Xaraya Quickstart - Requirements

Author: jojodee Posted: 18 Juni 2004

A Web Server that supports PHP 4.1.2 or higher

Xaraya is open source software written in

PHP. PHP is a widely-used Open Source general-purpose scripting language that is especially
suited for Web development. Most web servers have support for PHP and this includes Apache
and Windows based servers. You can find out more about PHP at http://www.php.net.

Xaraya can be configured on systems that are running Linux or Unix, BSD, Mac OSX, Solaris,
HP-UX, AIX, Sun Cobalt OS (RAQ4) or Windows98/NT/2000/XP operating systems.

A relational database
This is a database such as MySQL or Postgres, both popular Open Source database solutions
(further database support is in development). Most webservers support either MySQL or
Postgres databases. You can find out more about both at http://www.mysql.com and
http://www.postgres.org respectively.
Xaraya Quickstart - Distribution Files
1. Which package?
Xaraya release distributions come in three main packages called Core, Base, and Full. All
distributions contain the core Xaraya files so you only need to download *one* of the
packages. The difference is in the number of modules, also known as "Extensions" that are
contained in each package.

You only need the Base distribution to get started on your web site. Further Extensions from
the Full distribution of 3rd party developers can be added at any time after installation.

2. Where do I get the files?

The latest distributions for Windows (.zip extension files) and Linux, BSD, Unix, and OSX
(.tar.gz extension files) can always be accessed from our Downloads page.

3. Where do I put the files on the server?

Once you have the distribution, upload it to your website if it is not already there, and unzip or
ungzip all the files to a temporary subdirectory in your web document root directory.

You will find a a subdirectory called /html in the extracted distribution package files.This
directory contains all the files you need to run Xaraya including the main index.php file and the
install.php file.

Move all the files and subdirectories in the /html subdirectory to your website document root
directory (or the directory where you wish to run your Xaraya web site from). You should end
up with index.php and the main install.php file in your document root directory.
Xaraya Quickstart - Prepare for Install atau persiapan install

Prepare files and directories with correct permissions

1. Check to see if the file config.system.php exists in the var subdirectory. If it doesn't
exist then you must create it:
o Copy the config.system.php.distfile and rename it to config.system.php
o Make sure the config.system.php file is in the var subdirectory and is writable
by the web server. On a Linux (*nix) system, you should make sure by setting it
as chmod 666
2. Make sure that the var/cache directory and all of it's own subdirectories (templates,
adodb and rss) are writable. On Linux set the all the writable directories as chmod 777.
3. Look in the /var/locales directory. If the language of your choice is not in listed as a
directory, download the required language pack, extract the files and place them in the
/var/locales directory of your Xaraya installation.

Make sure database connection information is available

1. Database Host name. This is the name of the host where the database server is located.
In most instances it will be sufficient to use localhost as the host name. You can also
use a fully qualified domain name such as mydomain.hosting.com for example, or the
IP address for the server.
2. Database Username The username that will be used to connect to the database. This
should not be the root database username for security reasons, but should allow you to
create database tables and indexes.
3. Database Password The database password used to connect to the database.
4. Database Type This is the type of database you are using and currently should be the
value of either mysql or postgres. This will be selectable from a drop down list during
installation.
5. Database Name The name of the database you are going to connect to. The installation
process will create it if it does not already exist. For people on Virtual Hosting, you
may already have a database created for you. In this case you should find out the name
of the database.
6. Database Table Prefix This is a unique prefix added to all database tables created by
Xaraya. This enables you to run more than one Xaraya site from the same database if
necessary. The prefix defaults to xar.

Please be aware that the information is CASE SENSITIVE so be careful when noting down the
information.
Xaraya Quickstart - Prepare for Install
Author: jojodee Posted: 18 Juni 2004

Prepare files and directories with correct permissions

1. Check to see if the file config.system.php exists in the var subdirectory. If it doesn't
exist then you must create it:
o Copy the config.system.php.distfile and rename it to config.system.php
o Make sure the config.system.php file is in the var subdirectory and is writable
by the web server. On a Linux (*nix) system, you should make sure by setting it
as chmod 666
2. Make sure that the var/cache directory and all of it's own subdirectories (templates,
adodb and rss) are writable. On Linux set the all the writable directories as chmod 777.
3. Look in the /var/locales directory. If the language of your choice is not in listed as a
directory, download the required language pack, extract the files and place them in the
/var/locales directory of your Xaraya installation.

