Choose What a QCDR Rule Should Find

Current Find types: automatic, text, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP-like rendered source, URL/media references; selection guidance and retired JSON/XML/INI choices.

This guide follows the accepted QC Dynamic Replacer 1.1.05 implementation and applies to All plans; rule managers. Where older manuals or walkthrough wording differs from the current source or the accepted keyless-entitlement behavior, the current implementation takes precedence.

Before You Begin

Choose a controlled frontend page where the original rendered output can be verified.
Keep broad Rules Draft or Disabled while editing and use Preview when the plan permits.
Know whether Token Live Processing is required for the replacement source you selected.

Step-by-Step Workflow

Open Rules and locate or create the Rule involved.
Keep the Rule Draft/Disabled while defining Find, Action, and replacement behavior.
Configure matching and occurrence limits before widening scope.
Save and use Preview/Rule Health when available.
Enable only after a representative frontend request produces the intended result.

Current Find Types

Find type	Use
Anything / detect automatically	Let QCDR infer a likely rendered content type.
Text	Visible text in rendered frontend output.
HTML	Rendered markup.
CSS	CSS text in an eligible rendered/protected context.
JavaScript	JavaScript text in an eligible rendered/protected context.
PHP source	PHP-like text that reached rendered output; it does not open or modify PHP files.
URL or image/media reference	Links, image sources, and similar rendered references.

Find types: automatic, text, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP-like rendered source,

Current new-Rule Find choices focus on rendered output: Anything/detect automatically, Text, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP-like rendered source, and URL or image/media references. Matching can be exact/whole-term or partial, optionally case-sensitive, and can target All, First, Last, or a Specific occurrence. A per-Rule maximum can further bound replacements; 0 means no additional Rule-specific cap, while the global request ceiling in Settings still applies. Retired JSON/XML/INI Find choices and Count Only are not current new-Rule workflows.

For Choose What a QCDR Rule Should Find, evaluate this against the exact frontend request that matters. A saved QCDR item can be valid in Administrator yet remain inactive because a different eligibility gate, dependency, permission, cache layer, or runtime safety boundary correctly prevents transformation. Keeping those concerns separate makes both testing and later support much easier.

Selection guidance and retired JSON/XML/INI choices

How This Fits into QCDR

Rules modify rendered frontend output at request time. They do not patch Joomla, template, or extension source files.

The safest operating pattern is to keep configuration narrow, use QCDR’s private diagnostics before broad activation when your tier permits them, and preserve Joomla Administrator as the recovery surface. Because QCDR changes the rendered response rather than source files, a correctly disabled or bypassed runtime path should expose the underlying Joomla output again without requiring a source-file rollback.

Verify the Result

The Rule state and drag order are exactly what you intended.
A page that should match changes as expected, and a page outside scope remains unchanged.
The current account has Manage PHP Tokens and the Effective tier permits PHP.
Normal production error mode is Hide unless a temporary sanitized diagnostic is intentionally active.
Reload the real frontend request instead of relying only on the saved Administrator form.
Check Joomla/CDN cache effects if the result is request-specific.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

Treating rendered PHP-like text as permission to edit the PHP file that produced it.
Treating PHP Tokens as sandboxed snippets or granting Manage PHP Tokens more broadly than necessary.
Trusting forwarded client-IP headers without restricting which proxy/CIDR is allowed to supply them.
Changing several gates at once during troubleshooting, which makes the actual cause difficult to identify.
Testing only while signed in as Super User when ordinary users/guests are the intended audience.
Skipping a recovery plan before enabling a site-wide HTML, JavaScript, protected-area, or PHP-backed change.

Troubleshooting

If nothing changes, confirm the package-owned System plugin is enabled, the relevant Live Processing switch is on, and the item is eligible for the current Effective tier.
If targeting appears wrong, inspect page/menu/URL, extension, audience, schedule, IP, technical conditions, and protected-region behavior as separate gates.
If a Token-backed Rule preserves the original match, troubleshoot the Token dependency/readiness before changing the Find value.
If behavior differs between browsers/users, clear or bypass relevant Joomla/full-page/CDN caches and compare request context.
If private Preview/Discovery fails, start a fresh authorized same-site session and confirm the Joomla ACL action as well as the product tier.

Operational Best Practice

Make runtime changes deliberately: use a narrow scope first, keep broad Rules Draft or Disabled until tested, preserve the independent Rule/Token emergency switches, and record the QCDR version plus the exact Rule/Token and affected URL when handing a problem to another administrator. For high-impact HTML, protected-region, JavaScript, dynamic-data, or PHP work, test representative anonymous and authenticated requests and review caching before expanding scope.

Community Discussion

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