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Installation and setup of TweetScheduler

The TweetScheduler extension allows you to schedule and manage twitter-messages within your Joomla! backend. This tutorial explains how to setup TweetScheduler correctly.

Getting started

To get started with TweetScheduler, you will first need to purchase and download the TweetScheduler extension. After you have purchased it, you can download the extension at any time from within your Yireo Account.

Minimum requirements

Make sure you meet up to the requirements (Joomla! version, PHP version). Also make sure that your hosting environment has the ability to run cronjobs. If you are unsure whether you have the ability for cronjobs, contact your hosting provider for more information.

Installing the extension in Joomla!

The Joomla! component can be just uploaded through the Joomla! Extension Manager like any other Joomla! extension.

Setting up your Twitter-account for OAuth

You probably already have a Twitter-account. If you don't, register yourself at the Twitter website. While you normally login to Twitter using an username and password, this is not how the TweetScheduler works. Your username and password are only kept on the Twitter website, and not within your Joomla! website. This makes things more secure.

Create a new Twitter application

But for TweetScheduler to place tweets with your permissions, there is the need for another mechanism: OAuth. Through the OAuth protocol, you can grant the Joomla! extension TweetScheduler access to your twitter-account. To do this, first login to the right Twitter-account. Next, browse to the URL twitter.com/oauth and register a new application.

The details you need to enter for your new Twitter-application are:

• Application name = This can be anything, but the name must be unique - not just for you, but unique for the entire world. Just choose something like My XYZ TweetScheduler, or include your domainname. This name will also appear in twitter-logging tools like TweetDeck.
• Description = This can be anything.
• Website = The URL to your Joomla! website
• Callback URL = This is very important, and is discussed below. Do NOT skip this value.

After this, save this app. You still need to modify the access-level of this new app. Browse to the Settings tab, and modify the Access level to Read and Write. Without this modification, you will unable to post tweets using the Twitter API.

Please note that you have to create a new Twitter Application for every Joomla! website you wish to run TweetScheduler on. Within the app-settings you can add extra domains, but this needs to be disregarded: The Callback URL can only be set once per app.

The value of the Callback URL

The Callback URL is used by Twitter to redirect you to after a so-called token is generated. If you do not return to the right URL, the TweetScheduler extension does not know whether authentication is accepted by Twitter, and therefor no tweets will be placed. 

The URL looks the following:

http://JOOMLA/administrator/index.php?option=com_tweetscheduler&view=account&task=accountConfirm

If your Joomla! website would be installed under http://example.com/ and your Joomla! backend would be available under http://example.com/administrator/, the Callback URL that you need to to use would be:

http://example.com/administrator/index.php?option=com_tweetscheduler&view=account&task=accountConfirm

Application-specific values generated by Twitter

After you have created your new Twitter application, Twitter will display the following values under the Details tab. Make sure you write down these values, because you will need to configure them within TweetScheduler:

• Consumer key
• Consumer secret

Configuring Joomla! TweetScheduler

Login to the Joomla! Administrator and browse to Components > TweetScheduler > Accounts. Click on New to create a new account. You can give the new account any title you like. But make sure to copy the exact same Consumer Key and Consumer Secret as was generated by Twitter (see above). Save the account afterwards.

Authorize the account

Now that the account is created, the details need to be verified with Twitter and the application you created needs to be authorized. Within the Accounts overview, click on the link Authorize. This will redirect you to a Twitter page where you can choose whether to allow or to deny access. Click Allow. After this, you should be redirected to the Accounts overview within the Joomla! Administrator.

Reauthorize and test

To reauthorize the account, for instance if you have regenerated the Consumer Key and/or Consumer Secret, just hit the link Reauthorize. If you just want to check whether the authorization is working, just click on Test. This should give you a notice with your Twitter screenname.

Setting up cronjobs

To make sure that TweetScheduler is regularly called to send tweets, you need to setup a cronjob. In general the following URL needs to be called:

http://JOOMLA/index.php?option=com_tweetscheduler

For instance, if your Joomla! website would be http://exampe.com, the cron URL would be:

http://example.com/index.php?option=com_tweetscheduler

For more details, contact your hosting provider.

Linux cronjob

A valid Linux cronjob could be 

wget -O - "http://JOOMLA/index.php?option=com_tweetscheduler" >/dev/null 2>&1

Extra services for Google URL Shortener and bit.ly

When creating a new category with TweetScheduler, you can add a shortened URL that gets automatically appended to tweets when you create them. This allows you to create tweets even faster. Shortening the URL is possible through Dynamic404, TinyURL, bit.ly and Google URL Shortener, but the last two (bit.ly and Google URL Shortener) require you to register yourself at their website:

• bit.ly Signup
• Google APIs Console (for Google URL Shortener)