Jacek Zieliński Homepage

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"A designer knows he has achieved perfection not when there is nothing left to add, but when there is nothing left to take away."

 

Antoine de Saint-Exupery

JTags - Free Joomla! Tagging Solution PDF Print E-mail

JTags Logo

JTags 1.2 is available! This release comes with lot of changes. To see changelog click here.

Features:

  • Very simple to install and use
  • Full SEF support
  • Large look and design customization
  • It's free to download and develop

What is JTags?

JTags is a Joomla! Extension for adding keywords (tags) to Joomla! Content. 

What is it for?

The general project idea is to enable users inserting specific labels to tag any Joomla! content. Some time ago I was browsing some site and looked for articles related to "iPhone". Unfortunately I was forced to browse every page and stare at text just focused to find requested label. I guess many of you was at the similar situation, so you know how it is tiring and frustrating. If only I could just select/type "iPhone" tag, I would find requested articles just in eye blink.

How can I use it?

You can watch short video tutorial to get know, how it works - click here

As you can see, it is powerful and very simple in use!

You can also test it on real Demo Site.

To log in as an author please use:

login: demo, password: demo

To log in into back-end section please use:

login: admin, password: admin

Where can I download it?

Go to the download section to get it now!

How to install it?

Package should contain six files - one component, one module, and four plugins. So simply unzip downloaded package and install all files one by one. Do not forget to enable plugins after installation. That is all!

How I can help expandig project?

If you would like to join developer team visit following site: joomlacode.org. If you like JTags extension and would like to keep it developing, please consider small donation. Thank you!

What are minimum installation requirements?

  • PHP 4.x
  • MySQL 4.1.2
  • Joomla! 1.5.4

It is advisable to use the newest software version.

I am using JTags right now and I want to update it, without losing data. How to do it?
There are two ways to do it:

  • simpler - backup jos_jtags_tags and jos_jtags_items tables, re-install component, module, and plugins. Then restore tables.
  • more difficult - download the newest package and replace all files manually. Be careful, because it's quite tricky, since component is divided to front-end and admin section

I am receiving following error: (...) What to do?
Make sure your system meets all installation requirements and you have all plugins enabled. Then try to describe your error and give details about what you were trying to do when error occurred.

There are any plans for future development?
Yes, visit joomlacode.org site to find details concerning tasks to do. If would you like to help, you can join development team.

What about multi-language support?
Default JTags package contains english (en-GB) language support only. You can download additional lang packs from download section, or prepare your own pack, if your language is not available.

How to install language files?
Download appropriate pack from languages download section, unzip it and:
- copy two files from main pack directory to language/LANG directory in your default Joomla! installation, where LANG is your language abbreviation (e.g. pl-PL or de-DE)
- copy one file from admin directory to administrator/language/LANG directory (as explained above).
If you want to help, you are welcome to prepare your language pack.

How can I change look of tags displayed in article?
You have unlimited possibilities to change tags look style thanks to css. Just modify style.css file in main jtags component directory to meet your expectations.

What about tags for deleted articles?
You do not need to worry about it. When you delete tagged article, tag automatically disappear from tags list. But if you do not want to see deleted tag in drop down menu while tagging new article, you can permanently remove old tags. Go to Components->JTags->Manage Tags and click on "Remove tags from deleted articles" button.

Remove tags button

What parameters can I adjust?
In administrator panel, go to Extensions->Module Manager and select Tags Cloud.
On the right side following panel will be showed:

Module Parameters

Minimum Font Size - Determines minimum font size in tags cloud (px)
Maximum Font Size - Determines maximum font size in tags cloud (px)
Number of tags in cloud - Determines maximum number of tags in cloud
Section - Determines section to display tags from
Category - Determines category to display tags from
Module Class Suffix - A suffix to be applied to the CSS class of the Module. This allows for individual Module styling.

 
In administrator panel, go to Extensions->Plugin Manager and select Content - JTags tags show.
On the right side following panel will be showed:

Plugin Parameters

Display title - Toggles the displaying of the title in tags list
Tags separator - Determines, what character separates tags (default is vertical bar - "|")
Overview pages - Determines, if you want to show tags in overview pages like front page or section/category blogs
Top/bottom - Determines, if you want to show tags in top or bottom of page.

