Help and How-tos JPub Getting Started

Getting Started

Once you have purchased the JPub extension suite, follow the steps below to complete the installation;

  • Download the JPub extension suite. Check your email for the download link,
  • Unzip the JPub extension suite to your computer,
  • Install the JPub content and system plugins using Joomla!'s Extension Manager,
  • Enable the JPub plugins using the Joomla! administrator's Plugin Manager,
  • Configure the JPub plugins as you would any other Joomla! plugin.

Due to a limitation in how Joomla! loads document types, you will also need to install the epub document format to your Joomla! site's shared libraries. There are two ways to do this:

Using the JPub Installer

  • Install the JPub component (mostly likely named com_jpub) using Joomla!'s Extension Manager,
  • Navigate to Components->JPub,
  • Click Install.

Once installed, you will have the option to uninstall the library at a later date.

To uninstall:

  • Navigate to Components->JPub,
  • Click Uninstall.

Ensure you have created a backup of your site whenever you run the JPub installer as it will make changes to your Joomla! site's core functionality. In fact, you should always make backups of your sites when installing or uninstalling any 3rd party extension, especially if your Joomla! site is in live production.

Manual Installation

You can also install and uninstall the epub library manually using file copy tools.

To install, copy the directory "epub" from /path/to/your/joomla/install/plugins/system/jpub/libraries/wijiti/document/ to /path/to/your/joomla/install/libraries/joomla/document/.

To uninstall, remove the directory "epub" from /path/to/your/joomla/install/libraries/joomla/document/.

Embedding a JPub button into an Article

To embed a JPub button in an article, specify {jpub} in your article's body.

The JPub content plugin will use the containing article to generate a corresopnding epub link. When clicked, this link will convert the article into the ePub format.

Configuration Options

JPub also provides additional configuration options so you can offer your users multi-chapter eBooks based on multiple articles or even a whole category of articles.

  • categoryId:
  • Specify the id of a category you would like to convert to an eBook.
  • articleId:
  • One or more article ids separated with a comma. The articles will be compiled into a single eBook.

Specifying a Category

Assuming your category id that you wish to use is 1 then you would embed the following into your article:

{jpub categoryId=1}

Specifying a Multi-Article eBook

Assuming the articles you wish to distribute in eBook format are 1,3,5 and 7, then you would embed the following into your article:

{jpub articleId=1,3,5,7}

Joomla! SEF Configuration and the EPub Format

For users with SEF enabled will encounter errors during eBook generation if they have "Add suffix to URLs" switched on.

If this applies to your site, you can fix this by editing your .htaccess file and changing the following line:

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (/|\.php|\.html|\.htm|\.feed|\.pdf|\.raw|/[^.]*)$  [NC]

to

RewriteCond %{REQUEST_URI} (/|\.php|\.html|\.htm|\.feed|\.pdf|\.raw|\.epub|/[^.]*)$  [NC]

This will help Joomla!'s SEF engine to understand that the epub extension is associated with the epub document type.