Dr Retarded - Using Joomla for Individual Background Images

Using Joomla for Individual Background Images

Written by Steven Johnson
Thursday, 17 May 2007
Recently I had the need to have different background images on different pages. With a non content management system this would not be that big of a deal. Since I needed the background images to cover the entire page and have the ability to specify which images, using a static body tag would not work. After some thought and research I was able to devise a solution using PHP. 1. Find an unique value that would be on each web page, such as the "Title" or the "Title Alias". I chose "Title Alias". This value has more of an interal use and I was already using the title field for my Seach Engine Friendly URL's. The jlleblanc at the Joomla forums were nice enough to provide me with the following code to locate the "Title Alias" value: global $database; $id = mosGetParam($_REQUEST, 'id', 0); $row = new mosContent($database); $row->load($id); echo $row->title_alias; 2. I then took this value and entered it into a PHP statement that would generate my opening body tag. You will need to adjust the path of the background image file to fit your situation. I also commented out the echo $row-?title_alias; line. I do not need to print thisvalue to the screen. <?php global $database; $id = mosGetParam($_REQUEST, 'id', 0); $row = new mosContent($database); $row->load($id); //echo $row->title_alias; echo "<body background=\"/images/stories/background/$row->title_alias\" bgcolor=\"#ffffff\">" ?> 3. Change the value of the title alias in the joomla admintrator panel to the name of the background image file. This will need to be done for each web page that you want to specify the background image. You now have the ability to specify which background image gets used on which page. 4. Here is the output that is generated for each page: <body background="/images/stories/background/dandelion_seedstripe3.jpg" bgcolor="#ffffff"> 5. A fancier version of this mod may include if then and else if statement. For right now this was able to meet my requirements. Any thoughts? What can be improved? Was this helpful to you? Trackback(0) TrackBack URI for this entry Comments (9) Subscribe to this comment's feed Where is the code that we need to change?, In what file October 17, 2007 In what file in the Joomla installation do I find and edit the code published above? global $database; $id = mosGetParam($_REQUEST, 'id', 0); $row = new mosContent($database); $row->load($id); echo $row->title_alias; M Richards \| 89.240.243.149 index.php, The code that needs to be changed is in the i October 17, 2007 The code that needs to be changed is in the index.php file of what ever template you are using. /templates/????/index.php and you are changing the tag to the new code above. Let me know if you have any other questions. Steven Johnson \| 67.191.238.26 Is there a unique code for menu?, I want to change the b March 20, 2008 I want to change the background for different menu items How should I code it? Bernard \| 202.156.8.9 For which Joomla version is tis meant?, Am I right to sa May 03, 2009 Am I right to say, that the above is only for Joomla 1.0.x? Zorroson \| 89.236.13.146 thnks, Much appreciated tutorial, was thinking of creati May 19, 2009 Much appreciated tutorial, was thinking of creating individual templates to each page, but this seems so much better and easier! Thank you again! millend \| 90.190.168.53 ..., did anyone tried this code on a 1.5 version of joom May 22, 2009 did anyone tried this code on a 1.5 version of joomla ? lello \| 88.44.217.209 Joomla 1.5, the above code works for Joomla 1.5? January 25, 2010 the above code works for Joomla 1.5? george \| 171.159.64.10 ..., Hi this is exactly what i am looking for for Joomla January 29, 2010 Hi this is exactly what i am looking for for Joomla 1.5 rhuk_milkyway template, which i am adapting for a site. I can not clearly understand where exactly this code goes on template/index.php.. added at the very top? at the very bottom? or i need to replace some particular code with yours? Sa \| 82.35.95.193 fatal error and Joomla 1.5, Hello! I'm trying to use you February 03, 2010 Hello! I'm trying to use your code on Joomla 1.5 and i recieved the error: Fatal error: Call to undefined function mosGetParam()... Do you think it is because I'm using Joomla 1.5? or what could be the problem? Cheers, Gina gina viruena \| 79.146.251.139 Write comment Name Website Title Comment Write the displayed characters
Last Updated ( Thursday, 17 May 2007 )