Comments
Add New Search RSS
Seth Marbin  - character limit for tags?     |75.61.79.xxx |2008-08-20 00:00:44
Is there a character limit for the tags?
I am having trouble saving longer tags, and when I am able to save them and I try clicking on one, it gets cut down to 19 characters and doesn't match any articles.
Jacek Zielinski     |SAdministrator |2008-08-20 07:36:51
There is a Joomla! constraint of the search engine for the search term to be between 3 and 20 characters. So, when you try to search longer tag than 20, it simply truncates it to 20 characters. Remember that, search engine skips also words shorter than 3 characters, so providing "beware of the long tags" will give you "beware the long". Thank you for a comment
Adam  - Czego? takiego by?o mi trzeba     |78.28.4.xxx |2008-08-20 12:02:13
Gratuluj? dodatku! Przyznam, ?e takie rozwi?zanie bardzo potrzebne by?o spo?eczno?ci joomla. Zabieram si? do testów. Mam nadziej?, ?e jutro uda mi si? skre?li? co? na temat tego rozszerzenia na blogu. Bardzo dzi?kuj? za takie rozwi?zanie.

Serdecznie pozdrawiam
Adam  - Wra?enia     |78.28.12.xxx |2008-08-21 04:00:32
Witam ponownie,

Pakiet bardzo ?adnie integruje si? z joomla 1.5.6. Nie ma problemów natury technologicznej.

Jest za to bole?? natury czysto prezentacyjnej dotycz?ca uk?adu tagów w samym systemie, w elementach contentu. Moim marzeniem jest, aby tagi + data i autor mog?y pojawia? si? w 1 linii, ew. ?eby ten wiersz si? zawija?. Mog?o by by? te? tak, aby tagi pojawia?y si? pod intro textem, pod rozwini?tym artyku?em. 3 linijki oddzielaj?ce tytu? od zajawki to troch? du?o. Mo?na na to jako? wp?yn??? Ew. przesun?? tagi pod wspomniany post (intro)? ?eby nie robi? takiej "dziury" mi?dzy postem, a title?

Mam jeszcze takie pytanie, czy dodatek integruje si? z edytorem JCE, którego zamierzam u?ywa?? Sprawdza?em tylko na edytorze prostym.

Pozdrawiam i w miar? mo?liwo?ci prosz? o odpowied?. ?wietna rzecz.
torkil  - Two database tables?     |80.89.35.xxx |2008-08-21 04:44:26
Looks promising indeed

But why have you created two database tables? It seems unnecessary and will probably force you to do joins here and there too. Ineffective?
Jacek Zielinski     |SAdministrator |2008-08-21 12:46:32
The second table is just to set every tag, it's own, unique ID number. Remember that INT takes 4 bytes, which is not comparable to up to 30 bytes taking by varchar.
torkil  - Still...     |80.89.35.xxx |2008-08-22 07:12:51
What does bytes have to do with it?

Why not just have the name column in the jtags_items table instead of having two tables?

Seems just weird to have PRIMARY KEY (`component`,`tag_id`,`item_id`) since tag_id already is a primary key. Or does this make indexing and searching faster?

I am no expert, I am just curious as to why you don't just have ONE table with the columns tag_id, name, component, item_id.
Maciej Kostecki     |78.152.4.xxx |2008-08-23 17:25:21
Hi all.

When it comes to two database tables, this is the only one correct solution.
Let's consider the following example: there is an 'iphone' tag that is assigned to two articles. So there is an entry that has a tag id (let's say '1') and a tag name ('iphone') in one table and two entries having the same tag id ('1') and two different article ids (for instance '11' and '12') in the second table.

1st table:
1 iphone

2nd table:
1 11
1 12

If user wants to change tag name, we just need to update one row.
Now let's consider the situation with one table. We need to have two entries, both having the same tag id ('1') and the same tag name ('iphone'), and differ only by article ids ('11' and '12').
This is an unexpected situation because tag name is stored in each row. If some tag was assigned to lots of articles (let's say 100 articles having ids between 11..111) we would need to store the same tag name in 100 database rows.

