Anyone interested in trying to work with SC 8 and Joomla?

Scriptcase 8 Discussion
#1

I’ve been working with integrating the two and have come up with a few solutions. The one I’m trying to solve now is integrating the Joomla user table(s) into SC or vice versa. And this is with encrypted passwords and seamless authentication. Anyone been doing this? Any ideas?

One other issue is fixing the iframe “extra scroll bars” when wrapping an SC application in a Joomla article. I (and others) are looking for any ideas about how to fix/work with this.

Hoping there are others in the forum with similar issues.

#2

Yes RJ I’m interested as well. I have done some testing (with help of Giu) but so far it wasn’t successful. It would be great to integrate Joomla as well as few other most popular CMS systems with SC. Users table is the main thing to take care of but finding a solution for embeeding Apps (without using iFrames) would be also very helpful. I wonder if anybody else would be interested. Perhaps we could ask NetMake to create some webinar or demo on how to do it the right way.

Arthur

#3

Wordpress :slight_smile:

#4

I do not have any projects requiring Joomla or Wordpress integration with SC so far, but it is probably just a matter of time, so this is interesting.

#5

Just to be clear. In your instance. Problem was we tried to recover joomla session to knownthw state of an user (logged or not) and was not possible for me to give more time to this. About users, I have a project using Joomla users table without any problems

#6

Giu - I wonder if if would be possible simply extract what is needed from your project to post it as an example. I really appreciate your time trying to help and make it working on my DEMO site although it is still not operational. What we have tried was the most basic integration. Once this is possible and working I think many other users would be interested in a bit more advanced tasks (i.e registering the user in Joomla CMS using SC registration form).
This same will pertrain to other CMS systems (i.e DRUPAL or WORDPRESS). Integrating SC with CMS systems would be a MAJOR ADVANTAGE of using SC. So far unfortunately not much is done in that matter and nothing is documented in any way. I’m in a process of discussing SAMPLE site for SC projects with NetMake and if this will be approved your Joomla example might be the first great sample to add.

PS> which Joomla version you use with SC ?

ARTHUR

#7

Sorry to answer too late. As you can see I’m a absent from the forums for different reasons (moving our headquarters, personal things and so on …)
I will try to get time and create a webinar, but can’t promise anything, first I have to finish some things.

#8

ohh you are such a smart guy, it shouldn’t take you more than few min to create it :wink:
We waiting impatiently. You know if we can integrate SC apps with major CMS systems it would be huge step forward. Better yet if we could (haha) build the whole CMS system in SC :wink:
(ok just kidding)

ARTHUR

#9

This is the way to go. From now you have access to Joomla API

#10

Hi there my friends.

I am going to share my experience, but i think to bring joomla would be difficult for how to land at SC.

I hope someone can help me to get idea, cause I am at the point to look other horizons.

I am pretty concern about scriptcase, I was so excited to have this kind of tool at the begining, but at the battle when you need information, manuals guides or something you simply can not go ahead, here is a situation.

This for me has become azar, maybe setting this check box and this another one, can get what I want because neither web help or forums have answers, I did not have realize the situation till I have reserached tons of topics.

My history:

Plan, created, land, make a little system = 2 days
Be stuck with two suppossed minimal things = 2 weeks

minimal things:

    • change css backgroun button
    • pass variables master/detailed

It is incredible, that it is not possible to change background buttons at the “css buttons”, and you know it when You are to finish a project, if you are lucky and find a class you can change, if not you can not, I still stuck with not changing the background blue to beige of any (80% are blue), that took me 1 week with no solution.

The concern about, is that this situation seems to be from years ago as I read some topics at this forums. this should be at normal function, not to be asking support or post at forums for a quick receipts.

The other situation that have me crazy it is about variables. only god knows how many times I have read all about it.

I have a simply master/detailed aplication. If I use getting the variable via get (url) everything goes fine, but when I got it via joomla api and have the correct user_id for example at my master, it simply don?t pass it to detailed. it is just a golbal variable, who cares where it comes from?

I have probed all kind of configurations at ?edit link?, field, variable, fixed, all ot them, and nothing, the detailed form carry in all the records, not filtered by the global variable (user_id), the funny thing is that same app when you set it by get variable via url at the master runs perfectly.

