Don't Know Where to Start, have several questions

[Paul D. Buck]

I just downloaded and installed the program. It is configured and running, I even played with it a bit. So far so good, but now, the questions ...

If you go on either of my sites (the old, no PHP): http://homepage.mac.com/pauldbuck/index.html or the new (with PHP): http://boinc-doc.net/index.php you can drill down and see that I have two FAQs, one for BOINC and another for SETI@Home, both are heavily instrumented with cross-links to other pages and also to my Glossary and Index.

1) I see how you can add links from inside the FAQ, but ... does that mean I have to hardcode in the links manually?

2) I just saw a question here about sub categories. How can you make them at all. All I see is Category maintenance ... and now way to make a hierarchy.

In my case I would want:
BOINC
--> Credit
--> Performance
SETI@Home
--> Credit
--> Performance
Glossay (possibly)
--> Letter A

3) How do I link from another php page into the FAQ so I can reference faq questions from other pages.

4) Since this is a PHP tool, how do I encode php tags. For example I have a function that allows me to insert a link to the glossary into my page.

I don't know, am I asking silly questions?

[Thorsten]

Hi,

1) I see how you can add links from inside the FAQ, but ... does that mean I have to hardcode in the links manually?

no, just use the drop down menu in the editor. It creates automatically correct internal links.

2) I just saw a question here about sub categories. How can you make them at all. All I see is Category maintenance ... and now way to make a hierarchy.

Just click on the "plus" icon of the main category. It creates a subcategory.

3) How do I link from another php page into the FAQ so I can reference faq questions from other pages.

Just copy the correct link from one FAQ page.

4) Since this is a PHP tool, how do I encode php tags. For example I have a function that allows me to insert a link to the glossary into my page.

You have to wait for phpMyFAQ 1.5 which supports executing PHP inside the templates.

bye
Thorsten

[Paul D. Buck]

Hmmm, I looked at that. However, if I <b>do</b> use the tool to do that, then my drop down list is going to have several hundred topics in it. I am not sure if that is a good direction. Sigh ...

Ok, I will play with it some more ...

But this (a glossary) is a natural extension of the FAQ. With the FAQ organized by topic and questions, the definitions allow the creator to explain what they mean by the technical terms.

Any way, an example of what I mean is http://homepage.mac.com/pauldbuck/site- ... ter-b.html here. Ok, I have enough to fiddle with for the moment.

Thank you for the prompt reply ...

I just guess that I am not looking forward to the task of migrating to your tool. It kind of looks like, for me anyway, that I have to go back and re-do the wheel ...[/b]

[Thorsten]

Hi,

a glossary is planned for phpMyFAQ 1.6.

bye
Thorsten

[Paul D. Buck]

Glork!



Ok, two versions down the pike. Ok, I guess I can fiddle with it and see if I can at leasst migrate the two FAQs I have to your tool. First I have to modify the template ...

More to add to the wish list:

Should emit W3C XHTML (which is not as hard as it sounds when all you have to do is change your emit syntax to make sure it is properly formed) and add the icon to each page.

Use of relative paths, for example to a glossary page, do not work. I am just guessing that the intent is to use hard coded paths to absolute URLs. not a show stopper, but something to consider.

Another nice to have, and an absolute must for glossary terms, the system has to have a cleaner way to reference a defined term. For example I use:

<?php PageRef ("Activate Account"); ?> and
<?php DefinedWord ("URL"); ?>

To do lookups for the pages. In the case of the defined word it just converts it to a reference as:

<a href="../../site-common/glossary/letter-u.php#uniform-resource-locator">URL</a>

In the actual page.

I grant you I am new to PHP so am not on firm ground THERE, but I have been a systems engineer and programmer (in other languages) for several decades, so, this could become part of one of the next deliveries (or it may be there already, I have just not found it yet) where you have a link in function page for includes.

So, in this case, there is a phpMyFAQDefinedWord function (at the least) ...

I still have to play some more, but I am not finding the Image tool that good for handling images. Since I use them a lot this may be another place I am going to pester you about. At the moment I have only done one test, so, I need to do more tests to be certain of my ground.

Ok, I will get off your back until I have new material as I work with your tool. Just a warning, I can be hard on tools ... I usually break them ... The good news from that is I will tell you about them ...

I was even thining of using your tool for something else, but we both have enough on our plates as it is ...

[Thorsten]

Hi,

Should emit W3C XHTML (which is not as hard as it sounds when all you have to do is change your emit syntax to make sure it is properly formed) and add the icon to each page.

phpMyFAQ 1.4 and 1.5 are XHTML 1.0 valid.

