Anatomy of the Mambo URL

This tutorial explains the anatomy of the default Mambo URL structure.

The default Mambo URL will look something like this:
<domain>/index.php?option=com_content&task=category&sectionid=3&id=19&Itemid=12

Let's break it down and look at how it is built.

• index.php is the controlling page for gathering and displaying frontend content;
• task is a variable that tells Mambo how to handle the data that is being called. In this example, it is calling a category within a section. The task variable may also call "view", "print" and other variables. Each component adds its own tasks for its functionality;
• sectionid is the identification number used by the content component, in much the same way as "id";
• id is the record of the content item itself. This is used by Mambo to locate the data to display on the browser. Each content item has a unique id;
• Itemid. This is probably the most hated part of the URL construction within Mambo. The Itemid is assigned by the menu link used to access the content. Because of this link to the menu it is not uncommon to have many pages displaying the same Itemid;
• Other URL variables: These include "option=" variables which are used to call components, eg. com_content, com_frontpage, com_search, etc. 3rd party extensions also make use of additional variables which appear in the structure of a Mambo URL.

URL's will be this length or shorter depending on what tasks Mambo must perform to retrieve the data that is being called by the browser. Mambo is a dynamic database-driven CMS, which means that all content is stored within the database and retrieved when it is needed (ie. when a site visitor clicks on a menu link that calls the particular content item).

In the next post, I will be discussing the pros and cons of using the default Mambo URL and its effect on search engine optimisation. Stay tuned!