Custom profiles

The location:

 

A screenshot of Custom Profiles:

Every social network site has its own way of profile fields. For example, a social network site that caters for bands & musicians, will need two profile fields for music genres and band members list. An online dating social site, might need several dating preferences fields. All of these custom profile structures can be administered in Custom Profile.

Let's take a look one by one of what each column does in the Custom Profile.

1. Name - The text that describes the Profile field.
2. Field Code - Field code is useful for configuring and also developing Jomsocial modules and plugins. The standard format for field code is FIELD_FIELDNAME (eg:- FIELD_FAVORITEMEAL).
3. Type - The input element type (eg:- textbox, select list, date) of the Profile field.
4. Published - To enable/disable the Profile field.
5. Searchable - If enabled, the field will be added as an Advanced Search criteria so that users can search for other site members based on this field's value.
6. Visible - To show/hide the field's information on user's profile page (users can still hide their profile fields for their own privacy). This column acts as a "master" visibility of the profile field. Do keep in mind that if "Visible" is disabled, this field will also be hidden in Advanced Search criteria.
7. Required - To make a Profile field compulsory to be filled in during Registration.
8. Registration - To show/hide this Profile field in the Registration Form. In order to disable this Registration column, make sure the "Required" column is disabled.

Creating a custom profile field

To create a new custom profile field, just head on to the back end of your Joomla! site and access JomSocial. Then, access the "Custom profiles" section. Click on the "New Field" button and a screen would then popup as below.

There are a couple of field types that you may choose from. Below are the list of fields and its functionality.

• Type
  • Groups :- Groups are simply a group that holds custom fields.
  • Textbox :- Textbox are textboxes which can consist of any alphanumerical values.
  • Multiple select :- Multiple select
  • Checkbox :- Checkbox
  • Textarea :- A textarea
  • Radio buttons :- A radio button
  • Select :- Select listing
  • Date :- Date type which allows user to specify date values

By default in JomSocial, a user's name (not to be confused with user's username) is only governed by one field. A simple configuration can be done in Custom Profile, if you prefer to use the First Name & Last Name:

1. Create two new fields: First Name & Last Name. Any field name can be given for the First Name & Last Name.
2. The most essential part here is make sure that the Field Code for First Name & Last Name are FIELD_GIVENNAME & FIELD_FAMILYNAME, respectively.
3. For other parameters (Visible, Required and Registration), it is recommended for you to set them disabled. Reasons are:
   1. If Visible is enabled, the name of the user will be displayed twice. Click here for the screenshot.
   2. If Registration is enabled, the First Name & Last Name fields will be asked on the first both pages during registration. Click here for the screenshot.
   3. Searchable won't have any effect if Visible is disabled and to disable Registration, Required had to be disabled first.