Topic: SobiSEF Plugin Configuration Essentials

[aboututila]

Here are some basic 'rules' when using the SobiSEF plugin.
These 'rules' have been determined by trial and error and are not 'official' SOBI2 documentation.

Solving SobiSEF plugin Problems
(1) The first step in 'debugging' any SobiSEF problem is to;
     (a) disable ALL caching (Joomla! and SOBI2) until you have things working correctly

           Joomla! Caching
           Joomla! Administrator->Global Configuration->System->Cache Settings->Cache = No
           Joomla! Administrator->Extensions->Plugin Manager->System - Cache->Enabled = No

           SOBI2 Caching
           Joomla! Administrator->Components->SOBI2->Configuration->General Configuration->Cache->Second Level Cache Enabled = No
           Joomla! Administrator->Components->SOBI2->Configuration->General Configuration->Cache->Caching of Details View Enabled (not recommended) = No
           Joomla! Administrator->Components->SOBI2->Configuration->General Configuration->Cache->Third Level Cache Enabled = No

     (b) disable ALL other Joomla! SEF Extensions (such as sh404SEF, ARTIO JoomSEF, etc)
     (c) AND all Joomla! Extensions that may alter SOBI2 URL's (such as Joom!fish),
     (d) AND the SobiSEF plugin
     (e) BUT keep Joomla! native SEF enabled

    Then check that your SOBI2 non-SEF links all work as expected.
    After you have checked all your SOBI2 non-SEF links all work as expected, then you can enable the SobiSEF plugin,
    (but not other Joomla! SEF Extensions until you have completed the steps below).

     Note (i): It can be very difficult (if not impossible) to get other Joomla! SEF extensions, (such as sh404SEF)
         to work with the SobiSEF plugin.
         This is a problem caused by the Joomla! SEF extension, not SOBI2 or the SobiSEF plugin.
         (refer to the discussions in SobiSEF plugin and 3rd Party Joomla! SEF Extensions (AceSEF, sh404SEF, etc) for more details).

     Note (ii): If you have Joomla! installed in a sub-directory/sub-folder, then Joomla! must be working correctly in that sub-directory/sub-folder for the SobiSEF plugin to function without problems.
     Refer:
     How to get your Joomla! in a sub-directory to work
     Hiding Joomla Subdirectory - GoDaddy

     Note (iii): Any time you make a configuration change that may effect SEF URL's,
     (such as a change to SobiSEF plugin or Joomla! Menu Items linking to the SOBI2 Component)
     it is necessary to purge the SobiSEF plugin tables.
     Refer
     Joomla Administrator->Components->SOBI 2->Plugins->SobiSEF->General Options->
     Plugin is Active = Yes/No
     Purge URL's after save=Yes (and remember to Save).

(2) Make sure that you have the latest version of the SobiSEF plugin installed.
     The plugin authors include bugfix's in the new versions for a reason.
     Install the SobiSEF plugin using the SOBI2 Plugin Manager,
     not the Joomla! Extensions Plugin Manager.

(3) Make sure that the version of the SobiSEF plugin you have installed is compatible with the Joomla! and the SOBI2 versions you have installed.
     For example;
     SobiSEF plugin RC 1.6 requires SOBI2 RC 2.9.2.3 or later,
     and
     SOBI2 RC 2.9.2.3 requires Joomla! 1.5.6 or later

(4) Make sure that Joomla! native SEF is enabled
     Refer Joomla Administrator->Global Configuration->Site->SEO Settings
     set Search Engine Friendly URLs  = Yes
     set Use Apache mod_rewrite = Yes (Note the warning about renaming htaccess.txt to .htaccess)
     setting Add suffix to URLs = Does not matter (but if you change it you will have to re-build the SobiSEF plugin URL tables)

Joomla! Menu Item Link Configuration
(5) ALL Joomla! Menu Items linking to the SOBI2 Component must be made using the SOBI2 Extended Menu Items, (Menu Item Type = SOBI2).
     Joomla! Menu Items of Type=Alias are the exception to this rule,
     but they must link to a Joomla! Menu Item that has been made using SOBI2 Extended Menu Items.

