========================================================== ========================================================== MessageBulletin 3.3.1 Readme.txt ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ (1/6) Requirements =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= In order for you to install MessageBulletin 3.3.1, you will need to be able to do the following: + Run Perl 5 + Create files dynamically + Call UNIX commands + Run the script in your UID/GID (2/6) Structure =+=+=+=+=+=+=+= The following is a structure overview, to help you with the installation of MessageBulletin version 3.3.1 Please, follow the design in order to avoid any conflicts. Files that go in a subfolder in your /cgi-bin: 1) messagebulletin.pl (chmod to 755) 2) configs.cf (chmod to 755) 3) Create an empty data.txt file (chmod to 777) Files that go in a subfolder in a HTML folder: 1) final.html (chmod to 777) 2) important.gif (chmod to 755) 3) normal.gif (chmod to 755) 4) yeah.gif (chmod to 755) 5) Create a folder called /messages (chmod to 777) Overview of a final structure would be: + /path/+ | +-> cgi-bin/messagebulletin/+ | | | +---> messagebulleting.pl | +---> configs.cf | +---> data.txt | +-> html/messagebulletin/+ | +--> final.htm +--> important.gif +--> normal.gif +--> yeah.gif | +--> messages/ (3/6) Configuration =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= All StepWeb scripts are designed to require as little configuration in the script itself, as possible. Modifying a script can lead to failures in execution, errors, etc... You will only (maybe) need to modify the very first line of all files with a *.pl extension. The line that you are interested in is #!/usr/local/bin/perl Find where the Perl executable is on your server, and make sure that the first line points to that executable . To find the location, you can login to your telnet and type at the prompt: whereis perl When you have modified messagebulletin.pl's first line, you are done with those. You can now move on to configure the configuration file configs.cf The configs.cf will ask you to configure each line to point to whatever folder, file or URL it needs to. The configs.cf asks you for the following (in this order) You will notice that M.B. stands for MessageBulletin. 1) What is the virtual HTML path of the M.B. folder ? 2) What is the virtual CGI path of the M.B. folder ? 3) What is the URL to the M.B. HTML folder ? 4) What is the URL to the M.B. CGI folder ? 5) What is the path to your sendmail ? 6) What is the name of your discussion forum ? 7) What is the URL of your background picture ? 8) Would you like to allow HTML tags in the posts ? 9) Do you require for an e-mail address in the posts? 10) Do you want the monthly expiration date enabled ? 11) What color of all text would you like to apply ? 12) What is the extension of your messagebulletin CGI ? Number 7, will allow you to customize the background of the posts to match your design better. You can either name an URL starting with http:// or you can also simply list a color such as black, white, green, or any other color. You are also welcome to use the special #00FF00 coding. Numbers 8, 9 and 10, will accept No or Yes as an answer . Must be the complete words, not just the initials. Number 11 must be any color or #00FF00-style coding. Number 12 will usually be either "pl" or "cgi". It means, that if your CGI script runs under as messagebulletin.pl , you need to enter "pl" (without the quotes). If you will run your script as messagebulletin.cgi, you will simply put in "cgi" (without the quotes). Make sure that you edit the final.html to reflect the location (URL) of the messagebulletin.pl on your server. Final.html is the only HTML file that needs to be edited. (4/6) Usage =+=+=+=+=+= To use MessageBulletin 3.3.1, you will simply need to configure and install it into your account. Make sure that your account will support UNIX commands and CGI scripts. (Please, view the pre-requirements for more information). MessageBulletin is a neat message board, allowing for web visitors to leave messages on a board, upon which other visitors can reply. Thus, creating discussions. Having a message board on your website will make visitors and potential customers want to come back to your website, as the discussions will be of their interests (hopefully). All you need to do after you have configured the script , and installed it, is to edit the final.html file that comes with the package. In your final.html, you will need to look for a line that contains something similar to: You will need to modify this line, so it will point to the messagebulletin.pl script on "your" server. If you do not make sure of this, the script might not work properly. You can modify the entire design of the final.html file , as long as the following tags remain intact:
We strongly recommend to have the
    and
tags around those two tags for nicer discussions layout. Note , that the
    and
tags are not required. When all is done, you are ready to try out the script by going to your final.html through a browser, and clicking on the "Post A Message" link. This is the link, that you had just modified, by the way. Once clicked, you should be presented with a form where you can enter your message. If an error appears, then you have setup something wrongly. Upon your first message posting, you can return to your final.html file and reload it to see your message on the board. You can then click on the subject or image to read the message itself. Clicking on the poster's link, will bring up your browser's e-mail software. When you read a message, you will always see four (4) small images at the bottom. They all have their own little function. The first image will allow for you to go back to the discussion board (the main board with all the messages). The second image will make it possible for you to reply to a post on the board (without e-mailing to the poster). The thid image will do the same as the second image, with the difference that a copy of your reply is e-mailed to the post (if they left an e-mail address). The fourth image, will simply allow for you to post a new message in the board. It's not really useful having it in the message, but an extra accessibility feature is neat. MessageBulletin has several error traps, that validate information passed into the script. It will display polite and user-friendly messages to the visitors, informing them of their mistakes. (4/6) Troubleshooting =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= a) The final.html becomes totally blank and no new posts show up, why? -"This is a bug that happens if the expiration feature is enabled. This should not happen with the newer versions of MessageBulletin. If it does, please, let us know exactly when it happened and how many messages were present and their threads." -"Another cause for this, might be if you have run out of disk space and it tries to write to the file. In this case it will cause a panic, and it won't know where to write to. Fix: Make sure never to run out of disk space." b) New messages are not created, why? -"If your script does not have the appropriate write permissions or is unable to create files on-the-fly, new messages may no be created. You will have to contact your System Administrator for more help on how to enable your scripts to run under your UID. It may as well simply be a permission problem on the /messages directory. Verify all permissions." If you have problems setting up this script on your server, you might want to consider hosting with a participating webhosting service. Would you need this script to be installed, we do install our scripts at an hourly fee. Visit the MessageBulletin page at: http://www.stepweb.com/messagebulletin MessageBulletin Discussion Forum at: http://www.stepweb.com/forums/MessageBulletin/index.htm (5/6) Fixes History =+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+=+= 09/06/99 ver.3.3.1 : Adding some file locking. This up- grade consists mostly of a readme text fle update. More instructions are now available. Source code is no longer compressed. 05/08/99 ver.3.3.0 : Post formatting feature deleted. Now the post is checked for long words, and if found, post is declined. Some file checks (error traps) added. The readme.txt file has been slightly improved. 10/23/98 ver.3.2.2 : Message posted not chopped off. Mail address shows up only if valid. Many cosmetic updates. 08/19/98 ver.3.2.1 : Small cosmetic bug fixed. Multi-line preview & post+reply now replaces the new line with the break tag correctly. 08/08/98 ver.3.2.0 : Expiration Date fixed. Now deletes old postings and their threads with no errors. Sincerely, StepWeb.Com Staff ========================================================== http://www.stepweb.com StepWeb, Inc. © 1996-1999 ========================================================== ==========================================================