[6.1] New backend Joomla! Help page

[ceford]

Pull Request for Issue # .

No issue in the tracker but the problematic list of Help pages has been mentioned in discussions.

Summary of Changes

This PR is for a replacement of the backend list of Help files accessed via Help → Start Here. The current page presents a list of 198 items sorted into alphabet order of the language selected at login. It is very difficult to use! Each time the page is reloaded the displayed item is Start Here. Also, it is generated by a script that fetches all the pages from docs.joomla.org that are categorised as Help5 or Help6 or ... but only in selected languages.

The proposed replacement gives the list of Help pages a similar structure to the Atum side menu. The changes in brief:

1. The Help page menu source is a handcrafted php array (toc-src.php) in the tmpl folder.
2. The menu build code has been moved from the Model to the tmpl folder (toc-build.php).
3. Unused code has been removed from the Model.
4. Unused code has been removed from the HtmlView.
5. The unused administrator/help/en-GB/toc.json tree has been deleted.
6. The now unused build/helpTOC.php has been deleted.
7. There are additional strings in com_admin.ini
8. Changes to admin-help.es6.js are significant.
9. There is styling added in default.php with addInlineStyle() to distinguish the Help menu from the Atum menu.
10. The last page displayed is recorded in local storage and displayed when the page is reloaded.

There is a potential problem: initialisation of the Help menu requires a delay or it is left inoperative. That needs testing on different platforms.

Testing Instructions

Testing needs a development installation.

• in configuration.php set the helpurl to
  • public $helpurl = 'https://help.joomla.org/proxy?keyref=Help{major}0:{keyref}&lang={langcode}';
    this is because the proxy is not configured to deliver Help pages for 6.1
• Apply the patch and use npm run build:js and npm run build:css
• In the backend visit Help → Start Here / Joomla! Help

Actual result BEFORE applying this Pull Request

The current long alphabetic list of Help pages is difficult to use.

Expected result AFTER applying this Pull Request

The list of help pages is structured with a Metismenu. Screenshot to follow.

Link to documentations

Please select:

• Documentation link for docs.joomla.org:

• [ x] No documentation changes for docs.joomla.org needed

• Pull Request link for manual.joomla.org:

• [x ] No documentation changes for manual.joomla.org needed

[brianteeman]

Looks good

[brianteeman]

When the menu item wraps to two lines I find the center alignment visually awkward but that might just be me

[ceford]

It works but I am having second thoughts about how I have coded this feature. Perhaps it should be considered a draft for now. I will get on to the points raised by @brianteeman - thank you. Meanwhile, here is a screenshot:

[ceford]

@brianteeman Should I make the copyright 2026 on the assumption it will be next year before it appears?

[brianteeman]

@brianteeman Should I make the copyright 2026 on the assumption it will be next year before it appears?

no - you wrote it in 2025 and it will hopefully be merged on github in 2025

[C-Lodder]

You could remove the need for the wait() delays if you wanted to.
Will leave this code here incase you want to use it.

document.addEventListener("DOMContentLoaded", function (event) {
  new MetisMenu('#helpmenu', {
    toggle: true
  });

  const helpIndex = document.getElementById('helpmenu');
  if (helpIndex) {
    helpIndex.querySelectorAll('a:not(.has-arrow)').forEach(element => element.addEventListener('click', () => {
      window.scroll(0, 0);
      // Save clicked link data-id
      const id = element.dataset.id;
      if (id) {
        localStorage.setItem('helpIndex.lastClick', id);
      }
    }));
  }

  // Async restore function
  function restoreMenu() {
    let lastClick = localStorage.getItem('helpIndex.lastClick');
    if (!lastClick) {
      lastClick = 'start-here';
    }

    const selectedLink = helpIndex.querySelector(`a[data-id="${lastClick}"]`);
    if (!selectedLink) return;

    // Collect parent list items top-down
    const lists = [];
    let parentLi = selectedLink.closest('li');
    while (parentLi && parentLi !== helpIndex) {
      const parentUl = parentLi.parentElement;
      const parentLiOfUl = parentUl.closest('li');
      if (parentLiOfUl) {
        const li = parentLiOfUl
        if (li) lists.unshift(li);
      }
      parentLi = parentLiOfUl;
    }

    // Trigger clicks in sequence with a delay
    for (const li of lists) {
      li.classList.add('mm-active');
      li.querySelector('ul').classList.add('mm-show');
      li.querySelector('a').setAttribute('aria-expanded', true);
    }

    // Optional: highlight selected link
    selectedLink.classList.add('active');

    // Ensure it's visible and then "click" it
    //selectedLink.scrollIntoView({ behavior: 'smooth', block: 'start' });

    // Give the submenu a moment to fully render before clicking
    selectedLink.click();
  }

  // Run restore after MetisMenu setup delay
  restoreMenu()
});

[ceford]

@C-Lodder only just seen your suggestion - I will give it a try.

[ceford]

@C-Lodder I implemented you suggestion. Next problem: In narrow screens the Help menu starts open and it takes two clicks to close it. I want it to start with the Help menu closed. Also, in narrow screen mode I want the Help menu to close after selecting an item. I am looking in to how to do this - do you have any suggestions?

[ceford]

I am happy! This PR is ready for testing.

[richard67]

@ceford What about these 2 unresolved review comments by @brianteeman ?

• [6.1] New backend Joomla! Help page #46355 (comment)
• [6.1] New backend Joomla! Help page #46355 (comment)

If they are resolved, please use the button below the comment on GitHub to mark it as resolved.

With the other 2 about the copyright year I've just done that.

Thanks in advance.

[ceford]

@ceford What about these 2 unresolved review comments by @brianteeman ?

* [[6.1] New backend Joomla! Help page #46355 (comment)](https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/46355#discussion_r2454333605)

* [[6.1] New backend Joomla! Help page #46355 (comment)](https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/pull/46355#discussion_r2454339366)

If they are resolved, please use the button below the comment on GitHub to mark it as resolved.

With the other 2 about the copyright year I've just done that.

Thanks in advance.

Done that! As I am a rare contributor I did not realised that I needed to resolve comments. I also addressed the alignment problem mentioned by Brian

[richard67]

@ceford Thanks. It is not necessarily the author of a PR who has to resolve review comments, it can also be done by the initial reviewer or by a maintainer. But at the end it is good to have them resolved, otherwise GitHub shows a message about unresolved comments which might discourage testers because they might think there will be more changes coming.

[brianteeman]

Just as you don't give an alt title = image of cat you don't give an iframe a title= iframe of cat

[ceford]

I have changed the title to "Structured list of Help Pages". Edit: but that is not right because the frame does not contain a list. Thinking again!

Now changed to "Last selected Help Page"

[brianteeman]

why are you using an inline style and not a css file?

[ceford]

I have thought about this! If someone would like to create a template override it would be easier(?) to change the various styles in the override. The same argument applies to the toc-src.php file which sets the content and order of the help pages menu. Someone might wish to use an override or a child to create a custom list for a selected user group. I can move the styles to a css file if that is preferred.

[brianteeman]

it would be better (and more consistent) as a separate file

[ceford]

There is a snag! The rebase to 6.1 has led to the proxy returning 404 not found pages. For test purposes you can edit configuration.php and set the minor version to 0

public $helpurl = 'https://help.joomla.org/proxy?keyref=Help{major}0:{keyref}&lang={langcode}';