1 iphone 11
1 iphone 12
...
1 iphone 111

Jacek has already mentioned that in his solution, in the second table we just need to save tag id (int) that takes less memory than tag name (varchar). Furthermore, if user decided to change the tag name, in the solution with one table, tag name had to be changed in 100 database entries (rows), what makes things inefective. Jacek's solution is some kind of database design pattern that is commolny used

Greetings,
Maciej
torkil  - Allright     |84.202.97.xxx |2008-08-24 05:18:26
Allrighty, thanks for clearing that up
Seth Marbin  - Thanks and follow up     |78.152.4.xxx |2008-08-21 12:56:37
Jacek Zielinski wrote:
So, when you try to search longer tag than 20, it simply truncates it to 20 characters.


Hi Jacek - thanks for the quick reply.

When I use longer tags on your demo site, even though it truncates the tag the search still finds the article with that tag... but on my site, it doesn't find the article. Have you made any other modifications to the search component that would explain this?

Example on JTags demo site: http://tinyurl.com/jtagsdemo

Example on my site: http://tinyurl.com/demoeduquotes

Thanks
Jacek Zielinski     |SAdministrator |2008-08-21 12:57:40
Yes, it is fixed now. Try to download the newest package and reinstall all extensions. You can make a backup of "jos_jtags_items" and "jos_jtags_tags" if you do not want to lose your tags. Thank you very much. Thanks to people like you, extension is getting better and better
Seth Marbin     |76.252.216.xxx |2008-08-23 20:52:18
Thanks Jacek - after a reinstall, the search now works, even if the tag is longer than 20 characters!

Now, a clarification/feature request: When logged in to the front end, when I try to submit a new article, the tag field is not visible so I can't add tags. Is that by design? Or can I make it visible somehow?

It is visible when I am submitting an article from the back end, or editing an article that already has tags from the front end.

Thanks, -Seth
Jacek Zielinski  - re:     |SAdministrator |2008-09-03 07:37:43
Seth Marbin wrote:

Now, a clarification/feature request: When logged in to the front end, when I try to submit a new article, the tag field is not visible so I can't add tags. Is that by design? Or can I make it visible somehow?

Always you have to save your content before tagging, because Joomla! can't predict what will be new article ID (it doesn't exist yet in DB), so it just can't tag it.
Scott  - Doesn't work with SEF Advanced 2008   |142.179.114.xxx |2008-08-21 14:24:03
Great component - but doesn't work with one of the best SEF componets for Joomla...
momo  - doesn't seem to work with JCE     |69.231.41.xxx |2008-08-21 22:07:19
Not sure yet, but while i can type tags into the field below the article, they don't seem to get saved. at least they don't display and when I reopen the same article the tag field is empty.

can't get it to work. ;)
marczinger   |81.184.111.xxx |2008-09-28 11:32:49
same problem
marczinger  - upgrading to 1.5.7   |81.184.111.xxx |2008-09-28 12:03:35
upgrading to 1.5.7 and problem solved!
Jonasz  - Future roadmap of development     |213.190.44.xxx |2008-08-22 02:21:55
Witam, wspaniala i bardzo potrzebna inicjatywa. Proste rozwiazania i funcjonalnosc. Bardzo potrzebne dla Joomla. Moze ktos wie dlaczego Jommla team przez dluzszy czas nic takiego nie robi i nie ma tego bazowej instalacji? W tym Drupal bije Joomla na glowe...

Powracajac do Jtags. Moze autor moglby napisac swoje plany co do dalszego rozwoju tego tak bardzo potrzebnego komponentu ? Chcialbym zaczac go uzywac, ale w tej chwilii brakuje mozliwosci:
- tworzenia menu dla konkretnego tag'u (aby rozwiazc podstawowy problem Joomla z cross-categorization),
- mozliwosci prostej modyfikacji przedstawiania wygladu wynikow jednego tag'u (# different layouts (blog, table etc)
# different menu items types )
- posiadanie mozliwosci wyboru z wczesniej juz wprowadzonych tag'ow (wybor ze spisu)
- jak stoja sprawy z multilanguage support
- SEF

W tej chwilii uzywam Jootags komponentu (http://www.turtus.org.ua/) jest bardzo porownywalny i na razie funcjonalnoscia troche przewyzasza Jtags, aczkolwiek od ukazania sie pierwszej wersji nie jest dalej rozwijany.

Mam nadzieje ze w najblizszym czasie na stronie ukaza sie dalsze plany rozwoju tego komponentu i nowe funcjonalnosci (menu, layout etc.)

