Insert Joomla articles in your newsletter

Description

The plugin "Joomla content" enables you to include in your Newsletter one or several Joomla Articles.

You will be able to filter and search in your articles, select one or several articles at the same time and then insert them in your Newsletter.

A simple tag will be inserted and you will be able to see the result if you preview your Newsletter.

Once you inserted your tag, you can click on the button "Replace Tags" in order to replace the inserted tag by the corresponding article.

You can also use this plugin to include a series of articles based on some filters (the latest 5 created articles for example) in your Newsletter but also in your Smart-Newsletter.

Plugin

When writing a Newsletter, click on the Tags button to access the AcyMailing tag system and being able to include any content in your Newsletter.

Joomla Content

Click on one of your articles to select it, you can click again in order to deselect it or click on other articles to add them too.

Once you clicked on one article, you will see the "insert the tag" button on the top right of the window. Once you're done, simply click on this button in order to add the tag in your Newsletter editor.

Plugin Content

  • Display

    • Title only will display the title

    • Intro Only will display the title + everything before the read more link

    • Text will display the title + everything after the read more link

    • Full text will display the title + the entire article

  • Format: Select the way you want to display the article's main data (title, image and text)

  • Display pictures: You can choose to display or not the pictures and resize them

  • Clickable title: Should AcyMailing add a link to your article on its title?

  • Author's name: display or not the author's name

  • Additional parameters you can manually add in the tag:

    • notitle : the tag will be replaced without adding the title Example: {joomlacontent:151|type:intro|notitle} will be replaced by the introduction of the content ID 151 without the title

    • noreadmore : this parameter will force AcyMailing to not add any read more link Example: {joomlacontent:151|type:intro|link|noreadmore} will be replaced by the introduction of the content ID 151 but without read more link

    • wrap : If you insert the introduction only, AcyMailing will insert your content before the read-more link. Nevertheless if you want to limit it to the first XX characters anyway, you can specify in your tag the parameter "wrap" with the number of characters you want AcyMailing to insert. Example {joomlacontent:151|type:intro|wrap:200}

    • readmore : This parameter enables you to force AcyMailing to use another "read more" text instead of the default one. This parameter can be very useful if you have a multi-lingual website so you can make sure the read more link will be translated in the right language. Example: {joomlacontent:151|type:intro|readmore:Click here to read the full story!}

    • created : If you add this parameter to your tag, then the article created date will be displayed. Example: {joomlacontent:151|type:intro|created}

    • modified : If you add this parameter to your tag, then the article modified date will be displayed. Example: {joomlacontent:151|type:intro|modified}

    • dateformat : If you add the "created" parameter, you can use the "dateformat" parameter to specify the date format you want to use. Example {joomlacontent:151|type:intro|created|dateformat:%m %Y}

    • itemid : AcyMailing will automatically attach your read more link to a menu ID. You can nevertheless force AcyMailing to use the one you want if you specify one via the parameter itemid. Example: {joomlacontent:151|type:intro|itemid:22}

    • autologin : If you add this parameter, AcyMailing will add the username and encrypted password to the article link so if the user clicks on it, he will be automatically logged if you installed the AutoLogin plugin for Joomla.

    • jtags : If you add this hidden parameter, AcyMailing will display the article's tags if any (feature only available for Joomla 3.1.0+)

    • nomainimage : If added to a tag, AcyMailing won't display the main picture of the inserted articles Example: {joomlacontent:151| type:intro| nomainimage}

Categories

You can include in your Newsletter several articles at the same time. This option can be used for a Newsletter but also for a Smart-Newsletter: select the sections/categories you want to include, then enter a minimum Number of Articles (when the Newsletter should be generated, if there is not enough articles based on the configuration you enter, the Newsletter won't be sent and it will wait until the next generated date) and click on the button Insert the tag.

Content categories

  • Columns: display the articles in one, two or more columns

  • Order by: order the articles by ID, title, etc...

