Module in sidebar is sometimes not shown, itemid=-1

[beato]

The environment:
------------------------------------------------------------------
I use jDownloads 3.2.21 beta in Joomla 3.3.6
Datenbankversion    5.5.40
Datenbankzeichensatz    utf8_general_ci
PHP-Version    5.3.28
Webserver    Apache
PHP-Interface für den Webserver    cgi-fcgi


In jDownloads I've set up a category structure like:
public
private
- test1
- test2
- test3
=> '-' means i.e. 'test1' is a subcategorie of 'private'

In the mainmenu there are two submenus:
submenu1 calls the jDownloads category public
submenu2 calls the jDownloads category private with all subcategories.

In the left sidebar is a module which displays level2 downwards of the mainmenu.

The problem:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Calling the submenu1 displays the page with
.../index.php?option=com_jdownloads&view=category&catid=7&Itemid=239
=> module sidemenu is displayed in the sidebar

Calling the submenu2 displays the page with
.../index.php?option=com_jdownloads&view=category&catid=5&Itemid=784
=> module sidemenu is displayed

If I navigate through different categories test1, test2 or test3 (clicking on category or by selecting a category in the selection box) the sidemenu module is not displayed:
=> .../index.php?option=com_jdownloads&view=category&catid=3&Itemid=-1

... or in one case the Itemid is 633 what shows up a wrong module in the sidebar.

I figured out, that the correct module is shown if I manually set the Itemid=784 (instead of the "-1".


Question:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
Is this behaviour a misfunction of jDownloads or is my one of my mysql tables messed up? Is there a connection with the template (T3 bs3_blank)
How could I figure out?

Thanks for help in advance
Beat

[ColinM]

Hi
Could you advise what permissions and access levels you have set up please.
Have the feeling we will need to look at your site, maybe at admin level so could you perhaps  send details via PM .
Thanks
Colin

[gebeer]

I am experiencing the same problem after upgrade to 3.2.21b on J! 3.3.6.

Before the upgrade, with version 3.2.19b on J! 3.3.6 my modules were displayed correctly. After the update all modules are missing when I browse to a subcategory with downloads in it.
The URL to the subcategory looks like: component/jdownloads/category/5-kataloge.html?Itemid=-1

My permission settings for the component, the categories and the downloads:
Public: Download->allowed.

[ColinM]

hi
Have you set up your own user groups?  If yes and you are using thses to controll access to Categories or downloads, have you also set the user group rankings in User Group Settings to a non-zero value?

Colin

[gebeer]

Hi Colin,

I haven't setup any custom user groups. All standard Joomla. And very simple concept: everything is available for public to download.

My feeling is that it has to do with the URLs generated and Joomla not knowing that it should display the modules on these URLs. My modules are never displayed on the pages with the list for the downloads. These pages have no menu item linked to, so I cannot tell the modules to display there. I know that I could either use hidden menu items or Nonumber's Advanced Module Manager to make the modules display. But this is all extra effort and it would be much better if we could achieve the goal without additional extensions or going through the trouble of setting up hidden menu items for each download subcategory. 

As I said, this problem started only after an upgrade to 3.2.21b. With 3.2.19b the modules were displayed also in subcategories that have no menu item linked to them.

Can someone even reproduce and confirm this behaviour? I would like to know if it is specific to my install.

Cheers
Gerhard

[ColinM]

@Gerhard
Could you clarify for me please if, in your 'straightforward' site, you have modules that should be showing links to Downloads but are not showing them correctly; or that you would like to have some that are shown.

Thanks
Colin

[gebeer]

@Colin,

sorry if I have not been clear. The site is now online so you can see for yourself what I mean.

On http://www.hempage.de/mode-aus-hanf/downloads.html you see modules displayed in the right column and in the header underneath the logo. These are not JDownload modules.
The link type is JDownloads -> Single Category.

When you traverse down into the subcategory "Kataloge", you get a URL http://www.hempage.de/component/jdownloads/category/5-kataloge.html?Itemid=-1

Now on that page all modules are gone. I would like to know if that is intended behaviour because as far as I remember, in 3.2.19b the modules were displayed.

The ID of the category is 5. What is  "?itemid=-1" in the URL supposed to mean? If I change it to "?Itemid=5", I get the same page. Even if I delete that part so the URL reads http://www.hempage.de/component/jdownloads/category/5-kataloge.html, I get the same page.

[ColinM]

@Gebeer
Thanks for update.  Is the module that disappears a menu?  Have found that there may be an interaction with such a module.
Colin

[gebeer]

@Colin
none of the modules are shown. Most of them are custom content modules. Also the main menu module.

If you want to take a look again at http://www.hempage.de/mode-aus-hanf/downloads.html, the modules are:
-everything in the right column (custom content module)
-"dressed by nature" claim in the header and footer (custom content module)
-main menu in the header (menu module)

[ColinM]

Hi
I should have thought of the following much sooner.

The result that modules, say in a side bar, are not shown when jDownloads displays a category is intrinsically due to the way Joomla operates.  It is not a fault in jDownloads!

Basically Joomla requires all pages to be shown via a menu item link.  If a page that is being shown is a regular article page with some modules also being shown in various positions then that article page needs a menu item somewhere in order for it to be shown complete with its modules.  The actual article content is shown using a core Joomla component, com-content.

The jDownloads views should in this context be thought of as being, in some sense, like an article but being shown by component com_jdownloads. They are different in that they are themselves viewed by a jDownloads menu item link as it is a 'page' with jDownloads content rather than an article. But the linking mechanism is required for the whole page.

The attached sequence of pictures illustrates what happens with and without an explicit menu item pointing to the target category.  If there is no menu link then the visibility of other modules is, effectively, not predictable.  If there is an explicit menu item then all is well.

Now in most situations one would not wish to show all the menu items.  This is achieved by having those menu items published in a 'hidden' menu.  This is a well established technique with numerous web references such as those shown below.  The categories that are shown in the pull-down list are controlled by the users view access

http://magazine.joomla.org/issues/issue-mar-2014/item/1790-using-hidden-menus
https://docs.joomla.org/How_to_control_module_display_when_linking_to_an_article_with_no_menu_item
http://www.templatemonster.com/help/joomla-3-x-how-to-link-category-to-the-hidden-menu-item.html


So far I have only used jDownloads single category menu links.  It may be that using a listing all categories menu item works better as the page itself is not totally changing.
MODIFICATION -  Just tested with a menu item which is List All Categories - seem to be only 'hidden' menu that would be required -- More tomorrow!!
Colin

[gelöscht durch Administrator]

[gebeer]

Thank you, Colin, for the extensive answer.

I also came to the same conclusion that I might have to use hidden menu items, as I wrote in one of my previous posts.

I have just tried it and the modules are shown just fine once I create a menu item and assign the modules to it. I used the menu type JDownloads->Single Category.

Cheers
Gerhard