Each amateur radio New Year in RTTY contesting starts with famous ARRL(American Radio Relay League) Round-up Contest. Following my participation in some last years I took part on this contest during Jan. 2nd/3rd 2010. Expectations about better radio wave propagation awaked with 2009 Nov./Dec. raising sun activity unfortunatelly were not right proved. But twelve hours operation brought some interesting contacts and finally my best summary result in latest 4 years.

Based on note of Jari(OH8LQ - http://www.oh8lq.com/) which is preparing new Joomla ham web site here is upgraded version of SearchLog - 3.0.3. It is maintenance version with small changes related to audio files presentation on the site :

• audio files containing / (slash) in callsign e.g. 5B/G3RXQ with audio file as 5B~G3RXQ 10-24-09 - 16 10 59.wav are now correct processed and displayed
• description in Help file for audio files settings is extended

Only when you are using audio files presentation with SearchLog component the upgrade is needed. New component version you can find on SearchLog download page.

Usage

Purpose

JotLoader allows to present files exposed on the Joomla site for download in well-arranged layout. Download files can be grouped in categories with own description and customized layout. To each download file can be assigned Bug Tracker listing with the possibility for registred users to add new problem descriptions and comments. Site administrator can edit/add/delete any text message as well as change the problem status (pending/closed) from site front-end.

Front-end

Each download category is displayed in the front-end as compact table with category title, description and all released files each with the description as well.

Pressing the Download button allows in the standart manner to download the chosen file.

Adding of new problem descriptions is possible only for the registred users after login-in :

After adding the new problem we can see problem title and description in the Bug Tracker table (in pink color marking pending problem). Registred users can add remarks to problem definition via "Add text" link.

Administrator has more possibilities - Remove (problem from Bug Tracker table), Change (problem status) and Edit (any text) buttons.

Administration

General

Management of files categories and download files is performed in administration back-end in the standart manner.

Please take care that the download files are shown in front-end only in the case, when they are assigned to the existing category. The file status "published" in the File List table is therefore not sufficient to display file in the front-end.

Categories

In Categories Manager you can set the formatting of category description text area (including embedding of pictures) as usual for this type of editor. The format setting of category title is performed in JotLoader Settings Files Header template.

Here is also possible to assign the fix sorting order for one selected parameter of download file object. The choosen fix sorting is saved in the database and it is applied to all existing as well as to the new files in the given category. When you like to work without fix files sorting in the category then it is necessary to set this parameter to -No Fixed Sort- value.

Language setting

JotLoader has possibility for selecting two basic language sets - English (en-GB) or German (de-DE). For using German language set is necessary to have German installation of Joomla (e.g. http://www.joomla-grundlagen.de/downloads-joomla-1.5.x-versionen/joomla-v.1.5.2-komplett-deutsch.html) before installation of JotLoader.

After the installation you can select language sets in Administrator Extensions->Language Manager which you like to prefere as default (take care for Site/Administrator tabs to select which part of Joomla presentation you like to change). With described change is automatically changed also language set for JotLoader component.

For site front-end you can use any possible language set (included in UTF-8 coding) for your presentation of download files with proper JotLoader settings in Administrator. Only Bug Tracker functions & buttons shall remain in basic language set (easy to omit Bug Tracker when you like).

Installation / Uninstallation

Upload and install the JotLoader component via Joomla Administrator using the normal procedure (Extensions->Install/Uninstall->Browse/Upload File & Install).

Set up your preferencies and settings for this component (Components->JotLoader->Settings, see JotLoader Settings). Then select in Joomla Administrator proper menu set to which you like to assign the JotLoader content (usually is selected Menu->mainmenu, see JotLoader Menu).

For uninstallation of JotLoader component please select via Joomla Administrator Extensions->Install/Uninstall->Components link and set JotLoader radio selection to "ON", then press Uninstall button in the toolbar. Database tables of JotLoader will remain intact with the last saved content.

Upgrade from old version

Uninstall the old version in Extensions->Install/Uninstall selecting link "Components" and set JotLoader radio selection to "ON", then press Uninstall button in the toolbar. Database tables of JotLoader will remain intact with the last saved content. Install new version of JotLoader as described above.

Menu Assignment

Here is a possibility of multiple assignments of chosen categories to the selected menu. During creating the new menu item you can select in Parameters - Basic how to present download categories and files. Default settings allows to use default parameters (set in JotLoader Settings) for all categories on one single front-end page.

Advanced administrators can select particular category for front-end presentation and/or the usage of specific layouts for files header / files as they are specified in Parameters - Component pane.

New Menu Item

Select the chosen menu in Administrator/Menus menu (e.g. Main Menu) and then press NEW button on the toolbar.

In the Select Menu Item Type tree click on JotLoader and then on Categories Presentation link. The new menu item definition page is opened. Here is neccessary to set menu item title and alias. When you like standart default layout here is enough to press SAVE button on the toolbar and new menu item is created.

For custom layout you can choose :

Parameters - Basic

JotLoader Category

Select option of all categories or one specific category (shown are categories set in Category Manager of JotLoader).

Files per Page

When creating the new menu item this parameter contains default value (Default Number of Files per Page in Settings). You can adjust this value individually for each menu item.

Header Format

Select option default layout (as set in JotLoader Settings) or select menu item related format with adjustment of Header definition in Parameters - Component pane.

Files Format

Select option default layout (as set in JotLoader Settings) or select menu item related format with adjustment of Files definition in Parameters - Component pane.

Parameters - Component

is necessary to setup only for non-default settings in Parameters - Basic pane. The definitions for Files Header and Files are the same as described in JotLoader Settings.