Make sure database connection information is available

1. Database Host name. This is the name of the host where the database server is located.
In most instances it will be sufficient to use localhost as the host name. You can also
use a fully qualified domain name such as mydomain.hosting.com for example, or the
IP address for the server.
2. Database Username The username that will be used to connect to the database. This
should not be the root database username for security reasons, but should allow you to
create database tables and indexes.
3. Database Password The database password used to connect to the database.
4. Database Type This is the type of database you are using and currently should be the
value of either mysql or postgres. This will be selectable from a drop down list during
installation.
5. Database Name The name of the database you are going to connect to. The installation
process will create it if it does not already exist. For people on Virtual Hosting, you
may already have a database created for you. In this case you should find out the name
of the database.
6. Database Table Prefix This is a unique prefix added to all database tables created by
Xaraya. This enables you to run more than one Xaraya site from the same database if
necessary. The prefix defaults to xar.

Please be aware that the information is CASE SENSITIVE so be careful when noting down the
information.
Xaraya Quickstart -Your New Site
Author: jojodee Posted: 18 Juni 2004

Your New Xaraya Site

Xaraya is installed by default
with the Xaraya_Classic
theme. Every element of the
page can be changed both in
the way it looks and it's
placement on the page. You
can change this at any time, but
we will use the default for the
purpose of the Xaraya
Quickstart overview.

The main screen areas:

 The Main Menu:

Viewable at the top on
the left side of the
screen, and listing various modules as menu items, that are available for visitors to the
site. Initial visibility to anonymous visitors and registered users will depend on options
taken during the installation process but can be changed and fine tuned at any time
through the privileges and roles modules.
 Reminder: just that, a html block reminding you to delete install.php and upgrade.php
files from your web root. You can manually remove this, or it will 'expire' from view
automatically after a set period.
 The AdminMenu (Administrator) : In this example, located on the left under the
Main Menu. Only visible to the Site Administrator and others that are give the Role as a
member of the Administrator group. Every module that is available to the Site
Administrator and has configuration options is listed as a menu item in the Admin
Menu.
 Site Header: Self explanatory consisting of the area across the top of the page, and
containing in this instance the logo, and on the right a colour and font size selector
panel. Can contain any content or visual elements you wish to place there.
 Module space: This is the main area of the screen, where the output of the current
module is displayed. In this particular instance it contains text from the Base module.
Can contain any content or visual elements that you wish to place there.
 Site Footer: Not visible in the diagram, but running along the full length of the bottom
of the page. Can contain any elements you wish to place there.
 Columns: in our example we only have one left column. In fact, for your site you can
decide to have any number of columns, or no columns, and any number of 'blocks' or no
blocks at all. In addition, you can have this on one or more, or any of your pages - they
can all be different! Whatever you can do in html you should be able to do on your
Xaraya site, plus more!
The Administration Panel
On the right you can see a diagram of the main Admin Menu

Note that the Admin Menu panel divides all available module menu
items into groups. These groups are by default based on module
functional category. We can see Global, content, User & Groups
categories. This default sort and grouping order can easily be changed
from the Adminpanel extension configuration settings.
Xaraya Quickstart - Basic Configuration
Author: jojodee Posted: 18 Juni 2004
An overview of basic elements of a new site configuration: Adminpanels, Base, Mail, Theme,
Modules, Roles setup.
1. Module Overviews - What are they?
2. Blocks - Remove the Reminder Block
3. Adminpanels - Remove Overviews
4. Base Module - Display Options For Your Site
5. Themes Module - Site Display Variables
6. Roles - Setting User Default Options
7. Mail - Check default mail settings
8. Modules - Installing and Hooking Functionality

This section provides an overview of basic configuration of key modules in a new site. It will
not detail every option in the modules covered herein, but point out important options that need
to be set in any new Xaraya site installation. Important layout and common elements are also
discussed.

1. Overviews - What are they?

Although the Reminder Block

will automatically expire from view if we do not remove it, we'll start our basic configuration
by removing the Reminder block manually.

Click on Blocks in the Admin Panel. You should notice:

 The Blocks submenu appears in the Admin Menu - with all Admin options that are
available for the Blocks Module.
 You will see in the modules space of the page an Overview screen. Every module in the
Admin menu has an Overview screen that provides a brief introduction to the module.
The display of the Overviews is configurable, and can be turned off.

2. Blocks - Remove the Reminder Block

 Click on the View Instances
option in the Blocks submenu items. You should now see the View Block Instances page
appear in the module page space.

This screen lists all the "blocks" that are currently created for the site. In the list you will see
the reminder block, as well as familiar block names such as login, adminpanel and mainmenu.

Click on the R for Remove in the reminder block options. A popup box will ask you to verify
deletion of the block instance Reminder. Click on OK to delete the block.

Note that the style of the display of the block instances can be changed by clicking in the Style
drop down menu and selecting an alternative layout.

3. Adminpanels - Remove Overviews

We won't remove Overviews

now as they are handy to have. But just in case you need to know how, click on Adminpanels -
Modify Config

 The top half of the Adminpanels configuration screen allows you to easily set some
defaults for the Admin Menu itself.
 In the bottom half of the screen you can see the checkbox option for setting the
Disabling of Module Overviews.

