Installation
Contentor can be installed directly from this site to your web site.
This program logs into your web site via FTP, transfers all of the files, creates folders where needed, and sets the proper file permissions.
Once all of the files are transferred, the automatic install routine launches the program to allow you to enter your settings and load the MySQL database.
The program can be installed on existing web sites, generally without disturbing them. Your home page will be http://yourdomain.org/index (no .html extension). The .htaccess file is set to load index.htm, index.html or index.php, first, so if any of those are present on the web site, you will have to enter the /index to access the Contentor pages. To make Contentor the default page on the site, delete all other index pages (this can be done with the direct install utility).
After the program is transferred, the /util/install.php program will be launched to allow the initial configuration to be set as explained below. The last install routine page will have a link to the lst manager where you can change or delete the default login (ID is "admin" and password is "password")
To enter the edit mode, click the template's edit link and use the default password of 'password'. From the edit mode, the 'setup' link in the upper right corner will bring up a pge with a link to the member list utility (see http://contentor.net/index/help/setup for details). Please change the password(s) as soon as possible after installation.
Note these additional security considerations for both during and after the installation.
Also note that the direct install utility will not work with web hosts that require passive mode FTP connections.
The direct install utility is located at http://contentor.net/ftp/
Download for Manual Installation
A stable version of the entire system is available for download as a .zip file on the Contentor page at Sourceforge.net .
Complete installation instructions for the download version will be written soon - however, basically, unzip into the root of the site, preserving the structure in the .zip file, chmod the 'images' folder and 'util/config.inc.php' to 777 (writable) and run 'util/install.php' to enter database info for access, etc. The install routine should launch the database load programs to load the 'install.sql' defaults into the database. The install.php file can be deleted once the system is operational.
Setting the System Configuration
On the initial installation, once the files are copied to your web site, you will be given a link to run the install routine. You will need to fill in the following information to get the system to run:| _MySQL_host: | // MySQL server location |
| _MySQL_db: | // MySQL database name |
| _MySQL_user: | // MySQL user name |
| _dbpw: | (only if changed)// MySQL password *** must be at least 4 characters long if changing *** |
| _contents_table: | // MySQL contents table name |
| _setup_table: | // MySQL table to hold setup data |
| _pages_table: | // MySQL table to hold page info and hit counts |
| _path_url: | // hosting url (including folder name, if any - include trailing / ) |
| _localRoot: | // where Apache looks for the files ( include trailing / ) |
| _formproc_allowed: | // permitted e-mail recipients via formproc.php |
| _default_page_title: | // default page title |
| _default_template: | // path FROM SITE ROOT (no initial / ) - this file must exist! |
(the remainder of the settings are less critical and are covered elsewhere...)
The database password, "_dbpw" and the "_MySQL..." database information should be provided to you by your system administrator when you set up your web hosting.
For the table names, these are tables that will be created during the install process. You can set these to any name allowed by MySQL (avoid spaces and punctuation), although the default values should be used unless these table names are in use for some other purpose.
The "_count_table" is for holding page-hit counts. If this field is left blank, a table named "count" will be generated upon installation, but no tracking information will be recorded until this entry is filled to match the table name.
For the next two entries, "_path_url" and "_localhost" , the install program will generally know the correct values and fill these in. The "_path_url" entry is the entire address (as you would type into a web browser) to this installation, including the sub-directory or folder if your installation is not on the 'root' of the site.
.htaccess Considerations
Before you install the program, please note the following:If you already have an .htaccess file in the installation folder of your site, you must save a copy of it so that you can merge the two files in using a text editor. This file is not always visible in files listings via FTP. The Direct Transfer Utility will save the original .htacces file as OLD.htaccess upon first installation.
Refer to the Apache Documentation concerning the syntax of the .htaccess file.
FRONTPAGE WARNING: FrontPage sites have a .htaccess file in the root directory that is created when the FrontPage extensions are installed. FrontPage users should proceed with caution and make a backup copy of their .htaccess file before making any changes. Incorrect changes to your .htaccess file can result in your site being unreachable. FrontPage extensions are not needed by Contentor. So, unless you are using FrontPage extensions for some other purpose, it would be best to remove them before installing Contentor. See your web host's documentation about FrontPage extensions.