Submit Event

The Event Submission view lets authorized frontend users create or edit JEM events from the public side of the Joomla site. It uses the same event data model as the backend event form, but the visible fields depend on JEM settings, Joomla permissions, category permissions, and the active frontend layout.

Users must be logged in and must have permission to create or edit events. For new events, they also need access to at least one category where event creation is allowed.

Where to Create This View

Open the Joomla administrator and create a new menu item. Select JEM → Events → Submit Event or Edit Event, depending on the menu type name used by the installed JEM version.

The same form is also opened when a user clicks an edit action on an event detail page or creates an event from a frontend button. In those cases, JEM may prefill the category, venue, date, or copied event data from the link that opened the form.

Before Users Can Submit Events

Frontend submission is controlled by several layers. If any one of them blocks the user, the form will not open or the user will not be able to save.

Requirement	Where to check	Why it matters
User login	Joomla user account	Guests cannot use the event edit form.
Create or edit permission	Joomla permissions and JEM permissions	Controls whether the user can add new events or edit existing ones.
Category permission	JEM categories and user groups	Controls which event categories the user can select or create in.
Frontend settings	JEM Settings → User Control and Layout	Controls frontend editing behaviour, uploads, registration options, and visible fields.
Optional integrations	Joomla Contacts, Joomla Articles, JEM plugins	Controls contact selection, associated articles, email notifications, and search output.

If a user can open the form but cannot select any category, the event cannot be saved. Check category access and frontend create permissions first.

Form Buttons

The form shows Save and Cancel buttons at the top. Save validates the required fields and stores the event. Cancel returns the user to the previous page when a valid return URL is available.

Save: stores the event and any supported attachments, links, image changes, registration settings, and metadata.
Cancel: leaves the edit form without saving the current changes.
Validation: required fields must pass Joomla form validation before saving.

Tabs in the Event Form

In JEM 5.0.0 the frontend event form can contain these tabs:

Tab	Main purpose
Event	Main event details, category, venue, type, contact, featured state, description, and image.
Extended	Recurrence and registration options.
Advanced	Access, publication state, event status, ticket availability, online meeting, publishing dates, associated article, and metadata.
Attachments	Existing and new files attached to the event, when attachments are enabled or already exist.
Links	Additional event links, link layout, link order, images, icons, and link action types.
More	Legacy custom event fields configured by the administrator.

Event Tab

The Event tab contains the main information needed to describe and place the event. At minimum, a new event needs a title and at least one allowed category.

Field	Use it for	Notes
Title	Main event name.	Required.
Alias	URL alias for new events.	Shown for new events. Joomla can generate it when left empty.
Start date	First event date.	Can be empty only when open-date events are allowed by the site workflow.
End date	Last event date for multi-day events.	Should not be earlier than the start date.
Start time	Event start time.	Optional.
End time	Event end time.	Optional.
Categories	Assigns the event to one or more JEM categories.	Required. Available categories depend on permissions and settings.
Venue	Links the event to an existing venue.	Selected through a frontend venue chooser.
Event type	Assigns an optional event type.	Can be hidden when no event types are available and the site hides empty managed fields.
Contact	Links the event to a Joomla contact.	Requires Joomla Contacts and available contact records.
Featured	Marks the event as featured.	Useful for featured filters, modules, and special display rules.

Venue, Contact, and Article Choosers

Some fields open a chooser modal instead of a simple text input.

Venue chooser: lists published venues and can search by venue, city, state, or country.
Contact chooser: lists published Joomla contacts and can search by name, city, state, country, or contact category.
Article chooser: lists published Joomla articles and can search by title or Joomla category.
User chooser: is used for invited users when invitation-based registration is enabled.

Description

The description editor stores the event text. If the editor uses a read-more break, JEM stores the content as intro text and full text.

Text filtering depends on Joomla editor and content filter configuration. If HTML is removed on save, review Joomla text filter settings for the user's group.

Image

The image panel appears when the event already has an image or event image uploads are enabled.

Users can upload an event image when image uploads are enabled.
The maximum upload size is shown when a size limit is configured.
The image can be required when the site is configured that way.
Existing images can be removed from the edit form.
Generated thumbnails can be rebuilt later from Housekeeping if image settings change.

