Building Websites with e107

Table of Contents

Building Websites with e107

Credits

About the Author

Acknowledgement

About the Reviewer

Preface

What This Book Covers

What You Need for This Book

Conventions

Reader Feedback

Customer Support

Downloading the Example Code for the Book

Errata

Questions

1. An Introduction to e107

History of Content Management Systems

How a Content Management System Works

Brief History of e107

The People Who Make e107 Possible

Summary

2. Installing e107

Requirements

Operating System Requirements

Installing e107

Uploading e107 to Your Server

No Command-Line Access

Command-Line (Shell) Access

Setting File Permissions

Core Permissions

Plug-in Permissions

Content Management Plugin

Links Page

Statistic Logging

Running the Installation Script

Stage 1

Stage 2

Root Access

No Root Access

Stage 3

Stage 4

Stage 5

Stage 6

Stage 7

Securing Your Installation

Upgrading an Existing e107 Installation

Database Updates

Troubleshooting Common Installation Problems

Summary

3. Setting Site Preferences

The e107 Front End

Creating a Username and Password

Activating Your Registration

The User or Member Welcome Page

The e107 Back End

Setting Site Preferences

Site Information

Display Information

Admin Display Options

Date Display Options

User Registration/Posting Option

Signup Page Options

Text Rendering

Security & Protection

Comments

Advanced Features

Emoticons

Creating the Front Page

Creating a Dynamic Front Page

Creating a Static Front Page

Creating Different Front Pages by User Class

Summary

4. Customizing the Look and Feel of Your Site

What is a Theme?

