This document is constantly being updated. Please refer to it before seeking help elsewhere. If you don't find the information you are looking for, make use of the forums.
Contents
1. Installation
- System Mode
- Facebook template
- Enable top banner?
- Enable side banner?
- Enable sidebar?
- Joomla template
- VideoFlow Itemid
- Media Player
- Player width
- Player height
- Media directory
- Enable media downloading?
- Show videos?
- Show audio?
- Show photos?
- Show text?
- Items per playlist
- Items per page
- Title length
- Description length
- Thumbnail width
- Thumbnail height
- Show Pro features
- Show credit text?
- Activate message centre?
- Search engine sitemap
4. Pro upgrade
Refer to the installation instructions contained here.
The configuration panel allows you to control most settings relating to both Facebook and Joomla functions.
All the fields in this section must be filled in if you wish to set up VideoFlow as a Facebook application. You will get all the required data when you register a new application with Facebook. Refer to the installation guide on how to register a new Facebook application.
(i) System Mode: Select whether VideoFlow should run in component mode (default) or plugin mode. At this time, only Seyret is supported as a plugin.
VideoFlow mode
In VideoFlow mode, both the Joomla and Facebook applications will be handled by VideoFlow. Seyret is not needed to run VideoFlow in VideoFlow mode.
Seyret mode
In Seyret mode, VideoFlow will only handle the Facebook application and leave Joomla to Seyret. Should you create a VideoFlow menu item on your Joomla site (this is not needed), clicking on the item will simply re-direct to Seyret.
In Seyret mode, VideoFlow will get content from your Seyret component and re-package it for Facebook. In other words, it will use Seyret (or any other selected plugin where available) as the data source. Therefore, Seyret must be installed.
VideoFlow vs Seyret modes
The main difference between VideoFlow and Seyret modes is that in VideoFlow mode, the component categorises the data into Audio, Video and Photos. In Seyret mode, no such categorization is made.
In VideoFlow mode, the Facebook share button will embed the media file being shared (emailed or posted to profile) directly on Facebook. In Seyret mode, the share button will take the user to your Joomla site, but within a Facebook iFrame.
Both VideoFlow and Seyret modes support media hosted on a local server and YouTube videos. Videos on a remote server are also supported if you can provide the direct URL to the media file (e.g. http://www.somesite.com/somevideo.flv), not merely the html page on which the video appears.
In Seyret mode, VideoFlow supports ALL the local and remote sites/servers supported by Seyret Pro (e.g. Daily Motion, MySpace, Google, Yahoo, AOL, MSN, Brightcove, Metacafe, etc). Check the Joomlaholic wiki for a list of Seyret Pro enabled servers.
In future, support for embedding videos from video sharing sites will be added for VideoFlow mode and non-pro Seyret.
You can switch from Seyret Mode to VideoFlow mode and vice versa. However, the playlists created by users in one mode will not be available when you switch to another mode. But reverting to the initial mode will restore the playlists
(ii) Facebook Template: Select the VideoFlow template to use on Facebook. Note that some templates are reserved for VideoFlow Pro.
(iii) Enable top banner? Whether to show a horizontal Google Adsense or similar banner at the top of your canvas page on Facebook. Must be 468 x 60 in size. Must be set up manually. See here for instructions.
(iv) Enable side banner? Whether to show a vertical Google Adsense or similar banner. Must be 120 x 600 in size. Must be set up manually. See here for instructions. In addition, VideoFlow Sidebar must be enabled.
(v) Enable Sidebar? Whether to use a sidebar on Facebook, for banner adverts and other future modules.
(vi) Joomla Template: Select the VideoFlow Template to use on Joomla when running in VideoFlow mode.
(vii) VideoFlow Itemid (Optional): If VideoFlow has not determined the VideoFlow or plugin itemid on Joomla correctly, you may enter it manually. The Itemid enables Joomla to load modules and templates assigned to components. In plugin mode, enter the itemid of the primary component (eg. Seyret in Seyret mode).
(viii) Media Player: Select the media player to use. VideoFlow supports Neolao mp3 and flv players (default) and the JW Media Player.
