JFU 2.8.1 is released
JFU 2.8.1 is only a small release that fixes some layout and display issues in the config. The plugin was displaying a warning on some systems which is fixed now and the session recovery was improved.

Have fun with this release.

The Joomla Flash Uploader is the Joomla component of the TWG Flash Uploader.

You now have the possibility to upload files to your web server the easiest way possible. You simply select the files you want to upload and thats it. No upload HTML form anymore where you have to upload each file individually. You only need Flash 8 or higher installed to use this component.

You can upload files in the backend of Joomla AND you can offer this in the front-end for your users as well. You can create upload profiles and assign them to your joomla users. This gives you the possibility to give e.g. every of your users a different upload directory and/or different rights/functions.

Uploading was never easier!

 Features

TFU and JFU do still work 100% with Flash 10!

New 2.8:

• TFU 2.8.0.2 is fully included.
• Master profiles: Automatically create sub folders for each user.
• Support for image magick in the administration with installation check
• Many new parameters of TFU are now available in the JFU configuration (description mode, image magick, allowed/forbidden view extensions ...)
• Imporved configuration layout with input validation.
• Refactoring of the TFU/JFU integration. JFU can now be updated to the latest TFU version without modifying TFU files!
• Improved installer - updates from all versions are now supported without loosing any configurations
• All known problems are fixed - see history.txt for details.

Features:

• All the features of the TWG Flash uploader described here. The main version number of Joomla matches the TFU version number!
• Full integration in the Joomla backend = easy configuration for everyone.
• Use the Flash Uploader in the backend.
• Use the component to add the Flash Uploader into the front-end pages of your site.
• You can create profiles and assign them to joomla users.
• You can create profile groups - this makes it possible to use different profiles on the same page depending on the user that is logged in.
• Mambot/plugin - you can integrate the Flash Uploader into any of your sites + use the Javascript callbacks if you register JFU.
• You can keep your settings (db tables) when uninstalling/reinstalling JFU
• SEF support for Joomla 1.5

 Requirements

Browser: Flash 8 or 9 plugin
Web Server: Joomla 1.0.x - php > 4.x. GD lib > 2.0 if you want to use the resize and preview feature!

Tested versions: 1.0.7, 1.0.12, 1.0.13, 1.5.1 - 1.5.8

I recommend having a webspace with safemode = off!

 Download Joomla Flash Uploader 2.8.1.1 - 30.11.2008

Please download the version for your Joomla version below:

	Joomla 1.0.x	Joomla 1.5
Joomla Flash Uploader Component	Download	Download
Joomla Flash Uploader Mambot/plugin	Download	Download
Component + Mambot/Plugin	Download	Download

See history.txt in the downloads for changes of minor versions.

SECURITY UPDATE: You should update to at least JFU 2.7.4 because TFU 2.7.1 has a new security implementation which is now available for JFU as well.

 Registration

There are 2 versions of JFU available:

• Freeware: The download version. Has almost everything you need. The main restriction is the 3 MB limit of the upload queue.
• Registered: See below for the extras you get.

The registration is only 15 €/domain and can be done by clicking here .
The registration of the TWG Flash Uploader and JFU is the same. The registration is also valid for TWG.

 Installation

Simply install the zip file as a component in the Joomla backend.

There could be problem with the installation when your server does have safe mode active. To install JFU with safe mode properly please:

1. Use the safe mode patch - This is actually useful for all your other installtions too (if you have safe mode active on your server) ;).
   AND
2. Go to 'Site -> Configuration -> Server' and change the settings for 'CHMOD new files' and 'CHMOD new directories' to 777 (or 775).
   This should be done if you get one of the following error messages:
   - Failed to move uploaded file to /media directory.
   - Unrecoverable error "PCLZIP_ERR_READ_OPEN_FAIL (-2)"
3. Joomla 1.5: In Joomla 1.5 the session can be stored in the database. JFU does not support this.
   You have to select "none" at Site -> Configuration -> System -> Session-Handler.

If you change the permissions please do this BEFORE installing JFU. Please note that there are many server configurations do exist and every setting is a little bit different. Therefore you should first try to install JFU without any modifications and then try to make the settings described above.

On my server it is enough to do step 2 only. But this depends on your server safe mode confguration. Therefore you maybe have to try different settings for your server until you get JFU working. If you had to make something else to get JFU to work please let me know to improve this text.

 Update

To update to the latest version of JFU simply uninstall the old component and install the new version. In the config you can select if you want to keep your settings (= keeping the database tables) or if you want to remove them too. If you keep the settings the installer does automatically updates your database to the lastest version. It adds the new settings to the existing configurations. No profile is removed or changed. The default is that the tables are not removed!

