This major update comes with support for Custom Fields, a revamped Edit Page, better Auto Load, and a lot more improvements!

Content Templater is a Joomla component that enables you to create predefined, reusable templates for your Joomla articles, and much more. You can very easily insert these content templates into your Joomla article (or other content) with one click by using the Editor Button. Or you can even make them load automatically based on specific conditions!

With Content Templater you can save a lot of time when creating articles (or other content). It's the Joomla extension that you never knew you needed, but once you try it, you will never want to go back!

Today, a new major version of Content Templater has been released, version 8, coming with a plethora of new features and improvements.

If you're not familiar with Content Templater, check out the full Documentation, which has now been completely rewritten to be much more detailed and comprehensive.

But let's get to what's new - here is a breakdown of everything that has been improved with Content Templater 8:

Template Edit Page Improved

When creating a template, now under the main Template tab you will be greeted by a more familiar interface: it has now been synced to feature the same exact options and style of the article edit view, divided into the same tabs.

Creating a Template

You can make a simple text snippet by placing your desired content into the editor field. And you can literally set any other available option in the article edit form: this also include Article Details, Images and Links, Publishing settings, and now even Custom Fields.

Here are some of the tweaks and improvements that have been made to the Item Edit Page, which is now better organized:

Template Settings

  • The Template Name field has been moved to top of the page
  • The Status dropdown now also features the option to set an item to Trashed state
  • The template interface and article-related options have been unified under a single "Template" tab
  • Options for Editor Button and Auto Load now have their own dedicated tab
  • The list of Publishing Assignments has been tweaked and tailored for Content Templater
  • The Dynamic Tags reference has now been moved to a modal button in toolbar
  • Some option names and descriptions have been updated to better explain their purpose

Template Tab

  • All the available options and their styles have now been synced to be the exact same as core content
  • Added ability to "Ignore" the Category field setting in "Article Details", so now a template doesn't necessarily set a category when not required
  • The "Fields" tab has been revamped, now featuring full support for Joomla Custom Fields (see details below)

Custom Fields Support PRO

The long-awaited support for Joomla Custom Fields has finally arrived to Content Templater!

It was quite a challenge to implement, to make sure the fields would correctly reload upon changing the category of an article, as well as figuring out how to deal with editor fields when used in combination with the main content field.

Now, in the "Fields" tab found when setting up a template, you will be able to select any Joomla Custom Field you want from a dropdown list, and then enter the desired value.

You can set an unlimited amount of Field Name/Value pairs. Simply click the + button to add more, or the - button to remove a previously inserted field.

Note that for "select" fields (like lists, checkboxes and radio buttons), the value you have to set is the option value, not the option text. If you're using Articles Field, the option value is the ID of the desired article.

And if you want to set multiple values for "select" fields, you can simply separate them by comma. For example, inserting apples,bananas in the template, will pre-fill the field in the article with both the options Apples and Bananas.

Custom Fields

Extra Fields

In the "Fields" tab you also have the ability to set values for extra fields that are not part of the content settings or the Joomla Custom Fields - so for example fields of other components or 3rd party CCK extensions.

To do so, choose the 'Custom' type from the dropdown list. You can then enter the field name and the desired value like normal.

The field name should match the field name you find in the HTML output of the form.

Editor Button Improved

With Content Templater, you can make the templates you created selectable via the Content Templater editor button - with just one click!

When you have several templates, the selection will be loaded in a modal popup. The module popup layout has now been improved and made more intuitive - and it will now also remember the last used category filter when filtering templates by category.

When creating/editing a Template, you can customize the way it's going to appear in the Editor Button via the Editor Button tab. This now features a few additions, such as the ability to give a CSS class name to individual editor buttons.

Toolbar Button PRO

With the Pro version of Content Templater 8, you can now also opt to use a button in the Toolbar position. This will first need to be enabled via the Content Templater configuration.

Once enabled, you will also see the "Content Templater" button(s) in the toolbar. It will work in the exact same way as the Editor Button, so you can use the one you find more comfortable.

Note: The Toolbar Button will insert the text content of a template in the first editor field it finds - which is usually the main content of the article editor.

Auto Load Improved PRO

With the Pro version of Content Templater, you can make templates load automatically based on specific conditions.

For example, you can limit templates to certain categories. So you can define different default templates for each category, that will automatically load when creating an article in a specific category. Or, you can create templates only for certain user groups, certain seasons, or within certain extensions (components). It's completely up to you.

In Content Templater 8, this feature has been further improved. Now, a template set to auto load on a specific category will also trigger dynamically when changing category from the article edit view.

And more....

The latest update also comes with various other improvements and fixes, including:

  • Adds ability to use [[article::...]] Dynamic Tags
  • Switching category from the article edit form now updates the templates selection in editor button and triggers templates set to Auto Load
  • Changes default 'Display Categories' setting to 'Grouped with Category Title'
  • Fixes various issues with some fields not being set correctly
  • Fixes issue with SQL errors when using assignments by Tag in some edge cases
  • Fixes issue with administrator components not showing in component assignment list

Read the Changelog for Content Templater 8 for the full list of improvements and fixes that have been made in the new release.

There are a lot of cool features and options to explore in Content Templater. Head over to the full Documentation for a complete overview and to find more treasures.