Understanding the Theme Layout

Psychology of Color

Selecting a Theme

Core Themes

Additional Themes

Custom Themes

Deleting Themes

Customizing Layout

The WYSIWYG Editor

The File Upload Manager

Creating Menu Items Using the Custom Page/Menu Tool

Deleting a Custom Menu Item

Changing Views by Membership Level

Customizing Our Site

Internationalization—Using a Custom Language File

Summary

5. Customizing Your Site for e-Commerce with Plugins

Introduction to Plugins

How to Install Plugins

Core Plugin Installation

Installing a Non-Core Plugin

Plugin Manager Upload Plugin Option

Uninstalling a Plugin

Banner Plugin

Adding the Banner Shortcode to a Theme

Creating a Banner Ad Campaign

Activating the Ad Campaign

Shopping Cart Plugin

Main ZoGo-Shop Settings

Manage Store Categories

Adding Store Categories

Editing and Deleting Categories

Manage Store Products

Adding Store Products

Editing and Deleting Products

Manage Gateways

Managing Orders

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) Plugin

Adding Categories

Adding Sub-Categories

Setting Preferences

Entering Sample FAQs

Summary

6. Customizing Your Site for Business with Plugins

User Class

Creating a User Class

Attaching a User Class to a User

Deleting a User from a User Class

Assigning Admin User Class to a User or Removing It

The Forum Plugin

Installing Forum

Creating the Forum Parents

Creating the Forums

Creating the Sub-Forums

Changing the Category Order

Changing the Forum Order

Changing the Order of the Sub-Forums

Setting Forum Preferences

Prune

Ranks

Forum Rules

Reported Posts

Moderators

Tools

The Poll Plugin

Changing Themes for a More Professional Business Appearance

Summary

7. Adding Content to e107

Content Management Plugin

Key Features

Built-in Template System for Content Pages

Preset and Custom Tag Capabilities

Menu System

Advanced Sorting System

Personal Content Manager

Options

Installation and Configuration

Creating a New Category

Changing the Order of Categories

Managing Categories

Deleting a Category

Editing a Category

Creating Content

Managing Content

Deleting Content

Editing Content

PDF Creation Plugin

The Coppermine Plugin

Installing the Coppermine Plugin

Coppermine Configuration

General Settings

Language, Themes & Charset Settings

Album List View

Thumbnail View

Image View & Comment Settings

File and Thumbnail Settings

Files and Thumbnails Advanced Settings

User Settings

Custom Fields, Cookies, and Miscellaneous Settings

Image Watermarking

Saving Configuration

Admin Mode and User Mode

The Group Control Panel

Categories, Albums, and Pictures

Creating Categories

Creating Sub-Categories

Creating Albums

Block (Menu) Configuration

Summary

8. Information Dissemination

The Newsletter Plugin

Installation

Configuration

Creating Our First Mailing

How to Subscribe to the Newsletter

Event Calendar Plugin

Installation

Configuring Calendar Settings

Categories

Forthcoming Events

Maintenance

Event Calendar Front End

Entering Information into our Calendar

Editing or Deleting a Calendar Event

RSS Plugin

Installation

Existing RSS Feeds

Import

Activating RSS on the Front End

Search Engines

Meta Tags

Summary

9. Maintenance, Optimization, and Security

Database Utilities

Scan Plugin Directories

Maintenance Flag

Check for Available Database Updates

Check Database Validity

Optimize SQL Database

Backup Core

Security

File Uploads

Passwords

Security & Protection Preferences

Summary

A. Resources

e107 Resources

Official Sites

Other Sites

World Sites

Resources for Running e107 on a Windows OS

Apache Resources

PHP Resources

MySQL Resources

Index

Building Websites with e107

Tad Boomer

Building Websites with e107

Copyright © 2007 Packt Publishing

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embedded in critical articles or reviews.

Every effort has been made in the preparation of this book to ensure the accuracy of the information presented. However, the information contained in this book is sold without warranty, either express or implied. Neither the author, Packt Publishing, nor its dealers or distributors will be held liable for any damages caused or alleged to be caused directly or indirectly by this book.

Packt Publishing has endeavored to provide trademark information about all the companies and products mentioned in this book by the appropriate use of capitals. However, Packt Publishing cannot guarantee the accuracy of this information.

First published: February 2007

Production Reference: 1160207

Published by Packt Publishing Ltd.

32 Lincoln Road

Olton

Birmingham, B27 6PA, UK.

ISBN 978-1-904811-31-2

www.packtpub.com

Cover Image by www.visionwt.com

Credits

Author

Theodore S. Boomer

Reviewer

Eric Vanderfeesten

Development Editor

Nanda Padmanabhan

Technical Editor

Viraj Joshi

Editorial Manager

Dipali Chittar

Project Manager

Patricia Weir

Project Coordinator

Abhijeet Deobhakta

Indexer

Bhushan Pangaonkar

Proofreader

Chris Smith

Layouts and Illustrations

Shantanu Zagade

Cover Designer

Shantanu Zagade

About the Author

Theodore S. Boomer was born in Catskill, NY. From an early age he showed a propensity for science and mechanics as well as for art and music. When the personal computers became available he knew then that he was going to be working with them in one form or another when he grew up.

Currently he is running Connetek Business Technologies,http://www.connetek.com, his own small business-technology company specializing in consulting, small business-technology assessment, web presence, web design and web hosting with a focus on entrepreneurs, small office/home office, small business, non-profit, and small government contracts. His technical knowledge and ability to communicate effectively has garnered him clients from around the world.

Tad started writing technical manuals and conducting instruction regarding the use of software while employed with the US military and US federal government and has been a technical reviewer for the books—osCommerce Beginners Edition (ISBN-1886), osCommerce Professional Edition (ISBN-1145), Open VPN (ISBN-185X), and cPanel (ISBN-1923).

Acknowledgement

A huge thanks to Trish Weir, Nanda Padmanabhan, Abhijeet Deobhakta, and Viraj Joshi at Packt Publishing for providing me an opportunity to write my first book and for their guidance, patience, and encouragement. I would also like to thank Eric and Cameron at e107.org for not only supporting the book idea but for taking part in the reviewing team. To all the plugin developers for the plugins used in this book, thank you so much and please continue your outstanding work.

I am grateful to Dr. Padgett at Cuddle Care Animal Hospital for allowing me to use her business site as test site for this book and to Pets911 and Vetcentric for allowing the use of their banners.

I would like to thank Roger, Nellie, Jerry, and Rusty for putting up with my working at all hours of the day and night on this project and to Boomer and Judy who sacrificed a summer of hiking and playing while this book was being written.

My thanks to Gary who rescued me when I was faltering, taught me how to focus, and gave the will to get this project completed and also to my friends Jason, Jeff, Bob, Vladi, and Klara for their support and encouragement.

Finally my special thanks to my mom who kept telling me over the years that I should write a book. Thank you for having faith in me when it seemed like I would never get focused on any one thing longer than a day and for your love and encouragement.

