Getting started

Form2Content is a powerful Joomla! component which has helped us give our clients and users control over part of their website without the need of any HTML knowledge or back-end functionality.

Form2Content LITE and PRO work exactly the same except that the PRO version has a lot more fields, template parameters and settings. A comparison chart can be found here.

The Form2Content component installs without any core hacks and can be easily installed. Because of the flexibility of the component some basic understanding of how it works will help you create your Contents more easily.

Upgrading from F2C LITE to PRO

It is possible to upgrade Form2Content LITE to Form2Content PRO without the loss of data, settings or your Content Types. After you purchase the Pro license use the Upgrade installer file found in the zip to upgrade your version. (upgrade using the normal Joomla! installer)

After the upgrade you will have all the field types, template parameters etc. of the full PRO version.

LITE versus PRO Comparison Chart

Configuration

Component Configuration

	Form2Content LITE	Form2Content PRO
Generate default template
Set max. image size
Set Jpeg quality
Set date format
Set article ordering in back-end
Option Edit all or own items

Content Type Configuration

Content Type Configuration

	Form2Content LITE	Form2Content PRO
Set Content Type Title
Set article caption
Show/hide title in front-end
Article Title caption
Article title default value option
Show/hide alias in front-end
Alias caption
Show/hide meta description
Meta description caption
Meta description default value option
Show/hide meta keywords in front-end
Meta keyword caption
Meta keyword default value option
Show/hide section/category selection in front-end
Section/category selection caption
Section/category selection default option
Show/hide template settings in fron-end
Set default intro template
Set default main template
Show/hide publish dates settings in front-end

Field Types

F2C Custom Field Types

For more information please visit our Form2Content Documentation.

	Form2Content LITE	Form2Content PRO
Single line text (textbox)
Multi-line text (text area)
Multi-line text (editor)
Single select list (radio or drop-down)
Image (Raw url or html image tag)
Check box
Multi-select list (check boxes)
Display list (ordered or unordered)
E-mail (title and show as)
Hyperlink (title and show as)
I-Frame (url and size)
Info text (editor to display info in form)
Date-picker
File upload
Database lookup (advanced SQL query options)

Template parameters

Template Parameters

For more infomation visit the Template Parameter documentation.

	Form2Content LITE	Form2Content PRO
Joomla Title
Meta keywords
Meta description
Select List value
Select List Display text
Image thumb URL absolute
Image thumb URL relative
Thumbs directory absolute
Thumbs directory relative
Image directory relative
Image directory relative

Menu parameters

Menu and Article manager Parameters

	Form2Content LITE	Form2Content PRO
Default Content Type menu setting
F2C Article manager
Filter on content type
Filter on seactions/categories
Article ordering

Creating your Content Type (Project)

Creating you first Content Type (Project) involves several simple steps.

Go to the F2C Content Type Manager and select the Content Type or click on New.
Fill out the name and other parameters of the Content Type. (at this time you can skip selecting the templates since you have to make those later when you have/know your fields)
After saving click on the Fields button in the second column of the Content Type Manager
Add and order as many Custom Fields as you like. You can choose from about 13 fields types. (when you start adding custom fields Form2Content will generate a Default Template for you)
Save and go back to the Content Type Manager and click on the name of your project (content type) to go back to the configuration.
Select the Default Introduction and Main template and save.
Go to the F2C Article Manager and select New and choose your Content Type. You will than see all the fields for your Article.

Please note: When you add fields these will always be added to you Default Template. If you want to create a custom template make a copy or create a new template which than won't be overwritten by F2C.

Form2Content Definitions

Before going into the details of the configuration and getting started with the first content there is some ‘lingo’ we would like to clarify.

Installing Form2Content

The Form2Content Component is installed like any other Joomla! component through the Installation Manager. After installation you will get the option to add Sample Content which can give you an idea of how the component works. All parts of the Form2Content component can be seen in the Component Menu which can be found in the Joomla! back-end Components menu.

Form2Content Global Configuration

Form2Content installation requirements

Form2Content works on any server which meets the default Joomla installation requirements. In order to upload (and resize) images using F2C the GD Library is required. Check your Joomla System info or contact your hosting provider to check if the GD library is installed.

Uninstalling & Updating Form2Content

There is always a discussion whether Uninstall should completely remove the component, including database fields or not. This greatly depends on how you can upgrade/update patches and new versions. Our upgrades and patches can be installed without uninstalling the component. Simply go to the Joomla Install page and upload/install the upgrade.

Form2Content updates can be (must be) INSTALLED without uninstalling the component. In other words, DO NOT UNINSTALL FORM2CONTENT when you UPGRADE!

When you UNINSTALL Form2Content, the database fields will also be UNINSTALLED. If you want to keep any projects for future use you should back-up the database tables using something like phpMyAdmin.

Documentation