Extension Manager

Cybersalt Extension Manager installs, updates and looks after every Cybersalt extension on your Joomla site from one screen. You see what's installed, what has an update and what you don't have yet; install or update one extension or several in one go; read what changed since your version; go back to an earlier release if an update causes trouble; and let a daily check email you when something new is out. It also shows the Joomla templates from Energize Themes and VirtueMart Templates. It's free.

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What's included

Installing

1. Download the zip from the Extension Manager page on cybersalt.com.
2. In your Joomla admin go to System → Install → Extensions and upload the zip. The three plugins are switched on for you.
3. Click Open the Extension Manager on the card that appears, or go to Components → Cybersalt Extension Manager.

If you'd like an email when a new release of a Cybersalt extension on your site is out, click Email me about new releases on the same card or on the dashboard. Release emails are off until you ask for them; see Release emails and automatic updates.

Extension Manager updates itself like any Cybersalt extension: from its own Extensions screen, or from System → Update → Extensions.

The dashboard

The Extension Manager opens on its dashboard. The section bar along the top of every screen (Dashboard, Extensions, Templates, Health Check, History) takes you anywhere in one click; the same entries are in Joomla's side menu under Components → Cybersalt Extension Manager.

Check for updates in the toolbar asks cybersalt.com again straight away. Otherwise what it learned is reused for six hours (change this under Options → Catalog).

The Extensions screen

Every Cybersalt extension and MCP for J add-on is listed, one row each: its name and a one-line description, its status, the version installed here and the latest version. Anything that needs attention is listed first.

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• Sort by clicking a column heading: name, status, installed version or release date. The browser remembers your choice.
• Filter: the numbers along the top are filters (click Updates to see only the extensions with an update). You can also search by name or description, filter by status, kind (extensions or add-ons) and licence (free or Pro), or tick Only add-ons for extensions on this site. A line under the list says how many are showing.
• Details: click anywhere on a row to open it. You get the full description, the release date, anything the latest release needs that this site doesn't have (a newer Joomla or PHP, for example), notes such as which extension an add-on is for, and a package's parts.

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Installing and updating extensions

1. Click the row's main button: Install, Update to x.y.z or Repair. Everything else is under More.
2. To do several at once, tick their boxes (the box in the heading ticks every row showing) and click Install / update selected, Reinstall selected or Uninstall selected. Each button counts only the ticked rows it applies to.
3. A window lists each one as it goes. Keep it open until it says All done, then click Done, reload the page.

If one fails, the rest still go ahead, and the window says why that one failed. If an MCP add-on needs CS MCP for J and it isn't installed, MCP for J is installed first, automatically. Reinstalling puts the latest release over itself and keeps your settings. The Extension Manager can't tick itself; update it with its own row's button.

What's new, and going back to an earlier version

What's new (or Changelog when you're up to date) under More opens the release notes, with everything newer than the installed version highlighted. If an update causes trouble, use the Install x.y.z button next to an older release in the changelog, or More → Install another version…, to go back to it.

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Switching parts on and off, uninstalling

Open a package's row to see each component, module and plugin in it, each with an on/off switch. Hover a switch to see what a click will do; the result shows right beside it, without reloading the page. More → Uninstall removes an extension. If installed add-ons depend on it (uninstalling MCP for J, for example), you're told which ones will stop working and asked to confirm first.

Pro extensions

Free extensions install without an account. For Pro extensions, the site needs your Cybersalt download ID. There are three ways to give it one:

• Link this site from the account card on the dashboard with the email address of your cybersalt.com account. This sends the site's domain and your email address to cybersalt.com, which emails you to confirm.
• If MCP for J is already activated with a Pro membership on this site, its activation is used automatically, so the site isn't registered twice. (You can turn this off under Options → Account.)
• Paste a download ID under Options → Account → Download ID, if Cybersalt gave you one for this site. It takes priority over the other two.

The download ID is also written onto every Cybersalt update site, so Joomla's own System → Update → Extensions screen and remote managers such as mySites.guru can download Pro updates too. If the update sites are rebuilt, the installer plugin adds it back to the download.

Health Check

The Health Check finds the things that quietly stop updates from arriving, and fixes most of them with one click. It looks for:

• an extension with no update site, or one that's switched off, points somewhere other than cybersalt.com, or has duplicates;
• update sites left behind by extensions that are no longer installed;
• a Pro extension whose update site doesn't carry your download ID;
• a package that's only half installed, or parts of a package installed without the package (they never get updates);
• parts that are switched off;
• MCP add-ons without MCP for J, or for an extension that isn't on the site (these have an Uninstall button);
• updates Joomla still lists after you've installed them;
• a lapsed membership, or cybersalt.com not answering.

Each finding is a Problem, a Warning or Good to know, with a button to fix it where there is one. Fix all repairs the update sites and download IDs in one go; installing and switching things on are left for you to choose one by one.

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Hiding a note

Some Good to know notes are things you meant to do, such as a part you switched off on purpose or an add-on you're keeping for later. Click Hide on the note. Hidden notes are left out of every count and out of Fix all, and are listed under N hidden notes at the bottom of the Health Check. Open that section and click Show again on a note (or Show all again) to bring it back. Warnings and problems can't be hidden.

Templates

The Templates screen shows the Joomla templates from Energize Themes and VirtueMart Templates: a thumbnail, who each one is for, the Joomla versions and shop extension it supports, a Live demo and its Details page. Each site has a See plans button.

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• Click a type (Business, Technology, Electronics shops and so on: the same types the two template sites use) to narrow the list. The counts follow the other filters.
• Filter by template site, Joomla version and shop, search, and sort by name, site or newest Joomla.

The list comes from cybersalt.com, which rebuilds it every night from both template sites, so a new template appears here without an Extension Manager update. A copy ships with the extension in case cybersalt.com can't be reached; the line under the list says which one you're seeing. Nothing is installed from this screen: the links open the template sites in a new tab.

Release emails and automatic updates

Extension Manager adds a scheduled task, Cybersalt Extension Manager: check for updates, that runs once a day. It's switched off when you install. Click Email me about new releases on the install card or on the dashboard to switch it on; the emails then go to you (or to the addresses under Options → Updates, if you've set any).

To change what the task does, go to System → Scheduled Tasks and open Cybersalt Extension Manager: check for updates:

The task never updates Extension Manager itself (update it from its own screen), skips anything listed under Options → Updates → Never auto-update, and skips updates this site's Joomla or PHP version can't run. Every run is recorded in History.

History

History lists every install, update, rollback, uninstall, part switched on or off, health fix, update check and email: when, who, which versions, what happened and how long it took. Filter by any column, search, download it as CSV, or click Dump for plain text to paste into a support request. Installs, updates, rollbacks and uninstalls also go to Joomla's own User Actions Log.

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Options

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Troubleshooting

Getting help

Questions and bug reports are welcome through the Cybersalt support form.

Cybersalt Extension Manager is developed by Cybersalt Consulting Ltd. and released under the GNU General Public License v2 or later.