Powodzenia !!!
Jacek Zielinski     |SAdministrator |2008-09-03 09:14:42
Witam,
projekt bedzie rozwijany w przyszlosci, jednak nie ma jeszcze zadnego sprecyzowanego planu. Poki co, moge tylko powiedziec, ze pierwsza rzecza jaka zostanie dodana bedzie mozliwosc wybrania tagu z listy istniejacych juz tagow.
Pozdrawiam
Andrew  - Install errors     |59.167.163.xxx |2008-08-22 18:04:04
I get errors on install ...

- DB function failed with error number 1146
- jos_jtags_items' doesn't exist
- Warning: implode() [function.implode]: Bad arguments in /jtags.php on line 87
Jacek Zielinski     |SAdministrator |2008-08-22 20:53:58
Hi Andrew, probably you are using very old version or MySQL (older than 4.1.2) Try to update your MySQL database, and everything should work fine. If you require more help, please mail me. Thanks.
Andrew  - Error on Install     |59.167.163.xxx |2008-08-22 22:22:53
Ah ha ... simple thanks
James  - Hold on...   |87.105.153.xxx |2008-08-24 23:40:54
As far as I know, Jacek might not be able to reply in this week.
Heru  - Tags cannot be saved     |125.164.123.xxx |2008-08-25 02:35:47
I've installed JTags just right now, and all plugin setting were done. but unfortunately when every time I type tags bellow article box, and click save, it never saved anyway. And when I check to the component, no list at all. Did I miss something? . FYI, My server use php 5+ and mySQL 4+ .

Anyone have same problem like me?
Scott  - Tags cannot be saved.   |199.126.200.xxx |2008-09-22 09:38:16
Hey Heru - I'm having the same issue as well still unresolved.

Tags aren't being saved. all modules have been activated and say they are compatible with joomla. After multiple uninstalls/reinstall - still no go.

System Stats:
Joomla 1.5.3
PHP 5.2.6
MySql 4+
Scott   |199.126.200.xxx |2008-09-22 11:27:22
Found the solution.

I upgraded joomla from 1.5.3 to 1.5.7 and the problem was resolved.
Jonasz  - Is it possible ?     |213.190.44.xxx |2008-08-25 05:56:26
Hello, is it possible to make such layout when you click on tag without "search" on the top. Maybe in future it could be as a parameter in component ?

Thanks
Laurie Neher  - Owner     |68.7.241.xxx |2008-08-26 07:37:37
Excellent component! However, on Demo Site, I logged in as admin/admin and saw the same thing as when logged in as demo/demo. Would like to see the backend before downloading. Thanks for your work!
Laurie Neher  - Question regarding demo site     |68.7.241.xxx |2008-08-26 07:39:39
Hello! Fun Component! However when I logged in the Demo Site with "admin/admin" I saw the same thing as "demo/demo" Would love to see the backend of an an article I submitted!
Seth Marbin     |76.252.216.xxx |2008-08-26 15:59:13
Hi Laurie,

I had success accessing the backend of the demo site by logging in with admin/admin at:

http://jacekzielinski.com/demo/administrator/

Is that what you are trying?

-Seth
bazalttufa   |91.82.140.xxx |2008-08-31 11:58:57
Hello

It is great, simple and effective, and do what i need. There is only a couple of problem and wish.

- an option for classis tags, with the number of a specific tag, without cloud, would be great.

- as somebody has already mentioned, after clicking on a tag, the article url is different from the original, what makes the structure complicated.

- after deleting a tagged article, tags remain in the tagcloud, and i couldn't find out how to to delete them. Thats a major problem!!
James  - Removing tags with article delete?   |87.105.153.xxx |2008-09-04 05:28:58
What about
http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.0/en/triggers.html
Jacek? Think it might be worth taking a look at.
Jacek Zielinski     |SAdministrator |2008-09-04 18:20:56
Yep, I thought about it. The problem is, there are still a lot of people (me too!) using MySQL 4.x, because still most hosting providers offers it (Using triggers was implemented in MySQL 5.0.2). But when it changes, it will be surely implemented. Thanks for your activity.
Dj  - Adding Tags already in Database   |71.110.153.xxx |2008-09-04 11:43:09
Greetings Jacek!!

