makit newsposter help file

http://www.makit.net/

Getting Started Info

I have programmed the newsposter so that all the neccessary files are in the "newsposter" directory. This means you can just sort out the database, configuration and upload the "newsposter" directory. Then you just server side include the newsposter "include.asp" file in any pages on your site that you want news displayed on, include the CSS file and you call the required functions.

All administration is done via the seperate admin section, where you can have multiple users with different levels of security for different users.

Notes Before

You can login to the admin section with the below details:

Username: admin
Password: admin

Complicated? Just make sure you reset the passwords and delete un-needed user's before putting it online, otherwise you can be attacked by nasty pre-pubescents.

Guide

1. First you need to set up the database, you can either use Access or MySQL. I don't have access to a server with MSSQL so I haven't been able to program support for it, but it should just need some basic changes. Anyway, as I was saying... you need to set up the DB, if you are going to use Access then you can just upload the DB as it is, but preferably you should upload it to a private directory that only you have access to. For MySQL I have exported the SQL from phpMyAdmin to set up the tables and records, this isn't a guide for MySQL so I won't delve into detail. Basically, the easiest way to set up MySQL for the news poster is to import via phpMyAdmin, but if you have no access to PHP or phpMyAdmin then you'll have to set up the DB using the SQL with ASP scripts or any other way's you set up your MySQL.

2. Next you need to configure the news poster by editing the config.asp file (in the news poster/admin directory), the default settings are for an access DB in the default directory structure. If you move the DB then you will need to configure the DB location in the config file, To change to use a MySQL DB then you change it in the config file as well. The config file also allows the server timeout to be configured, the email information (from emailing when users are created) and the smilie codes.

3. Now you can upload the news poster directory (and/or the database) and you can post news, add users, etc. via the admin.. but wait a minute! How can people see the news? Well, i'll put that under it's own step.. number 4!

4. I will use an example to explain how to display news, let's say I have a page "default.asp" that is my front page and I want the news on it, well first I put a server side include in the page:

Then I put a link to the style sheet:
<link href="news poster/style.css" rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" />
I can then use either of the functions; getNews or getNewsNoCat, to display news; getNews displays news with categories, so it displays a category list and when one is selected, it'll show the news posts in that page. It has one attribute whose value is how many posts you want displayed on a page. getNewsNoCat just displays the latest news, ignoring categories.

5. To customize the news look then you can do it all via CSS, just change the CSS file with your own, or edit it to fit in with your web site design, I have kept the CSS simple so it should fit in with your web site easily, if not then you could modify the include.asp file so it outputs in the exact way you want :)

6. Avatars can be uploaded into the "avatars" folder, as long as they are jpg files and are numbered in order from 0 upwards then they will be displayed on the site for use :) Smilie's need to be uploaded into the "smilies" folder and then set up in the config file to correspond to a smilie code, once this is done they will be displayed and ready for use :)

Do note that you can check the two example pages to see how to show news.

That'll do for now.

Any problems or bugs then let me know via my contact form at my site.

makit