. Do the same for the JomDirectory:

Creating Menu Items to access JomDirectory

Creating an Items menu link is mandatory. If you have a multilingual site, ensure that you create an Items menu link for each language. You can hide this menu link, but it needs to be created nonetheless. Though you are creating an Items link that does not point to any category or address, you can create other links with Items menu type that can point to an address or a category once main Items link has been created.

To create menu items with Items menu item type, do the following:

1. Click Menus > <your_menu> > Add New Menu Item.

2. Provide a title in our case is Latest Listings in the Menu Title field. Now, since the Latest Listings menu item provides a list of all the latest postings on the site, we have selected the menu type as Items. The Alias field will build URL for the site. When a search is done this will be the landing page for the search results as well. 

3. Provide the options as seen in the following image:
   
   

   Screen 3: Items menu item screen

   
   

    

4. Provide the values based on the following table.

   Menu Item Type	Click Select. A pop-up is displayed. In this case, since we are creating the Items menu item, click Directory > Items from the list.
   Category	Select the appropriate category if creating direct category link.
   Address	Select the appropriate address if, creating direct address link.
   Link	This field is auto-populated based on the menu item type selected.
   Target Window	Select the parent for this menu item.
   Template Style	Select the template style you want for this menu.

5. Click Save.

Ensure that you see a green tick next to this menu item. The green tick indicates that the item is published. To publish an item, select the checkbox next to the item and click Publish. 

To view the created menu item, go the front end of your site. The new menu item and it's alias is displayed and will be used for search results:

If you called it - Latest Items than search results page will be www.mydomain.com/latest-items.

If you do not create this menu search results URL will be: www.mydomain.com/components/jomdirectory

Create menu links for each category

It is very important to notice that listing details and proper URL's does not build if the category menu is missing (each category must have a link). You have to ensure that for each category on your site, you create a corresponding link in the Joomla menu. The best approach is to create a separate Joomla menu e.g. Categories and link each category there. 

Creating Menu Items to access the Category Tree

The categories created in the component can be seen in the following format on the site depending on the layout selected.  

Screen 1: Category page screen

For the Category screen to appear in your required format, you can edit the JomDirectory settings for that Menu item. The options seen for JomDirectory settings are as follows.

Screen 2: Category Tree menu item screen

The following table explains different options that you can edit.

Creating Menu to access JomDirectory Front Admin

To create menu items with Front Admin menu item type, do the following:

1. Click Menus > <your_menu> > Add New Menu Items.
2. Provide a title as Front Admin and the alias as front-admin in the Menu Title field.
3. Provide the options as seen in the following image:
   
   Screen4: JomDirectory Front Admin menu item screen
   
   
4. Click Save.

Front Admin Options

For the Menu to be able to access the JomDirectory Front Admin, certain settings need to be made. The following table shows the three menu links that need to be made and linked with JomDirectory Options. You can create these 3 menu items anywhere on the site e.g. link them under User Menu.

Now link menus with JomDirectory Options:

Make the following settings for the Front Admin are made in the JomDirectory options for the user to be redirected correctly to the Front Admin, when he is not logged in.

The Front Admin lets users add listings in the front of the site. For more information about how to add listings, see Front Admin.

Administrator's Guide

Dashboard

Overview

Administration dashboard gives you an overview of all the activities you can do using the JomDirectory extension. It provides you with a view of all the menu items, system configuration checks, licence information, and links to the documentation.

Screen 1: Dashboard screen

Menu Items

The Dashboard area mainly comprises of Menu items, an overview of listings and the graphical statistics about the offer views and offers added. The overview of listings and users are seen at the top area of the dashboard while the reports are seen below them.

The Menu items are present in a list format on the left-hand side of the screen. The following image shows the Menu items present on the dashboard screen.

Screen 1:  Menu items area

System Checks

Any configuration problems or current configuration status is displayed in this area as shown in the following screen:

Screen 3: System configuration checks area

Need Help area

The Need Help area includes links to documentation, knowledge base, community forum and supports tickets. You can use this information for any additional help required when using JomDirectory. 

