Syntax

Sourcerer can read the code you place in your editor. Your editor will add html to the code when you have enters or give code colors and styling. But Sourcerer will strip those (hidden) html tags, so it will not be a problem.

Tags get stripped? Use double bracket syntax

Some editors (i.e. TinyMCE) will strip html style tags when you enter them in the WYSIWYG view. For that reason you can also use double square brackets for the HTML style tags. So if your tags get stripped, use the double bracket syntax.

For instance, instead of doing this:
{source}<strong>Text</strong>{/source}

Use this syntax:
{source}[[strong]]Text[[/strong]]{/source}

The editor button will help you convert code to double bracket syntax (or back to normal tags).

Using html entities

When you want to use html entities in your code, you will notice that most editors will convert them to actual characters when saving.

You can prevent that from happening by using an underscore to escape it, like:
{source}Dani&_euml;lle{/source}

Not using a WYSIWYG editor?

Sourcerer is designed to be used with a WYSIWYG editor. It will strip all tags in the html of the content, to prevent styling from messing with the code.

When you do not use a WYSIWYG editor, practically all code will be stripped, which you don't want of course.

To disable Sourcerer from stripping the html code, you can use the '0' parameter in the {source} tag, like:

{source 0}code in an html editor{/source}

Examples

Note: The default Sourcerer syntax tags {source}...{/source} will be used in these examples. The Sourcerer plugin gives you the possibility to change these to whatever you want. So you could - for instance - use shorter syntax tags like {s}...{/s}.

Troubleshooting

Please use the forum for support.

Can't get your codes to work? Please try the below suggestions:

Sourcerer does not work. I still see the source tags in the frontend.

• The Sourcerer plugin is not published.
  Check if the Sourcerer plugin is published. Go to Extensions >> Plugin manager and search for the system plugin "System - Sourcerer". Then publish it.
• There is markup code in the Sourcerer syntax tags.
  Sourcerer has no problem with markup codes between the {source} tags. However, the {source} tags themselves will have to be free from markup. So this will make the {source} block from working:
  <span>{</span>source}

Code is stripped when I save the article (like JavaScript and PHP).

• Some editors remove tags you enter in the editor (even if not in html view).
  To prevent tags from being stripped, use the double bracket syntax. So instead of <tag>, do [[tag]].
  Some editors (like JCE) allow you to enter tags in the WYSIWYG view.

Code is stripped on the frontend. (In the editor the code is all there)

• The security level prevents the use of Sourcerer.
  You can set certain security settings in the Sourcerer plugin. This way you can prevent certain user group levels and certain content types to not allow the use of Sourcerer. Please look in the html output source of you site to see if you have a Sourcerer comment that tells you this is the case.
• If you use JavaScript or PHP in the tags...
  Please see below for more answers.

JavaScript is not working.

• You have forgotten the script open- and close-tags.
  JavaScript should be placed inside the script tags:
  <script type="text/javascript">...</script>
  Or for double bracket syntax:
  [[script type="text/javascript"]]...[[/script]]
• The security level prevents the use of JavaScript.
  You can set certain security settings in the Sourcerer plugin. This way you can prevent certain user group levels and certain content types to not allow the use of JavaScript. Please look in the html output source of you site to see if you have a Sourcerer comment that tells you this is the case.

PHP is not working.

• You have forgotten the PHP open- and closetags.
  PHP should be placed inside the PHP tags:
  
  Or for double bracket syntax:
  [[?php ... ?]]
• The security level prevents the use of PHP.
  You can set certain security settings in the Sourcerer plugin. This way you can prevent certain user group levels and certain content types to not allow the use of PHP. Please look in the html output source of you site to see if you have a Sourcerer comment that tells you this is the case.
• There are errors in your PHP code.
  Sourcerer will not execute your PHP code if it has errors. You can check if you have errors by looking in the html output source of you site to see if you have a Sourcerer comment that tells you this is the case.
  You can also set the PHP debugging option on (in the Sourcerer plugin) to see a report of where the error is.
  You can only see the PHP debugging report if you are logged in as (Super) Administrator in the frontend.

Haven't found the answer you were looking for?

Please use the forum for support.

Screenshots

Sourcerer editor button

Sourcerer plugin setting: editor button

Sourcerer plugin setting: system plugin

Tutorials

• NoNumber! Power² - The power of combining NoNumber! extensions
  Video Presentation by Peter van Westen (that's me!) (20 August 2011 - Joomla Days South Africa)
  Covers: ReReplacer, Sourcerer, Articles Anywhere, Modules Anywhere, Snippets