qMD-CMS beta ReadMe

qMD-CMS 0.8.6 beta Readme

Updated: April 2014

Welcome to qMD-CMS a simple PHP and MySQL powered, standards compliant Content Management System (CMS).

qMD-CMS is a very light and user-friendly CMS.

qMD-CMS consists of some engine files located in the following folders:

./www - that's where the master index.php file is located - and all the rest of your stuff as well...
./qMDCMS - The core of qMD-CMS.
./GLOBAL - Two files with systemsettings. Here you may enter your global settings such as database access (see below)
./www/lang - Three language files for users: en.php, de.php, es.php and three for administration
./www/schemes/default - A standard template file and subfolders for (system-)images and css-stuff for content styling and presentation.
./www/schemes/* - Other templates just to experiment or try different layout and presentation.
*.css and *.js-Folders: You'll also find javascript files for functionality (e.g. for admin-purposes) which is only loaded when you're logged in as an admin.

Before installing, please check that your server meets the minimum system requirements:

Apache Server with mod_rewrite module enabled
MySQL database, minimum version 5.x
PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor, minimum version 5.3

Fits any OS (Linux, Mac, Windows)

Apache, MySQL and PHP are all Open Source applications and freely available. They come preinstalled on Mac OS X 10.2.8 and later; they can be installed both on Windows and Linux OS (detailed info can be found on their respective websites) and they form the most widely used database server setup on the Internet today. For best result in a local server environment though, we suggest that you use a dedicated server stack (applications bundle): LAMP (Linux), MAMP (Mac) and XAMPP (Windows) are the recommended stacks at this time.

Note that qMD-CMS beta in its default configuration will not work on a Windows IIS server because it uses different methods of URL rewriting.

Install qMD-CMS by following these simple steps:

1. Set up the website on your server

Please refer to the documentation of your server in order to learn how to set up a website.
Test-Website
In order to test qmd-CMS on your local machine and have debug automagically enabled, you should use a site-name ending in *.test as TLD [e.g.: qmd-CMS.test or foobar.test]
You can use another TLD and enable debug manually by editing ./GLOBALS/qmd_const_settings.php.

2. Upload files

Copy all the files from the qMD-CMS package to your server - excluding the SQL folder - and CHMOD 777 (= rwx-rwx-rwx) the folder(s) you'll upload your images (e.g. files) to. If you don't know how to change permissions, contact your server administrator.

Make a back-up copy of the SQL files in a safe place, so you always have spares on hand. Open the file you wish to use in your good code editor... add your prefix as noted above... and save your file with a unique file-name.

3. Setup the Database

3.1 - Create the Database:

Start by creating a database and user/password (if required by the server), using the database administration tool available on your server (phpMyAdmin for example). If you already have a database set up, skip this step.

Import the modified file to populate (or modify) your database with the table-data.

IMPORTANT NOTE: If you need to use a prefix, for example if your domain host only allows you to use one database, you should add that prefix to each table-name e.g. prefix_qmd_articles, prefix_qmd_users, prefix_qmd_categories etc, as well as the table-names in all data INSERT strings, before running the code. You must also add that prefix into GLOBAL/qmd_app_config.php in step 2 (see below). Be aware that this prefix is something that you choose - bob_ or sitename_ - it is entirely separate from any prefix that your host may add.

Note: The need for a prefix has been reduced by a default prefix ["qmd_"] for all tables. An additional prefix is currently untested.

3.2 - Populate (Create tables in) the Database: You will find an SQL folder in your qMD-CMS package. There is a ready-made SQL data file in the folder. With your empty database selected, (using phpMyAdmin, for example), click the IMPORT tab and browse to the file you wish to import... then hit the 'GO' button to create your tables. If you have created a fresh (empty) database for a new installation, import the qmd.sql file.

Note on the data delivered with qmd-CMS:

There is some demo-data included in order to demonstrate some usage:

few articles
some ads (called VAC)
a 'full-page' ad
some list items in order to demonstrate usage of lists

If you don't need them you can delete all with your mySQL tool (faster) or in the administration section of qmd-CMS.
Do not delete content in table qmd_settings.

4. Edit Settings

PHP-Settings for Database Access
The settings are to be found in the folder: ./GLOBALS

Open the file 'qmd_app_config_template.php' with your editor and rename it to qmd_app_config.php.

Edit "GLOBALS/qmd_app_config.php" and enter your settings:

MySQL Host: provided by hosting company. This is usually "localhost":

'dbhost' => 'localhost',

Database Name: the one you have created in step 1 with phpMyAdmin or similar:

'dbname' => 'qMD-CMS',

Database Username:
'dbuname' => 'root', [use YOUR username!]

Database password::
'dbpass' => 'asfoiu87rt' [use YOUR password!]

Locate the lines containing: 'prefix' => ''.

Change the value to your local database-prefix (if required).

...only used when a hosting company provides only one database:
'prefix' => ''
you may just leave the prefix blank...

Done!

4. Start off qmd-CMS

On first start a user will be created you'll see the new password for admin in a dialog-box.

Write down the password - and hit enter.

You will be redirected to the Login-Panel

Your first login-credentials are:

username:admin

password:<the-newly-created-password-mentioned-above>

You should change the password now.

click user-panel at the upper right corner of the page.

click on: Change Username and Password

DO IT.

You are ready to go! Login to start adding content and managing your site.
Bug reports, suggestions, comments, questions: qMD-CMS Forum

Additional info

Important! qMD-CMS makes use of the Apache module mod_rewrite and the system file .htaccess to create the Search Engine Friendly (SEF) links that are essential to the CMS. Using SEF or pretty links makes your site much more search engine friendly and gives it better rankings on Google and other popular search engines. If you install the qMD-CMS files in a subfolder on your domain root (i.e. http://mydomain.com/subfolder/), you must edit the included .htaccess file to match the path to your installation. On a web server, use your FTP client to locate the .htaccess file in your qMD-CMS installation folder (you will need to enable "show hidden files" or similar feature in the client);

Open the .htaccess file in the FTP client or your text editor of choice and find the line: #RewriteBase /qMD-CMS.
Change this line to look like the following, with the second part matching the path to your qMD-CMS installation:
RewriteBase /name-of-qMD-CMS-folder

If you need to do the same operation locally on a Mac using Mac OS X or a PC using Windows and can't find the .htaccess file, use the included "htaccess.txt" file to make your changes, then save it as .htaccess in your qMD-CMS installation folder. Mac OS X and Windows (some editions) hide files that start with a period (.) from plain view.

More information about Using qMD-CMS on your local computer can be found in the Help Section at qMD-CMS.

Enjoy!
hy

HELP

The following files should accompany your version of qmd-CMS that might help you in getting started:

readme: - some (more or less) historic notes...
upgrade: information on how to upgrade from a previous version.
qmd_notes_INIT.pdf A description of the init process of qmd-CMS
manual-qmdcms.pdf: - the manual - ATM this is also very beta and does not cover much topics in depth.
manual_qmdcms.odt: - the manual in its' original format (Libre-Office).
qmd_notes: - A Libre-Office spreadsheet with notes on internal usage. DB-Description etc.

Note: The LibreOffice files are usually more up to date than the PDF )-;
It is strongly recommended to have a look at the manual-qmdcms.pdf
FAQ + Forum: - I will try to implement a FAQ-section in my website in the future. A forum is planned but far from being done.

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