Overview

JA Extension Manager - Joomla extension for Joomla 2.5 and Joomla 3 documentation

Introduction

JoomlArt is proud to present an ambitious project, the promise to help developers easily manage Joomla! extensions. This dream have been materialized the hard way with work for more than five months.

JA Extensions Manager is the first Joomla! extension to upgrade the way to manage extensions: NEW remote install, check for updates, compare versions, NEW compare files, upgrade, auto-backup, upload, all via AJAX technologies. This makes it a unique, never seen before extension in the Joomla! community.

JoomlArt also provides an online checking service so you can check for updates where ever you are. Click here to see for yourself!

Getting started with JA Extensions Manager

First of all, thank your for using JA Extensions! This component is a powerful tool to help you manage Joomla! extensions. The component is still under development but it already provides powerful features never seen before and it's FREE!
Please check the system requirements before downloading and please provide feedback about your experience using it.
Stay tuned and check the development status of this project anytime!

The documentation provides Installation and Upgrade Guides:


The Usage Instructions will teach you:

The administration section of our documentation describes:

The developer guides aims to provide a full documentation on how to develop an update service to work for upgrading third party extensions remotely.

What is JA Extensions Manager

JA Extensions Manager is a complete update, rollback, NEW remote install and compare versions and files component for Joomla! 1.5 and above. You can manage all MVC non-core modules, components, templates, plugins just with a few clicks. Core components are updated once Joomla! CMS is updated so no need to show them in the Extensions list of our component. The core extensions are: Content, Contacts, Web links, User, Feeds, Polls and Search.

Features

Internal Repository
  • Store multiple versions of your extensions packs in the repository;
  • Each pack contain both original files and modified by user;
  • Repository also stores the database for any of the content extensions.
Updates Checker
  • For each of your extension you can easily check for updates;
  • If you uploaded a new version for an extension in the repository, click "Check for updates" and the component will show up "New version is available";
  • If your extension is configured to use external update service, it will search for updates on developer repository.;
Version Comparison
  • compare files from user setup with the new version files;
  • NEW compare files content;
  • Highlight new files, changed by developer, changed by user, deleted by developer, modified by both developer and user.
Upgrade and Back-up User Setup
  • After the comparison of the user setup with latest version, click "Update" for the extension;
  • Re-apply user customization and check for any malfunctions caused by the code changes;
  • Roll-back to the previous setup if the update and customizations reapplied don't work properly.
Remote Install and Upgrade
  • NEW Configure external update service and login to your desired extension's website with JA Extensions Manager interface to access downloads;
  • You can upload extensions from a remote address and the repository will keep the installation package in the jaextmanager_data folder for future usage;
  • Repository will keep both initial user setup before the update and the new version of the extension to allow user to easily rollback later;
  • When you apply customizations to the new version, and then rollback, this new and customized version will be also stored in the repository.
AJAX Technology
  • Checking for updates, updating, uploading new versions, all operations controlled via AJAX technologies, no complete page refreshing;
  • Updating extensions now makes possible to save bandwidth too!

Technical Specifications

  • Server requirements: PHP 5.0 or above, MySQL 5.0 or above, Joomla 1.5.x and above;
  • Client requirements: Firefox 2.x, 3.0.x, 3,5,x, Internet Explorer 6 or higher, Google Chrome, Opera, Safari.

Download

JA Extensions Manager is released under GPL 2.0 license and it is free!
Download Now!

License

JA Extensions Manager is released under GPL 2.0 license terms and it is free!

Support and Feedback

If you find bugs using the component, or if you have any questions regarding usage of the component, please use our designated forum section here.

Release Notes - Changelog - Roadmap

Along with many fixes and improvements, JA Extensions Manager version 1.5 comes with new features such as:

  • remote install with login capabilities - designed for extensions that require registration before downloading;
  • file content comparison - compare files that have been updated by Developer or modified by User can be compared between versions and the compare editor will provide merge content capability.

Check JA Extensions Manager development status on our Project Management portal for Changelog & Roadmap

PLEASE NOTE:

  • This extension requires MVC extensions in order to manage upgrade, and before using it, please perform a complete back-up of your website.
  • We recommend testing it on a clone of your website first!