How to view and edit the User Preferences for Tabulizer

Joomla · Tutorial 2

The User Preferences Page

Defaults for the whole component: how Tabulizer reads pasted data, what it takes out of an Excel file, how data sources are refreshed, what the paging menu offers, and the keys for a CAPTCHA.

Where it is, and what it is for

Components › Tabulizer, then User Preferences in the toolbar. The page says it plainly at the top: configure default behaviours and preferences for the Tabulizer component.

These are starting points, not locks. A ruleset that specifies something of its own overrides the default; the preferences decide what happens when nothing else has an opinion.

The User Preferences page in the Joomla administrator, with Save and Close in the toolbar and the Tabulizer Dialog group showing the Column Separator, Text enclosure and Column consistency settings.

The toolbar has two buttons: Save writes the settings, Close returns to the ruleset list without saving.

Tabulizer Dialog

The Tabulizer dialog is the window you get in the Joomla editor when you insert or retabulize a table. These are its defaults.

Field	What it does	Options
Column Separator	The character the dialog assumes is between the values of a row. Pick the one your data usually uses - a semicolon is the safer default where numbers are written with a decimal comma.	Comma (,); Semicolon (;); Asterisk (*); Caret (^); Space; Tab
Text enclosure	The quote character that wraps a value containing the separator, so `"Smith, John"` stays one cell.	None; Double Quotes ("); Single Quotes (')
Column consistency	What to do when the rows do not all have the same number of columns. Strict warns you, which is how you find a missing value. Loose fills the short rows out with empty cells.	Strict - Every row must have the same number of columns; Loose - Add missing columns
Archive	The ruleset archive the dialog offers first. Set it to the archive you use most and the dialog stops asking.	Any archive installed on the site, or None
Ruleset	The ruleset within that archive to offer first.	The rulesets of the chosen archive
When Retabulize Remove Leftovers	Retabulizing a table re-reads it through a ruleset. This says whether markup left over from the previous pass is cleared out first. Yes keeps the result clean; No preserves anything you added by hand.	Yes; No

Excel Reading Preferences

Nine tick boxes deciding which cell formatting Tabulizer takes out of an Excel file when it imports data from one. They apply when the data source has been told to read colours and font styles; each box is one attribute to carry across or ignore.

Setting	What it carries across
Font Color	The colour of the text in the cell.
Background Color	The fill behind it.
Font Size	The size of the text.
Font Bold	Bold.
Font Italic	Italic.
Font Strikethrough	Struck-through text.
Font Underline	Underlining.
Font Superscript	Raised text.
Font Subscript	Lowered text.

Carrying the spreadsheet's formatting across is occasionally what you want - a workbook where the colours mean something - but more often it fights your ruleset, which is trying to make every table on the site look alike. Turn on the attributes that carry meaning and leave the rest off.

Data Source Preferences

Field	What it does
Display warning for invalid source	Whether a table whose data source cannot be read says so on the page. On a site you are building, leave it on - it is how you find a broken query. On a live site, consider turning it off so a visitor sees an empty table rather than an error.
Refresh Keyphrase	Optional. A secret word that has to accompany the public URL that clears the data source cache, so that only someone who knows it can force a refresh. Leave it blank to allow the refresh without one.

The refresh URL is what you put in a cron job when a data source should be re-read on a schedule rather than on a timer. Setting a keyphrase means a passer-by cannot hammer your database by loading that URL repeatedly.

Datatables Preferences

Field	What it does
Pagination - Available Lengths	The page sizes offered in the "rows per page" menu of a paged table, site-wide. A ruleset chooses its own starting size in the wizard; this is the list the visitor can choose from.

Safe Mode

Field	What it does
Safe Mode Enabled	Restricts what a ruleset is allowed to do on this site - the parts of a ruleset that can run code or reach outside the table. Turn it on when rulesets on this site may come from someone whose judgement you do not control.

This is the setting the second overwrite box on the import page refers to: importing an archive can carry its own safe mode setting with it, but only if you tick that box. Left unticked, the site's own setting stands.

Form Builder reCAPTCHA

Google reCAPTCHA v2 (the checkbox kind) keys, used by Form Builder forms and by calculator lead forms that ask for a CAPTCHA.

Field	What it does
Enable reCAPTCHA	Switches the CAPTCHA on for the forms that ask for one.
Site Key	The public key, used to draw the widget on your pages.
Secret Key	The private key, used by the server to check the answer. It is never displayed back to you: once stored, the field shows that a key is held and leaving it blank keeps it. Type a new one to replace it.

Both keys come from Google's reCAPTCHA admin console, for the domain the site runs on.

Common questions

Are these settings per user or per site?

They are the component's defaults on this site. A ruleset that specifies something of its own still wins over them.

I set a default Archive and Ruleset. Why is the dialog still asking?

It asks, but with your choice already selected. The settings save you the search, not the confirmation.

Strict or Loose column consistency?

Strict while you are preparing data, because it tells you something is missing. Loose for data you do not control, where a short row is normal.

My secret key field looks empty - have I lost it?

No. It is deliberately never shown. If a key is stored, the field says so; leave it blank and the stored key is kept.

Should I turn Safe Mode on?

If every ruleset on the site is yours or came from tabulizer.com, it changes little. On a site where other people install rulesets, turn it on.

Open the preferences

In your Joomla administrator: Components › Tabulizer › User Preferences.

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