I love this component, but I was wondering if there is a way to submit some code for it to you. I have created a way to insert tags from the database (without disrupting your method of adding them to the database).

Anywho, my company and I LOVE your component and we are going to use it now in our migration from Joomla 1.0.x to 1.5.x!

Thanks for such a great component!
Marco  - Pages by tag   |77.161.155.xxx |2008-09-09 02:50:38
Thank you so much for this component. I am looking forward to your future development plans.

One thing I would like to see added, is to skip the Joomla Search Engine part. If for example I use mysite.com/tags/test , that it shows a com_content page with full/introitems tagged with test.

Keep up the good work
alex  - problem when I install the plugin     |83.76.216.xxx |2008-09-09 06:33:59
Hellooooo,

does anyone know why I have this message when I try to install the third pack form the zip :



* It was not possible to copy the selected file.
* JInstaller::install: Failed to copy file: /home/www/048731381561a4f568451dc0e28f958f/web/tmp/install_48c66c8c8271c/plugin_jtags_content_save/jtagsSave.php to /home/www/048731381561a4f568451dc0e28f958f/web/plugins/content/jtagsSave.php
Jacek Zielinski  - re: problem when I install the plugin     |SAdministrator |2008-09-09 08:48:09
Hi, try to check if you have permission to write new files in /plugins and /tmp directories. If not, use chmod command to change privileges.
bazalttufa   |87.97.89.xxx |2008-09-10 05:29:28
Another problem!

I have already found the the solution for stucked tags (delete before article delete), but i found a bigger problem for me.

Tag clouds show all the tags not just the ones, from a specific section or category, and it s confusing, when you find a blog tags in an other blog's tagcloud.

Is it possible to divide the tags between categories and sections?????? It would be important!
Brent Pohlman  - Issues with installation     |68.13.113.xxx |2008-09-15 21:07:17
What do I need to do to resolve this issue?

Brent

DB function failed with error number 1146
Table 'db240343224.jos_jtags_items' doesn't exist SQL=SELECT jos_jtags_tags.tag_id, name, count( jos_jtags_tags.tag_id ) AS used FROM jos_jtags_items NATURAL JOIN jos_jtags_tags GROUP BY jos_jtags_tags.tag_id ORDER BY name LIMIT 0, 20
Jacek Zielinski     |SAdministrator |2008-09-19 18:48:15
I replied you by an e-mail. Thanks!
clara  - display articles   |84.91.36.xxx |2008-09-18 09:05:57
grat extension, i just love, however i am having troubles in displaying results. with an exemple will be easier:

lets say i have 4 articles with same TAG: "school" among several others. When i see the cloud the TAG is there, when i ask to see all the TAG's it says "school (4)" but when i do the search it only displays 2 or 3 or even none article...

Any ideias?

ty in advance
lukasz  - polskie znaki   |83.24.121.xxx |2008-09-19 14:30:48
Witam,
?wietny dodatek!
Ale niestety natrafi?em problem z polskimi znakami. Linki w tags cloud s? kodowane w nast?puj?cy sposób: np. "?wiczenia" wygl?daj? tak:
.../Search.html?areas[0]=jtags&searchphrase=all&searchword=%C4_wiczenia
Klikni?cie na taki link daje 0 wyników mimo, ?e oczywi?cie artyku? tak otagowany jest w bazie. Kodownaie strony: utf-8. By?bym bardzo wdzieczny za jakie? wskazówki, pozdrawiam serdecznie, ?ukasz
Jacek Zielinski     |SAdministrator |2008-09-19 18:48:07
Niestety polskie ogonki czesto przysparzaja wiele nieoczekiwanych problemow. Postaram sie temu przyjrzec
lukasz  - polskie znaki cd.   |83.24.173.xxx |2008-09-25 13:28:55
Witam ponownie!

Udalo mi sie rozwiazac problem z polskimi znakami w linkach. W pliku mod_jtags.php nalezy zamienic fragment generujacy link:

echo '' . $row->name .' ';

na nastepujacy:

echo '' . $row->name .' ';

Wydaje sie, ze to praktycznie bez roznicy ale z jakiegos powodu dziala.