  • Max. Number of items : You can choose the number of articles AcyMailing should load from this feed.

  • Min. Number of items : This option will only be displayed if you access this plugin for a Smart-Newsletter. AcyMailing will only generate your Smart-Newsletter if the minimum number of items found is reached.

  • Filter: This option will only be displayed if you access this plugin for a Smart-Newsletter. You can choose between "all", "only newly created" or "only newly created or modified".

  • Additional parameters:

    • start : this parameter enables you to start the selection of articles after the first one. That way you can define different styles for your content. Example: {autocontent:cat27|max:5|order:ordering,ASC|type:intro} will display the first 5 articles from the category 27 {autocontent:cat27|max:8|start:5|order:ordering,ASC|type:intro} will display 8 articles from the category 27 but skip the first 5 articles.

    • featured : this parameter enables you to select featured articles (the articles selected to be displayed on the front-end) Using this additional argument, you can create a tag to add all your articles displayed on the front-page: Example: {autocontent:sec0|max:10|order:created,DESC|type:intro|featured} will display the intro of the first 10 articles displayed on your front-page.

    • nofeatured : this parameter will only select articles which are not set as "featured".

    • excludedcats : This parameter enables you to exclude some categories. Example: {autocontent:|excludedcats:10-23} will display all articles except the one attached to the categories 10 or 23.

    • subcats : If you add this parameter, AcyMailing will also automatically select articles added in the sub-categories of the categories you selected (this option does not work with J1.5).

    • maxcreated : You can specify a maximum creation date so only articles created before that date will be selected. Example: {autocontent:sec0|maxcreated:2012-02-15} will select only articles created before February, 15 2012

    • mincreated : The same way the maxcreated parameter works, you can specify a minimum creation date so only articles created after this date will be selected Example: {autocontent:sec0|mincreated:2012-01-22} will select only articles created after January, 22 2012

    • access : If you edit the plugin parameters, you will be able to configure the access level so only public or registered articles will be selected (this option is only available with J1.5). You can overwrite this parameter by entering the access parameter directly in your tag (that will work for all J! version). Enter directly the ID of your access level in the tag using the parameter. Example: {autocontent:sec0|access:1} will select only articles set with the access=1

    • language : This parameter enables you to select articles based on its language (this option does not work with J1.5). You can specify several languages if you separate them with a comma. Example: {autocontent:12,13|language:fr-FR} will select only articles from the categories 12 and 13 having the language field set at "fr-FR"

    • cattitle : This parameter enables you to add the category title for each group of articles. You should order your articles by category ID to group them by category: Example: {autocontent:12,13|cattitle|order:catid,ASC}

    • unpublished : This parameter allows you to insert only unpublished articles in your newsletter

    • catpict : If you use this parameter, AcyMailing will display the category's picture above each group of article. You can also use catmaxwidth and catmaxheight to set some style on this picture. For example: {autocontent:....| catpict| catmaxwidth:250| catmaxheight:200}

Examples for a Smart-Newsletter

  • If you want your automatic Newsletter to include the introduction text of all newly created articles since the last generated Newsletter :

    • Select the sections/categories you want to include

    • Select display : Intro Only

    • Enter a Minimum Number of Articles so that if there is no new article, the Newsletter won't be generated

    • Select the filter : "Only Newly Created"

  • If you want your automatic Newsletter to always include the 5 latest created articles :

    • Select the sections/categories you want to include

    • Select the display mode

    • Enter a Minimum Number of Articles : 0 (so that the Newsletter will always be generated)

    • Enter a Maximum Number of Articles : 5 (so that AcyMailing will include up to 5 articles in the generated Newsletter)

    • Select the filter : "All"

  • You can use AcyMailing as a notification system for new content so maximum 1 hour after your article is published on your website, your subscribers will receive a notification :