Extended Tab

The Extended tab contains recurrence and registration settings. These options can have strong effects on the number of events created and on how visitors can book places.

Recurrence

Recurrence creates repeated event occurrences based on the selected pattern and limit date.

Option	Meaning
Nothing	No recurrence is created.
Daily	Repeats the event by day.
Weekly	Repeats the event by week.
Monthly	Repeats the event by month.
Weekday	Repeats by selected weekday pattern.
Yearly	Repeats by year.
Last day	Repeats using last-day style recurrence.
Recurrence limit date	Stops generating occurrences after the selected date.

Editing an existing recurring event can remove it from the original recurrence set or dissolve the set, depending on whether the edited item is the first event in the series. Read the warning shown in the form before saving recurring events.

Registration

Registration settings control whether visitors can book the event, when booking is open, how many places are available, and whether waiting lists or invitations are used.

Field	Use it for
Allow registration	Choose No, Yes, or From/Until date-limited registration.
Registration from	First date and time when booking is allowed.
Registration until	Last date and time when booking is allowed.
Invited users only	Restricts registration to invited users when invitation support is enabled.
Enable cancellation	Controls whether users can cancel registrations.
Cancellation until	Deadline for cancelling when limited cancellation is selected.
Maximum places	Maximum number of available places. Zero can mean unlimited, depending on registration rules.
Minimum places per user	Minimum number of places one user can book.
Maximum places per user	Maximum number of places one user can book.
Reserved places	Places held back from normal public booking.
Waiting list	Allows users to join a waiting list when normal places are full.
Request answer	Asks users for an attendance answer when the workflow requires it.
Series booking	Used for recurring event series booking workflows.
Single booking	Used when bookings should apply to a single event occurrence.
Invited users	Selects users who are invited to the event.
Booked places	Read-only count of currently booked places.
Available places	Read-only count based on maximum, booked, and reserved places.

Registration options may be hidden when frontend registration management is disabled in JEM settings. Invitation fields only appear when invitation support is enabled.

Advanced Tab

The Advanced tab controls publication, access, event status, online meeting data, associated Joomla articles, and metadata.

Field	Use it for	Notes
Access	Controls which Joomla access levels can view the event.	Available values depend on the current user's allowed access levels.
Published state	Published, unpublished, archived, or trashed.	Users without publish permission may have this forced to unpublished.
Event status	Scheduled, cancelled, postponed, rescheduled, or moved online.	Used for event display and structured event meaning.
Ticket availability	In stock, preorder, or sold out.	Useful when the event detail page exposes availability information.
Online meeting URL	Stores the URL visitors use to join an online event.	Use for Meet, Zoom, Teams, livestreams, or similar services.
Online meeting label	Optional text for the online meeting link.	Falls back to the global default label when empty.
Publish up	Date and time when the event can become visible.	Uses Joomla date handling.
Publish down	Date and time when the event should stop being visible.	Leave empty when no automatic unpublish date is needed.
Associated article	Links the event to a Joomla article with extended information.	The article remains normal Joomla content.
Create associated article	Creates an unpublished Joomla article on save, manually or automatically by category configuration.	Requires Joomla article create permission in the target category.
Article target category	Selects where a manually created associated article should be created.	Shown when manual article creation is selected.

Metadata

The metadata section stores event meta keywords and meta description. Buttons can insert placeholders such as title, venue, categories, date, time, end date, and end time.

Use metadata only when the event needs custom search-engine text.
Global defaults are used when event-specific metadata is empty.
Keep descriptions short and useful for visitors.

Attachments Tab

The Attachments tab appears when event attachments already exist or frontend attachment uploads are enabled.

Area	What it controls
Attachments layout	Row, full row, uniform row, column, full column, or uniform column display.
Icon size	Global, none, normal, medium, or large attachment icons.
Frame	Whether attachments are displayed with a button-style frame.
Existing attachments	File name, display name, description, published state, access, ordering, and remove action.
New uploads	Upload file, name, description, published state, access, and ordering.

Attachment uploads are limited by the allowed file extensions and upload settings configured by the administrator. Existing attachments may still be visible for editing even when new uploads are disabled.

Links Tab

The Links tab lets editors add structured event links. These are separate from normal text links inside the description.

