Newbie needs some serious help!
6 posts by 2 authors in: Forums > CMS Builder
Last Post: February 7, 2008 (RSS)
By erinm - February 6, 2008
Ok, we have been using the Page Publisher for a few years now. I completely understood how to use that program. This CMS builder does seem like it's going to be leaps and bounds easier than PP, but at the moment I'm stumped.
I understand how to go into the Admin > Section Editors and make a new Menu. I understand how to make the wysiwyg boxes and load my existing website information into it.
I am confused by the whole "viewer" thing. I have watched the video, I've read the help section, I've been reading the online posts, I've submitted a support ticket and have spoken with a representative. I'm stil OH SO confused! [crazy]
I am not a programmer, so I do not speak or understand programmer language. I know this has to be very simple. I know everyone says how easy this is. I feel like an idiot because I'm unable to figure this out, and this is not day 3 of working on integrating one particular website.
What exactly do I need to do with the viewer code that I can see when I click on the "Show PHP Viewer Code" button? I don't understand what I need to do with the code in the "List Viewer" and in the "Page Viewer" Do I need to change any information listed within that code? I noticed that my website content that I typed into the wysiwyg boxes is showing up inside the Page Viewer. Everything just seems to be instructions, but the instructions don't really make sense either.
Can you please explain (in as much detail as possible) the steps that I am suppose to take after I set up my menu pages and content? What do I do with the PHP code?
Thank you so much for any help you can give this poor confused sole.
I understand how to go into the Admin > Section Editors and make a new Menu. I understand how to make the wysiwyg boxes and load my existing website information into it.
I am confused by the whole "viewer" thing. I have watched the video, I've read the help section, I've been reading the online posts, I've submitted a support ticket and have spoken with a representative. I'm stil OH SO confused! [crazy]
I am not a programmer, so I do not speak or understand programmer language. I know this has to be very simple. I know everyone says how easy this is. I feel like an idiot because I'm unable to figure this out, and this is not day 3 of working on integrating one particular website.
What exactly do I need to do with the viewer code that I can see when I click on the "Show PHP Viewer Code" button? I don't understand what I need to do with the code in the "List Viewer" and in the "Page Viewer" Do I need to change any information listed within that code? I noticed that my website content that I typed into the wysiwyg boxes is showing up inside the Page Viewer. Everything just seems to be instructions, but the instructions don't really make sense either.
Can you please explain (in as much detail as possible) the steps that I am suppose to take after I set up my menu pages and content? What do I do with the PHP code?
Thank you so much for any help you can give this poor confused sole.
Re: [erinm] Newbie needs some serious help!
By Dave - February 6, 2008
Erin, welcome aboard!
The forum is usually where you'll get the quickest response so feel free to post here with any questions, no matter how simple they may seem. We're committed to helping you.
Basically the "viewers" are what display your CMS content on your website. Typically you'd have two of them. A "list viewer" that lists all the articles and a "page viewer" that shows details for a specific record.
Say you have a news releases section. You might have a page called "newsList.php" that listed the news releases and showed the date, title, and summary. Then when a user click on a news release it would link to another page called say "newsDetail.php" that showed all the information.
The very next step - after you've setup your menu - is to go to the "Show PHP Viewer Code". Above each textbox it will say "Save this as newsList.php" or "Save this as newsPage.php". Copy and paste the code, save it to a file with the name suggested (you can choose another name later) and upload it to your server.
Then go to the file url in your browser. If the file was "newsList.php" the url might be http://www.yoursite.com/newsList.php. The url should list all your records. Clicking on a link should show all the fields for the record you clicked on.
Note, there will be lots of extra fields on the page, instructions, and the page will look plain and undesigned. Don't worry about that right now. Try and get that far and then post back and we'll take the next step.
Hope that helps, any other questions just let me know.
The forum is usually where you'll get the quickest response so feel free to post here with any questions, no matter how simple they may seem. We're committed to helping you.
Basically the "viewers" are what display your CMS content on your website. Typically you'd have two of them. A "list viewer" that lists all the articles and a "page viewer" that shows details for a specific record.
Say you have a news releases section. You might have a page called "newsList.php" that listed the news releases and showed the date, title, and summary. Then when a user click on a news release it would link to another page called say "newsDetail.php" that showed all the information.
The very next step - after you've setup your menu - is to go to the "Show PHP Viewer Code". Above each textbox it will say "Save this as newsList.php" or "Save this as newsPage.php". Copy and paste the code, save it to a file with the name suggested (you can choose another name later) and upload it to your server.
Then go to the file url in your browser. If the file was "newsList.php" the url might be http://www.yoursite.com/newsList.php. The url should list all your records. Clicking on a link should show all the fields for the record you clicked on.
Note, there will be lots of extra fields on the page, instructions, and the page will look plain and undesigned. Don't worry about that right now. Try and get that far and then post back and we'll take the next step.
Hope that helps, any other questions just let me know.
Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com
interactivetools.com
Re: [Dave] Newbie needs some serious help!
