All you ever wanted to know about content mambots but never even knew you could ask...
Mambots, soon to be renamed into Plugins (upcoming Joomla 1.1), are very usefull bits of code used almost everywhere in your content. You don't generally pay much attention to them, as most of their job is done "behind the curtains".
The most visible of these beasts are editor and editor-xtd bots: the WYSIWYG editor and the buttons under the text input field for your content. Probably the most used mambot is the one processing the mosimage tag (will also be renamed to just image). If you look in your Joomla / Mambots folder, you'll see 5 folders with bots in there (as of version 1.0.8, in version 1.1 there are currently already 9 folders!): the two already mentionned, plus system, search and content.
I'll be focusing on the last one mostly: content.
[Note: you can extend Joomlas search capabilities by writing your own search bots, change the WYSIWYG editor by simply installing other editor bots etc..]
Content bots.. very usefull!
In a default install, when you insert an image into your content, you do so (mostly) by using the mosimage tag. This tag gets replaced by the image you selected on the Images tab before the content is displayed.
This is how all content bots work: they process your content (without changing it) and replace any tags they are set to work on by the corresponding output: an image, a link, a quote..
You can install additional bots simply by logging into your administrator interface, going to Installers / Mambots, and selecting the zip package. Examples used on this site: smilies, mosif bot to restrict content access to members only, jdownload bot, MOSthumb bot and so on.
Things to note about mambots: (write this down!)
- Installing a new Mambot does NOT make it usable! Bots have to be PUBLISHED before you can use them. (Screen: Mambots. Click the red X in the Published column for the bot you want to use.
Trust me, when you start using Joomla you'll sometimes pull your hair out over this one: the bot is installed but does not appear to work, the tag you used is displayed and not processed!? You start thinking you got the tag wrong, double check, then finally post on the forums, ...and feel real stupid when this oh so simple solution is the answer.. 
- Once you have downloaded the bot to your computer, always open the zip file and look for an included "readme.txt / .html" file! These often contain very usefull tips and usage recommendations, such as: make this bot first or last; unpublish the default bot... and often also the tag syntax to use.
- If your output looks weird, try to change the order of the bots as they are listed on the Mambots screen! Published bots all get processed one by one, in the order they are listed top to bottom, on every content item, so sometimes they order does matter. One bot can modify something in the output so the next one stops working, or does so incorreclty!
- Logical consequence of point 3: the more bots you install / publish, the more processing (queries etc) is needed before your content can be rendered on screen, thus the heavier the load on the server is, and the slower your page loads.. just something to keep in mind! I currently have 31 bots installed, and 26 published.. :D
- Some bots (example: ako commentbot) can either work system-wide (think "always on" / no tag needed), or on a per-item basis, depending on your setting. So remember to not only click the "Published" icon on the listing, but to also click the bot name there and check if there are parameters to set!!
- Editor bots: you can install as many WYSIWYG editors as you like (examples: JCE, FCK, Spawn.. WYSIWYG Pro, XHTML Suite..). One (or none!) can be selected in your Global Configuration. But: editor display is now handled on a per-user basis! Each registered user with at least author status can log in and, on the screen to edit his details, select the editor (s)he prefers! So if you (as admin) do not see the new editor you just installed and published, check your personal user settings
- When you uninstall a bot using a specific tag, remember to remove these tags from all content items that used the bot (a Search on the tag should turn up a list, as the tag will not be processed anymore).
Anything I might have forgotten, please add to the comments (subject to approval before publishing). Thanks.
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