I wrote at my last post, that a global variable is a global variable, ok, dismissing that (cause no success), I treat it as local, with no success again, the only problem is to pass the variable to the child, detailed form and I can simply no reach that.

So my question, if someone can write me a line, how do you usually pass the parameters of variables to a detailed form, when you use global variables, marked as ?session?, cause the idea is not use get and post.

It is supposed to exploit the power of global variables from joomla, and use them wherever you are, or it is not possible at SC use a real global variable.

This is the same app, what about a whole project?, the supposed global variable is everywhere?

Maybe I don?t understanding the SC philosophy of variables, some light would be appreciated.

Kukulcan

#11

Can you share your project? How are you saving this variable on master??

#12

First of all we need to divide the topic into several areas because otherwise the whole discussion will be a mess. Based on what developer what to achieve we can have:

USER REGISTERED THROUGH JOOMLA

  1. Access Joomla user base for validation (using Joomla users table)
  2. Comparing Joomla users table against SC users table
  3. Reading Joomla session variables in order to validate user access, App access or Project access in SC

USER REGISTERED THROUGH SC (this will apply to AddUser AND EditUser)
4. User registration in SC but data stored in Joomla tables
5. User registration in SC but data stored in SC tables

AFTER THE VALIDATION
6 Embeeding existing SC Apps into Joomla (this can be easily done by using iFrame) but it is very inefficient and does not look professional.
7. Using Joomla tables within SC Apps (this should be rather easy fro simple data but more comlex for extra data types i.e. videos, images, sound, maps etc because it will require access to read Joomla path to the files).

Next level of integration is how we manage the Joomla site vs SC project (updates, global changes, shared or not shared connection, database, synchronization etc.).
there is much much more and it all depends what the developer needs to achieve. I think many rules here will apply to other pupular CMS systems such as WordPress.

I would suggest from starting the most basic function which is validating user who is logged into Joomla against SC project.
As we know NetMake security module is f…ed up! :frowning: so I do not think it should be used in any way here. User hierarchy in Joomla is a little bit different than in SC and on top of that since Joomla 2.5+ there is something called ACL. This will be part of granting user access to Joomla site in general.

Based on user group or ACL we then need to decide weather to grant or deny access to certain Apps build with SC. I think we still need a table like sec_groups_apps (or similar) to make a decision (if I’m not mistaken).

If we could make any progress here I would designate part of my sever with download area (kinda like SourceForge) for everybody interested to download a sample Apps. I would suggest to use one of the SC example Apps to integrate and see how it works.

#13

kukulcan - I don’t think you can use Joomla global variables in SC (unless there is some specific functionality in API that allows that and I’m not aware of that). Of course in SC global Var’s are handled internally and you just set them up as IN or OUT. The rest is managed by SC and the bad thing about this part is that this code is obfuscated (so we have no access to it to view or modify). Still as long as you operate within you won project there is no need to use Joomla variables (other than those stored in _SESSION().
When you need to interact with Joomla and SC then everything becomes very complex. Not because of Joomla but because of SC. That is because Joomla uses MVC model and SC does not.

I use SC since version 5 and was initially very very implressed, but after learning more details and company inability to make changes, fix bugs, improve documentation, worst ever support I’m quite frustrated. There is still a chance though for simple project which can operate within their own environment to integrate them with Joomlla. I’m not sure if there is any other CMS system which could possibly make the integration even easier. Perhaps other people on this forum tried something else. I know Albert is using another CMS and Giu told me he had success up to some point with WP.

#14

Giu thnks for your answer, I appreciate, you are very kind.

Aka thks for your interesting about integration and your efforts.

This post will be for answer and share my philosophy about joomla integration.

Next post I will share my issue with master/detailed app, global variable issue.

First of all, the integration can have many perspectives and for me, this what I have found on my experience:

I am fan since the joomla beginning when was mambo, I have seen the growth, today is a monster, a very complete CMS platform. So why to repeat that work again? I mean joomla has everything for manage users to a very high and advanced level, using ACL you can really manage organization of things.

