Introduction to jD Content in Articles etc -June 2025

Introduction

Essentially the jDownloads Content scheme enables showing Downloads in Articles, Custom Modules and Download Descriptions using a Layout selected in the content system. As noted later there are facilities that allow the Layout to be specified 'dynamically'.

Note that the title is a link, shown in blue text, allowing the file to be downloaded.

V4 example article

Enable Content Plugin in Joomla

First enable the jDownloads Content Plugin. So go to the main Joomla admin menu and select

then in the

section click on

. Search for and click on

. Ensure the Status is set to ENABLED

The Description Tab of the plugin contains a description of the facilities provided by the Content System.

To see the list of the available facilities, then click on

as indicated opposite.

For convenience the full description is reproduced in the Appendix.
As well as showing a single Download there are options to show all Downloads from multiple categories, select the Layout, use Latest, Top and Updated Downloads selection from specified Categories, and other option. The Content plugin is very useful and very powerful and flexible. V4 show description

Enable Content in jDownloads

To access the jDownloads Content Options click on

in the main Joomla admin menu. Then click on

, next click on

. Now click on the

at top right and finally on the

tab which lists the relevant setup options.

Initially the Default Layout is set as 'Standared Files Layout v3.9 as shown oppoposite. Whilst this layout gives many details, in Articles and Modules a better layout to use is 'Files Link Only v3.9' or 'Files Layout Single Line v3.9' so use the the pulldown to select one of those two. This is aso decribed later in this article

Initially leave 'Enable Plugin locally as Yes. This is discused further later in this article.
If you leave the parameter 'Show a truncated Downloads Description' as zero then the entite descripition in the selected Download will be shown. Use the pull down to set at say 50. This is sufficient to indicate that the selected Download has a description. V4 content plugin setup

Note that in the Content Plugin only the Main part of the layout is used. That is the layout sections Header and Footer areas are not used.

The option 'Enable plugin locally' is interesting. When set to 'Yes' the plugin will work as normal and show the relevant Download in the frontend view. content02

Important: To use the plugin you must set the 'Enabled' parameter as described in the Joomla section above.

However if option 'Enable plugin locally' is set to 'No' then other options as noted below become available.

Disabled Message

When the plugin is locally disabled then two further options appear as shown opposite.

When both the 'Show disabled message?' AND 'Show the original Title' are set to Yes then the Download still appears in the article.

However as illustrated opposite, the title has no link to enable the file to be downloaded.
V4 options show disabled and original title

V4 options show disabled and original title

If 'Show disabled message?' is set to No then nothing is shown and the setting of 'Show the Original Title' is ignored.

Show Original Title

When 'Show the original Title' is set to No then two further options become available.

Note that both of these text options support multilingual sites.

Title Replacement

The 'Title replacement' option allows showing a suitable message to your users indicating that Downloads are locally disabled.

The typical appearance is illustrated opposite.

For a multilingual site then use the tags as indicated opposite.

V4 options title replace

Description Replacement

The 'Description Replacement' option has the same effect when you are using a layout, such as 'Standard files layout v3.9' that is capable of showing a description. An example is shown below.

V4 description replacement

Show truncated Downloads Description

The option 'Show a Truncated Downloads Description' just limits the number of characters from the Short Description that will be shown.
But if it is set to zero as shown opposite then the whole description is shown.
V4 show truncated description

Select Default Layout

The first option 'Default Layout' allows you to select which layout to use as the default

In the example above the default Content system layout was set to 'Files link only'.

V4 option set default layout

See the article Using the Content System in Articles and Modules (opens in a new window/tab) for advanced use of the Content System.

Enable Button Plugin

To simplify inserting a Download link in an article, a descrption and elsewhere then also enable the editors-xtd 'Button-jDownloads Content' plugin.

This adds a

button into the editor form which provides access to inserting a Download by name by using the

button.
For more information and details see Content Plugin in articles and modules - advanced (opens in a new window/tab).

This will show a list of Downloads as illustrated opposite.

Presently the list is organised by ID Descending. Using the tab shows several diffent ways of viewing the list.

Also of course the regular Search facility is available.

Appendix -Full Description

The jDownloads 4 series Content Plugin can display Downloads in other Joomla! content such as articles. Original created by Marco Pelozzi - marco.u3@bluewin.ch - www.redorion.com

The plugin is automatically installed/updated when installing/updating the jDownloads component. Modified and reworked for Joomla 3.x/4.x by Arno Betz - jDownloads.com - 2022-08-16

In the following *DID is the ID number of the Download to be shown, eg 52.
*CIDLIST is a comma separated list of the ID numbers of those Categories whose Downloads are to be shown, eg 3,12.

count==*N is the maximum number of Downloads to be shown from this category or category list. If count==0 is specified then all Downloads in the category are listed.

Show a Single Download: {jd_file file==*DID} eg {jd_file file==31} shows the Download with ID of 31 NB this is the style auto entered by the jD Content Button plugin

Show Downloads from a single or several Categories: {jd_file category==*CIDlist count==*N} eg {jd_file category==15 count==5} will list upto 5 Downloads from the category whose ID is 15.
eg {jd_file category==15,2 count==0} will list all the Downloads in the categories with IDs 15 and 2. eg {jd_file category==15,3,41,6 count==12} will list upto 12 Downloads from those categories with IDs 15, 3, 41 and 6.

Listing latest, top and last updated from any category:

{jd_file latest==*N} {jd_file hottest==*N} {jd_file updated==*N} eg {jd_file latest==5} lists the 5 latest Downloads. eg {jd_file hottest==4} lists the 4 most popular Downloads. eg {jd_file updated==5} list the 5 most recently updated Downloads.

Listing latest, top and last updated only from select categories

{jd_file cat_hottest==*CID1,*CID2,*CID3 count==*N} eg {jd_file cat_hottest==12,13,3 count==5} lists the 5 most downloaded Downloads from the categories with IDs 12,13 and 3.

{jd_file cat_latest==*CID1,*CID2,*CID3 count==*N} eg {jd_file cat_latest==12 count==3} lists the 3 latest downloaded Downloads from the category with ID 12. {jd_file cat_updated==*CID1,*CID2,*CID3 count==*N} eg {jd_file cat_updated==17,35 count==6} lists the 6 most recently updated Downloads from the categories with IDs 17 and 35.

Selecting layouts {jd_file onlinelayout==layout name} you can use this to select the which layout to use when showing Downloads. That is it is possible to use specific layouts rather than the layout selected in the Configuration - Plugin tab. Example: {jd_file onlinelayout==Simple File List}{jd_file latest==5 count==3}

ColinM July 2020 Modified June 2023, April 2025, May 2025 June 2025

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