The following image shows the License area on the dashboard screen.

Screen 4: Need Help area

Information area

The Information area displays the JomDirectory version that you are using along with the build details. It also states whether you are using the latest version.

Screen 5: Information area

Address

Overview

The Address feature, as the name suggests, lets you provide the country, region and city for the respective product listing. The advantage with the Address field in Extensions is that after you configure a particular address, it is shared across various components in the Comdev extension.

Based on the depth of levels you want, such as the continent as Europe, country as the UK and region as Wales, you can configure the Address tree to have unlimited levels. The Address feature provides multilingual support. This means you can specify different names based on your language preference. For more information, see Languages.

Creating A New Address

The following image shows the Address Feature screen. To add an address, click Components > Comdev > Address. Click New to create a new address. 

Screen 1: New Address screen

Let us understand each of the buttons seen on the screen using the following table.

Address Structure

The structure of the Address tree is maintained as follows in our example. You can create any structure as per your requirement.

 <Continent>

-- <Country>

-- – <Region>

-- – -- <City> 

Editing address entries

If you want to edit existing entries, you can either click the entry from the Address screen or select the check box next to the entry, and then click Edit.

After you click the required entry that you need to edit, you can change the configurations based on the options as seen in the following table.

Publishing tab

After you have provided the above information, you can provide the publishing information in the Publishing tab as seen in the following image.

You can change the values for the given options using the following table.

Metadata tab

The metadata tab is used to provide metadata information for a particular address entry. The options for this tab can be seen as shown in the following image.

You can change the values for the given options using the following table.

Meta Description	Meta-description for search-engine listings.
Meta Keywords	Meta Keywords for the search-engine
Author	Content author metadata.
Robots	Robots instructions: Use Global Index, Follow No Index, Follow Index, No Follow No Index, No Follow

Categories

Overview

Categories allow the site owner to categorize listings into appropriate sections. Extension categories are independent from the Joomla category system. Nested categories (sub-categories) are supported in Extension. Component comes with a category named "UNCATEGORIZED", which is the default setting. This category holds listing items that are not attached to any category (same function as the default Joomla system).

You can create a categories menu link under Menus using information provided here. Ensure that for creating this link you use the Item menu type as Categories.

Creating A New Category

The following image shows the Category Feature screen. 

Screen 1: Adding a new category

Let us understand each of the buttons seen on the screen using the following table.

Editing category entries

If you want to edit existing entries, you can either click the entry from the Category screen or select the check box next to the entry, and then click Edit.

New Category tab

The New Category tab is seen as shown in the following image:

Screen 2: New Category tab

After you click the required entry that you need to edit, you can change the configurations based on the options as seen in the following table.

Publishing tab

After you have provided the above information, you can provide the publishing information in the Publishing as seen in the following image.

You can change the values for the given options using the following table. 

Metadata tab

The metadata tab is used to provide metadata information for a particular category entry. The options for this tab can be seen as shown in the following image.

You can change the values for the given options using the following table. 

Meta Description	Meta-description for search-engine listings.
Meta Keywords	Meta Keywords for the search-engine
Author	Content author metadata.
Robots	Robots instructions: Use Global Index, Follow No Index, Follow Index, No Follow No Index, No Follow

Custom Fields

Overview

Custom fields are a powerful tool to build content. We provide a variety of field types with the ability to outline into groups. Each field can be assigned into a single category or all categories.

Creating a Custom Field

Creating a custom field involves setting certain options. To create a custom field, click New as shown in the following image.

Screen 1: Custom Field screen

The following table explains the different options available on the screen.

Editing Custom Fields

If you want to edit existing entries, you can either click the entry from the Custom Fields screen or select the checkbox next to the entry, and then click Edit.

Custom Field Edit

After you click the required entry that you need to edit, you can change the configurations for the fields as shown in the following image.

