Epix Power Support Code
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| File | Date | Author | Commit |
|---|---|---|---|
| config | 2006-05-12 | nicruo | [r1] all original files of version 1.0.1 |
| sources | 2006-05-12 | nicruo | [r1] all original files of version 1.0.1 |
| admin.php | 2006-05-12 | nicruo | [r1] all original files of version 1.0.1 |
| changelog.txt | 2006-05-12 | nicruo | [r1] all original files of version 1.0.1 |
| index.php | 2006-05-12 | nicruo | [r1] all original files of version 1.0.1 |
| install.php | 2006-05-12 | nicruo | [r1] all original files of version 1.0.1 |
| license.txt | 2006-05-12 | nicruo | [r1] all original files of version 1.0.1 |
| lost.php | 2006-05-12 | nicruo | [r1] all original files of version 1.0.1 |
| readme.htm | 2006-05-12 | nicruo | [r1] all original files of version 1.0.1 |
| style.css | 2006-05-12 | nicruo | [r1] all original files of version 1.0.1 |
| submit.php | 2006-05-12 | nicruo | [r1] all original files of version 1.0.1 |
| ticket.php | 2006-05-12 | nicruo | [r1] all original files of version 1.0.1 |
Read Me
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<title>Epix Power Support</title>
</head>
<body>
<div id="content">
<h1><a name="top" id="top">Epix Power Support</a></h1>
<ol class="toc">
<li><a href="#intro">Introduction</a></li>
<li><a href="#install">Installation</a>
<ol class="tocsub">
<li><a href="#requirements">Requirements</a></li>
<li><a href="#dbconfig">Database Configuration</a></li>
<li><a href="#copying">Copying The Files</a></li>
<li><a href="#installer">EPS Installer</a></li>
<li><a href="#config">Configuration</a></li>
<li><a href="#finish">Finish</a></li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><a href="#usage">General Usage</a>
<ol class="tocsub">
<li><a href="#ticket">Tickets</a></li>
<li><a href="#acp">Admin CP</a></li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><a href="#customize">Customization</a>
<ol class="tocsub">
<li><a href="#templates">Templates</a></li>
<li><a href="#style">Style</a></li>
<li><a href="#lang">Languages</a></li>
<li><a href="#mails">Emails</a></li>
</ol>
</li>
<li><a href="#about">About</a>
<ol class="tocsub">
<li><a href="#release">Release Notes</a></li>
<li><a href="#support">Support</a></li>
<li><a href="#copy">Copyright and License</a></li>
</ol>
</li>
</ol>
<br /><br />
<h1><a name="intro" id="intro">Introduction</a></h1>
<p>Welcome to Epix Power Support. <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr> is a fast, advanced, efficient, automatic, flexible and fully customizable Customer Support Ticket/Helpdesk software designed to do simply what you want it to.</p>
<p>Nobody wants to read long stories of irrelavant background information, and that is why we will get started right away. <a href="#install">Proceed to Installation</a>.</p>
<h1><a name="install" id="install">Installation</a></h1>
<p>The following steps should be followed if you are installing Epix Power Support for the first time. If you are upgrading from an older version please read the <a href="#release">Release Notes</a> on upgrade instructions.</p>
<h2><a name="requirements" id="requirements">Requirements</a></h2>
<p>The precise requirements will depend on many factors, for exameple, the kind of traffic you are expecting on your website.</p>
<h3>Server Requirements</h3>
<h4>Minimum</h4>
<ul>
<li>Windows or Unix OS (support on other platforms not guarenteed)</li>
<li>PHP 4</li>
<li>mySQL 3 (1 database needed)</li>
</ul>
<h4>Recommended</h4>
<ul>
<li>Windows or Unix OS supporting the mail() function</li>
<li>PHP 5 or higher</li>
<li>mySQL 3.22 or higher (1 database needed)</li>
</ul>
<p>To check what are the specifications of your server please contact your hosting service provider.</p>
<h3>Client Requirements</h3>
<ul>
<li>A Text Editor for .php files (Windows: Microsoft Wordpad will do)</li>
<li>An FTP Program and FTP Access to the server</li>
<li>Username and Password for the mySQL database.</li>
<li>Permission to <code>CREATE</code>, <code>DROP</code>, and <code>ALTER</code> mySQL tables.</li>
</ul>
<a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
<h2><a name="dbconfig" id="dbconfig">Database Configuration</a></h2>
<p>To configure your database settings open <code>config/db_config.php</code> using a text editor. The file might look something like this:</p>
<pre><code>$db_host = "localhost"; //Database host. Usually 'localhost'
$db_username = "username"; //Username to access db
$db_password = "password"; //Password to access db
$db_name = "database"; //Database to use</code></pre>
<p>Edit the variables to the appropriate details. All values are case sensitive. If the mySQL database is on the same host as the rest of your files use "localhost", otherwise enter the IP Address of the host of your database. When you are done, save the file and close it.</p>
<a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
<h2><a name="copying" id="copying">Copying The Files</a></h2>
<p>After configuring the database settings, you are ready to copy the files onto your server.</p>
<p>Open your FTP Program and connect to your server. Once connected, copy all the files in the parent folder <code>/eps/</code> to a public folder in your server. All files should be readable to public. You may configure a subdomain to point to that folder if you wish (eg. <code>http://support.domain.com</code>).</p>
<a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
<h2><a name="installer" id="installer">EPS Installer</a></h2>
<p>Once all the files are copied, open <code>install.php</code> via your web browser. For example, if you have copied the files to <code>http://www.domain.com/support/</code> then go to <code>http://www.domain.com/support/install.php</code>.</p>
<p>If you have entered the correct details in <code>config/db_config.php</code> then you will be able to proceed further. If not, the installer will display an error message pertaining to the cause of error. If you cannot establish a connection even after entering the correct details then please check with your host to resolve the issue or see the <a href="#support">Support</a> section of this manual.</p>