Link Display Options

Links layout: controls whether links are shown in rows or columns and whether they use full or uniform sizing.
Links order: controls the order of image, icon, and text inside each link item.

Link Fields

Field	Use it for
Title	Visible link title.
Description	Short supporting text for the link.
Type	Info, online, request, pay, price, speaker, workshop, location, calendar, document, sponsor, or networking.
Color	Optional color used by the link display.
URL	Destination URL.
Target	Open in a new tab or the same tab.
Frame	Controls whether the link has a framed display.
Image	Optional image for the link.
Maximum width and height	Limits the displayed link image size.

Use event links for important actions such as online access, booking forms, speaker pages, documents, sponsor pages, or external event resources.

More Tab

The More tab contains legacy JEM custom fields for events. JEM stores these values in custom1 to custom10, while labels, descriptions, order, and visibility can be configured by the administrator.

Up to ten event custom fields can be available.
The administrator can hide fields from frontend editing.
The administrator can limit how many custom fields are shown.
Labels and descriptions can be configured per active Joomla content language.
Empty fields can be hidden in detail views depending on settings.

Common Configuration Examples

Simple Public Event

Enter title, date, category, venue, and description.
Leave registration disabled.
Use a normal published state if the user has publish permission, or save unpublished for review.

Event with Date-Limited Registration

Set Allow registration to From.
Enter registration from and registration until dates.
Set maximum places, places per user, reserved places, and waiting list as needed.
Enable cancellation and cancellation deadline if users should be able to unregister.

Invitation-Only Event

Enable registration.
Enable Invited users only.
Select invited users from the user chooser.
Check that invitation support is enabled in JEM settings.

Recurring Course or Class

Enter the first event date and time.
Select the recurrence pattern and limit date.
Decide whether bookings should apply to the series or to single occurrences.
Review generated occurrences after saving.

Online or Hybrid Event

Set the event status to Moved online only when the event has actually moved online.
Add the online meeting URL and optional label.
Add a structured event link of type Online if the link should also appear in the event links section.
Review ICS and event detail settings if the meeting URL should be included in calendar exports.

Event with Long Editorial Content

Use the JEM description for event-specific summary and practical details.
Select an existing associated Joomla article for long-form content, or create one on save.
Use automatic article creation only when the selected JEM category is configured for it.
Edit the created Joomla article separately after the event is saved.

After Saving

After saving, verify the event from both the frontend and backend if the workflow is important.

Open the event detail page and check the visible title, dates, venue, description, image, links, attachments, and registration section.
Check whether the event is published, unpublished, archived, or trashed.
Check recurring events if recurrence was enabled.
Check email notifications if the Mailer plugin is used.
Check the associated Joomla article if one was selected or created.

Troubleshooting

The user cannot open the form

Confirm that the user is logged in.
Check global JEM create or edit permissions.
Check category-specific permissions.
Check that the event access level is visible to the user when editing an existing event.

The event cannot be saved

Check that the title and category fields are filled in.
Check required image settings if image upload is required.
Check date and time values for invalid combinations.
Check whether the selected category allows event creation for the user.

A field is missing

Check JEM settings for frontend visibility.
Check whether the field depends on available managed records, such as event types or contacts.
Check whether custom fields are enabled for frontend editing.
Check template overrides if the site has customized the edit form.

Registration options do not appear

Check whether frontend registration management is enabled.
Check JEM registration settings in User Control.
Check invitation settings if invited users should be available.
Check that the event is published when testing actual visitor registration.

Attachments cannot be uploaded

Check that frontend attachment uploads are enabled.
Check allowed file extensions and maximum upload size.
Check filesystem permissions for the attachment folder.
Check whether the server upload limit is lower than the JEM limit.

An associated article is not created

Check whether the selected create-article mode is correct.
Check whether the selected JEM category is configured for automatic articles.
Check whether a Joomla article category is available.
Check whether the current user can create Joomla articles in the target category.

Related Project Notes

#2041 covers online event support, attachment review, and frontend edit security work.
#1764 discusses registration behaviour for a whole recurring event series.
#1629 introduces the need for event registration deadlines.
#1891 documents a frontend event description saving problem from older versions.
#2138 explains automatic creation of associated Joomla articles for events.