Screen 2: Custom Field Edit tab

The following table explains the different options seen on the screen:

Custom Field Values

This area lets you create values when the field type requires multiple options to be provided. 

For custom fields that can have values, to add multiple values, navigate to the custom fields listing screen. Click the  icon next to the field where you want to add values as shown in the following image.

Screen 3: Adding values to custom fields area

Here, the Field Type is selected as Checkbox and the Field Database Type has been stated as String. This means the Custom fields value area should provide options that can be seen when editing listing and displayed on the component front page. Hence, the Sample Values are provided in this area as Street, Garage, Underground. The following screen shows the values added at the back end. Click Delete to delete the entry.

Screen 4: Values added to custom field area

The following image shows how the field looks on the add listings page.

Screen 5: Custom Field as seen on new listing page

The custom field is seen on the listings page as shown in the following image:

Screen 6: Custom Field as seen on published listing page

Field Types

With Extension extension, you get several field types that you can create based on your requirement. The following image shows the available field types.

Screen 7: Field Types

The following table explains the different options seen on the screen.

Publishing tab

After you have provided the above information, you can provide the publishing information in the Publishing tab.

You can change the values for the given options using the following table.

Status	Based on the status seen here, the visibility changes as follows: Published - Entries are visible on the front-end.  Unpublished – Entries are invisible in the front-end, but can be published later.  Archived – Older entries that are not ready for deletion yet.  Trashed – Older entries that should be removed.
Language	Select the language for the address entry. To create a custom field that applies to a particular language, you need to select the appropriate language from the drop down. For each language that you want it to appear for, create a separate entry.
Created Date	Date when the entry was created.
Start Publishing	Date when publishing needs to start in case of limited viewing of the field.
Finish Publishing	Date when publishing needs to stop in case of limited viewing of the field.
Modified Date	Date when the entry was modified.

Listings

Overview

Listings are nothing but the product listings that you want to create in the directory. Each listing is attached to a category. They are created in the same manner as Joomla articles, but are not related to Joomla articles in definition.

Creating A New Listing

The following image shows the Listings screen.

Screen 1: Listing screen                      

The following table explains the different options seen on the screen.

Edit Listing

If you want to edit existing entries, you can either click the entry from the Listings screen or select the checkbox next to the entry, and then click Edit.

Edit Listing tab

This tab provides options to add title, description, select category, and other options for the Listing as seen in the following image

Screen 2: Edit Listing screen

The following table shows the options available:

Understanding the Location area in Edit listing tab

Let us understand how to provide the address and Street/House No for providing the exact locations on the map.  When you provide the address, street and House No. in the backend when creating listings, the location position automatically. If the House No. is not provided, additional location fields needs to be used.

Mapping using longitudes and latitudes

If you provide the latitudes and longitudes, and the Maps Search setting is left blank, the location mapping is done based on these parameters as shown in the following image.

Screen 3: Map using longitudes and latitudes values

Mapping with Map Search values 

If the Map Search field has a value provided to it, it takes precedence as shown in the following image. If the Map Search field value is given as “New York”, the location will map to this location.

Screen 4: Map using Map Search Field values

Custom Fields tab

This tab includes all the custom fields created for a particular category. If the custom field is not applied to a specific category, it can be seen for all categories when creating a listing. The following image shows the Custom Fields tab screen.

Screen 5: Custom Fields tab

For more information about creating custom fields, see Custom Fields.

Images tab

This tab includes information about images and videos attached to the listing. Before you can add images to the listing, you must save your listing at least once. This ensure that all the other data you have filled for the listing does not disappear after the images are added.

The Images tab can be seen as shown in the following image:

Screen 6: Images tab

To set the the Order of the images, which one displayed first, drag and drop images to switch positions.
The first image in the gallery is used as the image thumbnail for the listing.

Provide the options as shown in the following table.