     Note: Joomla! Menu Items of Type=Url (External Link - Create a Menu Item that links to another Web site) can be linked to the SOBI2 Component using the rules in SOBI2 Special Links, but you may need to include the full URL (http://MySite.com/....) and these links may not be processed by the SobiSEF plugin.

(6) You MUST have at least one Joomla! Menu Item (created using SOBI2 Extended Menu Items)
     linking to the SOBI2 Front Page [which is also the Root Category] (index.php?option=com_sobi2).
     The SOBI2 Component requires a Joomla! Menu Item linked to the SOBI2 Frontpage,
     regardless of whether the SobiSEF plugin is installed or not.

     Note: It is not necessary to publish the Joomla! Menu Item linking to the SOBI2 Frontpage.. The SobiSEF plugin will build External/Internal URL pairs for (and/or based on) unpublished Joomla! Menu Items linked to the SOBI2 Component using SOBI2 Extended Menu Items.
     [UPDATE] - The above Note appeared to be true when tested with SOBI2 RC 2.9.2.3 and SobiSEF plugin RC 1.6/1.7. But NOT true when tested with SOBI2 v2.9.3.2 and SobiSEF plugin RC 1.7. It is therefore recommended that the required Joomla! Menu Item link to the SOBI2 Frontpage be published.

     Note: The reason a Joomla! Menu Item linking to the SOBi2 Frontpage is required is beyond the scope of this posting, but if you refer to Joomla!/SOBI2/SobiSEF - SEF URL's and breadcrumb/pathway construction - Items (3) and (4), it may give you some indication why it is necessary create at least one Joomla! Menu Item linked to the SOBI2 Frontpage (root category).

(7) Joomla! Menu Items - Links and Aliases
      for Joomla! Menu Items with Menu Item Type = SOBI2 (created using SOBI2 Extended Menu Items)
     (a) Each identical Menu Item Link to the SOBI2 component MUST have identical Menu Item Aliases, AND
     (b) Each different Menu Item Link to the SOBI2 component MUST have a different Menu Item Alias.
     (I believe Menu Item Titles are irrelevant, but have not had a chance to test this 100%)
     (I believe it does NOT matter if those Joomla! Menu Items are published or not published, but have not had a chance to test this 100%)

     An example for (7a) above;
     The configuration;
     Joomla! Menu Item Type = SOBI2
     Joomla! Menu Item ID: xxx
     Title = Directory
     Alias = directory
     Link = index.php?option=com_sobi2

     and
     Joomla! Menu Item Type = SOBI2
     Joomla! Menu Item ID: yyy
     Title = Main Directory
     Alias = main-directory
     Link = index.php?option=com_sobi2

     Will cause SobiSEF plugin problems (two Menu Items with identical Links but not identical Aliases).
     An example for (7b) above;
     Joomla! Menu Item Type = SOBI2
     Joomla! Menu Item ID: yyy
     Title = Category
     Alias = category
     Link = index.php?option=com_sobi2&catid=3

     and
     Joomla! Menu Item Type = SOBI2
     Joomla! Menu Item ID: zzz
     Title = Category
     Alias = category
     Link = index.php?option=com_sobi2&catid=4

     Will cause SobiSEF plugin problems (two Menu Items with different Links but not different Aliases).
Joomla! Menu Items of Type=Alias (refer http://docs.joomla.org/Screen.menus.edit.15#Alias) that are linked to a Joomla! Menu Item of Type = SOBI2 may be an exception to rule (7) above.

