Joomlashack Blog and Updates

A New Version of Novitas, a Joomla Template for Beautiful Content

: Written by Valentín García Valentín García; Published: 22 November 2016 22 November 2016

Check out the new version of Novitas, a beautiful Joomla template that's designed for magazines and newspaper sites.

This update brings a major design refresh. If you're building websites focused on content, Novitas can fit that purpose very well.

We've also added support for one of our popular extensions, Shack Slides. If you buy Novitas, then you'll also get free access to Shack Slides.

The 2017 Joomlashack Roadmap

: Written by Steve Burge Steve Burge; Published: 15 November 2016 15 November 2016

In April 2016, the OSTraining team took over Joomlashack. This site was still running, but it needed an injection of fresh energy after 11 years.

So, we planned a 2016 roadmap to bring new life back to Joomlashack.

I'm delighted to say that almost all the items on the 2016 roadmap have now been completed:

Show or Hide in Joomla With Conditional Content

: Written by Joe Campbell Joe Campbell; Published: 14 November 2016 14 November 2016

If you have worked in Joomla for any time, you've probably used the excellent extensions by Peter at Regular Labs. Recently, he unveiled a very useful new extension called Conditional Content.

Previously, it was difficult to get full control over the "4 Ws" of how your content displayed ... who, what, where, and when. This required multiple Joomla extensions and often a bit of PHP coding. Conditional Content makes it much easier to show your content only under certain conditions.

Say Hello to OSCampus, the New Joomla LMS

: Written by Steve Burge Steve Burge; Published: 09 November 2016 09 November 2016

Today we're delighted to officially launch OSCampus.

OSCampus is the best way to build an online training site with Joomla.

OSCampus is incredibly robust and is already used by 1,000's of people every week. OSCampus runs the video training on OSTraining, and its architecture is the basis forJoomlashack University and the official Joomla.org training site!

OSCampus allows you to publish online classes. You can use OSCampus to create classes with multiple lessons and quizzes. The lessons can consist of anything from videos or text, to presentations and PDFs. Your lessons can be YouTube or Vimeo Videos, Slideshare or Google presentations, simple text or complex code.

We Updated ABC, our Joomla Template for Schools and Education

: Written by Valentín García Valentín García; Published: 08 November 2016 08 November 2016

Check out the new version of ABC, a colorful Joomla template that's designed for education sites.

This update to ABC features a major design refresh. If you want to create sites for a school or online course, then ABC is an excellent template choice. ABC has excellent support for OSCampus, the new Joomla LMS.

We've also added support for one of our popular commercial extensions included for free: Easy Social Icons. If you buy ABC, then you'll also get access to Easy Social Icons.

Additionally, ABC is now compatible with the very last version of the Wright framework.

Meet OSTimer Pro, the Countdown Extension for Joomla

: Written by Valentín García Valentín García; Published: 04 November 2016 04 November 2016

OSTimer is the best countdown extension for Joomla.

Today, we're happy to announce the release of OSTimer Pro!

OSTimer Pro includes extra layout options, and the ability to customize the color of your countdown clock.

Additionally, we've done a lot of work to improve the admin UI for both the Free and Pro versions of OSTimer.

Meet OSDonate Pro, the PayPal Donation Extension for Joomla

: Written by Valentín García Valentín García; Published: 04 November 2016 04 November 2016

OSDonate is the best PayPal donation extension for Joomla.

Today, we're happy to announce the release of OSDonate Pro!

OSDonate Pro includes extra layout options, and the ability to customize the color of your donation form.

Additionally, we've done a lot of work to improve the admin UI for both the Free and Pro versions of OSDonate.

We Updated Mondrian, our Landing Page and Events Joomla Template

: Written by Valentín García Valentín García; Published: 03 November 2016 03 November 2016

Check out the new version of Mondrian, a beautiful Joomla template that's designed to showcase events.

This update to Mondrian features a major design refresh. If you're holding an event, then Mondrian will be an exciting and stylish choice.

We've also added support for two of our popular commercial extensions included for free: OSTimer Pro and Shack Slides. If you buy Mondrian, then you'll also get access to both extensions.

Additionally, Mondrian is now compatible with the very last version of the Wright framework.

Learn to Build Joomla Plugins at Joomlashack University

: Written by Steve Burge Steve Burge; Published: 02 November 2016 02 November 2016

Do you want to become a Joomla developer? Joomlashack University has the classes to help you.

Last month, Joomlashack published class called "How to Develop Joomla Modules".

This week we have a new class called, "How to Develop Joomla Plugins".

If you watch the first class you'll learn the basics of Joomla development. In this second class, you'll learn how to build plugins. These powerful extensions act on Joomla's trigger events to perform almost any task that you can imagine.

Error decoding JSON data: Syntax error

: Written by Nick Savov Nick Savov; Published: 25 October 2016 25 October 2016

With the release of Joomla 3.6.3, some sites started to get this error message:

"Error decoding JSON data: Syntax error".

This tutorial will explain the issue and how to resolve it.

Background info

Joomla stores some of its data as JavaScript Object Notation (JSON). JSON has syntax rules that describe how the data must be stored. If the data gets corrupted and doesn't maintain the rules, an error occurs.

In version 3.6.3, the Joomla core started to report more errors if the data is stored incorrectly. Now if the JSON syntax is broken, the error is triggered and displayed. So in other words, Joomla 3.6.3 isn't causing the problem ... it's just doing a better job of reporting it.

The root cause of the error

The issue is with the data. So any fix that you find for modifying core files is incorrect. Plus, core changes will be lost when you update Joomla.

The key to fixing the issue is fixing the data itself. But where is the data? It's in the database of course. And it's usually in a "params" field in the _extensions table or _modules table.

How to fix the error

Now that we know where to look, how do we spot the issue and how do we fix it? Unfortunately, this part is tricky. Sometimes it's obvious though. The following is broken JSON:

{""}

And it can be fixed with:

 update `abc_modules` set params="" WHERE params = "{\"\"}";

Change "abc" to your table prefix. Also, run the above on your _extensions table too. To do that, switch `abc_modules` to `abc_extensions` .

The code above will fix the most common issues that have been spotted so far. But there are other syntax errors that can cause the issue. And they are usually harder to spot.

Here's one from a site I debugged earlier:

{"administrator":"\"en-GB\"","site":"\"en-GB\""}

It was in the com_languages param. I'm not sure of the cause, but it might have been due to Magic Quotes GPC being enabled at one point.

To find others, you'll have to manually look through the "params" column for potential issues.

Rob Went has released a small script that automates much of the process.

Also, if the issue is found in a 3rd-party extension, update the extension. If you don't have admin access, disable the extension via the database, then update.

Two extensions with known issues are JB Library Plugin and JUpgrade. JB Library's team has already released a fix for it.

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The Joomlashack Blog

Background info

The root cause of the error

How to fix the error