    • Select the sections/categories you want to include

    • Select the display mode

    • Enter a Minimum Number of Articles : 1 (so that if there is no new article, the Newsletter won't be generated)

    • Select the filter : "Only Newly Created"

    • Configure your Smart-Newsletter with the frequency "every 1 hour"

Parameters

content plugin

Plugin Content Params

  • Custom template : Click on this button if you want to create a custom template for the plugin's output (you'll find an example at the end of this documentation)

  • Display articles: This parameter enables you to filter the list of articles in the tag system

    • All articles: AcyMailing will display all your articles

    • Only published articles: AcyMailing will only display your published articles

  • Front-end Access : Using AcyMailing Enterprise, you can restrict the access to this tag system on the front-end

    • Display all articles : all articles will be displayed on the front-end edition (default option)

    • Display only author's articles : only author's articles will be displayed on the front-end edition

    • Don't display this tag system on the front-end : this plugin won't be displayed on the front-end edition

  • Select articles by meta tags : AcyMailing is able to filter your content based on the keywords. If you turn ON this option, you will see an additional filter on our tag system so your articles can be filtered by meta tags. Meta tags must be separated by a comma.

  • Act for another component : By default, article links will be redirected to the Joomla content but you can choose AcyMailing uses other links used by other components.

  • Display : The default value for the "Display" option in the tag popup

  • Intro Word Wrapping : If you insert only the introduction, AcyMailing will insert all the text before the "read more" link. But if you didn't insert the read more link in your Joomla Content, AcyMailing will only load the first XX characters of your content. If you specify 0, AcyMailing won't wrap your content and load the entire article if you didn't add the "read more" link.

  • Clickable title : Default value for this option in the tag popup

  • Author name : Default value for this option in the tag popup

  • Display pictures : Default value for this option in the tag popup

  • Max picture width : If you select the resized option in your tag, AcyMailing will resize your pictures. You can specify the default maximum width displayed in the plugin.

  • Max picture height : If you select the resized option in your tag, AcyMailing will resize your pictures. You can specify the default maximum height displayed in the plugin.

Customize your article template

Customize your article using some CSS

You can change the styles used for the content title and the content area by editing your AcyMailing template.

Edit the AcyMailing template used for your Newsletter and then set some styles:

  • Style for the article area will be used to encompass your article

  • Style for the article title will be applied to your content title

  • Style for the read more link will be applied to your read more link (if you have one)

  • You can also set the style of all your links using the Style of the links field

Set styles template

So you can easily customize the look of your article and get something like:

Create your own template

You can also modify the way your article is displayed by creating your own template which will be used to render the article. Please follow those instructions, we don't recommend you to modify the tagcontent plugin directly otherwise your changes will be overwritten when you update AcyMailing.

Click on the "Custom template" button in the plugin's configuration page to create a new template, then enter the layout you want in the appearing popup. If you created a custom template, you will be able to select it with the "Format" option the next time you'll insert an article tag.

In this custom template, you can use PHP to access the element $article (which is the article object loaded from the content table) and the element $tag (which contains the information of the current tag used in your Newsletter). You can also access the article's content using this simple syntax: {title}, {introtext}, {link}, ... You can see what data you can access in the variable $varFields:

<?php
foreach($varFields as $key => $value){    
    echo '{ '.trim($key, '{}').' } => '.$value.'<br/>';
}
?>

You can display:

  • the title of your article: {title}

  • the intro of your article: {introtext}

  • the full content of your article: {fulltext}

  • the url of your article: {link}

  • the image of your article: {picthtml}

  • the formatted creation date: {createddate}

  • the formatted modification date: {modifieddate}

Using all those variables, you can create your own content template.

By default AcyMailing uses something like this:

<div class="acymailing_content">
    <a href="{link}" name="content-{id}" target="_blank" >
        <h2 class="acymailing_title">{title}</h2>
    </a>
    {picthtml}{introtext}<br/>
    {fulltext}
</div>

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