 License

Please note that 2 licenses affect this software bundle. The Joomla Flash Uploader is bridge between Joomla and the TWG Flash Uploader. Therefore all parts that belong to the Joomla integration are distributed under the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE. The TWG Flash Uploader Flash itself is distributed under the TWG Flash Upload Freeware License Agreement. Please see license.txt in the download for details.

From the Joomla Webpage
A bridge links Joomla! to an external application (the TWG Flash Uploader) so that they can exchange data and cooperate. On the Joomla! side of the bridge, the bridge is treated just like a component, module, or plugin; it must comply with the GPL unless it is a separate work (and some bridges might indeed be separate works). If the external application is separate enough from Joomla! that it is a separate work under copyright law, it may be licensed under whatever license the holder of its copyright sees fit.

 Screenshoots

JFU integrated in the Joomla backend (click on the thumbs for a big image):

JFU integrated in the front-end (click on the thumbs for a big image):

 Help / Howto / FAQ /Forum

 Forum

The forum of the TinyWebGallery has a special section for the Joomla Flash Uploader. Please get some help there if your problem is not covered in the help.

 How to check if the Flash does work.

To verify that the uploader works correctly please perform the following steps:

1. Go to 'Components -> Joomla Flash Uploader -> Upload'
2. Check if the main directory of Joomla is listed on the left side. If not please log off Joomla and close your browsers and login again to get a new session.
3. If you get the message 'The folder has no write permissions. All actions are disabled.' you have to change the permissions of the folder you want to upload that php can write to this folder. Most of the time you need 777 (sometimes 775 is enough).
4. Upload an image. If this does not work and the flash say you have to copy a .htaccess file please go to 'Components -> Joomla Flash Uploader -> Upload'. At the bottom of the page you can create this file, then retry.

If the flash does not work: Please go to the website by using this link (-> TFU FAQ 1) or go to www.tinywebgallery.com -> TWG Flash Uploader -> Installation & FAQ -> FAQ 1. There the most server problems/restrictions are explainded.

 How to use the Joomla Flash Uploader in the backend

Simply upload files by using the Upload menu item! By default the main directory of Joomla is selected. The 1st profile (1) is the profile used for the uploader of the backend. This profile should only be used for the administrator and not assigned to any groups.

 How to use the Joomla Flash Uploader in the front end

The most interesting feature is to offer the upload flash to your front end users. This can be done in two ways: Using the component and using the mambot.

• Component - You can include the flash to your front-end by selecting Menu -> <your menu> -> New -> Component. Select Joomla Flash Uploader and press apply. Then you can enter the parameters for the component. Please read below what you have to enter ;). In the profile you can specify a title and the text before and after the flash. If you want to include the flash in one of your existing pages please use the mambot/plugin
• Mambot/Plugin - Use the mambot/plugin if you want to integrate the flash into one of your pages. Please read "How to use the mambot" about usage and below about the parameters you have to use.

Now you know how you can include it - but the interesting part is how you can configure it ;). There are again two ways:

• Profile - You can create a profile by selecting Components -> Joomla Flash Uploader -> Config. Here you find the different profiles. By default two profiles do exist. Profile 1 is the administrator profile and used in the back end - and should only be used for this purpose! Profile 2 is an example profile you can use for your users in the front-end. Using a profile means that all users that have access to the page where the flash is visible get the settings of this one profile.
  If you want this you have to select Profile ID in the component or 0 as type for the mambot/plugin and use the id of the profile you want to use.
  Please read 'How to use a master profile' if you like one folder for each user!
• Group - The more advanced way is to use a group id. This makes it possible to use different profiles on the same page depending on the Joomla user that is logged in.
  • Set up at least 2 profiles (the admin profile should not be used!).
  • Edit this profiles and assign the same group id to all of them!
  • You always need a default profile. This is the profile where no users are assigned to. This is needed for not assigned users and if the flash can be accessed without login. You can disable the default profile if you like. Then the text of the "Text before the flash" is shown.
  • Assign user to the other then the default profile. This can be done at Components -> Joomla Flash Uploader -> Users. You have to specify the user/profile mappings there. Simply select the user and the profile and click add. In the top section you see your current mappings where you can delete them too.
    If a user is logged in and a profile is mapped to this user this profile of this group is used.
  • Select Group ID in the component or 1 as type for the mambot/plugin and use the id of the group you want to use.
    

 How to use a master profile

Before JFU 2.8 you needed to create a folder for every user you want to allow to upload files. If a lot of users should use the same folder this was fine. But if you like that every user has his own upload folder you had to create a profile for every user, assign this user to the profile and put all profiles to one group.

Since 2.8 you can set in the config of a profile that it is a master profile! Then for every registered user a sub directory of the profile directory is created and the user can only access this folder. The foldername is either the login or the user id.

 How to make the flash fit into your site

You can define the size of the flash in the profile. Simply enter the width you need and the flash is resized to this size. You have to check if the flash is still displayed nicely in your size. Optimal width is 650 pixel.