Other links to SOBI2 Component content
(8) Links to SOBI2 content (for example links in Joomla! articles) must be made in accordance with;
     SOBI2 Special Task Links (refer http://www.sigsiu.net/special_tasks_links.html) or
     SOBI2 Special Links (refer http://www.sigsiu.net/special_links.html) or


(9) Links to SOBI2 content in a SOBI2 Template must be made in accordance with the appropriate template command
     (refer http://www.sigsiu.net/template_commands.html#Linking_to_Details_View)

After configuration changes
(10) If you have had problems with SobiSEF links, disable the plugin and purge all previously created URL's, before enabling the SobiSEF plugin.
       After you have purged all previously created URL's, Active the plugin.
       Refer
       Joomla Administrator->Components->SOBI 2->Plugins->SobiSEF->General Options->
       Plugin is Active = Yes/No
       Purge URL's after save=Yes (and remember to Save).

(11) When testing your SobiSEF links, always start from your web site 'home page',
       ie: http://mysite.com/
       Otherwise your Browser may be displaying HTML output with 'old' links in the current window,
       and this may result in direction to an invalid URL.

(12) If your web site contains a lot of links, allow SobiSEF time to generate new SEF links.
      The SobiSEF plugin can only create/rebuild SEF (External)/non-SEF(Internal) URL pairs when Joomla!
      is building a 'page' that contains links/URLs to the SOBI2 Component. Joomla! 'calls' the SobiSEF plugin
      when it is building a 'page' that contains links/URLs to the SOBI2 Component.

      The 'speed' at which the SobiSEF plugin creates/rebuilds SEF (External)/non-SEF(Internal) URL pairs
      is limited by the setting
      Joomla! Administrator->Components->SOBI2->Plugins->SobiSEF->General Options->Queries Limit
      The high the 'Queries Limit' the more SQL Queries and the 'quicker' the SobiSEF plugin creates new SEF (external) URL

      You may have to 'refresh' a Joomla! 'page' containing links/URLs to the SOBI2 Component
       in order for the SobiSEF plugin to be executed enough times for the required SEF URL's to be created/rebuilt.
      You may have to navigate to SOBI2 Content for the SobiSEF plugin to create/rebuild SEF URL's for that content.

      Note: Setting
      Joomla! Administrator->Components->SOBI2->Plugins->SobiSEF->General Options->Queries Limit = unlimited
      and disabling
      Joomla! Administrator->Components->SOBI2->General Configuration->General->Show Alpha-Index = No
      may speed up the SEF link creation/maintenance process, especially if you are trying to debug problems.

      Note: If the SobiSEF plugin cannot resolve a SEF URL, (perhaps because it has not yet been created, or perhaps a configuration problem),
       then by design, it redirects to the SOBI2 Frontpage rather than producing a '404 page not found' error message.
       Arguably, this is more 'web site visitor friendly' behavior than a  '404 page not found' error message.

Not sure why it makes a difference
(13) SOBI2 Configuration Changes
       OK, these are 'desperation' changes that can be made if all else fails.
       I have never found the spare time to work through the SOBI2 Core and SobiSEF plugin code to discover exactly what the impact of the following settings are, BUT their values impact Joomla! Menu Item ID's and changing their values has been reported to solve SobiSEF problems.

       Try changing (one at a time, and if that fails,  in combination) the current values of;
       SOBI2 Admin > Configuration > General Configuration > General > Force Unique Menu-Id
       SOBI2 Admin > Configuration > Registry Editor > Section: [ url ] > force_right_itemid (default=1)
       SOBI2 Admin > Configuration > Registry Editor > Section: [ url ] > on_bad_itemid ([ redirect | overwrite ] default=redirect )

       I have not been able to establish a 'correct' values for these settings.
       For example, some users have reported that changing
       SOBI2 Admin > Configuration > General Configuration > General > Force Unique Menu-Id
from 'Yes' to 'No' has solved their SobiSEF problems, while other users have reported changing this setting from 'No' to 'Yes' has solved their SobiSEF problems.

