Node reference

Create Contact for Joomla

Create Contact is a Step (action) in Contacts. Creates a Joomla contact in com_contact.

Node reference

Overview

Create Contact is a Step (action) in Contacts. Creates a Joomla contact in com_contact.

When the flow reaches this step, JOrchestrator executes Create Contact against your linked site or an external integration, using the field values you set on General and Design. Downstream steps can read the output payload fields defined for this node.

Why use this node

Create Contact is a action step in the Contacts group. Action steps run in the middle or end of a flow. They perform work on your CMS, call external services, or transform data for the next step.

Typical reasons teams add Create Contact to a flow:

  • Create Contact on your linked Joomla site when the flow reaches this step
  • Create contact based on webhook, schedule, or CMS event data
  • Integrate Contacts operations with messaging, AI, or database steps in one canvas

Example workflows

Common patterns on the canvas:

  1. Trigger or Webhook → upstream steps → Create Contact → Send Email or CMS update
  2. Scheduled trigger → Create Contact → Debug (while testing) → production action

How to set it up

Contact category — numeric id or {{…}} in Contact category, or pick under Contact Categories. If catid_manual is non-empty after placeholders resolve, it overrides catid.

Good to know

Link create-contact-category upstream to pass a fresh category id.

Properties panel

The designer shows these tabs for this node:

TabPurpose
InfoPlain-language description and output payload fields for downstream steps
GeneralCanvas label and read-only node ID
AIOptional assistant to help draft settings from plain language
DesignNode-specific configuration fields

System (automatic — not edited by the user)

These fields are managed by the designer or runtime — you do not type into them directly:

Property keyLabelTypeRequiredVisible whenNotes
_nodeIdNode IDnode-idNo——
_payloadFieldsAvailable Fieldspayload-panelNo——

User-configured — General tab

Property keyLabelTypeRequiredVisible whenNotes
labelLabeltextNo—Node label

User-configured — Design tab

Property keyLabelTypeRequiredVisible whenNotes
nameNamepayload-textYes—Contact name (required)
catid_manualContact category (id or {{placeholder}})payload-textNo—e.g. 12 or {{create_contact_category_1.id}} — or choose below (shows category name)
aliasAliaspayload-textNo—URL alias (optional)
publishedPublishedselect (0 | 1; default: 1)No——
email_toContact emailpayload-textNo—Email shown on contact page
addressAddresspayload-textNo—Street address
suburbCity / Suburbpayload-textNo——
stateState / Countypayload-textNo——
postcodePostal codepayload-textNo——
countryCountrypayload-textNo——
telephoneTelephonepayload-textNo——
mobileMobilepayload-textNo——
webpageWebsitepayload-textNo—https://

CMS-backed (options from the linked site)

Property keyLabelTypeRequiredVisible whenNotes
catidContact Categoriescontact-category-selectNo—Select category (fills the field above)
languageLanguagecontent-language-selectNo—Select language (* = all)

CMS site configuration (not on this node's properties panel)

Credentials, API keys, mailers, SMTP, and integration defaults are configured in the CMS plugin under Node Configuration, not per step on this node. Link the flow to a domain before testing CMS-backed fields.

Output payload fields

After this step runs, later nodes can reference these fields using placeholders such as {{create_contact.id}}.

Field keyTypeDescription
idstringPrimary record identifier.
namestringDisplay name of the record.
aliasstringURL-safe alias / slug.
catidstringCategory ID.
publishednumberPublished flag (0 or 1).
email_tostringContact form recipient email.
already_existedbooleanTrue when create found an existing record instead of creating.

Validation rules

  • Name (name) must be filled before the flow can be saved.