Availability Calendar tab

This tab includes an ajax calendar where you can add the date-wise information related to the listing. Based on the services you offer, you can show the availability for that service.

Screen 7: Availability tab

To set the availability for a range of dates, drag and click the required range of dates. Provide the information about availability as shown in the following image.

Screen 8: Availability information

Click Save to save the availability information.

If you want to delete a particular entry, click the colored band of availability and click OK

Metadata tab

This tab includes the Meta title and Meta description for the listing as shown in the following image:

Products

Overview

Each listing can have as many products as you need. Products can be found on the "Products" tab of each Listing item on the frontend of the website

Access Products section of JomDirectory

You can access Products section of JomDirectory by clicking on the Products item in the Sidebar as seen on the following screenshot

Screen 1: Products screen                      

The following table explains the different options seen on the screen.

Creating A New Product

The following image shows the Products screen.

Edit Product

If you want to edit existing entries, you can either click the entry from the Product screen or select the checkbox next to the entry, and then click Edit.

This tab provides options to add title, description, select category, and other options for the Product as seen in the following image:

Screen 2: Edit Product screen

The following table shows the options available:

Custom Fields tab

This tab includes all the custom fields created for a particular category. If the custom field is not applied to a specific category, it can be seen for all categories when creating a listing. The following image shows the Custom Fields tab screen.

Screen 3: Custom Fields tab

For more information about creating custom fields, see Custom Fields.

Images tab

This tab includes information about images and videos attached to the listing. Before you can add images to the product, you must save your product at least once. This ensures that all the other data you have filled for the product does not disappear after the images are added.

The Images tab can be seen as shown in the following image:

Screen 4: Images tab

To set the Order of the images (which one displayed first) drag and drop images to switch positions.

The first image in the gallery is used as the image thumbnail for the product.

Provide the options as shown in the following table.

Membership

Overview

Memberships in Extension are required to set user group level based on the monthly/Yearly pay plan the user selects. Using membership plans, you can decide how much to charge a user and how many listings a user can make for a particular membership plan.

Create a new Membership Plan

Click Components > Extension > Membership Plans > New to create a new membership plan as shown in the following image:

Screen 1: Create new membership plan

Edit Membership Plan

If you want to edit existing entries, you can either click the entry from the Membership screen or select the check box next to the entry, and then click Edit. 

The following image shows the Edit Plan screen.

Screen 2: Edit Plan screen

The following table explains the different options seen.

Adding paid custom fields to the Membership plans

For adding a custom field to the membership plan, the field group needs to be set to Paid item. Click Extension > Custom Fields. Click the field you want to add to the membership plan as a paid item. Change the Field Group to Paid item for the Item view and Paid items for the Items view as shown in the following image:

Screen 4: Adding a paid custom field

This field needs to be enabled in the membership plan as shown in the following image.

Screen 5: Enabling the paid custom field

This field can be seen in the front admin under the membership plan as follows:

Screen 6: Viewing the paid custom field

Membership expiry email configurations

Before the membership expires, an email can be sent to a user that informs them about his membership nearing expiration. The setting can be seen in the following image:

Screen 3: Configure expiry email field

Cron Setting for Membership expiry check

Under your hosting panel a link needs to be added that launches a script. This script checks all users’ membership and sends an email if membership is about to expire:

curl -sS 'http://yourdomain.com?option=com_jomdirectory&task=expiry.send'

or

wget -q -O /dev/null 'http://yourdomain.com?option=com_jomdirectory&task=expiry.send'

If you are unaware about where the cron setting needs to configured in the hosting panel, contact your hosting support center.

Ensure that the script is launched every day at a particular time consistently.

Set Single User expiry date and group

To set plan expiry and attach a group for each user, do the following:

1. Click Users > User Manager.
2. Click the user for whom you want to set the membership expiry.
3. Click the Additional Options tab.
4. Provide the expiration date in the Plan expiry field.
   
5. Click the Assigned User Groups tab.
6. Select the check box next to the group you want to attach the user to for a particular membership plan as shown in the following image.
   
