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Lord-of-the-flies

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Post: 8927871_1 created on Thu, 14 Jul 2005 04:50:46 +0000
Posted: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 04:50:46 +0000

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~ By Lord-of-the-flies ~
Welcome to the signature shoutbox tutorial. This tutorial is designed to assist you in the creation of one of the most interactive types of signatures, the signature shoutbox. I have made an effort to make this as simple as possible, but there may be portions that are hard to understand. Should the need arise, the more difficult portions will be re-written to a simpler form. If you have any questions reguarding this tutorial, please post your question in this thread, and I will edit the tutorial to better fit your needs. Thank you.

You can find the alternate extended version of this tutorial at the following URL:
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=9617927

Don't want to install a box on your server? Buy one, and get free hosting!
http://www.gaiaonline.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=10546213
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Lord-of-the-flies

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Post: 8927871_2 created on Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:13:33 +0000
Posted: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:13:33 +0000

|| Read before proceeding! ||
Because of the nature of this tutorial, and the possible issues that people may face, I request that any problems be posted in the thread. This will help to assist others who may be facing the same problem, and keep this thread somewhere where people can get to it without digging though the forums. Try to avoid PMing me with issues when possible, but should the need arise to, you may do so. Thank you.

Additionally, it has recently come to my attention that there are some people trying to make a profit off my tutorials, selling the files in their mini shop. This will not be tolerated. I provide you this tutorial free of charge to make you, the user, able to enjoy your experience of Gaia Online a little better - but when people sell something that is provided free of charge, it makes me angry.

So, let me make this perfectly clear to anyone who might be trying to make a quick buck by selling anything that I provide - YOU WILL BE REPORTED IF I CATCH YOU. The same problem had happened with the GavSim program, and it had shut down for some time as a result - I do not want to have to take a service away from honest Gaians because some greedy n00b decides it would be a good idea to resell.

DO NOT SELL ANY RESULT OR CODE FROM ANY OF MY TUTORIALS
ANYONE CAUGHT DOING SO WILL BE REPORTED IMMEDIATELY.

|| Notice to those who downloaded before September 27 ||
Apparently, I had made a small mistake in the coding of the shoutbox signature display dealing with display and censoring. If your shoutbox does not display text, you will need to make a small alteration to your censor.txt file. In the file, you will need to add the word "dummyitem" to the first line of code if you have no censor items already. If this file is empty, PHP will interpret all data as a blank and leave you with no text.

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Post: 8927871_3 created on Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:14:56 +0000
Posted: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:14:56 +0000

|| Introduction ||
What is a Shoutbox signature? A shoutbox signature, or shoutsig, is a rarely seen, but highly sought after signature item which allows a user to display comments and feedback from other users in live time. This simple program collects data from a mySQL database, creates an image based around the owner's preference, and displays the data as an overlay. The image is linked back in an input page where a user can add their information, and then see it in the image in exchange.

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Post: 8927871_4 created on Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:17:48 +0000
Posted: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:17:48 +0000

|| Finding a host ||
You need a host before you can proceed with this tutorial, so you can either pick a host from the list provided or use one that you already have. Hosting requirements include PHP 4.10 or higher and mySQL access.

At this time, I do not have a list of web hosts, but I do suggest http://freesql.org for your mySQL database.

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Post: 8927871_5 created on Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:22:32 +0000
Posted: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:22:32 +0000

|| Sigshout Tutorial ||
For this tutorial, I've set most of the information up for you, you'll just fill in the blanks. Because of problems with this tutorial in the past, everything is automated, but not without faults.

|| Step one: Get your image ||
First thing you need to do to make a shoutbox is make an image on which you will be displaying your entrees. Be as creative as you want, after all, it is your signature - just keep it 500 x 500 or less.

|| Step two: Download the setup ||
Because of some problems involving the process that had originally been set up, I've decided to develop a program that'll act as a setup wizard for users to avoid confusion. Download it at the link below. Note that there is only supposed to be one file in the setup version.

Download setup
[unpacked version]
[changelog]

|| Step three: Create the directory ||
You need to set up a new directory on your host where the files will be kept. This will organize your files and provent other files from interfering with the program. For this tutorial, the new directory will be refered to as "sigshout".

|| Step four: The unzip and upload ||
Unzip the files that you had recieved in the sigshout.zip file - to do this, you may need a zip program. You can find a good trial version zip program at http://www.winzip.com/, or use the Windows XP zip utility (available on WinXP only). Upload these files and your image to the new directory you have created, then proceed with the tutorial.

|| Step five: Set up your Shoutsig ||
Once everything is uploaded, it's time for you to run installation. Go to the URL where you uploaded your files in your browser, and installation should start up. Once started, you will be guided along the process step-by-step untill you've completed.

