--- Normal Installation Guide ---
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Megabook™ - Guestbook Script V2.0 © Copyright 2001 Terry Billinger Created: 7/3/00 Modified: 02/22/01 Available at: http://www.militerry.com/megabook/ Special Thanks To: Stephanie Billinger, Dan Briand, James Hall. « top » | |
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© Copyright 2001 Terry Billinger
This script can be used/modified free of charge as long as you don't
change any parts of the script that gives credit.
By using this script you agree to indemnify me from any liability
that might arise from its use. In simple English, if this script somehow
makes your computer run amuck and kill the pope, it's not my fault.
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This project was started in early July/2000 after I had spent some time fiddling around with my sister's Ultimate Bulletin Board. I had implemented some 'hacks' that allow things to be displayed different. After that I had learned a small bit of Perl. My sister started to complain about how slow her guestbook was going that was hosted at http://www.gbook.nu. This is because of the massive amount of users already using this service and the fact that the guestbooks were database driven. This is when I asked if her she would like me to make her a guestbook script. She had declined because she wanted to keep her 900+ entries she had already receieved but I still wanted to make one just to see what I could come up with. Since I don't know the complete Perl language I set out to find a guestbook script that used a database instead of just placing HTML directly into an already created file. This is where I had found Cliff Gdansk's guestbook. His was database driven and already had an administration script built in. I had downloaded Flexbook before which was an easy to use, very configurable script but it wasn't database driven. After going through both the scripts I started to modify, delete and copy some parts of both scrits, combining them into a great guestbook script. After finishing the basic guestbook coding (read and sign), I wanted to add more. I added the administration script which allows you to modify and delete entries, change some of the variables in the script, and modify the complete HTML of the script. I also added the ability to have private entries so that only people who know the administration password (setup in the admin script) will be able to view them. After all this work I have an AMAZING guestbook script that looks identical to other major guestbook hosts and works a lot faster. Again, after many more months, I've re-written the code, and reconstructed how the guestbook works, bringing you 2.0 which has to be the most powerful, configurable, modifiable version yet. « top » | |
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Whats New? V2.0
Major Updates
Other Enhancements
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In the archived zip file you should have received the following files:
readme.html - The file you are reading now Open guestbook.cgi, signgbook.cgi, viewpriv.cgi and admin.cgi in a text editor. If Perl is not installed at /usr/bin/perl on your system, change the first line of the script to #! and then the location of perl (no spaces). If you're not sure of the location of Perl, check with your web host.
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Using the .txt files
The .txt files can be modified offline or online. These file contain the layout to your guestbook. Each of these have their own valid tags. These tags can be used for different types of variable output. Check in the Layouts section of the administration area for more details on which tags work with which layout. Banning IPs IPs can be banned through the administration script or through the view logged IP link. IPs that are banned will also have no access to the administration area. Sub-domains can also be banned in the format 24.242.* or 24.242.242.* etc. Modifying Entries/Admin Comments Modifying entries can be accessed either through the administration area or by adding this bit of HTML to your entry layout: <a href="admin.cgi?action=modifypost&entryid=[entrynum]">M</a> You can change the "M" to an image or any other link that you would like. While modifying entries, you can also add in a reply to what people have signed. Previewing Entries In order to preview entries, you need to add this line of code between the <form></form> tags in the footer layout: <input type=hidden name=preview value=1> You might want to add the above code to the missing layout again between the <form></form> tags. Note: DO NOT put this tag in the preview layout as it will cause a loop and no one will be able to sign. Location of gbook.db In the previous versions of Megabook, you could modify where your guestbook database was located through the administration area. This feature has been taken out but you can still change the location of it by opening your setup.db file in a text editor. Once you've opened it, look for gbook.db and then change it to the relative path on your server where you would like it to be. For example: Let's say you had all your Megabook files in your cgi-bin directory, (/cgi-bin), but you want the guestbook database file in a different directory (/secure/databases). Just change the gbook.db to /secure/databases/gbook.db. Mind you this is only an example where to put it. Alternating Colors Alternating colors lets you have 2 different colors that alternate between entries. This is good for having a different background color for each entry. First, in the layouts section of the website, define what Alt Color 1 and Alt Color 2 are. Then in the entry layout, place the [alternate] tag for the colors to be displayed. Placing the Signing Form on Another page You can place the form on another page, but you must change the line
<form method=post action=signgbook.cgi>
Making sure you've changed the http://path/to/signgbook.cgi to where it is on your server. « top » | |
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Script returns 500 Internal Server Error
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Guestbook @ luvliness.net (first megabook user) Guestbook @ muted.com (second megabook user) Guestbook @ nine2000.com Guestbook @ Megabook (the test guestbook) « top » | |