4. Base Module - Display Options For Your Site

 The Base module is responsible
for a number of global options for your site. It includes basic display, language, and security
options. Click on Base - Modify Config

First note the Tabs along the top of the Base Admin page view. This is a common interface in
Xaraya administration pages. In this case, there are four distinct areas of Base Module
Configuration, each viewable on separate Tabs.

Site Display Tab

 Here set the default module to display when a visitor browses to your main url
http://yourdomain.com
 Short URLS can be set individually for each module, but the 'master' switch for short
url use at your site is here in the base module
 It is also useful to have Fix HTML Entities turned on so that any & entities are
properly translated into relevant character, in this case &

Sessions & Security Tab

Click on the Sessions &

Security Tab.

Here you can configure the default Security Level for users that visit your site
Language & Locales Tab

Click on the Language &

Locales. This tab is used to set language and local defaults for your site.

All available language packs or 'locales' installed on your site are listed in the Tab view. Select
the default locale for use at your site.

5. Themes Module - Site Display Variables

Click on Themes - Modify Config in the Admin Menu to get to the Configuration Settings
for the Themes module. From this page you can set:

 Default theme - but they will only appear here if you activate them first (in View
Themes)
 Set Site Name, Site Slogan, Copyright and Footer Notice All these can be inserted as
variables into your theme
 Page Title You can choose here how the dynamically generated page title can appear
 Debugging options The main option here is the Cache Templates which allows a little
speeding up of your site. All other options here are very useful when debugging
templates.

6. Roles - Setting User Default Options

The Roles module is very powerful and has many options and functions available. We will
review some of the basic settings you should check when setting up your site, namely those on
the first two Tab options.

General Tab Options

The Page and Site Admin options are important to set early on in your site configuration.

 You can set the number of Users listed per page, and also here is where you should set
short URLs on or off. They will only work here if you have the master short URL
checkbox checked in the Base module.
 Terms of Service and a Privacy policy are supplied with Xaraya. You can set them on
or off for display. Both of these documents are dynamically generated, so not only the
 documents themselves but any references to Privacy or Terms of Service will by
dynamically included only if checked here for display.
 Designated Site Administrator - the site administrator designated here can never be
accidentally deleted from the Roles module. By default, and unless you have setup
other Administrator roles, it is set to Admin.

Registration Options

There are many options here to review and set for your site. Some of the more important
include:

 Default Group for new users: If you allow user registration on your site, they will
automatically be allocated to the group specified here, by default Users. However you
can setup alternative user groups if you wish.
 Allow registration: this will determine whether visitors will be allowed to register on
your Xaraya site or not.
 Require Validation of New User: checking this option will require newly registered
users to validate their email, prior to having their account activated.

Review the other options. They are also important and refer to finer details of how a new user
account is registered, activated and user notified about that registration.

7. Mail - Check default mail settings

The Mail module handles mail functions for your site, including mailing for other modules that
may need to email. Click on Mail - Modify Config to display the main Configurations settings
for the Mail Module.

Check all the options are set to your requirements and then use the Test Configuration option
from the Mail module submenu to test it works as you need.

8. Modules - Installing and Hooking Functionality

The Module module has two very important functions:

 To list all modules and installation, activation, deactivation and uninstall options.
 To extend the functionality of each module by hooking extra functions to each or any of
the existing modules.

Viewing all site Modules

To start, click on Modules - View All. In a few seconds all modules available to your site will
be listed. Some important points:

 Each module is listed with any available options. You can click and install a module, or
deactivate existing modules (except for core modules. Note that if you Remove a
module- the module is removed from view at your site and ALL associated data in
the database is removed. So be careful!
  Notice along the top of the list you have a number of drop down boxes including Style,
View and Sort. Try these, but when checking available modules on your site make sure
the View filter is not filtering out modules and is set to All Modules.

Hooking in Functionality

Let's look at the second important feature of the Modules Module. Click on Configure Hooks
from the Module modules' subitems in the Admin Menu

We'll use Articles as an example, and the Comments module as both of these should be
installed by default. We are going to see how we can allow Users to add Comments to articles
that are published on your site.

 Click on Comments in the listing on the Module Hooks Configuration screen.

 By default you should note that all articles is ticked in the checkbox - meaning that
comments will be available on all article 'itemtypes'. If for example you only wish users
to comment on News article itemtypes, uncheck the all articles, and click to check the
News articles itemtype.

That's it - you have just added the ability of users to comment on News articles on your site. By
hooking one modules functionality to another, you can extend much of your sites functionality.
Eg comments, mail, categories, scheduling and so on.