The Joomla plugin for Checkfront enables you to generate a shortcode, paste it into your webpage and publish a booking portal for your customers to reserve their items. Once configured, the plugin will take care of the complicated code required to display the portal. All you need to do is add the shortcode to your page and we'll take care of the rest. If you'd like to alter the way the booking portal appears or behaves, you can do that by adding arguments to the shortcode. This guide will show you how to do that.
Installing the Joomla Plugin
Back to top
Unlike our Booking Widget integration method, the Joomla based booking portal requires the installation of an extension known as a plugin. The two methods yield exactly the same results, but by installing the Joomla plugin, you avoid a complicated mass of code and are able to make changes to your website URL without needing to edit any code on your web page.
If you've used Joomla before, you're probably familiar with the process of finding plugins and installing them on your server. If not, don't panic! It's very easy to do and takes just a few moments to complete. In the following steps, we'll show you exactly how to do this with just a few clicks of the mouse.
Search For & Install the Plugin
Back to top
The first step is to locate the Checkfront plugin within the Joomla Extension Manager. Navigate to your Joomla dashboard.
1) Click on Extensions from the main menu. When the drop-down appears, select Extension Manager.
2) Enter Checkfront in the search field.
3) Either press Enter or click on the Magnifying Glass button to begin the search.
4) When the Checkfront plugin appears, click on the hyperlinked title.
The screen that follows will present you with some information on the Checkfront plugin. You'll see a green button labeled Install. Click on this to proceed with the installation.
Next, you will be asked to confirm the installation by clicking on another Install button.
Enabling the Plugin
Back to topOnce the plugin has been installed, you'll see a confirmation message on the screen. Before you can use the plugin, though, you first need to enable it.
1) Click on Extensions from the main menu. When the drop-down appears, select Plugin Manager.
2) Enter Checkfront in the search field.
3) Either press Enter or click on the Magnifying Glass button to begin the search.
4) When the Checkfront plugin appears, select it by checking the box to the left.
5) Click the Enable button to continue. The status of the plugin will now show a green check mark, rather than the red 'x' which was displayed before.
As such, the plugin is now active. The final stage in activating the plugin is to select it from the Plugin Manager page by clicking on the hyperlinked plugin name.
You can do this at any time in the future should you wish to make changes to the host URL. After clicking on the plugin name, you will see a field to enter your Checkfront Host URL. This is the URL by which you access your Checkfront admin area and was chosen by you when you first created your account. It is most likely [BusinessName].checkfront.com. In our example, we will use demo.checkfront.com.
1) Enter the Checkfront Host URL.
2) Click Save.
The plugin is now fully installed and enabled.
 |
Pay close attention to your Checkfront Host URL. Depending on where you are located, your URL may not end with .com. It may, for instance, end with .co.uk. Entering this incorrectly is a common mistake, so double check before entering it in the field, just to make sure! |
Generating the Shortcode
Back to topThe next step is to generate the shortcode which will be added to your Joomla web page. If you have any experience with the Checkfront Booking Widget, you will recognize that the process involved now is more or less the same. Once you've generated the code, however, you will be presented with one basic line of code. The more complicated code is handled by the plugin you just installed.
Now, if you like, you can simply go ahead and add the shortcode [checkfront] to your web page. When published, this will show the booking portal as configured in your Checkfront backend. You can, however, manipulate the shortcode to create a more refined look for the portal.
If you are experienced with shortcodes, you can scroll down this page to see the arguments which can be added to produce certain results. If you're not sure about that, though, the Shortcode Generator is the way to go.
Shortcode Generator
If you're still on the Host URL screen, look for the Description tab at the top.
Click on this and then click on the Shortcode Generator button below. Alternatively, you can access the same Shortcode Generator through your Checkfront backend. To do this, go to Manage > Add-ons > Website Integrations. Hover your mouse over the Joomla tile and click SETUP.
This will bring you directly to the Joomla Shortcode Generator within your Checkfront account.
You’ll notice at the bottom of the wizard, just above the Generate Code button, there’s a link to Show more options. These are slightly more advanced features and we’ll look at those a bit further down the page. For now, though, let’s take a look at the basic set of configurable options available.
Joomla Plugin: Configurable Options >