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*** dotWidget for Articles ***
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*** Content Management System -- Website Articles ***
*** Copyright (C) 2001 Keith Reichley ***
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dotWidget for Articles is a browser-based content management system for the placing and maintenance of articles and/or news on a website. A password-protected Admin area allows a webmaster to add articles and manage site configuration. All article-related data are stored in mySQL tables.
Installation is fairly painless if you're willing to follow a few simple directions. Also, dotWidget's display and category-based organization of articles are very customizable, especially with the editable "include" files for site-wide header, footer and style sheets. For true "drop-in" installation, replace our include files with yours.
Content management couldn't be much easier. All articles, as well as author and category information, is entered via simple Admin menus. Also, dotWidget's special Markup Tags let you format the content and bylines of articles -- no need for HTML!.
For help, FAQs and latest dotWidget updates, visit http://www.dotwidgeta.com/help.
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REQUIREMENTS:
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* PHP (tested on version 4.0.4)
* mySQL (tested on version 3.23.21)
* Apache web server (may work on IIS and other servers, but not tested on those)
Recommended: Administrator's browser should accept cookies for best password protection results.
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INSTALLATION:
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1) UPLOAD THE FILES:
Unzip dotwidgeta.zip to a directory called dotwidgeta at the root of your web server. You can select a different directory, but then you'll need to change several settings in the configuration (see "EDIT YOUR CONFIGURATION" below).
Make sure you chmod the dotwidgeta/admin/dotwidgeta_config.php file to 0666, so that you can change your configuration settings via the configuration edit screen.
2) CREATE mySQL TABLES:
Run the SQL contained in the dotwidgeta.sql file on your mySQL installation. This will create the four tables required for dotWidget for Articles. All article, author and category information will be stored in these tables. For more information on mySQL, visit http://www.mysql.com.
3) EDIT YOUR CONFIGURATION
In your browser, open the dotwidgeta/admin/editconfig.php file.
a) You will be prompted for an ID and a password. Use these defaults:
ID: dotwidget
PW: dotwidget
b) Change the database settings to match those of your mySQL installation.
c) Change the dotWidget ID and password as desired.
d) Change the File Path value to the fully-qualified URL of your site, including the dotwidgeta directory.
e) If you have renamed, moved or replaced any of the header, footer, or css include files, enter those changes.
f) Click the "Save your Configuration changes" button. Your settings are then written to the dotwidgeta/admin/dotwidgeta_config.php file.
g) Go to dotwidgeta/admin/index.php. If there are any errors, go back to
dotwidgeta/admin/editconfig.php and check your configuration settings.
h) Go to dotwidgeta/index.php. You won't see any articles yet, but if you
get any errors, go back to dotwidgeta/admin/editconfig.php and check your
configuration settings.
4) EDIT "LOOK-AND-FEEL"
There are two sets of header and footer files: one for the Admin area, and one for the Articles display area (which is where your site's visitors navigate to and read your articles):
Display: * dotwidgeta/includes/header.inc
* dotwidgeta/includes/footer.inc
* dotwidgeta/includes/site.css
Admin: * dotwidgeta/admin/includes/adminheader.inc
* dotwidgeta/admin/includes/adminfooter.inc
* dotwidgeta/admin/includes/adminsite.css
We recommend that you change (or replace) these Display files to match the navigation and look-and-feel of your site.
You probably don't need to change the Admin files, unless you really hate the color scheme and logo that we've chosen. Note that this area is password protected (via Basic Authentication) and will not be seen by the general public.
5) ADD CONTENT
In your browser, go to dotwidgeta/admin/index.php. From this page you can add Authors, Categories and Articles.
Make sure that you add authors and categories before adding articles. When you add an article, you will assign it to an existing author and to one or more existing categories.
Note that by default, any HTML code added to the content or byline fields of the "Add an Article" Admin screen will be "escaped", and not processed as HTML. In other words, it will rendered as HTML code text on the screen. However, you can use special Markup Tags (see below) for simple text formatting, such as bolding, italics, hyperlinks, etc.
You may choose to allow HTML in the content and bylines of your articles by changing the "Use Markup?" configuration setting to "No". Note that this setting will disable all Markup Tags and pass the HTML directly into your database. Do so at your own risk, as pernicious code could potentially make its way into your database.
6) REVIEW CONTENT
After you've added a few articles, open your browser to dotwidgeta/index.php. You should see a linked title and a summary for each article entered (by default, the three most recent). If you receive any error messages, return to admin/editconfig.php and recheck your configuration settings.