7. Click Save.

For more information about membership expiration setting, see Configuration documentation.

Creating a new Group for Membership Plans

In order to add users to groups for membership plans, you must create a super group named JomDirectory. Then, under it you must create groups for each of your membership plan. These groups are used to provide Group ID when creating a membership plan. Users created using User Manager can be linked to each of these membership plan groups.

To create the JomDirectory group and other groups, do the following:

1. Click Users > Groups > Add New Group.
2. Provide a name for the group. We need to create JomDirectory group before creating other groups. So, provide the name as JomDirectory.
   

   

   
   
3. Repeat steps 1 and 2, but select the parent as JomDirectory.
   

   

   
   
4. Click Save.
   
   

User Permissions based on groups

For the users to access Front Admin certain user permissions need to be granted. These settings need to be done in the JomDirectory and Comdev Options.

To provide user permissions for JomDirectory, do the following:

1. Click Components > Directory
2. Click Options from the right-hand side of the screen.
3. Click Permissions.
4. Provide the permissions as shown in the following image.
   

   

5. Click Save.
   
   

User permissions also need to be set for Comdev extension as explained here.

1. Click Components > Comdev.
2. Click Options from the right-hand side of the screen.
3. Click Comdev.
4. Provide the permissions as shown in the following image.
   

   

   
   
5. Click Save.

Users, which belongs to Joomla group JomDirectory, will now have access to Front Admin.

If Permissions for the Comdev component are not set, users would not be able to upload images. A 500 error would show that permissions are denied. 

Reviews

Overview

Reviews are provided by users and can be seen on the Reviews tab in the listing.

Creating Reviews Categories

Review categories can be seen on the Reviews tab in the listing to the user when they are adding a review for that listing as seen in the following image.

Screen 1: Reviews Category screen

Click on category type to edit it:

Screen 2: Add a category for review on listing page

Creating Reviews Recommended

Review recommended can be seen on the listing details Reviews tab in the listing to the user when they are adding a review for that listing as seen in the following image.

Screen 3: Reviews Recommended screen

Click on category type to edit it:

Screen 4: Review Recommended on Listings page

Note: If the reviews are not being shown after submission on the listing page, you must enable Approve Reviews option under component Configuration. For more information. See Configuration documentation.

Adding a Review for listings

After these categories and review recommendation types are added, you can now create a review. To create a review, go to the listings page and click the Reviews tab. Provide the options as seen in the following image:

Screen 5: Adding a Review

After you provide the information, click Submit Review. The Review can now be seen in the listings page, under the Reviews tab.

Editing a review

Now, you can view the review and edit it, if required. Click Extension > Listings. The following image shows the Reviews column for the listings.

Screen 6: View the Review column

Click the Review icon to view all the reviews for a listing.

Now click on the review title to edit it:

Screen 7: Editing a review

Edit the options as given in the following table.

Title	Edit the title for the review.
Alias	Edit the alias for the review.
Text Editor	Edit the description in the editor.
Toggle Editor	Toggle between rich text and plain text editor.
Rates	Move the cursor over the circle to edit the given categories.
Recommended	Select the required recommended for group.
User	Select the user who created the review.
Status	Change the status of the review. Published Unpublished Archived Trashed

Review on front page

After these types are added, when a user is writing a review, the options are seen as follows:

Messages

Overview

Messages related to the Contact form available on each listing. If the user wants to contact Owner of the listing, a copy of the email will be saved under Messages.

Additional send email copy to admin can be set under Configuration

The messages are always sent to the owner of the listing. The user email address is taken from the User Account settings.

The Contact area on the listing page is as seen in the following image. The options are provided as given here:

Screen 1: Sending a message on the site

Viewing messages

Once the user accepts the Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy, he clicks Send Email. The email is now available for the owner of the listing to view as seen in the following image:

To view a message, hover the mouse pointer over the message as shown in the following image.

