It's been 3+ years since I wrote the first release of the Joomla to CiviCRM user synchronization plugin. Based on some forum posts, it looks like the new releases of CiviCRM broke compatibility.
So, this weekend I found some time to fire-up my development environment and install CiviCRM 5.1.15 over Joomla 3.9.10 and Communuty Builder 2.4.2. I was able to fix the broken compatibility and add some more features in the process. Old plugin users will have to uninstall their previous version, install the new one and then reconfigure the plugin parameters.
This Joomla 3.x plugin will detect when a new user is added to your website through any Joomla or Community Builder user interface and automatically create (or update) the corresponding CiviCRM individual contact. This means that the following actions will trigger the integration process:
- frontend user registration using the Joomla registration form
- admininstrative (backend) user creation using the Joomla User Manager
- frontend user registration using the Community Builder registration form
- admininstrative (backend) user creation using the Community Builder User Manager
The plugin will detect what method was used and act accordingly:
- If a CB process was used and CB has been configured to gather firstname / lastname fields, these values will be used to create a new CiviCRM contact (if one does not already exist for the email address of the user that just registered)
- If a Joomla process was used the plugin will split the single name field to come up with first/last name equivalents
If the registration email address already has one or more CiviCRM contacts, then the plugin will decide (based on plugin configuration parameters) which contact to use and how to proceed. The relevant plugin configuration parameter is called 'Multiple Contact Handling' and its value options are:
- Skip syncing
- Use oldest
- Use newest
- Create new contact
There are some additional cool integration features that the plugin supports:
- Ability to put the CiviCRM contact in one or more CiviCRM contact groups (groups must already exist in CiviCRM and plugin will automatically detect them and present them for selection in relevant plugin parameter fields)
- Ability to create a single CiviCRM activity for the relevant CiviCRM contact and give it a scheduled/due date, a status, and a priority level. You can even set the activity subject and description and assign it to a specific CiviCRM contact ID. Once again the CiviCRM activity types are automatically detected by the plugin and presented as a single select plugin parameter.
I have some additional features in mind, but I am releasing 2.1.1 right away, It is free for downloading in our download section.
During the last couple of years I recorded many video tutorials to help users get started and feel comfortable with CB 2.0 and its add-ons.
Our youtube channel has over 200,000 views for the 73 videos and I am continuously getting thank you notes from people that have been enjoying these videos.
When I started out I would basically outline what I wanted to focus on in each video and would take it from there.
No real scenario was written and in many cases I would just go through the process and even run into stupid mistakes. But this actually worked out nicely as a learning experience as I would debug the issue in the video and figure out the cause and fix it!
I am now opening up the process and will create the next video tutorial based on what the community requests.
The process is simple. Just comment on this article outlining your proposal for my next video tutorial and let the users read and vote on your proposal by using the forum Thank You button. If you do not have a proposal, just read what other members proposed and give them your Thank You vote!
Let the process begin ;-)
Getting your website mobile ready is easy with latest Joomla 3.6 and Community Builder. But making navigation easier for your mobile friends can be a challenge.
This is where the new JF Mobile Bar module from our partner JoomForest comes in super handy as it makes mobile navigation for Community Builder and Kunena very simple and very friendly.
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