Use of relative paths, for example to a glossary page, do not work. I am just guessing that the intent is to use hard coded paths to absolute URLs. not a show stopper, but something to consider.

What do you mean exactly?

I still have to play some more, but I am not finding the Image tool that good for handling images. Since I use them a lot this may be another place I am going to pester you about. At the moment I have only done one test, so, I need to do more tests to be certain of my ground.

The WYSIWYG editor has an Image Manager inside.

bye
Thorsten

[Paul D. Buck]

Yes, it seems to be so ... but not strict, or at least you are not validating to strict. Or I missed another setitng, which would not surprise me.

Ok, in my directory structure i have:

Site (home dir)
- site-boinc
-- faq
-- _images
-- owner's manual
- site-seti
-- faq
--- _images
- site common
-- glossary
-- _images

so, if i want to reference a term, I can use, and usually do, a relative path such as, from the "Owner's Manual" ddirectory href="../../site-common/glossary/letter-a.php#ascii" as a link for a defined term.

WIth this scheme, you can work on a test bed of the site, pop it up with no changes and it will still work on the live site. For example, I do development on my Mac with OS-X and it allows me to edit a page, add material, save changes and do immediate tesing to see what I broke now. If I use hard links, then I have to edit all the files to change the local links to site links.

I am still reading on PHP so there may be a simple way to do this in PHP, but then I have the issue of also having to manage the database on two places. It is hard to explain, which is why I gave that link to you. Anyway, I have lots more work to do, and I just need to play with your tool more to see if I can live with its limitations. I mean there is much to like there. But, haveing total control and then giving it up is hard to do ...

As far as images go, I did try the Image Manager in the editor. As I said, I am probably missing something still in my understanding.

I do my site with hand coding because I like the control I have ... and that is hard to get with WYSIWYG so I am not that fond of them. However, I may start with my two FAQ at first and only later try to be more ambitious.

[Thorsten]

Hi,

Yes, it seems to be so ... but not strict, or at least you are not validating to strict. Or I missed another setitng, which would not surprise me.

only XHTML 1.0 Transitional.

Ok, in my directory structure i have:

Site (home dir)
- site-boinc
-- faq
-- _images
-- owner's manual
- site-seti
-- faq
--- _images
- site common
-- glossary
-- _images

so, if i want to reference a term, I can use, and usually do, a relative path such as, from the "Owner's Manual" ddirectory href="../../site-common/glossary/letter-a.php#ascii" as a link for a defined term.

WIth this scheme, you can work on a test bed of the site, pop it up with no changes and it will still work on the live site. For example, I do development on my Mac with OS-X and it allows me to edit a page, add material, save changes and do immediate tesing to see what I broke now. If I use hard links, then I have to edit all the files to change the local links to site links.

I am still reading on PHP so there may be a simple way to do this in PHP, but then I have the issue of also having to manage the database on two places. It is hard to explain, which is why I gave that link to you. Anyway, I have lots more work to do, and I just need to play with your tool more to see if I can live with its limitations. I mean there is much to like there. But, haveing total control and then giving it up is hard to do ...

You can use those links in the FAQ, too. I don't see any problem there...

I do my site with hand coding because I like the control I have ... and that is hard to get with WYSIWYG so I am not that fond of them. However, I may start with my two FAQ at first and only later try to be more ambitious.

The WYSIWYG editor is only for editing the FAQ records and nothing else.

bye
Thorsten

[Paul D. Buck]

The link I posted in the editor was:

<a href="./../../site-common/glossary/letter-w.php#work-unit">work units</a>

<a href="../../site-common/glossary/letter-c.php#cpu-time">CPU time</a>

(Copying from the HTML view)


What comes out on the page is:

<a href="./site-common/glossary/letter-w.php#work-unit">work units</a>

and / or

<a href="site-common/glossary/letter-c.php#cpu-time">

I am not sure where it is getting trimmed, or why, I have not looked; I have too many other problems to solve, but I thought you would like to know ...

[Thorsten]

Hi,

okay, I found that bug. I'll release a bugfix as soon as possible.

bye
Thorsten

[Paul D. Buck]

Cool! And thanks!



New question, is this forum the same as embedded in phpMyFAQ? of is it another system?

[Thorsten]

Hi,

this is a phpBB. phpMyFAQ has no embedded forum.

bye
Thorsten

[Paul D. Buck]

Ok. new information (maybe). I tried it with direct full path links and it fails just the same. Can you tell me which PHP form/page needs the patch? and what line of code?

[Thorsten]

Hi,

admin/record.save.php and admin/record.add.php are the files.

bye
Thorsten

[Paul D. Buck]

I forgot to ask, where will the patch be located?