7) NEED MORE INFORMATION?
* dotWidget -------------- http://www.dotwidget.com
* dotWidget Help --------- http://www.dotwidget.com/help
* email ------------------ [email protected]
* PHP -------------------- http://www.php.net
* mySQL ------------------ http://www.mysql.com
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MARKUP TAGS:
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Mostly because of our need to display HTML code in our articles, dotWidget is set up to escape all HTML. For editing purposes, the administrator can use custom Markup Tags to format the content and bylines of articles. Special thanks to Kevin Yank of SitePoint.com for this technique.
Markup Tag: HTML Equivalent:
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[BOLD] <B>
[ENDBOLD] </B>
[ITALICS] <I>
[ENDITALICS] </I>
[PRE] <PRE>
[ENDPRE] </PRE>
[LIST] <UL>
[ENDLIST] </UL>
[NUMLIST] <OL>
[ENDNUMLIST] </OL>
[BULLET] <LI>
[LINK] <A HREF=...>
[LINK=...] <A HREF=...>
[ENDLINK] </A>
Use [LINK] to make a link of a URL, where the text of the link is the URL. Use [LINK=] to create a link with clickable text that is different from the URL.
For example:
[LINK] http://www.dotwidget.com [ENDLINK]
will display a link with clickable text of "http://www.dotwidget.com".
[LINK=http://www.dotwidget.com] Visit dotWidget.com! [ENDLINK]
will display a link with clickable text of "Visit dotWidget.com!".
Note that line breaks are honored in content and bylines. Single line breaks are converted to <BR>, while double line breaks are converted to <P>.
To add your own Markup Tags or to change existing ones, carefully edit the dotwidgeta/includes/convert_byline.inc and dotwidgeta/includes/convert_content.inc files.
To remove the Markup Tag functionality, and to allow HTML in the content and bylines of your articles, change the "Use Markup?" configuration setting to "No". Note that this setting will disable all Markup Tags and pass the HTML directly into your database. Do so at your own risk, as pernicious code could potentially make its way into your database.
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MANIFEST:
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These files should be in your dotwidgeta directory:
* index.php ------------------------ area "home page" for articles display
* showarticle.php ------------------ displays a selected article
* showcatpicks.php ----------------- generates list of existing categories
* includes\convert_byline.inc ------ converts Markup Tags in byline into HTML
* includes\convert_content.inc ----- converts Markup Tags in content into HTML
* includes\footer.inc -------------- footer for articles display pages
* includes\header.inc -------------- header for articles display pages
* includes\showcatlinks.inc -------- creates submenu of category links
* if Navigator Selector Type = text links
* includes\showcats.inc ------------ creates category drop down list
* if Navigator Selector Type = select box
* includes\showlatest_articles.inc - creates summary list of articles on "home page"
* includes\site.css ---------------- Cascading style sheets for articles display
* admin\articles.php --------------- Admin script to add, edit and delete articles
* admin\authors.php ---------------- Admin script to add, edit and delete authors
* admin\categories.php ------------- Admin script to add, edit and delete categories
* admin\dotwidgeta_config.php ------ configuration settings file
* admin\editconfig.php ------------- form to change configuration settings
* admin\index.php ------------------ Admin area main menu
* admin\includes\adminfooter.inc --- footer for Admin area pages
* admin\includes\adminheader.inc --- header for Admin area pages
* admin\includes\adminsite.css ----- Cascading style sheets for Admin area
* images\dot1.gif ------------------ spacing gif used here and there
* images\widget.gif ---------------- a dotWidget logo image file
* images\widget_articles.gif ------- a dotWidget logo image file
* images\widget_articles_pow.gif --- a dotWidget logo image file
* info\dotwidgeta.sql -------------- SQL code you can use to create mySQL tables
* info\license.txt ----------------- info about the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE
* info\readme.txt ------------------ this file
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LICENSING INFO:
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dotWidget for Articles is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy (see license.txt) of the GNU General Public License along with this program; if not, write to the Free Software Foundation, Inc., 675 Mass Ave, Cambridge, MA 02139, USA.
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Please leave all copyright notices in the various files intact. If you are compelled for whatever reason (we don't want to know) to remove the copyright notices, please send US$20 via PayPal
(http://www.paypal.com) to [email protected].
If you are of a generous nature and for whatever reason (that we DO want to know) you really like this dotWidget script, please send your noble contribution via PayPal to [email protected].