I see SC as a good standalone software (with some things at development), I know could stop at moments the work, but it is, as people says ?as is?, so there it is, SC is ?as is?, so with this, how can we help?, contributing and try to bypass situations, so go ahead, we are here and we have to go.

Coming back to joomla, Aka I have read your post, my perspective is little diferent:

1 if you use the code I have posted about joomla api, you will have a foot in the heart of joomla. Just try it please, and your will have a user_id at your app. (at least at the main one)

2 SC is for complement your systems not for substitute joomla, joomla does this job pretty well, validate users, assing acl, etc etc

3 you do not have to match tables or somethink like that, match tables is like using backdoor and duplicate records, don?t still thinking that way, you have the LOGGED USER_ID in a variable !! in your hands, do it whatever you want with this value, make a simple or a complex system at SC using that value.

4 why to extend or substitute joomla registration form, there are a bunch of extended register profiles extensions and they do it pretty good, and using for example social network exensions you have a really nice homes for your users/department/whatever

5 you don?t need to be struggling with ?joomla session? anymore, cause with the api you have the LOGGED USER ID. That it is.

6 For my perspective SC become very powerfull complementing what joomla doesnt do, what is?? Your proper o specific system needs, N x N relations , 1 to N relations, etc etc, Joomla is the platform, and SC is your logic, specific solution to some requirement.

7 for to make extensions, thats another history, you need other tools and code code code.

8 iframes is a kind of sort the situation for the moment, I dont like it either, but is “as is” for the moment, and you can match the look and feel pretty well (except the css buttons menu), I have match very good with my first SC app the look of the Joomla template., you can not notice the diference.

9 Later we can discuss how to embed the code, not the iframe, that would be very nice, I have some ideas, I just need to understand the paths of /_lib/prod

Ok, for now is enough, all my commnent are very respectful and we all together we can share solutions, more than philosophic :slight_smile:

kukulcan

#15

you approach with SC + Joomla was exactly what I have tried but for some reason it did not work. I have even had Giu work together with me (remotely) and he tried to get the LOGGED USER to read of the Joomla but no success. I’m not sure was it a problem with APi version, Joomla version or something else. After this initial try he had not time to get back to me and continue, but perhaps we can ask Giu to take a look at certain things as he is muich more familiar with the topic because he already has some SC apps working with Joomla (not sure which version).
We can of course do this in steps. If you have succeded in getting Joomla logged user into SC variable please share your steps (especially Joomla version, which API etc.).
I also know some tools and plugins which we could possibly try to get SC apps running directly, but first steps first.

Regards - Art

#16

Sorry, no time to explain.

The way to go is from SC using always Joomla API to ask for user, and so on. Because SC run on an iframe, not sure if you can (never tried), for example, know in wich page you are, but you can always look for it using REFERAL, and so on… What I have is a SC system that uses the users tables of joomla (not the logged in, for the nature of the system I didn’t need it). Joomla is a website, and manages the users to access some private pages. On the other side, there is a SC application for registered users to do some tasks. Security of SC app is not SC security, it’s own functions to check against joomla tables.

Arthur, reading your previous message, if I understood correctly, I’m not sure if what you want to do (and I’m not sure what you try to do), is the best way using joomla. If you want to use Joomla, I guess probably you have better success using something like Fabrik. SC is to create web applications, and is good connected with itself. is not designed to work embedded on other system. You can, of course, but you have to look if it’s worth the extra time to get things connected correctly. Maybe Is not at all a problem of SC, but a problem about SC don’t fits your needs for this kind of project.

I’m not an expert on CMS integration with SC. I just deploy sometimes Joolma in one hand (for websites, eCommerce and so on…), and we do custom outsourcing where I develop what customers asks me to develop on the other hand. In this project mentioned, both converged. For Joomla, I only needed to do what I explained, and didn’t had time to investigate more (because I didn’t needed it). In WP project, WP worked as a website, and there was a private side of the website, all managed from SC embedded inside an iframe. Just 3 iframes (contact, registration, and application itself with login)

What Albert uses is e107 CMS and embed SC apps on iframes, passing in the url the params he needs.

