How to Guides

These guides assume you already installed the plugin and prepared at least one zero-price downloadable product with a file attached. They focus on day-to-day tasks administrators actually perform after the first successful download.

Embed the shortcode in an article

Edit the Joomla article where the download should appear. Wrap the numeric J2Commerce product ID in a shortcode pair: . Save and view the article on the front end. Super Users sometimes see diagnostic hints when eligibility fails; regular visitors see nothing or a generic denial until the product qualifies.

Alternate layouts

After the product ID you may add a pipe modifier for alternate markup, such as button or compact layouts documented in the plugin README and admin shortcode note. The eligibility rules are identical for every layout. Only presentation changes.

Run a guest versus logged-in test matrix

If Allow Guest Downloads is Yes, open the article in a private browser window and download once. Then log in as a test customer and download again. Confirm ledger rows appear when tracking is on, and confirm whether a J2Commerce order was created for the logged-in case when Use J2Commerce Order Tracking is Auto or Yes.

If Allow Guest Downloads is No, confirm guests see login or register messaging and that authenticated users with qualifying products still receive the file.

Style the download control in your template

The plugin outputs semantic class names such as rca-direct-download and rca-direct-download__button. Version 1.0.6 also adds sppb-btn alongside rca-btn-download so many Fusion sites can reuse existing custom.css download button rules. Override colors and spacing in template custom.css rather than editing plugin core files, because core edits vanish on update.

Keep cart checkout on paid SKUs

Use J2Commerce cart shortcodes for paid products. Use {rcadownload} only for free zero-dollar downloadables. Do not place both tags for the same product on one landing page unless you intentionally want two calls to action, which confuses shoppers and support alike.

Export ledger data before uninstall

If you rely on download counts for reporting, export the RCA ledger table before uninstall. Uninstall drops that table. J2Commerce orders created through order tracking remain in the shop database.

Upgrade without breaking articles

Install the newer ZIP or accept the Joomla Update offer. Database migrations run on version bump. Re-read plugin options, then retest one article shortcode. Shortcodes in article bodies survive upgrades unchanged.