don't get it

[esms]

I watched the overview movie advert on this site. Then I bought PowerCMS and unzipped the files before copying them to my site. Then, I uploaded them with DWCS4. But I don't see what the 'advert' suggests I see!!!

Am I not supposed to see pretty much what the advert suggests?

[AlaskaTom]

There is a considerable amount more to do that just uploading the files.
Check out the read_me.htm file in the root. That lays out what you need to do. In a nutshell, you will need to configure your host to parse php, create a MySql database, use the included sql file to built the database tables etc.
The documentation that webassist provides is pretty detailed.

I also suggest that you remove the link to your site, or remove the pages until you get your server configured to parse php pages.

Hope that helps some.

Tom

[esms]

Hello Tom,

When you say 'you will need to configure your host to parse php', do you mean I need to contact the hosting company and ask them to do this? Not sure I know what you mean.

Looking at the promotional text on the site seemed to indicate that it worked 'straight out of the box' and I would just need to be able to view it and make any visual changes necessary to 'brand it'. That's why I uploaded it to a testing site. However, I don't seem to be able to see anything useful to help me make necessary changes.

It doesn't seem to work. Oh well. Only £50. Anyone know of any other products other than 'Contribute' that can be set up easily for clients to manually adjust their sites?

Cheers for the help anyway.

[NetHawk]

I doubt that you find an even more easy to set up CMS than PowerCMS. All CMS that I know require a database (e.g. MySQL), need to parse PHP files (which is currently not the case on your server) and finally need some setup to connect to the database and inject the data into either a HTML page or a template.

You should definitely invest some time to understand how such a CMS works in general. Once you got that, you'll see, that it's quite simple to work with PowerCMS.

Regarding the PHP files on your server: you obviously run a Apache server, which is good. Usually these are set up in a way, that files with the extension .php are not delivered as such to the browser, but they are parsed through the PHP interpreter first and all PHP code within these files is executted and THEN delivered to the browser.

There are two ways to make this happen:

1. in a Apache config file, to which most hosting companys don't give you access

2. in a file called .htaccess which is a textfile, containing instructions for the Apache server

If in doubt, ask your hosting company to either set up the server (1.) or create the .htaccess for you (2.).

[steve89430]

http://www.smartdecat.co.uk does everything.

[AlaskaTom]

I agree that PowerCMS is one of the easiest cms packages to set up.
When you bought it, and clicked download, there is a wealth of information on that page.
To get back to that page, log back in to your account in Webassist, Click on My Downloads. Choose PowerCMS from the list, then click on Support Resources on the left, then click on PowerCMS Help Resources.

Start with the getting Started Guide. In those pdfs on that page is all the information that you will need to set up PowerCMS.

Thanks.
Tom

[esms]

Hello,

I looked at the How to import a MySQL file PDF and read the following:

.................................................. ...........................

What Do You Need to Start?
•
A .sql script file containing a CREATE TABLE command#
•
MySQL Query Browser or PHPMyAdmin Other MySQL database tools will require similar steps.
•
An empty MySQL database already created
Note: Most .sql script files provided through WebAssist.com require MySQL server 4.2 or higher for it to be successfully imported. Any previous version may return an error. If you receive an error when importing to your live server, you may want to contact your hosting provider to confirm the version that is being used.
Using MySQL Query Browser
MySQL Query Browser is part of the MySQL GUI Tools available at http://mysql.com/. These same steps can be used for most other MySQL administrator tools.
1.
Using the MySQL Query Browser, connect to your MySQL Server.
2.
From the Schemata panel, select the database you intend to add the new database table to.
3.
Choose File > Open Script.
4.
Navigate to the .sql file you wish to import.
5.
Click Open.
.................................................. ..............................

OK - so I downloaded the MySQL GUI as stated (although doesn't appear to be included in my 'PowerCMS' download.

No 1. above states - 'Using the MySQL Query Browser, connect to your MySQL Server.'

Where do I find this in my PowerCMS folder, if at all?

To repeat the title of this thread, I don't get it.

When I've used Adobe Contribute in the past, I simply installed the prog and entered a couple of passwords.

[NetHawk]

Before you go any further with the database you should make sure, that PHP files are parsed. Otherwise PowerCMS will never be able to run.

You probably need to talk to your provider about this. While you're at it, ask, if they can set up a MySQL database for you. You will then get:

- Database address (e.g. localhost)
- Database name (can be anything)
- Username
- Password

Then ask, how to access phpMyAdmin (it's almost 100% certain, that you can have access to that). When you are in phpMyAdmin just import the SQLfile from PowerCMS.

Once you have these steps accomplished you're almost there...