Non-English language web sites
(14) If your Web Site is using a non-English language,
       You may need to check that your SobiSEF Replacement Character set is configured appropriately.
       Refer
       Joomla Administrator->Components->SOBI2->Plugins->SobiSEF->Replacements->Replace these Characters

      However, it would appear that most 'modern' web browsers can use IRI's (Internationalized Resource Identifier) as a replacement for URI's (Uniform Resource Identifier) (URL's). While URI's are limited to a subset of the ASCII Character Set, IRI's may contain characters from the Universal Character Set (Unicode/ISO 10646), including Chinese or Japanese kanji, Korean, Cyrillic characters, and so forth.

      In this case, it is no longer necessary to use SobiSEF Replacement characters to replace characters that are not included in the ASCII printable/displayable character set.
      The web page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_web_browsers#Protocol_support includes details of browser IDN (Internationalized domain name) support. If a browser can support IDN, then I think it is safe to assume that it will support an IRI path.

      You should also consider if you have configured Joomla!/MySQL with the appropriate UTF collation for your language.
      A default Joomla! installation will configure a database collation of utf8_general_ci
      For your current database collation configuration, refer
      Joomla! Administrator -> Help -> System Info -> System Info ->Database Collation
      Another utf8_ database collation may be more appropriate for your language (see http://www.collation-charts.org/mysql60/)
      If you need to change your database collation, there are two Joomla! Extension that claim to be able to do this;
      http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/tools/database-tools/5184
      http://extensions.joomla.org/extensions/hosting-a-servers/database-management/9886

Conclusion
(15) If you have links in your Joomla! installation that do not conform to the above, then it is possible for the SobiSEF plugin to have problems.

(16) After you have checked all your SobiSEF plugin URL's are functioning properly you can re-enable your other Joomla! SEF Extensions.
      But remember;
     Note: It can be very difficult (if not impossible) to get other Joomla! SEF extensions, (such as sh404SEF)
         to work with the SobiSEF plugin.
         This is a problem caused by the Joomla! SEF extension, not SOBI2 or the SobiSEF plugin.
         (refer to the discussions in SobiSEF plugin and 3rd Party Joomla! SEF Extensions (AceSEF, sh404SEF, etc) for more details).

I hope this helps - Mark

PS: The following are primarily for my own benefit;
Related Documentation
http://docs.joomla.org/Joomla_Routes_and_SEF
http://docs.joomla.org/Routing

[jcolls]

Great post, great guide. Many thanks.

[roberth]

  Thank you very much! For everybody whom may be interested this tutorial is one of the best. If you have problems, please follow it step by step and you may solve your sef problems 100 percent.

Good work!

[mortimersmythe]

Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!  Been trying to get this to work for sooooo long!   Great tutorial and great plugin!  Beautiful, thanks.

[Siddan]

Great guide indeed
Especially the steps and you really need to turn off other SEF extensions first in order for SobiSEF to create the urls.

Allthough I couldn´t notice any difference between having a menu link to Sobi home published or unpublished... It creates the urls just fine when the menu item is unpublished.
Allthough I do have menu links to Sobi categories, And I see in backend that the urls are created accordingly after its name of the menu item.

However the reason I post in here is the unfortunate sef extension SH404sef which must be totally disabled whenever creating a new sobi listing, otherwise the link to that listing will become the same link url as the menu item.
If I first disable sh404sef and then save my newly created listing then it will be fine.

(Actually I just tested unpublishing a listing before SOBIsef created the sef urls and when unpublishing that listing while sh404sef is active then it will be like what I explained above... I suppose it has the same affect when creating a new listing)

So I just wonder if anyone else have sh404sef active and want to use SOBIsef and have the same issue?

[aboututila]

.. Allthough I couldn´t notice any difference between having a menu link to Sobi home published or unpublished... It creates the urls just fine when the menu item is unpublished.

