Anything Digital Development

The SEF Plugin for sh404SEF converts the Exposé URLs generated by Joomla into human-readable SEF URLs. This plugin  thus allows even closer integration of your Exposé media gallery with Joomla and provides a seamless interface for your site visitors. This plugin requires sh404SEF and is compatible with the most recent module and mambot releases in the Exposé Extension Suite.

1. Convert Joomla SEF urls for the Exposé extension into human-readable SEF URLs in Joomla! 1.0.x.
2. Specify custom SEF URLs for collections, albums and photos
3. Specify custom meta information for collections, albums and photos
4. Optionally include top collection name, collection ID, album ID, photo name/title and photo ID into SEF URL.

Installation - Part I, Preparing Exposé

1. Download, install and configure sh404SEF. Before proceeding, ensure the sh404SEF is functioning normally. For best results, we recommend using the following rewrite mode in sh404SEF (as specified in the 'Advanced Tab' of the configuration:
   
   with .htaccess (mod_rewrite)
   
   
2. If you have Exposé 4.6.3 or later, proceed directly to 'Installation - Part II'. If your  version of Exposé is 4.6.2 or earlier, proceed to Step 3.
3. We recommend that all users upgrade to the latest version of Exposé. However, previous versions can be easily modified to produce SEF URLs. Start by backing up your site (all files and databases) in case something goes wrong.
4. Using your favorite FTP client, connect to your server and locate the folowing directory:
   
   <joomla_root>/components/com_expose/
   
   
5. Copy the following file to your computer and open it in a reliable editor:
   
   expose.html.php
   
   
6. Locate the following code on or around line 114
   
   var topLevelCollectionID = getQueryVariable ('topcoll');
   var autoLoadAlbumID = getQueryVariable ('album');
   var autoLoadPhotoID = getQueryVariable ('photo');
   var autoStartSlideShow = getQueryVariable ('playslideshow');
   
   
7. Replace these 4 lines with the following:
   
   var topLevelCollectionID = <?php echo (int) mosGetParam($_REQUEST, 'topcoll'); ?>;
   var autoLoadAlbumID = <?php echo (int) mosGetParam($_REQUEST, 'album'); ?>;
   var autoLoadPhotoID = <?php echo (int) mosGetParam($_REQUEST, 'photo'); ?>;
   var autoStartSlideShow = <?php echo (int) mosGetParam($_REQUEST, 'playslideshow'); ?>;
   
   
8. Save the file and upload to the same directory using your FTP client (if prompted, overwrite/replace the original file. 

Installation - Part II, Installing & Configuring the plugin

1. Register and login using the form above. Subscribe to the 'Extensions Club for Exposé' and download the "SEF Plugin for sh404SEF". The name of the file you download will be as follows:
   
   expose_sh404sef_plugin_x.x.zip
   
   
2. Extract this file in a convenient location such as your desktop. You will find two new directories in this location named:
   
   /meta_ext/
   /sef_ext/
   
   
3. (Optional) Open the sef_ext folder on your desktop and then open the file below in a reliable editor:
   
   com_expose.php
   
   At or about line 34, modify the five available options to toggle the inclusion of various parameters in the SEF URLs. The default values are shown below, with an explanation on each line. Once the modifications are complete, save the file.
   
   define ( 'SH_INSERT_COLL_ID', 0);  // set to 1 to insert collection id in URL
   define ( 'SH_INSERT_ALBUM_ID', 0);  // set to 1 to insert album id in URL
   define ( 'SH_INSERT_PHOTO_TITLE', 1);  // set to 1 to insert photo name in URL. Not recommended if many photos
   define ( 'SH_INSERT_PHOTO_ID', 0);  // set to 1 to insert photo id in URL (only used if SH_INSERT_PHOTO_TITLE is 1)
   define ( 'SH_INSERT_TOP_COLL_NAME', 1);  // set to 1 to insert top collection name (url like /sample-collection/sample-album)
   
   
4. Using your favorite FTP client, connect to your server and browse to the folowing directory:
   
   <joomla_root>/components/com_expose/
   
   
5. Copy the meta_ext and sef_ext folders to your servers. You should now start to see SEF URLs when clicking links to your Exposé gallery on the Joomla! frontend.