Common questions and troubleshooting
The sources do not appear in the builder
- Is the plugin enabled under System → Plugins?
- Is YOOtheme Pro active as the site template? Without YOOtheme the plugin has no effect — that is by design.
- Clear the YOOtheme cache: YOOtheme → Settings → Advanced → Clear Cache.
- Look for the group Graup-IT under Dynamic Content.
The builder does not open at all any more
If the builder shows an error message containing mysqli object is not fully initialized instead of the page, you have hit a bug in versions up to 1.10.4: an unreachable shop database took down the entire builder there — even on pages without any shop content.
From version 1.10.5 on, only the selection lists stay empty in this case and the builder keeps working. Update to 1.10.5 or newer. If you can no longer reach the plugin settings, disable the plugin temporarily under System → Plugins; the builder can then be opened again.
The sources are there, but the selection lists are empty
This is almost always the database connection. Open the plugin settings and use Test database connection. The test tells you exactly what is wrong.
- Connection fails: check host, user, password or port. On a different server: does the MySQL server accept connections from outside, and is the user allowed for the IP address of your Joomla server?
- Connection works, but tables are reported missing: the table prefix
is wrong. The default is
t. - All green, lists still empty: clear the YOOtheme cache — the lists are cached together with the builder schema.
"The shop data is currently unavailable"
This message appears in the frontend when access to the shop fails. The exact wording deliberately does not appear there but in the Joomla log: the database's message names the server address, the user name and the schema name, and that is none of a visitor's business.
In the backend you see the full wording. Alternatively you find it in the log under
plg_system_jtlshop.
The images are not displayed
Check the shop base URL in the plugin settings. If it is empty, the extension assembles the image addresses from the address of your Joomla website — but the images are not there. Enter the address of the shop, without a trailing slash.
Attribute names do not appear translated
The translated labels are read for the language entered under Default language — default
ger. For an English-language shop, enter eng there.
The page is slow to build
Every product pulls in further queries for prices, images, attributes and variations, and those run against a remote database — every query costs network time.
- Set the count as low as possible.
- Only map the fields you actually display. Lists such as
images,attributesorvariationsare fetched only when they appear in the layout. - Use the YOOtheme cache instead of switching it off.
- If shop and website are far apart, network latency is the lower limit. A server closer to the shop helps more than any setting.
Does the extension change anything in the shop?
No. It reads only. Still, create a database user that may only read — see Setting up the shop connection. Then it is not only meant that way, it is enforced.
Is the password stored securely?
No — Joomla stores plugin settings unencrypted. The field is masked in the form, in the database it is in plain text. Hence the recommendation to use a dedicated read-only user: then whatever is stored there is good for read access only.
Do I need the Joomla compatibility plugin?
No. The extension uses only interfaces that Joomla 6 provides without that plugin.
Does the extension work with Joomla 5?
No. From version 1.10.0 on, Joomla 6 and PHP 8.2 are required. On older installations the installation stops with a notice.
I am still on 1.9.8 — do I have to update?
Yes. In 1.9.8 the connection test was reachable without logging in. A visitor could use the website as a network probe through it and check whether a database service is running on any given machine. Version 1.10.0 requires a valid session token and the permission to manage extensions.
Applies to version 1.12.1.