<p>The first page of the installer also has an "Uninstall" section which you can use if you wish to re-install or compeltely uninstall Epix Power Support. The uninstaller will drop all tables created by <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr> in your database.</p>
<a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
<h2><a name="config" id="config">Configuration</a></h2>
<p>On the second page of the installer, you are required to enter a few details to continue. All these details are required fields and must be correctly entered for correct functionality of <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr>. All these fields (except "username") can be edited after installation.</p>
<table border="0" cellspacing="0" width="80%">
<tr>
<td class="bold">Username</td>
<td>The username used for your admin account. This cannot be changed later on.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="bold">Password</td>
<td>The password used to login to the Admin Control Panel (ACP). Keep it secure.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="bold">Website/Company Name</td>
<td>The name of your website or company.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="bold">Website/Company URL</td>
<td>The URL of the home page of your website or company. Include the <code>http://</code> while entering the URL.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="bold">Website/Company Email</td>
<td>The email address to be used in general for <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr>. For example <code>support@domain.com</code>.</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="bold">Location of EPS</td>
<td>Enter the exact location URL where you will be installing <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr>. It can be a subdomain or a child folder. <b>Please do not include the "/" at the end</b>. For example <code>http://support.domain.com</code> or <code>http://www.domain.com/support</code>. Adding a slash at the end will generate errors in certain places.<br /><b>Tip</b>: Just look at the URL in the address bar of the installer and enter everything that comes before <code>/install.php</code>.</td>
</tr>
</table>
<p>Have a quick check over what you have entered (don't forget your password) and then click <b>Install</b>.</p>
<a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
<h2><a name="finish" id="finish">Finish</a></h2>
<p>If the installation was unsuccessful then you may want to go back and check if you had entered all the details correctly and/or re-try installing from the very first step. If the problem persists see the <a href="#support">Support</a> section to get official support.</p>
<p>If the installation was successfull you will get a message saying so.</p>
<p><span class="important">Important!</span> <b>After the installation is successful delete the file <code>install.php</code> from your server immediately!. Failure to do so will allow any external user to re-install <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr> causing all data to be reset!</b>.</p>
<p>Once you delete <code>install.php</code> from your server, you can then proceed to using Epix Power Support. See the <a href="#usage">Usage Guide</a> to get aquianted with the Admin CP. See the <a href="#customize">Customization Guide</a> to learn how to integrate <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr> into your website and to customize its layout.</p>
<p>See the <a href="#about">About EPS</a> section of this manual for release notes and support information.</p>
<a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
<h1><a name="usage" id="usage">General Usage</a></h1>
<h2><a name="ticket" id="ticket">Tickets</a></h2>
<p>Once installed, Epix Power Support can be accessed by opening <code>index.php</code> in the installed folder. For example, <code>http://www.domain.com/support/index.php</code>.</p>
<p>From the index page, users can submit new tickets, view status of and reply to tickets that they have created, as well as use the "Lost Ticket ID Retrieval" feature. This is because each ticket ID of newly submitted tickets will be unique and random, to prevent users from reading tickets that they have not submitted. The email address is used as a secondary identifier to determine if the user is genuine.</p>
<a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
<h2><a name="acp" id="acp">Admin CP</a></h2>
<p>By clicking on the <em>Staff Login</em> link in the index page, or by entering the installation directory URL followed by <code>admin.php</code> in the browser, will take you to the Admin Control Panel. The <abbr title="Admin Control Panel">ACP</abbr> front page is the "View Tickets" page that allows you to view a list of all existing tickets and sort or filter them the way you want them to. You can also close them, change their priority or delete them. By clicking on the ticket Subject or the Ticket ID you are taken to a page where you can read all messages in that ticket, reply to it, or handle its status.</p>
<p>You can also "Manage Departments", "Change Settings" and "Manage Staff". You can assign each staff member certain permissions based on activities that they are allowed to (like whether they can reply to tickets, or close tickets, etc.). However, only the ROOT Admin (the one who installs <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr> and is the first user) can delete tickets, manage departments, make manual queries, edit general configuration and create/edit staff. Subordinate Staff Members can only handle tickets and change their personal account information.</p>
<a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
<h1><a name="customize" id="customize">Customization</a></h1>
<h2><a name="templates" id="templates">Templates</a></h2>
<p>Epix Power Support was designed to be a fully customizable and flexible software along with the advanced features it offers. It can now integrate into any website easily and yet function efficiently.</p>
