---
title: "Creating a Hello World Joomla 3 Component"
description: "In this tutorial we are going to create a Hello World component for Joomla 3.3. When we say, \"create a component\", we mean: Create the files for the component Install the component View the component..."
url: https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/edu/joomla/joomla-3/helloworld/
date: 2014-05-08
modified: 2023-06-07
author: "Brad Markle"
categories: ["Joomla", "Joomla 3"]
tags: ["Joomla v3"]
type: post
lang: en
---

# Creating a Hello World Joomla 3 Component

In this tutorial we are going to create a **Hello World** component for Joomla 3.3. When we say, “*create a component*“, we mean:

1. Create the files for the component
2. Install the component
3. View the component on the front end of the website

## Creating the files for the *Hello World* component

1. Within your *Components* folder, create a folder named **com_helloworld**
2. Within your new *com_helloworld* folder, create a blank file named **helloworld.xml**
3. Within your new *com_helloworld* folder, create **helloworld.php** with the following code: <?php echo "Hello World"; That’s it! We’ve just setup the following structure: • com_helloworld/helloworld.xml • com_helloworld/helloworld.php

## Installing our *Hello World* component

1. [Log into your Joomla admin dashboard](/support/edu/joomla/joomla-3/how-to-log-in-to-administrative-dashboard/)
2. In the top menu, click **Extensions** and then click **Extension Manager**
3. In the left menu, click the **Discover** *link*
4. In the top menu, click the **Discover** *button*
5. You will see **com_helloworld** show up in the list of avaialble extensions. Click the checkbox to the left of it, and then click the **Install** button in the top menu.You will see a few *Warnings* and *Messages* at the top of the page: • JInstaller: :Install: Cannot find Joomla XML setup file • Component Install: The XML file did not contain an administration element • Discover install failed: 10005 For now, we will ignore these messages. We’re doing very barebones testing, and our component is missing a few things, which in turn is triggering these messages to show.

## Viewing our *Hello World* component

[![Hello World Component in action](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/create-component/first-hello-world-component-in-action.png)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/create-component/first-hello-world-component-in-action.png)

To see the *Hello World* component in action, visit your Joomla website and add the following at the end of your url:

index.php?option=com_helloworld

**For example**:

https://example.com/index.php?option=com_helloworld

When going to this url, Joomla will execute the helloworld component. It should look something similar to the screenshot to the right.

## What have we learned?

### option=com_component identifies the component to load

[![Hello World in URL and Folder Structure](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/create-component/com_helloworld-in-url-and-folder-structure.png)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/create-component/com_helloworld-in-url-and-folder-structure.png)

If you set the **option** variable in the URL to **com_***something*, Joomla will see this as a request to load that component.

https://example.com/index.php?option=com_helloworld

Looking at the URL above, Joomla knows we are requesting the com_helloworld component to load. Joomla looks for this component in this folder: /components/com_helloworld

### The first file loaded is *component*.php

[![Load Hello World component](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/create-component/load-helloworld.php.png)](/support/images/stories/edu/joomla-3/create-component/load-helloworld.php.png)

If you specify ?option=com_helloworld in your URL, Joomla will load files from /components/com_helloworld. Within that folder, Joomla will then load helloworld.php.

### Case Matters – use lowercase

Use all lowercase when **[1]** naming your component’s folder and **[2]** calling it in the URL.

For example, do not name your folder **com_HelloWorld**. Also, do not use uppercase in your URL, like the following:

https://example.com/index.php?option=com_HelloWorld

### Dashes and Underscores are acceptable

In our testing, in addition to naming the component “com_helloworld”, we tested:

- com_hello–world – *uses a dash*
- com_hello_world – *uses an underscore*

In both situations, the components worked – so it’s safe to say you can use dashes and underscores when setting up your component’s name.

### Uninstalling

If you followed along with our tutorial thus far, when you attempt to uninstall this component:

1. The component files will be deleted successfull, however
2. The component will still *linger* in the database. Simply use a tool like phpMyAdmin to remove the component from your **_extensions** table to clean if from your site.