I'm currently developing a site for a client and they require a paid for Business Directory. I looked around and tried a couple with no success. I then stumbled across SOBI ... absolutely perfect! I had it installed, configured and live on the site with absolutely no problems at all. Highly recommended.

Well What can I say. I have been developing joomla sites for a long time and have consistently used Sobi2 and its associated plugins, modules and 3rd part add-ons in many business indexes, directories, jobs sites, Band sites, Restaurant/cafe reviews, wedding registries etal...

The beauty IMHO is not only that this wonderful piece of coding is free ( I would happily pay) but the extensibility ( that is you can modify code to meet specific functionality if not included) and the wonderful forum in which your questions are diligently answered by some very knowledgable people using this all around the world.

This is a very comprehensive and robust component that can do a varied amount of jobs for a developer if you take the time to learn its many features.

Great Job Neo!!!


Cheers
Michael

I'm using this component for my website and I'd recommend it to web professionals. In rare cases you can find a such component with wide range of plugins, modules, support... Great!

First, if you have had an issue, its likely someone else has and the answer is in the forum. If you have an idea, i bet you sobi2 can achieve it.

This component works, the trouble is purchasing additional modules from them do not. Support is unfortunately lacking and any attempt to get a refund just results in your order getting cancelled.

The component works better than any other directory on the market, and its free.

Just dont spend money with them.

This component is good at what it does: As a catalog or business listing with custom fields. As an experienced developer I found a couple of major weaknesses though: First of all, the backend is ugly and does not make use of the normal Joomla buttons. This is bad when creating websites for customers, as you want a streamlined backend. The second and biggest issue is the programming of the component. If you want to customize the code, it's a nightmare. It doesn't make clear use of the MVC pattern, and most of the Joomla coding guidelines are not used.

So if you want a component out of the box: go ahead. If you want to customize it in just a minor way: stay away.

We initially evaluated SOBI 2 when we were looking at rolling out a directory system, but ran into snags as we were 1.5 early adopters and it wasn't 1.5 compatible yet.

We were also a bit put off by the costs associated with several of the plugins/modules, and really didn't get a warm/fuzzy feeling that development would continue at any kind of pace/support level.

Well, we went with a non-J! directory system, and the upgrades and hoop jumping we've had to go though has been a total nightmare. Looking to re-invent the directory in a new form as a more integrated part of the rest of the site, we took another look at SOBI2 and it's a lot better than I remembered :-). The ability to define listing templates for individual categories, and the new ability to create a custom entry template are quite nice. The overall flexibility is excellent, and though we will probably have to use multiple installs to handle functionally different parts of the directory (for entry creation purposes more than anything else), I think it's going to work well for us, and be a substantially better solution than the "Dedicated" directory system we've been using.

:-)

This is a great component for joomla, it's core and the code is easy to work through and alter to your needs, the community at jobdone.ie is helpfull and gratefull for the sobi component.

Thanks again

There's nothing else better for the price tag of FREE! The Sigsiu gang is awesome and knows how to write a good solid component for Joomla!

I tried SOBI2 now for a couple of weeks to figure out what it can do for me. And I must say that I am astonished! After trying some other so called cck extensions I must say that there is no alternative to SOBI2 (not for me).

I started with the standard installation. Later I tried to build some kind of microblogging component. And in the meanwhile I am building a multilingual community webpage with a product catalog and reviews like the Joomla! extensions directory, a weblog and an address directory. All the mentioned applications are based on only one component besides Community Builder and Joomfish! - SOBI2.

A very big advantage is the possibility to build almost everything with only one component which will help you to save many hours of time that you would need to learn different interfaces and rules for a weblog component, a directory component and more.

The flexible template system allows you to integrate almost everything in your SOBI2 pages. In my case I display some informations from Community Builder on the entries - but, with some php and database knowlegde you can even build relational database applications that combine two or more clones of SOBI2 with other extensions' data if you like.

A big advantage is that you can get many many additions that will help you to form your site as you wish.

Last, but not least I must confess, that I would not be able to use it like I do without the great community of SOBI2 users. There seems to be no unanswered question in their forum and it contains so many great ideas... :)

SOBI2 is an excellent directory/listing component and very easy to use. Support at forum is very good as well (due to that support I am able to run Joomfish with sobiSEF and SOBI2 successfully). Search module when coupled with Qtabs worked prefectly I can have different search modules (with different createria like yellowpages have) in one module position. Allover a great contribution.

I like this component and it is working great.

Thanks to the developer of Sobi2.

When I've been using CMS systems and forum systems and what ever ready made code, I've gotten used to accepting certain limitations and just decide that this or that can't be done. BUT. With SOBI 2, the limitations are minimal. I haven't even gone through all the available plugins yet, but while I already use it on 3 different sites - with completely different uses, Sobi works for all of them.

There are some features that are a bit complicated at first, like the templates, but when ever you add options and flexibility, you have to add a bit of complications to things and in the end you just love the complicated bits, because they allow you to do so much more than what you're used to.

Fantastic work.

The only thing; the English translation is a bit clumsy and could use some polishing up by a native speaker. (Which I'm not either.)

After struggling with and using Mosets Tree, SOBI2 is a breath of fresh air! Thank you so much for creating this quality component for FREE! It does what Mosets does even better. Easy to configure, easy to template, anti-spamming, commenting, claim, report bad entry, and custom fields. Only thing it lacks is a add to favorites and bookmarking plugins.

A very good component backed up with an extensive community and support network, plus many available plugins and enhancements. Very flexible, but as a warning, to really turn it into something special you will need the knowledge to edit your own templates to really get what you need -- that is a a bit of a learning curve.

I use SOBI2 for my Ads and directory site and it works like a charm. When i have a question or a problem, i'm going on the forum and i always find a solution. There is a important community of users and you can find always a solution.
To make a directory or a ads service, i think that it is the best component because of its qualities and for the support.

Sobi2 is an absolute must have if you are going to organize any sort of information on your site.
It's classification as a business directory only brushes the surface of what this application is capable of. The application is highly flexible and if a feature doesn't exist it is designed with comprehensive support for plugins to add it.
Support is provided by a dedicated community of users and the application is actively developed and enhanced by its designers.

This is a brilliant component. I'm working with it on my PC (local server on Windows platform) so far. But I see and appreciate its huge potential and fantastic work of its developers.
However, I have some problems (no way to upload media files, etc.). As far as I undestood, this product works much better on Linux. So I hope everything will be OK if I upload my whole website onto web hosting server. We'll see.
Thanks a lot!
Regards,
Serrus

In a word, powerful! I have been working with SOBI2 for the past three months, creating a couple of key directories. It is only now that I can fully appreciate the power of SOBI2 and how amazing it is. SOBI2 is perfect for the novice Joomla user all the way up to the complete power user that wants to customise their install.

SOBI does have some limitations and quirks, once you get to know these you have to sit and work out around them. However there is almost always a way. What adds to the power is the simple templating system, the way you can manipulate the information and fields is just simple and magic making deployments quick and easy to slow and complex. The choice of how far you want to take it is purely limited by how much time you want to invest.

I rate SOBI2 a 10/10.

I have been using SOBI as a de facto CCK for ages. Works really well once you grasp the templating logic (which is well documented).

I have SOBI sites that display content based on user's Community Builder profiles, access level etc.
I have SOBI templates that conditionally display content based on category and other field values.
The options are endless.