QCDR Discovery: Click It, Change It Overview

Discovery is QCDR's private frontend analysis workspace for finding visible output, understanding likely origins, checking where a target appears, and preparing a Draft Rule without silently changing the site.

In QCDR 1.1.05, Discovery is a Max/All Access feature. The administrator must also be allowed to manage QCDR and run Discovery; a Super User is authorized automatically.

What Discovery Can Do

  • Click It, Change It: select visible frontend output and inspect the value, DOM context, render region, source evidence, and target fingerprint.
  • Phrase search: find visible wording on the rendered page when clicking the exact element is inconvenient.
  • Page Scan: build a bounded inventory of notable visible output on the current page.
  • Explain This Output: take a selected or scanned element into the normal evidence-ranked inspector.
  • Site Impact Scan: compare the selected find value and fingerprint across a bounded set of same-site frontend pages.
  • Dynamic DOM Watch: observe browser-side changes that occur after the watch begins.
  • Draft Rule handoff: open the Rule editor with the find value, page context, likely render scope, notes, and fingerprint prefilled for review.

Discovery Is Private, Not a Second Live Editor

Start Discovery from Components > QC Dynamic Replacer > Discovery. QCDR opens a normal frontend page with a short-lived signed authorization and adds the private Discovery interface only for that request. Ordinary visitors do not receive the inspector.

Discovery responses are marked private/no-store/no-cache/noindex, and QCDR also applies a no-referrer policy so the signed Discovery authorization is not sent as a referrer to page assets or outbound links.

What Discovery Does Not Do

  • It does not edit Joomla source files, article content, module content, or template files.
  • It does not automatically save or enable a Rule.
  • It does not silently retarget a Rule when a page later changes.
  • It does not turn a source candidate into proof merely because the candidate is plausible.
  • Dynamic DOM evidence does not identify the JavaScript file, network request, or call stack that caused a browser-side change.

A Safe Discovery Workflow

  1. Open the Discovery tab and launch a known same-site frontend URL.
  2. Select visible output or search for a phrase.
  3. Read the page context, source evidence, and Target Fingerprint separately; they answer different questions.
  4. Use Page Scan, Site Impact Scan, or Dynamic DOM Watch only when the basic selection needs more context.
  5. Enter a proposed replacement if useful and choose the Draft Rule action.
  6. Review every prefilled Rule field in Administrator and save it as Draft.
  7. Use Preview and Rule Health before enabling a high-impact change.

Existing Runtime Effects Are Still Real

Discovery analyzes the page QCDR actually rendered for that authorized request. Existing Rules and Tokens can therefore appear in the evidence. The inspector distinguishes exact runtime markers from correlations and stored-data candidates instead of pretending all evidence has the same strength.

Community Discussion

Want to compare workflows, share practical tips, or discuss how you use this QCDR feature? Visit the QC Dynamic Replacer Community. For private support, bug reports, account-specific issues, or feature requests, use the QuantaCade support system.