Screen 2: View the message

Messages sent using the contact form are available on the Messages tab for the owner of the listings. You can view the message or delete it based on your requirement.

Front Admin Messages

To view messages, from Front Admin, click the Messages tab to see the following screen.

Configuration

Overview

The JomDirectory extension can be configured using the options provided with it. You can control multiple factors such as SEO, Printing, Security, Image widths, and more using the options provided.

General tab

This tab controls the elements for Layout, SEO, Security, and Print options. The following image shows the options available on the General tab.

Screen 1: General tab

The following table explains the different options seen on the screen.

Media tab

This tab provides options to control display of media such as images or videos on the listing pages.

Screen 2: Media tab

The following table explains the options seen on the screen.

Email tab

This tab provides options to control the email and security options for the JomDirectory extension.

Screen 3: Email tab

The following table explains the options seen on the screen.

Reviews tab

This tab provides option to enable review ratings when the the Enable Reviews & Ratings slider button is set to Yes as shown in the following image.

Screen 4: Reviews tab

The following table explains the options seen on the screen.

Search tab

This tab provides option to enable search when the the Enable Search tag slider button is set to Yes 

Integrations tab

This tab provides options to control map integration for listings.

Screen 5: Integrations tab

The following table explains the options seen on the screen.

Currency & Price tab

This tab provides options to control display of currency formats for listings.

Screen 6: Currency & Price tab

The following table explains options seen on the screen.

Membership Plans

This tab controls membership options that you want to set for your site.

Screen 8: Membership Plans

The following table explains options seen on the screen.

Front Admin

This tab controls how the menu links are seen on the front admin for JomDirectory. It also provides other options related to front admin.

Screen 7: Front Admin tab

The following table explains the options seen on the screen.

Permissions

This tab provides options to control permissions for different groups.

User Guide

Front Admin Overview

Overview

The dashboard gives a quick snapshot of all the tasks that you can perform using the Front Admin. It also provided multiple menu items that you can use to create listings, view listings, view membership plans, and so on. The other options that you can control are approving reviews, viewing statistics, upgrading membership for a particular user, and so on.

For the Menu to be able to access the JomDirectory Front Admin, certain settings need to be made. You must create the Profile Edit Menu link, Admin Menu link, and Profile View Menu link in the JomDirectory Front Admin configurations to be able to access Front Admin. For more information, see the Front Admin Options section in the Menu Items documentation.

Accessing the dashboard

When you access the home URL for JomDirectory extension, do the following:

1. Click Front Admin.
2. Provide the login details for the required user and click Submit.

The dashboard with various options can be seen as shown in the following image.

Screen 1: Dashboard screen

You can click the options as seen in the following table.

Manage Listings

Overview

You can view all the listings created for your site or create a new listing.  The created listings let you add descriptions, images, provide ratings, and much more. 

Creating a New Listing

The following image shows the Listings screen.

Screen 1: Listing screen              

The following table explains the different options seen on the screen.

Manage Reviews

Overview

Users can provide reviews about the listing that can be viewed on the Listing page under the Reviews tab. This review will need to be approved by the owner of the listing before it can be seen under this tab.

Viewing Reviews

After logging into the Front Admin, click Listings. You can see the available listings. Each listing has an  icon that takes you to the Reviews page.

 

Screen 1: Reviews 

Provide the options as seen in the following table.

User Membership

Overview

You can view the user membership plan details on the Front Admin page. If eligible for, you can also upgrade the user membership plan to a higher plan.

User membership plan can not only be upgraded through the Front Admin. You can perform other membership tasks from the back end using the information given in the

The following screen shows the Membership details for the user.

Screen 1: Membership details

To upgrade the user membership plan you can either click Upgrade or click the Membership tab on the Front Admin page. The membership plans that are available for upgrade are shown as seen in the following image.

Screen 2: Membership plans

Click Upgrade to upgrade to the higher plan. You can then select an appropriate mode of payments and complete the transaction.