#17

[SIZE=13px]Hi there.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px]Arthur, regards, re-read please my very first post and you will have a logged user_id variable from joomla just inside your SC form, all the steps are there. just try it, there is no more instructions to know. I have test it with joomla 3.4.8 but I guess this can work in any 3.x.x, anyway joomla 2.x.x is deprecated.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px]And here you can find what you can do, once you have joomla framework. (but believe me, user_id (id), for first, is a good way to begin)[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px] [/SIZE][SIZE=13px]https://api.joomla.org/cms-3/classes/JFactory.html[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px]Giu, I share your point of view. I have been thinking about know what page your are, and yes [/SIZE][SIZE=13px]$HTTP_SERVER with its variants, can more than less give a clue and with that maybe drive a specific sc app behaviour, I would maybe plan another strategy building the logic of the app.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px]By other hand, I have used, all kind of tools, fabrik, chronoforms, rsforms, etc… and I have always taste a incomplet development, maybe this is one reason I am here , testing SC, [/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px]First I would like to discover if SC do what the teaser website SC says it does, and adapt it, I need this kind of tool for joomla developments, its a need that I have. Always customers have a specific requirements and joomla doesnt have yet a powerfull tool of this kind. The fast way to make it is the temptation.[/SIZE]

[SIZE=13px]kukulcan.[/SIZE]

#18

kukulcan - I will take a close look at your previous post and will do some testing. In the meantime - which Joomla version you have tested it with ? just want to be on the same page…
Art

#19

Hi kukulcan,
thank you very much for your description how to combine Scriptcase and Joomla.
Right now I’m starting with Your code.
Your code works, I can get the ID!
but…
there is an error message, I copied Your code but after executing the last not commented line the error will show up

here is the code:


// Get Joomla! framework
define( '_JEXEC', 1 );
define( '_VALID_MOS', 1 );
define( 'JPATH_BASE', realpath(dirname(__FILE__).'/../../' ));
define( 'DS', DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR );
require_once ( JPATH_BASE .DS.'includes'.DS.'defines.php' );
require_once ( JPATH_BASE .DS.'includes'.DS.'framework.php' );
$mainframe =& JFactory::getApplication('site');
//$mainframe->initialise();
//$user =& JFactory::getUser();
//$user_id = $user->get('id');
//echo $user_id;
//sc_set_global($user_id);

here is the error message:

ini_set(): A session is active. You cannot change the session module's ini settings at this time

How can I avoid this error? Or should I just ignore it?

Thanks a lot,
Frederic Espitalier

#20

Hi those other interested,
I found a (not so clean) workaround for the from me described problem.
Because SC already opened a session, Joomla gives me the error message.
I tried to work around with storing the session-data in the database (SC offers this) but I did not get it to work.
Then I found this post: https://issues.joomla.org/tracker/joomla-cms/12153?lang=es-CO
It shows how to manipulate one single Joomla-System-File (inserting 2 new lines) and the error message disapears.
T H A T I S D I R T Y, but for now it works to me.

So here are the codelines for xxxx/libraries/joomla/session/handler/joomla.php

public function __construct($options = array())
{
   if (session_id()=="")
   {
      // Disable transparent sid support
      ini_set('session.use_trans_sid', '0');

      // Only allow the session ID to come from cookies and nothing else.
      ini_set('session.use_only_cookies', '1');
   }

   // Set options
   $this->setOptions($options);
   $this->setCookieParams();
}

this is my code, the original had in line 3:

if (session_id()==0)

witch did not work.

And the code in OnScriptInit of my form:

define( '_JEXEC', 1 );
define( '_VALID_MOS', 1 );
define( 'JPATH_BASE', realpath(dirname(__FILE__).'/../../' ));
define( 'DS', DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR );
require_once ( JPATH_BASE .DS.'includes'.DS.'defines.php' );
require_once ( JPATH_BASE .DS.'includes'.DS.'framework.php' );
$mainframe =& JFactory::getApplication('site');
$mainframe->initialise();
$user =& JFactory::getUser();

[user_id] = $user->get('id');

I used the golbal variable user_id so I set in Application->GlobalVariable the user_id to “session” and “out”

[ATTACH=CONFIG]n74014[/ATTACH]

Now ONE SINGLE FORM ist working well. I will now build my application an will see it the whole thing will work.

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