Pozdrawiam serdecznie,
Lukasz
Onderlijnenvooropzee  - One wish!     |83.81.100.xxx |2008-09-20 13:19:45
Hi Jacek,

Supertool! Everything works perfect. But, I do have one wish. I do like my tags under the article instead of on top. Is it a option to let me choose?

Kind regards,
MM  - select-only tags option?   |212.251.99.xxx |2008-09-23 05:32:49
Is there an option so the author cannot insert new tags? I want the authors to be able to select from pre-defined tags.. is that possible?
MNS  - re: Issues with installation   |88.255.151.xxx |2008-09-24 00:53:41
Brent Pohlman wrote:
What do I need to do to resolve this issue?

Brent

DB function failed with error number 1146
Table 'db240343224.jos_jtags_items' doesn't exist SQL=SELECT jos_jtags_tags.tag_id, name, count( jos_jtags_tags.tag_id ) AS used FROM jos_jtags_items NATURAL JOIN jos_jtags_tags GROUP BY jos_jtags_tags.tag_id ORDER BY name LIMIT 0, 20


I have the same problem, could you send me an email with Information about it as well? Thanks in advance.

Kind regards,
Marvin
chivitli  - seo and jtags     |147.91.1.xxx |2008-09-26 03:25:39
I've tried component, and it looks excellent, for project that has begun only recently. Finally something usable. This was something I really needed for my website.
However, I cannot publish it on live site, until links that it generates do not work with seo, since it is breaking many things: modules assigned to the article, breadcrumbs, etc...
Does author have plans for improvements on those issues in some near future?
Andrew  - ERROR   |147.102.142.xxx |2008-09-29 05:40:59
Hello, maybe you 've already answered this question but in a language i don't speak .
when i istall jtags i get this error on the top of the page

Notice: Undefined offset: 0 in c:\program files\easyphp1-8\www\plugins\system\jtags.php on line 50

and this when i select a tag
Notice: Undefined property: created in c:\program files\easyphp1-8\www\components\com_search\views\search\view.html.php on line 148
and this when i go to the component of jtag in administration panel
Notice: Undefined property: published in c:\program files\easyphp1-8\www\libraries\joomla\html\html\grid.php on line 117
Andrew  - let' say solved   |147.102.140.xxx |2008-09-30 08:09:45
so, i kinda solved it by hiding the errors using the php.ini file, but another error occured...
now i cannot assign 2 articles to the same tag, this is trully odd
Dave  - Events Latest     |97.81.131.xxx |2008-10-01 14:08:16
Hello,

Just wanted to say i love this extension but one thing has be stumped. On the front page on my site i have the tag cloud display with no problem. but when i click on one of the lonks in the cloud i get this:

Events Latest
This module needs the Events component


Anyone know what extension this is or where i can get....or fix this issue lol.

Thanks.
Jacek Zielinski     |SAdministrator |2008-10-03 17:37:34
Hello,
please ensure you have Search Component (com_search) properly installed. This is default Joomla! component. This could be a reason of your problem.
Anonymous   |81.184.111.xxx |2008-10-29 09:05:59
Character problem. empty comment
seb  - Great Job   |212.183.61.xxx |2008-10-03 14:13:02
Congratulation for this great job, it is a very good component.

Some feature request for the future:

-an option to choose where we would like to display tags in article (top, bottom)

-an option to able/disable tags after title in the Joomla Blog list of article

Best Regards,
Seb
kingbt  - Nice extension but still problems   |89.44.53.xxx |2008-10-05 06:32:20
Hi, gratulations to your extensions, I use them, very usefull for a blog.
BUT
1#If I uninstall the component all JTags data from database is erased.
2#Why are the tags not added to keywords?
Those are the 2 big problems for JTags.
georgyy   |85.72.39.xxx |2008-10-09 05:29:32
hi how can i change the font size in the tag cloud for different tag items ?
thank you in advance
F Pruett   |68.7.251.xxx |2008-10-21 01:56:24
The tags names come out in a dull grey... where to modify the cloud's colors?
Richard A  - Do not display search header   |75.177.162.xxx |2008-10-21 03:18:32
Is it possible to not display the search header after clicking on one of the tag cloud items.

Just show the results of the search.

Appreciate your advice.
whauda  - Search Feature Not Working   |68.100.143.xxx |2008-10-22 13:08:52
I just installed JTags and all the plugins are enabled. When