Listings Messages

Overview

Messages related to the Contact form available on each listing. If the user wants to contact Owner of the listing, a copy of the email will be saved under Messages.

Additional send email copy to admin can be set under Configuration

The messages are always sent to the owner of the listing. The user email address is taken from the User Account settings.

The Contact area on the listing page is as seen in the following image. The options are provided as given here:

Screen 1: Sending a message on the site

Viewing messages

Once the user accepts the Terms and Conditions and the Privacy Policy, he clicks Send Email. The email is now available for the owner of the listing to view as seen in the following image:

To view a message, hover the mouse pointer over the message as shown in the following image.

Screen 2: View the message

Messages sent using the contact form are available on the Messages tab for the owner of the listings. You can view the message or delete it based on your requirement.

Front Admin Messages

To view messages, from Front Admin, click the Messages tab to see the following screen.

Profile & Settings (User Profile)

Overview

After creating a user, a user can edit his profile details such as password, email address, language settings, timezone settings, and much more.

To edit your profile, from the Front Admin, click Profile as shown in the following screen.

Screen 1: Profile screen

Editing a profile

On the Profile screen, click Edit Profile as shown in the following screen.

Provide the values as given in the following table.

To save the settings you changed, click Submit. If you click the Settings link on the Front Admin screen, it will take you to the Edit Profile page. 

Modules

Latest Items Module

Overview

Modules are extensions that assist in creating blocks of information on your site. They aggregate information from components and can be placed in predefined positions on the page based on your Joomla template.

JomDirectory Latest module

This module helps you create the panel where latest listings are displayed. You can decide where to position the latest panel on the page and also control on which pages the panel should appear. To view all the available modules, click Extension > Module Manager. The modules available are listed as seen in the following image.

Editing the JomDirectory Latest module

To edit the module, click on the module link or select the checkbox next to the module name, and then click Edit.

The following image shows the module edit screen.

Module tab

This tab controls the layout where the latest listings panel is to be displayed on the screen.

Screen 8: Module tab

Provide the options as per the following table.

Menu Assignment tab

This tab controls where the module should be displayed. You can decide if it should be displayed on all pages for the site or just selective pages.

Screen 9: Menu Assignment tab

Select the required menu for module assignment. The available options are:

• On all pages
• No pages
• Only on the pages selected
• On all pages except those selected

Search Module

JomDirectory Search module

This module helps you create the search panel with fields that are searchable. All the fields that are defined as searchable during creation can be seen on this panel. You can decide where to position the search panel on the page and also control on which pages the panel should appear. To view all the available modules, click Extension > Module Manager. 

To create a new module, click New. Select the JomDirectory Search module. Provide the information as given in the following sections. Click Save to save the module.

Editing the JomDirectory Search module

To edit the module, click on the module link or select the checkbox next to the module name, and then click Edit.

The following image shows the module edit screen.

Module tab

This tab controls the layout where the search panel is to be displayed on the screen

Screen 3: Module tab

Provide the options as per the following table.

Menu Assignment tab

This tab controls where the module should be displayed. You can decide if it should be displayed on all pages for the site or just selective pages.

Screen 4: Menu Assignment tab

Select the required menu for module assignment. The available options are:

• On all pages
• No pages
• Only on the pages selected
• On all pages except those selected

Shopping Cart Addon Module

JomDirectory includes a shopping cart and checkout, so users can purchase items straight from your product catalogue. Shopping cart addon extends Products functionality by adding possibility to purchase products directly on the list or from the product details page. When addon is installed a new section Orders will appear where all purchases are being logged and also Order status can be changed.

Installing the Shopping Cart Module

The shopping cart module does not need to be installed in order for users to be able to make purchases. However, it does make it easier for users to keep track of their purchases and navigate to checkout.

Start by downloading the shopping cart module. Once downloaded, install the module using Joomla's Extension Manager. Atlernatively, you can install directly from the web.