The VideoFlow Package includes the necessary Neolao players. If you select the JW Media Player, you must download it from the Longtail Video website and copy it to the VideoFlow directory (“com_videoflow/player/”). Refer to installation instructions for details.
A comparison between Neolao and JW functionality with VideoFlow is available here.
NOTE: In Seyret mode, VideoFlow will attempt to use the Seyret JW player if JW is selected but it has not been copied to the VideoFlow directory.
(ix) Player Width and Player Height: Enter the default Media Player size on Joomla and Facebook. If the VideoFlow layout looks distorted on your Joomla site, adjust the player size to fit. On Facebook, VideoFlow may override your player size settings to achieve the best fit and to comply with Facebook restrictions. Note that Facebook does not support fullscreen playback.
(x) Media directory (optional): Enter your VideoFlow media directory relative to your Joomla root directory. The default is “videoflow” in the Joomla root. In Seyret or other plugin mode, it is not necessary to enter a media directory. It will simply be ignored.
(xi) Enable media downloading? For VideoFlow on the Joomla side. Media downloading in supported only by VideoFlow Pro.
(xii) Show Videos? Whether to show videos on Joomla and Facebook.
(xiii) Show Audio? Whether to show audio media on Joomla and Facebook.
(xiv) Show Photos? Whether to show photos on Joomla and Facebook.
(xv) Show Text? For future use. Whether to show Joomla text content on Facebook
(xvi) Items per playlist: Maximum number of items to load for bother Joomla and Facebook.
(xvii) Items per page: Maximum number of items to display on each page.
(xviii) Title and description length: Default media title and description length (number of characters) on Joomla and Facebook. Settings may be overridden on some Facebook pages.
(xix) Thumbnail width and height: Dimensions to resize thumbnails to. May be overridden on some Facebook pages.
(xx) Show Pro Features? Whether to show pro-features. If your version is not Pro, the pro functions will appear but they will not work. You can choose to hide them by selecting “No”.
(xxi) Show credit text? Whether to show the tiny “Powered by Fidsoft” text on Joomla and Facebook (We would appreciate it!)
(xxii) Activate message centre? Whether to be notified by us of any important updates concerning VideoFlow.
(xiii) Search engine sitemap: In VideoFlow mode, VideoFlow automatically generates a search engine sitemap for the media on your Joomla site. Simply submit the link to search engines such as Google and Yahoo.
VideoFlow provides a very simple way of publishing your media. Simply upload them to the appropriate media directory (normally “videoflow” in Joomla root, unless you have specified a different directory on the configuration panel) by ftp or other upload tools.
The media directory may include separate subdirectories, e.g. for audio, video, photos and thumbnails. You can create any number of subdirectories or dump all your media files in the media directory without subdirectories. The only limitation is that if you are using thumbnails, they must be in the “media_directory/_thumbs/” subdirectory. Note that “_thumbs” must begin with an underscore.
Once you upload your media, just click on “manage media” in backend and they will automatically be added to the relevant databases. You can then edit them accordingly.
VideoFlow first checks the database to see if you have manually defined a thumbnail path for a particular media file using the media manager. If found, it uses that thumbnail.
If no thumbnail has been defined manually, it checks in “media_directory/_thumbs/” to see if there is a thumbnail whose name matches the media file name (it must be a jpeg).
If no thumbnail is found, it uses the VideoFlow default thumbnail. You can change the default thumbnail by over-writing the file “com_videoflow/player/vflow.png”.
You can change the suggested title of the media file, add descriptions, tags and categories by clicking on the “Edit” button. Most functions work like the default Joomla functions.
You can add new media that is not contained in your media directory manually by clicking “New” on the media manager. Just fill in the required information. For remote files, you must provide the full path to the file (e.g. http://www.somesite.com/audio.mp3”)
To delete media, first delete the file from the media directory (e.g. by ftp), and then delete it from the database using the VideoFlow media manager.
Click on the “Pro upgrade” menu and follow the simple steps. Your Pro status will be approved tentatively while waiting for confirmation of your donation. If you experience problems upgrading, contact This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
There will be free upgrades for Pro users. Pro Status is limited to one domain or subdomain.