NOTE: Do NOT use the URL from the file manager links. These links are internal program protocalls that will cause an error if one tries to access it. The physical URL should be apparent and/or given to you. If not, feel free to ask for help.

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Post: 8927871_6 created on Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:26:04 +0000
Posted: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:26:04 +0000

|| Displaying your image ||
This works the same way as any other image, and should be linked back to the index.php file for feedback. Simply use the code below, making changes accordingly.

[url=URLTOINDEX.PHP][img]URLTODISPLAY.PHP[/img][/url]

Replace "URLTOINDEX.PHP" with the url to your index.php file, and "URLTODISPLAY.PHP" with the url to the display.php file. The rest should take care of itself.

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Post: 8927871_7 created on Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:27:33 +0000
Posted: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:27:33 +0000

|| Input page customization ||
The input page of your shoutbox signature is fairly simple to cutomize if you know HTML. If not, it's best to either ask someone who knows or to leave it alone.

In your zip, there's a file by the name "input.txt". This is escentually the "skin" file for your input page, as it contains all the HTML information, along with a tag called "{message}". You may edit this file as you wish, but there are a couple things to keep in mind when you're doing so that the form and inputs must remain in tact. If the form becomes broken or input lost their names, the program will cease to function for the input portion. The "{message}" tag is a simple replacement protocall used by the program. It will display the outputted messages produced by the input program (i.e. Errors or the success message).

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Post: 8927871_8 created on Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:32:31 +0000
Posted: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:32:31 +0000

|| Censoring ||
Included with the files in the sigshout.zip file, you'll find a small file by the name "censor.txt". This file is storing words used for the censoring of the displayed image, using a series of five asteriks in place of the word. By default, this file is empty, but it can be filled with to-be censored words by you (the owner).

To do this, open the censor.txt file in notepad, wordpad, or any other text editor, then place into the file the words you want censored, seporated by commas. Be careful not to place any spaces after or before the comma unless you intend that to be part of that word.

An example could be the following:

Censor list

Cheese,d***o,Barney

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Post: 8927871_9 created on Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:33:24 +0000
Posted: Thu, 14 Jul 2005 05:33:24 +0000

|| The Errors - Outdated||
Once a while, the program may display an error. I've created a list of possible errors below for reference, and for possible correction.

Setup
"Cannot connect to database. Please make sure that your data is correct, and then try again."
This simply means that the data you had entered at the database setup screen is invalid. Go back and make sure that the data that you had put in was correct. In the event that the data is correct, but you still get this error, it's possible that you are not allowed to connect to this mysql server for one reason or another.

"Invalid database selection"
The database that you had selected in the database setup screen either didn't exist, or you do not have the privilege to access it.

"Unable to set up database: "
A mysql error had occured. The explaination of the cause will follow after it, so if you happen to get this error, post it here.

"Unable to create connection file" or "Unable to create config file"
This means that you may not have sufficient privlages to create a file on your server. If this is the case, you will need to manually create the files. PM for information of how to do this.

"Unable to write to connection file" or "Unable to write to cofig file"
Again, this is a possible lack of privlages requiring you to manually create these files. PM me on information of how to do this.

"You must enter all the required information"
You forgot to place all the information in the boxes before. Push back and then fill in all the information on the form.

"Image does not exist, make sure the URL is correct"
The image can't be found or doesn't exist. Be sure that your image is in the same directory as your files, and be sure to enter the image name carefully.

"Unsupported file format"
The image that you're trying to use can't be supported by your host. Convert your image to a different format, then try again. Most webhosts can support the PNG, GIF, BMP, and JPG formats, but if none of these work, your host can't support image creation programs - You have to find another host in this case.

Display
"Required files not found, please run the installer again to continue"
This means that the program can't find connect.php and/or config.php. This is normally caused by not having run the installer or having deleted a file accedentally. Run the installer again to correct this error.

"Install.php found. Please delete before continuing"
For security reasons, the display program checks if install.php still exists and will not run untill it's been deleted. Delete install.php, and display will run.

"No image support avalible"
If this appears, it means that your host can't support PHP image creation. The only way to correct this is to find a host that does.

Input (index)
"Unable to attain connect file" or "Unable to attain config file"
See "Required files not found, please run the installer again to continue" under display section.

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