 How to use the mambot/plugin

If you want to integrate the flash into one of your existing pages you can use the mambot/plugin of Joomla Flash Uploader. Make sure to install this mambot/plugin AND publish it. Use the following format:

{joomla_flash_uploader type=<0 or 1> id=<profile or group id>}

• type is the selector if a profile is selected directly or a group is used. 0 = profile, 1 = group.
• id is the number of the profile or the group.

For example: {joomla_flash_uploader type=0 id=2 }

New 2.8.1:
For Joomla 1.5.x the plugin code is still visible if you disable the plugin or set the access level to e.g. registered. In 1.5.x there are only some workarounds to solve this. For JFU I have implemented the following solution. Include the plugin with

<!-- {joomla_flash_uploader type=<0 or 1> id=<profile or group id>} -->

If the plugin is enabled I do automatically remove the html comment <!-- --> and the plugin is shown properly. If the plugin is disabled the code is still there but not shown because of the html comment.

 How to use the Javascript callbacks - registered version only

If you are registered you can use the Javascript callbacks of the flash. You have to add the Javascript to the site and activate the Javascript call.
Right now 8 Javascript calls are available:

• uploadFinished
• previewSelect
• deleteFile
• changeFolder
• createFolder
• renameFolder
• deleteFolder
• copymove

For the full documentation please download the TFU standalone version and open the file tfu.htm. There you find a working example and all parameters explained.

The Javascript below is an example for a call after the upload:

You can use 2 ways to include the Javascript:

1. You have to use the mambot/plugin (see 'How to use the mambot/plugin') and include the Javascript directly to your site. Make sure your editor allows to enter Javascript!
2. You can use the component.

Go to the configuration to the profile, enter the Javascript in the 'Text after the flash' box and make sure 'Use textbox below' is selected. You can use the example above as a first start. Make sure to include the <script> .. </script> tags as well.

Now you have to enable the Javascript call. For our upload example this would be the setting 'Enable Javascript upload call'. Enter something in the textfield. The value you enter here is the parameter you get as loc in the uploadFinished(loc) function. In your example avove this parameter is only shown in a alter box.

Done.

 How to add your own language

There are 2 parts to translate: The Joomla integration part and the Flash itself. The flash is available in 10 languages right now. For the full list please go to the website and check the languages of the TWG Flash Uploader.
If you want to translate the backend you simply have to tranlate the language/english.php language file. But this not the important part because this only used in the administration. If your language of the flash is not included you can translate the flash by translating the en.xml in the tfu/lang folder. To enable the automatic mapping of the language open the joomla_flash_uploader.class.php and search for the section where the language mappings are and add your language there. Please send the translated xml back to me that I can include it to the next release.

 How to change the colors of the flash - professional licence or above

If you have a personal license or above you can change the colors of the flash. It's not possible to change everything (e.g. the colors of the buttons are defined in a theme and there you can only set 3 different ones. If you like to modify these to you need to modify the source code by yourself) but most colors can be changed. If you have a source code license you can either change the colors by yourself but of course use this settings too. You only have to remove the body of the method MLayout.as -> resetColors. If your license does already contain TWG_SOURCE in the domain this is not needed.

Colors does always have to be in the hexadecimal format. e.g. AA00FF unless something else is described. This are the possible colors you can change:

• c_theme - The basic theme of the flash - possible settings are "haloOrange", "haloGreen", "haloBlue"
• c_text - The basic color of all texts
• c_text_header - The color of the header text (for popups too!)
• c_header_bg - The background of the header
• c_header_bg_2 - The 2.nd background of the header - makes a gradient fill from c_header_bg to c_header_bg_2.
• c_bg - The main background
• c_border - The color of the border
• c_list_bg - The background of the list and the grid
• c_list_header - The background color of the header of the grid
• c_progress_text - The color of the text on the progress bar
• c_progress_label - The color of the label left to the progress bar
• c_progress_bar - The color of the moving part of the progress bar
• c_progress_bar_bg - The color of the background of the progress bar
• c_progress_bar_seperator - The color of the small seperators in the progress bar
• c_popup_bg - The background color of popups like the login
• c_popup_header_bg - The background of the headers of the popups
• c_popup_header_bg_2 - The 2.nd background of the headers of the popups - makes a gradient fill from c_popup_header_bg to c_popup_header_bg_2
• c_popup_border - The color of the border of the popups
• c_bg_numbers - The background of the line numbers - This color is related to the backgound color but with an alpha channel - you have to find the right color e.g. with a tool that shows you the color of the background when faded.
• c_numbers - The color of the numbers

To set a color you simly add them in JFU in the free text field of the profile like url parameters. e.g. &c_text=FF00FF&c_border=00FF00.
If you don't have a professional license or above and set colors this way then all colors are set to white.