Contact Enhanced Documentation

Contact Enhanced is very easy to set up, but because it has so many options it might bit a bit confusing for beginners, so a Cheat Sheet* for the basic usage was created. Keep reading it!

  1. Installation:
    1. Purchase/license and download the latest version of Contact Enhanced (CE);
    2. Select Extensions → Extension Manager from the drop-down menu of the Joomla! Administrator Panel. Then select the Install menu item in the Extension manager screen that appears. 
    3. Navigate to the Contact Enhanced zip file, select and install as you would any other Joomla! extension;
  2. CE Component Configuration:
    1. Go to Components→ Contact Enhanced;
    2. Click on the Options button on the toolbar to change the Component's Configuration according to your needs. Each label has a tooltip to help you understand what each feature does. These settings can be overridden by the Contact's Options and the Menu Options;
    3. Category Configuration:
      1. Click on the Categories and Select New;
      2. Fill in minimal info to set up a default category and Save;
        • If you need to display forms with different fields you'll need to create a different category for each different form (then assign a contact and form fields to that new category);
    4. Form Fields:
      1. You can add as many Form Fields as you like;
      2. The Name, Email, Subject and Recipient Form Field types have special behaviors;
      3. Every Form MUST have the Name and Email Form Field types; If you don't want to display them, then set the value and hide them;
      4. Read more information regarding the Form Fields in the Documentation Page.
    5. Contact (form) Configuration:
      1. Click on the Contacts tab;
      2. Select Contacts and then "New";
      3. Under Publishing Info fill set:
        1. Name. The full name of the Contact. Name can actually be a function or department, not a specific human being;
        2. Alias. The internal name of the item, also used in the URL when SEF is activated. Normally, you can leave this blank and Joomla! will fill in a default value. The default value is the Title or Name in lower case and with dashes instead of spaces. You may enter the Alias manually. The Alias should consist of lowercase letters and hyphens (-). No blank spaces or underscores are allowed. Note: If the title consists of non-Latin characters, the Alias will default to the current date and time, for example "2009-02-11-17-54-38".
        3. Linked to User. Select the User, if any, that this Contact is linked to from the drop-down list box. This allows you to link this Contact's information to a registered Joomla! User. If this Contact is not linked to a User, select "-No User-".
        4. Category. The Category this item belongs to.
      4. Under Contact Details slider set:
        1. Image. Image to display for this Contact. Select an image file from the drop-down list box. This lists images in the 'images/stories' folder. Images can be uploaded using the Media Manager.
        2. Contact's Position: The Contact's current position.
        3. E-mail. Assuming you selected "No User" earlier, you must enter an email address or an alias to which filled forms will be sent.  Do it.
          • Keep in mind that if you link to an user it will use the user's email address, even if you enter an email here;
        4. Address. The Contact's street address.
        5. City or Suburb. The Contact's town or suburb.
        6. State or Province. The Contact's state or county.
        7. Postal / ZIP Code. The Contact's postal code.
        8. Country. The Contact's country.
      5. Fill in other info as you wish; for a simple form you don't need to complete any of the other fill in fields on the left.
      6. Google Maps configuration (optional) - GMaps slider:
        1. Google Maps (GMaps) works with the address info you fill in.  So fill in the next 4 fields: Street Address, Town/Suburb, State/County, and Postal Code/ZIP.
        2. To set Google Maps click on Maps slider and click on "Locate in map".  If it does not find the address correctly then you may need to mess with the Address fields and Apply and try again OR drag the marker (pin) until you point it to the correct location;
      7. Click on Display Options (optional):
        1. Show Contact details: Allows you to display the contact details in different places. Sidebar is good unless you have a really narrow page.
        2. Show Map: Choose whether and where you want to display Google Maps in order to suit your preferences;
        3. Change the options selections to meet your needs; none really must be changed.
      8. Click on "Contact Form" slider (optional):
        1. Record messages: Whether you want to record the emails sent to this contact in the database;
        2. Show sidebar: Change to Right or Left if you want the contact info to display in the sidebar;
      9. Nothing else must be change for the form to work, so click Save;
  3. Menu Configuration:
    1. Go to Menus --> Menu Manager and select the Menu where you want the form to display.
    2. Select New button from the toolbar
    3. Menu Item Type: Contact Enhanced --> Single Contact Form (or other menu item type);
    4. Give it a Menu Title and set Parent Item.
    5. Contact Display Options: you can override most Contact Details configuration options;
    6. Page Display Options: Set a Page Title and a heading;
    7. Select Save;
  4. Clean the Joomla and your browser's cache and go to your website and check it out.  It should be good to go, but you can also configure the plugins included in the package:
  5. Captcha Configuration:
    1. In the Component Configuration (item #2) set the Captcha option to your favorite Joomla core plugin captcha;
    2. Contact Enhanced comes with a core captcha plugin called SecurImage. It is very customizable and if you want to use it, go to Extensions --> Plugin Manager --> Captcha - SecurImage and change the options as you wish;
  6. CE Feedback Plugin Configuration:
    1. Contact Enhanced Plus and Pro packages includes a vertical Feedback tab/button that can be displayed on the left/right of your website. To configure this button, select "System - Cefeedback";
    2. Make changes as necessary and save the changes;
    3. Please go to Plugin: CE Feedback Site Tab to read more about it;

 

* A cheat sheet or crib sheet is a concise set of notes used for quick reference;

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