Configuring JomDirectory's Checkout

The first thing you must do is enable JomDirectory's checkout otherwise users will not be able to add items to the shopping cart and checkout those items for purchase.

To configure JomDirectory's checkout:

Configuring the Module

Once the JomDirectory shopping cart module has been successfully installed, you will need to configure, position and publish it.

The JomDirectory shopping cart is just like any other module and so many of the configuration options will look familiar. Go through the options and configure it to you liking. In particular, configure the position and menu assignment and make sure that Status is set to Published.

IMPORTANT: Cart module should be assigned on all menus related to products!

Adding a Checkout Menu Item

If you have enabled the shopping cart module, you MUST create a shopping cart checkout page menu item otherwise the View Cart button will not work.

To create a new menu item for the JomDirectory's cart and checkout:

If you are unfamiliar with Menu Manager check out Joomla!'s menu management documentation.

Configure Shipping Providers

Shipping Providers can be configured under custom fields. To create a new shipping provider, access Product custom fields, click create new, field type input and choose group shipping. Once saved it will be available under Product custom fields.

Configure Online and Offline payments.

Purchasing a Product

On the frontend, navigate to Product Search or Product Filter; you should now see a cart icon against each product. Click on it, and the product will be added to your shopping cart. Once you have completed your purchase, click on View Cart. You will be redirected to your shopping cart where you will be able to purchase your items using JomDirectory's checkout process.

That's it! You're ready to start selling your goods.

Live Search Maps Module

Overview

This is an extra paid module available for Business Package, can be also purchased separately. 

This module helps you view all the listings under full view or windowed map To view all the available modules, click Extension > Module Manager. 

To create a new module, click New. Select the EXTENSION_NAME Maps module. Provide the information as given in the following sections. Click Save to save the module.

Editing the Maps Module

To edit the module, click on the module link or select the checkbox next to the module name, and then click Edit.

The following image shows the module edit screen.

Screen 2: Module tab

Module tab

This tab controls the layout where the search panel is to be displayed on the screen.

Screen 3: Module tab

Provide the options as per the following table.

Menu Assignment tab

This tab controls where the module should be displayed. You can decide if it should be displayed on all pages for the site or just selective pages.

Screen 4: Menu Assignment tab

Select the required menu for module assignment. The available options are:

• On all pages
• No pages
• Only on the pages selected
• On all pages except those selected

Creating custom category markers

When any listing is displayed on the map, it is shown as a pin. This pin icon is as in the default template. To modify this pinned icon as per your category, marker image needs to be placed under module images directory:

modules/mod_EXTENSION-NAME_maps/images/markers/...

Slideshow PRO Module

Overview

This is an extra paid module available for Business Package, can be also purchased separately. 

This module showcases the listings in a slideshow format. Users can see the image along with the title of the listing.

Slideshow PRO Module upon activation is seen as follows on the pages:

Screen 1: Slideshow Module on front page

Editing Slideshow Module

To edit the module, click on the module link or select the check box next to the module name, and then click Edit.

The following image shows the module edit screen.

Screen 2: Module tab

Provide the options as per the following table.

Slider Module Tab

This tab controls the layout where the map panel is to be displayed on the screen.

Screen 3: Slider Module tab

Slider Width	Slider width in pixels
Slider Height	Slider height in pixels
Slide Delay (seconds)	Slideshow delay in seconds
Full Width	Enable to cover the entire width of the slideshow image.
Slide Transition	Select from the following options. Random Fade Boxslide Slotzoom-horizontal Slotzoom-vertical Curtain-1 Curtain-2 slideup
Slide Navigation	Select from the following options. Bullet Thumb None
Autoplay	Start slider when page loaded

Menu Assignment tab

This tab controls where the module should be displayed. You can decide if it should be displayed on all pages for the site or just selective pages.

Screen 4: Menu Assignment tab

Select the required menu for module assignment. The available options are:

• On all pages
• No pages
• Only on the pages selected
• On all pages except those selected