Hmm...
I am aware that a Joomla! Menu Item link to the SOBI2 Frontpage is essential.
I have not taken the time to test whether or not it matters if this Joomla! Menu Item is published or unpublished. You may well be correct that it is not necessary that this Joomla! Menu Item is published.

I will add a note to SobiSEF Plugin Configuration Essentials about this.

[UPDATE] - I can confirm that the SobiSEF plugin will build External/Internal URL pairs for (and based on) unpublished Joomla! Menu Items linked to the SOBI2 Component using SOBI2 Extended Menu Items.
[UPDATE] - I have not checked if this is true for SOBI2 v2.9.3.2 and later. I can confirm that the SobiSEF plugin requires the Joomla! Menu Item linked to the SOBI2 Frontpage to be published. Somewhere prior to SOBI2 v2.9.3.2 it was not necessary for this Joomla! Menu Item to be published.

Thank you - Mark

[webenhanced]

Following these instructions worked a treat for a new installation with Joomla SEF already installed and tested.

Thanks  heaps.

[jarozz]

hello,

i have question regarding step1. -  Joomla! Caching
i did not find in your manual, if Joomla! Caching must be turned off to use Sobi2 SEF on live site, or it is required only when debugging problems.

for me is Sobi2 SEF working fine until i turn on Joomla system cache. (then i am getting home page on every link)

thank you.

[aboututila]

(1) It is required to turn SOBI2 and Joomla! caching off when debugging problems since any configuration changes made as a result of debugging problems may not effect visible output because of caching, (so how do you know if your changes have effected the problem).

for me is Sobi2 SEF working fine until i turn on Joomla system cache. (then i am getting home page on every link)

Am I correct in presuming you are using no other Joomla! SEF Component?

Joomla! has several types of caching - Refer http://docs.joomla.org/Cache
When you say "Joomla system cache", I am not sure if you are referring to
(View Caching) Joomla! Administrator->Global Configuration->System->Cache Settings->
or
(Page Caching) Joomla! Administrator->Extensions->Plugin Manager->System - Cache->
Regardless, Joomla! caching is poorly documented, so it is difficult for me to provide a definitive answer to your question.

I can see how Joomla! 'Page Caching'
Joomla! Administrator->Extensions->Plugin Manager->System - Cache->
might cause a problem, since Joomla! may output a 'page' from its cache containing a link to some SOBI2 content and that SOBI2 content has changed (for example, been deleted)
Also see http://www.theartofjoomla.com/joomla-caching-explained.html - Things to Watch When Using Page Caching
Included in that list of 'Things to Watch' should be a note about SEF URL's
- If you are using SEF URL's you may need to configure a value for $live_site and without a trailing slash on the URL
  Refer Joomla! Administrator > Help > System Info > Configuration File > $live_site
- If you are using SEF URL's you may need to configure
  Joomla! Administrator->Extensions->Plugin Manager->System - SEF->Order = 0 (First)
  and it is probably a good idea to configure
  Joomla! Administrator->Extensions->Plugin Manager->System - Cache->Order = (Last)
 
With SobiSEF I can see a problem with Joomla! 'Page Caching', when rebuilding/purging SobiSEF links, and/or disabling the SobiSEF plugin. (for example, Joomla! 'Page Caching' outputs pages containing SobiSEF links. SobiSEF is disabled, but Joomla! continues outputting pages containing SobiSEF links)

Joomla! Administrator->Global Configuration->System->Cache Settings->
is poorly documented and it is unclear how it operates with the SOBI2 Component.

Bottom Line - I would only enable Joomla! 'Page Caching' on a web site where the configuration and content does not change. I am unable to provide advice on Joomla! 'View Caching'. When Googling 'Joomla Cache SEF', there are a number of reports regarding problems with Joomla caching and SEF URLs.

Regards - Mark

[jarozz]

Thank you for explanation.

So i will keep both Joomla caches turned off. Hope that site performance will be ok.

Thanks & regards,
M.