I'm pleased to announce that version 1.0.1 of the Geodata Solutions Location List Custom Fields Plugin is now completed.

Joomla site owners can now add location data to their content, categories, user and contacts components.

There were some difficulties along the way. Given the newness of the custom fields functionality, there is little documentation for the new plugin type, and the routine for adding new custom field types differs from the custom fields types offered in the default Joomla package, which have their templates hard-baked into the core. I have to thank people on the Joomla forum, who were able to assist with questions and offer support.

This is just the first iteration of the extension, and there are many improvements to come, within the functionality of the plugin's code, and also in the web service offered on the Geodata Solutions side.

A few 'hacks' were required in this version:

• The jQuery chosen library had to be subverted in order to get the ajax functionality of the lists (as coded in general-use code snippet version) to work within Joomla's back end. The ability to 'destroy' the -chzn elements was available in Joomla 2.5, but it seems this was removed in J3.x. This version of the extension uses a hack that hides the chosen elements and unhides the original form fields offered by cavarief here.
• The system uses the simple javascript request method that the general use code snippet uses. The disadvantage of this is that it doesn't allow for secure serverside authentication. At current usage, there is no need to throttle access to the web service, but I anticipate that when usage increases, I'll need to switch to a superior solution. Some things to note:
  • Authentication currently checks the HOST header in the js request- it's the crudest way of recording the usage of each separate implementation of the system, but hardly the most reliable
  • Proposed solution in the next release would be to have a key generated with each download of the plugin (I think I can do this without requiring registration with Geodata Solutions- something that I think is a barrier to quick implementation) which the user could simply enter into the plugin configuration
  • Very high volume sites might have to subscribe to support the service at a later stage
• There are issues related to the output/override of custom fields in the user component. This is reported issue, and one that I hope will be corrected in future Joomla version. Until then users will have to put up with the pipe-separated format used for stage within their user profile views in the front end (eg. Australia|Victoria|Ballarat ) or create their own template override. If you want some help implementing this, or want to share your solution, then please get in touch.

The plugin was submitted to the JED on 4th July, and at time of writing is pending approval, but you can download Location Lists Custom Fields Plugin  and read the (minimal) Location Lists Documentation