About the Reviewer

Eric Vanderfeesten was born in the Netherlands and currently is one of the main developers for e107. He has been using e107 for about 4 years and started off as an interested user in content management systems. He soon discovered the overwhelming possibilities for code enhancements to the system and also found a need to create his own plugins for a number of websites. After releasing several plugins he was asked to join the beta test team, for which he contributed ideas to the main developers and delivered fixes and enhancements to the core system. Soon after that period he joined the main developers team of which he has been a member for about two and a half years now.

Although he has been coding for a long time, programming is not his educational skill. He is an architect and working in the architectural domain as his main profession.

Since computer science has been a field of interest to him he has taken this interest into the domain of architectural design and graduated on a project involving generative architecture using a parametric script to produce architectural environments based on favela structures that can be found in Brazil.

Besides his work as a main developer for e107 he is also the chairperson of an architectural foundation 'Eindhovenseschool.net' and has several freelance activities besides his daytime job.

Preface

As of February 2007, there are 13,241 PHP scripts listed at hotscripts.com. Of these, 641 are content management system (CMS) scripts, all with the ability to manage your online content and make your site dynamic. Out of these 641, e107 has been voted second in popularity in a recent survey. It's growing legion of fans like it for its ease of installation, powerful diverse features, well written code, and built-in security features.

E107 doesn't have a flashy name and you can't install it through a control panel such as Fantastico DeLuxe, which is probably why it is not the number one CMS. Nevertheless, downloading and installing e107 is a very easy straightforward process. One of the things that make e107 unique is its modularization. Many CMS take the one-size-fits-all approach and for smaller businesses in particular, they are a waste of resources. As opposed to this, e107 has a core program with many additional features available by activating a plugin (an additional set of scripts). This gives you the control to determine what features you need for your particular site.

While this book was written with entrepreneurs, small office/home office, and small businesses in mind, it will prove to be a great resource for anyone wishing to use e107. I would also like to stress that while targeted towards small business users, e107 is perfectly suited for personal sites as well as large corporations. This book is a primer to get you started and familiar with using e107. It is not a complete reference. However, it does contain references to resources for learning those features not covered in the text.

Don't panic if you have never created a database or installed a script, or have no knowledge about file permissions. In this book we will work together, step by step, to create a website for a small business. The book is a quick-paced tutorial and contains lots of screenshots so you need not try to second-guess what you should be seeing in your browser. This book will get your e107 up and running quickly and save your hundreds if not thousands of dollars in web-design and maintenance fees.

What This Book Covers

Chapter 1 introduces us to e107 and provides a brief history of content management systems, how content management systems work, a brief history of e107, and an introduction to the development team.

Chapter 2 covers the requirements for running e107, uploading to the server, setting file permissions, creating the database, running the installation script, securing your installation, updating e107, and what to do and where to go when things don't go as planned.

Chapter 3 takes us to our new website and covers the various components of the screen layout, creating and activating usernames, and registrations. After covering the front end of our new website, we will get to the heart of our website—the back end—where we will learn the various preference settings options, learn about emoticons, creating static and dynamic front pages, and different front-page views for different user groups.

Chapter 4 deals with the themes—the site theme, admin themes, how to select a different theme, core themes, additional themes, and custom themes. We will learn where to find additional themes and how to make them available for installation. We will cover customizing our theme through the selection of menu items, and learn how to use the WYSIWYG editor and file upload manager, create and delete custom menu items, and make the navigation of our site multi-lingual.

Chapter 5 takes us into the world of e-commerce with our website through the use of plugins. We will learn the difference between core and non-core plugins, where to obtain plugins, and how to install and uninstall plugins. We will learn how to create banner advertising campaigns and display banner ads on our site using the Banner plugin. We will create the Paws R Us store using the Shopping Cart plugin and finally we will learn about the FAQ plugin.

Chapter 6 transforms our e107 website into an e-business powerhouse. In this chapter we will learn how to create user groups and how to use them to control access to the various functions of our system. We will cover the installation, setup, and maintenance of forums and polls.

Chapter 7 will no doubt be the most referred to chapter in this book as we learn how to use the Content Management plugin, which is a very powerful and versatile content organizer. We will also learn how to set up the PDF plugin so our users can download documents in their original formatting. Last but not the least, we will cover how to use the Coppermine photo gallery plugin.

Chapter 8 covers information dissemination. We will learn how to install, configure, and write a newsletter, communicate with our users with the calendar plugin, update users about our business by means of RSS, and learn some basic things we need