Itemid problem within categories

Although we have only sections in the list when create menu element, nothing keeps you from creating category elements in menu. Please read this.

I have to explain why we did this. On the first sight it looks like limitation but at the end you can do what you did in Resources with no problem. But this approach help us to avoid many problems. One of them, when people created link in menu to different categories, those links had different itemID which was very hard to manage and created a lot of confusions and misunderstanding and problems with breadcrumbs and SEF urls. And also is consume server resources significantly because every time we create link we had to make query to DB to check menu table and see what ItemID to use. That seriously sowed down Resources.

But now if you want special itemID for some category just set it in category parameters. And this category is this this itemID. No need to show it to user. I mean it may be even hidden menu. Just to create structure for placing modules. You may have only one link to section root in menu.

YOu have to always create section list element in menu even if you want to use it as additional ItemID for category.

Thanks for your explanations, but ...

1. How can I solve the problem described above ?

I created external link with Itemid. BUT when I choose (click on) a sub-category in the category list, the Itemid IS NOT USED anymore.

So I cannot display associated modules anymore !!!

Perhaps I did something wrong.

You can check my test site :

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2. I tested Cobalt with a section containing 20 000 categories.

   I created category elements in menu using the external link as described.

But it is very slow to access the right category.

Perhaps because you load all the categories inside the section, even when I choose the option to display only categories of current category ([Section properties] General - Templates - Category Index - Properties - Categories - Display mode : Show categories of current category).

In fact, response time is about the same when I choose to diplay all categories (Display mode : Show all section categories) or only categories of current category (Display mode : Show categories of current category).

Thanks for help.

But now if you want special itemID for some category just set it in category parameters. And this category is this this itemID. Today I have checked this issue and there is a bug. Unfortunately ItemId isn`t implemented.

But now if you want special itemID for some category just set it in category parameters. And this category is this this itemID.

I created external link with Itemid. BUT when I choose (click on) a sub-category in the category list, the Itemid IS NOT USED anymore.

The ItemId should be taken from the settings of the category. Parameter: Itemid target

Ok. You cannot just add itemID by hand to external URL and expect it working. What you have to do is.

1. Create hidden menu. Menu that you do not publish anywhere.

2. Create as many asia section links there as many module variations you need.

3. When create category, indicate ItemId of you hidden menu you need.

4. In external URL that itemid have to be. Because originally you have to copy URL from category index to insert to external URL menu. And when you copy it would have itemId set in category parameters.

This also will help you to set same ItemID for number of categories but not new itemid for every new category with is very hard to manage.

2. I tested Cobalt with a section containing 20 000 categories.

I created category elements in menu using the external link as described.

As I can see your category index shows all categories. This parameter only switch to always show start from section root or from current category. It does not affect how many subcategories are selected, This you can set in subcategories parameters section in Level depth parameter.

BTW I would be glad to test your 20 000 categories section. Could you pack it with packer and post here. I'll test it and optimise queries if it has any delays.

It works much better now.

But I still have problems with breadcrumbs : breadcrumbs have no cat_id, only section_id.

So when I click on a breadcrumbs item, I have the section level, not the according category level.

You have to have section level and category

home > Asia > Kyrgyzstan

home > Asia > Bishkek

If you create your hidden menus to the same section and with the same menu label but amy be different alias.

I'll also check that BC draw full category path. not only Section > Category but Section > Category > Subcategory

You can check this site :

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Thank to test.

I tested site with http://tools.pingdom.com/. There is indeed very long time of loading. Did you change template of category index?

Today I has checked all settings and template for index. They are correct.

Unfortunately the pack can`t be done as there is an error Fatal error: Class 'ZipArchive' not found in /home/tgayt/www/administrator/components/com_cobalt/models/pack.php on line 613

It means that there is missed php-library on your server.

What do you mean ? What folder rights ? Please write in English. Automatic translation from technical matters is too bad... I apologize.

Currently pack can`t be created on the site. There is an error with permissions on the files. The Joomla says:

Could not create directory

Copy failed

Copy failed

Copy failed

Copy failed

JFolder::create:

Could not create directory and so on.

It seems that there isn`t enough right to copy templates from the folder of the component.

The permissions of the files are set up by the administrator of the host. The root folder should have 755. Perhaps these folders have the other owner and you need write right FTP-access to the Joomla configuration.

There you needn`t install anything as it is issue with permissions.

I am tried one more time but without success. There is still the same error. Could you provide us FTP-access to your site?

Yes.

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Thanks for your help

The FTP-access can be closed. All rights are right. I tried to create type to exclude impact of it. But I get another error:

Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 536870912 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 24 bytes) in /home/tgayt/www/libraries/joomla/database/database/mysqli.php on line 498

This error says that there isn`t enough memory. Somehow limit for 512 Mb was exceeded. If it is possible please increase it. Therefore we recommend you increase max_execution_time to 60.

It is the only error that influences on the work of the component. The error with pack isn`t critical and can wait

It is impossible to change you configuration through Joomla config edit. Please edit file manually and set FTP there. Because I tried and it works wrong. It does not saved data correctly.

Note that owner of the filed have to be tgayt user.

I have checked your site. I think you start using Cobalt wrong.

1. All you created have to be in one section. It is not good if you create it in different sections. You will later have problems with easy navigation of your site.

2. It is all redundancy. You have to have only one section with categories

|— Bars & Danceclubs

|—|— Bars

|—|— Danceclubs

|—|— TGT AAA

|— Saunas & Men's clubs

......

And region have to be special filed with filter ability.

Works like this, user go to filter select region like asia, europe, ... then Country dropdown appear and user selects it, then may be even state or city. That is it and user may filter by this.

3. If for every record you use GEO field and set map location, users will be able too see it on the map.

In your case you have a problem. What is user wants to see what is the best rated bur in the world? He canot because it is all in different section.

You can of corse go your way and cobalt will handle it the way you want it. But it is not like it has been intended to be used.