This tutorial is for Joomla! CMS Version(s)

 This page's content makes references relevant only for Joomla! CMS Version(s) and earlier  →
The use of "Parameters" has been deprecated from  and later Versions, please use: Form fields.

Parameters are a mechanism in Joomla! 1.5 that enables administrators to configure Joomla! itself or its extensions. Parameters allow many aspects of the behaviour of Joomla or its extensions to be customised without requiring the user to know how to change the underlying code.

Parameters are handled by the JParameter class, and each parameter type is a subclass of JElement.

[edit] Standard parameter types

This article is for Joomla! CMS Version(s)

There are 21 different standard parameter types supported in the Joomla Framework for all extension types (templates, components, modules and plugins). This section gives a brief description of each parameter type, in alphabetical order. Full details of each parameter type are given on the following pages.

• calendar provides a text box for entry of a date. An icon next to the text box provides a link to a pop-up calendar, which can also be used to enter the date value.
• category provides a drop down list of categories from a given section.
• editors provides a drop down list of the available WYSIWYG editors.
• filelist provides a drop down list of files from a specified directory.
• folderlist provides a drop down list of folders from a specified directory.
• helpsites provides a drop down list of the help sites for your Joomla installation.
• hidden provides a hidden field for saving a parameter whose value cannot be altered directly by a user in the Administrator (it can be altered in code or by editing the params.ini file).
• imagelist provides a drop down list of image files in a specified directory.
• languages provides a drop down list of the installed languages for the Front-end or Back-end.
• list provides a drop down list of custom-defined entries.
• menu provides a drop down list of the available menus from your Joomla site.
• menuitem provides a drop down list of the available menu items from your Joomla site.
• password provides a text box for entry of a password. The password characters will be obscured as they are entered.
• radio provides radio buttons to select different options.
• spacer provides a visual separator between parameter field elements. It is purely a visual aid and no parameter value is stored.
• sql provides a drop down list of entries obtained by running a query on the Joomla Database. The first results column returned by the query provides the values for the drop down box.
• text provides a text box for data entry.
• textarea provides a text area for entry of multi-line text.
• timezones provides a drop down list of time zones.
• usergroup provides a drop down list of user groups.

[edit] Custom parameter types

It is possible to add support for additional parameter types beyond the standard parameter types. This page lists resources for adding custom parameter types and gives a list of example custom parameter types.

• Creating custom template parameter types

[edit] List of custom parameter types

If you are a developer and you have created an interesting or useful custom parameter type, then please feel free to add it this list.

• Multiple item select list
• Multiple item select list with SQL query and user specified options