The JB FAQ module is an update to our two previous modules Bamboo FAQ and Moo FAQ. It represents a significant update for a number of reasons.

• First and foremostly the module has been re-written using the Jquery library and consists of only 20 lines of code.
• Secondly, it operates using JQuery in no conflict mode so there will be no issue with other javascript libraries you may be using.
• Thirdly, it pulls content from the Joomla content manager rather than inoutting the questions and answers manually in the module admin.
• And lastly ... its really a very sexy upgrade to an already lovely module.

Features:

• Create an FAQ with unlimited number of questions and answers from your Joomla content. You can control which section or category the FAQ comes from and how many items are rendered. The module organises
• Open all questions or close all questions button at the top and bottom.
• Open/Close all button appears at the bottom of the FAQ list if Open All button at the top is activated for easier navigation.
• Open/Close All buttons may bepublished or unpublished.
• Active/Inactive state for greater accessibility and functionality.
• Ability to add read more link which when clicked takes the user to the full content item.
• Order questions by created date, modified date, title descending, title ascending, most popular or primary ordering.
• Easily style using CSS - see below for more details.

Use:

The module is very easy to use and implement and is remarkably similar to (OK exactly like) the latest news module in your default Joomla installation. except for a few important additions.

JB FAQ basically loads a set number of content items into a module position. The questions are the content item titles and the answers can either be the intro text of the item or the intro text and the main text of the content item.

Here is a snapshot of what the module looks like in the backend:

The main differences are obviously the top parameters which include the options to include the JQuery library and the css file, plus the option to publish the read more link, determine the read more text, display the open/close buttons and to assign a unique id to the module.

• Including Jquery - You need to include JQuery if yor template hasnt done so already. You only need to include this once so if you are using multiple instances of the module then set this option to yes in only one instance of the module. This should be the module that appears first in order.
• Including the CSS file - This needs to be included to give your questions and answers a bit of style. You can set this option to no and then paste the css from the jbFAQ.css file in the modules/mod_JBFAQ/css directory into you template_css.css file. See below for further details for styling the module.
• Show Read More link - This will be displayed regardless of whether there is full text for the content item or not. The read more link will direct the user to the content item and is styled according to your templates inbuilt .readon styling.
• Read More Text - Determines the output of the text of the read more link.
• Display top and bottom open and close buttons - This option enables you to publish or unpublish the open all and close alllinks at the top and thebottom of each list of questions.
• Module ID - Use a unique identifier for each module if you want to use multiple instances on the one page.

Loading the module into your content.

So what if you dont want your module loaded into a module position in your template? Thats easily fixed. In Joomla 1.0 the task took around 5 steps to publish a module in a content item but in Joomla 1.5 its as easy as two. The following instructions assume that you have already created your questions and set up the other parameters for the module:

1. Firstly create your content item and type the words { loadposition FAQ }  - there is an extra space after the curly brackets so that the module wont render in this content so when you are implementing this you will need to remove the space.

2. Go to the JB FAQ module admin and in the module position dropdown box type FAQ.

Now you need to create a link to the content item in question in order for the faq to appear. If you already have the content item displaying on your site then you can skip this step.

1. Go to menu --> main menu (or the menu you want the faq linked from) and create a menu item that links to the content item that you created in step 1.

Navigating to the front end of your site should show a link to the newly created item and your beautiful faq should be displayed on the screen.

Styling the module:

The FAQ is actually incredibly easy to style.

• The images used to show the active/inactive state of the module can be found in the modules/mod_jbFAQ/images directory and are called by the css file.
• The open and closed state can be controlled by applying CSS attributes to the .open and .closed css rules. This can be done in the css file in the module directory oi styles can be added directly to your template_css.css file.
• The question link can be styled by adding attributes to the a.toggler class.
• The module itself can be styled using a module class suffix.
• The question is controlled by the class 'togglerdiv' and the answer is controlled by the use of the 'answer' class.
• The read more link uses the same styling as the read more link in your template.