Regular Labs Sourcerer - A Great way to include Code in articles

Extensions from Regular Labs is very easy to use, they come with great documentation, and are for the most self-explanatory. This is almost the case for this extension too. However, I decided to write a review and give you my thoughts.

The main object with the Sourcerer-Plugin is to include Custom Code directly into Content, you can insert HTML, CSS, PHP, and JavaScript directly into an article, either by a link to a file or as raw code. This is for instance useful if you don't have access to the CSS files and wont to add CSS to the article you are writing. 

 Functionality

The Sourcerer Plugin from Reguløar Labs is a handy tool when it comes to including code into your site. This tool opens up for including code like specific CSS style for an article, you can then easily imbed the CSS inline in the article. Some may say that this is not the correct way to use CSS, but it will ease the editing of the article. 

Ease of use

The extension from Regular Labs is very easy to use and has tabs for the different code-types (Code, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP). This generates the necessary codes to display the info on the page. 

Support / Documentation

 The documentation that Regular Labs give to this extension is well written, though a bit technical for the average user, it includes a good deal of examples that helps to understand the process better. The support is a paid feature and is not included in the free download, but the documentation helps you get started for free.

How to use Sourcerer

Sourcerer offer to place PHP and any kind of HTML style code (including CSS and JavaScript) right inside your article, modules, categories, components, and even more. 

A basic outlay of a javaSCript (JS)
Taken from Regular Labs tutorial

The easiest way to use Sourcerer is to use it through its extension, you can access it by using the Code button in your editor. this will display a popup with five tabs. 

Code

All Code with Sourcerer from Regular Labs

Sometimes it very useful to insert HTML Code directly in an article or into a Custom Module. Here you can use both HTML, CSS, PHP, or JS to insert code.

CSS

CSS with Sourcerer from Regular Labs

The CSS part of the Plugin gives you the opportunity to add CSS attributes directly to the article you are working on, this is very useful when you only want some specific CSS overrides for a single article (We use this in this article). The other good thing, and maybe the most useful thing is to create a standard .css file and include it as a connection to certain articles, this way you can have the styles in a separate file.

Here is the syntacs that output the CSS code we use in this article:

JavaScript (JS)

JavaScript Code with Sourcerer from Regular Labs

The JS solution that the Sourcerer Plugin offers is useful when you want to include specific JavaScript attributes to an article, either to the head of the article or inline. You can also include an external .js file to the article, the file will be added to the page HEAD.

PHP

PHP Code with Sourcerer from Regular Labs

With the PHP section, you will be able to insert either PHP-codes directly in the content or include a file with the content. 

Settings

The settings just include the opportunity to strip the HTML tags that it outlays, or you can also include the codes as raw code, this is useful when you want to display codes in the article. Beware that it also outputs the code that it needs to output the code. This can be overridden in ReReplacer.

Conclusion

 This extension is very useful for content writers and publishers that don't have access to the template-files or don't have backend access. NOTE: You will need to have knowledge in PHP or JS to use those sections, if you need to add CSS, you will have to know CSS, but the main focus is to simplify thing, and this extension does just that. It has an easy interface and output very good code structure. The only downside is that support or the file includes isn't available in the "Free Core Version", but if you buy the extension you can use it on multiple sites and fast support.

More information about Regular Labs

If you use Regular Labs' Extensions, you may have noticed the way that the extensions interact with each other. This is good for consistency, Regular Labs has with an ingenious way mastered the genius way that its Components/Plugins work together. Some of their extensions are Modals, Articles Anywhere, Add to Menu, Advanced Module Manager, Article FIelds, Beter Preview, Better Trash, Cache Cleaner, Advanced Template Manager, Components Anywhere, Content Templater, DB Replacer, ReReplacer, Content Templater, Dummy Content, Conditional Content, Modules Anywhere, Snippets, Sliders, Tabs, Sourcerer, + even more, see the full list here!

All is managed through its own extension Regular Labs -  Extension Manager