[AlaskaTom]

As stated above, be first thing to do is contact your hosting provider. You do not need to download mysql gui to your computer, those things will be installed on your hosting providers server.
If your host supports php and mysql, then contact them about how to get it working, and access to phpMyAdmin, which is an online tool to help you manage your mysql databases.

Any hosting provider should be able to answer those questions for you. You may need to change hosts, or plans

It looks like you are hosting through 123-reg.co.uk, and looking through their offerings, it looks like they might only support perl (cgi) scripting. In that case you would need to find a new host. I believe one of the earlier posts suggested a UK host.

Tom

[esms]

Hi Tom,

Thanks for the info.

You say, 'You do not need to download mysql gui to your computer, those things will be installed on your hosting providers server.'

Does this mean I should ignore the instruction in the PDF that states the following?

.................................................. .......................

What Do You Need to Start?
•
A .sql script file containing a CREATE TABLE command
•
MySQL Query Browser or PHPMyAdmin Other MySQL database tools will require similar steps.
•
An empty MySQL database already created

Using MySQL Query Browser
MySQL Query Browser is part of the MySQL GUI Tools available at http://mysql.com/. These same steps can be used for most other MySQL administrator tools.
1.
Using the MySQL Query Browser, connect to your MySQL Server.

.................................................. ......


Not quite sure, therefore, why it states I should download it from the link provided. All quite confusing then!


Thanks anyway for the assistance. I'll probably leave it now seeing as it isn't anywhere near as clear as suggested in the promo advert.

[Neil Beadle]

The How To for Importing a .SQL script file provides instructions for two different ways that you can import these files.

The MySQL GUI Tools include the MySQL Query Browser which is commonly used on a local testing server. If you were setting this up locally before moving to your live (Hosting Provider's) site, you may want to use this. Some developers also use this for their live server, but it depends on your Hosting Provider.

PHPMyAdmin is a commonly used interface for managing your database on your Hosting Provider's website. This may not be the case, but your hosting provider will likely provide you with some sort of control panel that is similar to PHPMyAdmin, where you can import the .sql script.

If you are getting hung up on this one step. I suggest you submit a support ticket, and have a support engineer guide you through accomplishing this once. Once you've imported one .sql file to your server, you'll have no trouble importing others.
http://www.webassist.com/mywebassist/techsupportinsert_1.php

[esms]

Not sure if you've seen this:

http://www.cushycms.com/

But it's FREE and allows you to edit pages easily without the problem of contacting hosting companies about setting up databases, parsing php, etc....

Often asking them to sort it out (and waiting for their replies) could take a few days!)

[john.carter13796]

As Tom suggests you really should remove the link to your site for the time being.

[Justin Nemeth]

That cushy cms might be free, but they host all of your content on their servers. PowerCMS however, runs completely on your own server so it is way more secure since you have direct control over all your content. Nowadays, almost all web hosts will have PHP and MySQL readily available to use which should make setting up PowerCMS straightforward.

[esms]

Hello,

Not sure why I needed to remove link to my website but just gone to remove it anyway. But it's already removed. Saves me a job.

Not really sure why it was a problem - I just uploaded what was in DWCS4 to be able to try and work out how to make it work. When I open any of the pages in DW, I'll either see nothing or stuff that doesn't appear to make sense. I was hoping someone would be able to help point me to what I was supposed to do. The advert movie seems to suggest it works strainghtaway.

Anyway, cheers to those with suggestions why it wasn't working.

[esms]

Oh, sorry - my mistake. Just noticed the italic text underneath the first post. I don't understand why uploading caused a problem. Is this the problem? Am I only supposed to upload some of the files to make it work / visible? If so, which ones?

Anyway, in case anyone sees the link to the site, I've removed all the content and replaced it with a screenshot of the problems. Therefore, nobody can access it but maybe throw light on which parts of the prog I should upload.

I've bought around 20 WA products in the past but never had issues like this before. Oh well. Worth a punt.

[Ray Borduin]

The issue was that because the server did not have .php installed properly and directory browsing was enabled, it wasn't properly secured so that somebody could download it off your server.

On a functioning server you should be uploading all of the files.

[esms]

OK. Thanks. Incidentally, it's not my server. I only rent space from a company in the UK. How do you tell if the company has '.php installed properly'? I'm not sure they would advertise they don't have it set up properly.

[Justin Nemeth]

To test if PHP is enabled, i typically just make a file called phpinfo.php and put this code inside it:

<?php phpinfo(); ?>
If you browse to that page on your server, you will get all sorts of information if PHP is installed. If its not, you will likely just see that code written out.

You will have to contact your hosting company directly and have them enable PHP for you.