By erinm - February 6, 2008
Hi Dave
Thank you so much for your help. I copied the code in the "List Viewer - Save as "indexList.php". " into a blank dreamweaver file. I saved the file as "indexPage.php" and uploaded that to the website server for www.ontapsportscafe.com. The following information appears when you type www.ontapsportscafe.com/indexPage.php into the browser... Sample List Viewer - Instructions:
List Viewer (index): MySQL Error: Unknown column 'title' in 'order clause'
Obviously these are the instructions that are written within that code. What is my next step?
Thank you so much for your help. I copied the code in the "List Viewer - Save as "indexList.php". " into a blank dreamweaver file. I saved the file as "indexPage.php" and uploaded that to the website server for www.ontapsportscafe.com. The following information appears when you type www.ontapsportscafe.com/indexPage.php into the browser... Sample List Viewer - Instructions:
- Remove any fields you don't want displayed. (Most list pages only have title and link fields.)
- Rearrange remaining fields to suit your needs.
- Copy and paste code into previously designed page (or add design to this page).
List Viewer (index): MySQL Error: Unknown column 'title' in 'order clause'
Obviously these are the instructions that are written within that code. What is my next step?
Re: [erinm] Newbie needs some serious help!
By Dave - February 6, 2008
Hi Erin,
Ok, we're getting there. First, make sure you're using the latest version of CMS Builder (v1.09), you can check under Admin > General. If you're not you can download the latest version here http://www.interactivetools.com/order/download.cgi
Next, You shouldn't get an error like that by default (that's why I asked about the version), but to fix it just put the name of your title field (name, title, whatever you called it) in this option:
The titleField is what is used to create urls to the detail page viewer. So if your article is called "Hello World" you might get an url like this: indexPage.php?Hello_World_1 which is better for search engines.
Next, I see this error when I click the link "MySQL Error: Table 'ontapcms.cms_index' doesn't exist". That means it's looking in the wrong database table. Check this option and make sure it has the same value as "Table Name" under "Section Editors". If your tablename was "article" you'd use this:
You don't need the "cms_" prefix usually. Once those two things are fixed it should work.
Give it a try and post back here to let me know how it went.
Ok, we're getting there. First, make sure you're using the latest version of CMS Builder (v1.09), you can check under Admin > General. If you're not you can download the latest version here http://www.interactivetools.com/order/download.cgi
Next, You shouldn't get an error like that by default (that's why I asked about the version), but to fix it just put the name of your title field (name, title, whatever you called it) in this option:
$options['titleField'] = 'title';The titleField is what is used to create urls to the detail page viewer. So if your article is called "Hello World" you might get an url like this: indexPage.php?Hello_World_1 which is better for search engines.
Next, I see this error when I click the link "MySQL Error: Table 'ontapcms.cms_index' doesn't exist". That means it's looking in the wrong database table. Check this option and make sure it has the same value as "Table Name" under "Section Editors". If your tablename was "article" you'd use this:
$options['tableName'] = 'article';You don't need the "cms_" prefix usually. Once those two things are fixed it should work.
Give it a try and post back here to let me know how it went.
Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com
interactivetools.com
Re: [Dave] Newbie needs some serious help!
By erinm - February 7, 2008
Ok
I was able to successfully copy and save the List Viewer - Save as "menuList.php" into a .php file. My content shows up if I go to www.ontapsportscafe.com/menuPage.php.
I am trying to tie the home page of the website into the cms builder, and it seems that I must be receiving the error message because of the name I've given that section. I'm not sure what to do about that. I did try the things that you suggested in the last post, but I am still receiving that error.
Now that I know the other sections seem to be working fine (other than my home page section), what is my next step. How do I tie this in with the existing .html files?
I was able to successfully copy and save the List Viewer - Save as "menuList.php" into a .php file. My content shows up if I go to www.ontapsportscafe.com/menuPage.php.
I am trying to tie the home page of the website into the cms builder, and it seems that I must be receiving the error message because of the name I've given that section. I'm not sure what to do about that. I did try the things that you suggested in the last post, but I am still receiving that error.
Now that I know the other sections seem to be working fine (other than my home page section), what is my next step. How do I tie this in with the existing .html files?
Re: [erinm] Newbie needs some serious help!
By Dave - February 7, 2008
>How do I tie this in with the existing .html files?
The simplest way to do this is to rename your existing .htm file to be a .php file, then copy and paste the php code from your viewer (step1, step2, etc) into that renamed file where you want the content displayed.
As for any other errors or problems, however we can best help you, just let us know. We can always FTP in and take a look, we can give you an overview of it on the phone, or we can continue in the forum. Whatever works best for you.
Hope that helps! :)
The simplest way to do this is to rename your existing .htm file to be a .php file, then copy and paste the php code from your viewer (step1, step2, etc) into that renamed file where you want the content displayed.
As for any other errors or problems, however we can best help you, just let us know. We can always FTP in and take a look, we can give you an overview of it on the phone, or we can continue in the forum. Whatever works best for you.
Hope that helps! :)
Dave Edis - Senior Developer
interactivetools.com
interactivetools.com