<p>As you have may have noticed, the installed version of <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr> can be classified into two parts, namely, the main customer interface and the Admin Control Panel. Each of these parts can be customized separately to give the layour you feel is best for your website.</p>
<p>To customize the layout, simply open the <code>config</code> folder and find the files <code>main_template.txt</code> and <code>admin_template.txt</code>. As you may have guessed, the two files are the templates for your main interface and Admin CP respectively.</p>
<p>Although the files are text files, they contain HTML code. This HTML is the main template that will be wrapped around the <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr> pages. You can simply edit the HTML to the design you wish to have to make <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr> fit into your website easily. However, note the following</p>
<ul>
<li>The tag <b><%NAVIGATION%></b> converts to the navigation bar for the <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr> pages. Removing this tag will remove the nav bar from the pages.</li>
<li>The tag <b><%BODY%></b> converts to the main content of the body. <em>Do not remove this tag or else the main content will not be visible</em>.</li>
<li>More than one occurence of the above mentioned magic tags will not generate multiple content.</li>
<li>Although <abbr title="Hypertext Preprocessor">PHP</abbr> will work in these templates, it is not recommended as vistors can easily open the text file through their browser and view the code. If you do want to include PHP in the files, use the <code>include()</code> or <code>require()</code> function to include external .php files, the source of which cannot be read by visitors.</li>
<li>It is recommended that you do not remove the link to the external stylesheet (<code>style.css</code>) unless you are using a separate stylesheet which accounts for all the elements included in the <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr> pages. For more on styling <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr>, see the <a href="#style">Styling</a> section of this document.</li>
</ul>
<a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
<h2><a name="style" id="style">Style</a></h2>
<p>Keeping in mind the flexibility of Epix Power Support, it has been designed in such a way that you can customize it in any way you want. Customization of the page layout has already been covered in the <a href="#templates">templates</a> section. However, you can also change the look and feel of the internal elements of the content generated by <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr>.</p>
<p>Epix Power Support uses Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) to style its layout. You can edit the default stylesheet (<code>style.css</code>) that <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr> uses or edit it to suit your needs. You can also create a separate stylesheet and use it by linking to it using <a href="#templates">templates</a>.</p>
<a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
<h2><a name="lang" id="lang">Languages</a></h2>
<p>After you have the right look and feel for Epix Power Support, you can even customize every single line of text that it generates! What's more, you can even use this feature to translate all the entire system into the language of your choice!</p>
<p>To do this simply open the file <code>config/language-en.php</code> and edit the variables. To those who are not familiar with PHP arrays, here's the syntax to editing it correctly:</p>
<pre><code>$array['key'] = "Value";</code></pre>
<p>For example,</p>
<pre><code>$l_eps['username'] = "<span class="string">Username</span>";</code></pre>
<p>Changing the part in blue will change all occurences of the word "Username" to whatever you change it to for all <abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr> pages. These language variables are categorized into different sections corresponding to which page they occur on.</p>
<p><span class="important">Important!</span> Note that you must not change what is inside the square brackets on the left side of the equals (=) sign or else the code will generate errors.<br />
Also note that to add double quotes inside the new text that you edit on the right side, prefix a <code>\</code> character to it. For example type:</p>
<pre><code>$l_eps['some_element'] = "<a href=\"http://domain.com\">Link</a>";</code></pre>
<p>This is called escaping quotes.</p>
<a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
<h2><a name="mails" id="mails">Emails</a></h2>
<p><abbr title="Epix Power Support">EPS</abbr> also gives you the freedom to customize the Emails sent out in reminders, etc. to the layout of your choice. You will find the email templates in the <code>config/</code> folder as text files. Edit them the way you want it using the corresponding <a href="#magic">Magic Tags</a>.</p>
<p>Note that HTML, PHP, etc. cannot be used in these templates. The file has to remain plain text. In most cases, typing a url in the form of <code>http://www.domain.com/path/page.php</code> will become clickable to the recepient. Unlike the main page templates, it is not necessary to utilize all the Magic Tags. Also, multiple occurences of Magic Tags will convert into multiple corresponding values.</p>
<h3><a name="magic">Magic Tags</a></h3>
<pre>
GLOBAL (Tags for all mail templates)
======
<%URL%> The Website/Company URL Specified.
<%WEBSITE%> The Website/Company Name Specified.
<%RECIPIENT_EMAIL%> Email address of the recepient.
mail_client_reminder.txt (Reminder for replies to a ticket)
========================
<%TICKET_ID%> Submitted Ticket ID.
<%TICKET_SUBJECT%> Subject of submitted ticket.
<%TICKET_DATE_FIRST%> Date when ticket was opened.
<%TICKET_DATE_LAST%> Date of last response by staff member.
<%STAFF_MEMBER%> Name of staff member who responded last.
<%LINK_TICKET%> Link to viewing the ticket.
<%LINK_DISABLE_REMINDER%> Link to disable reminders in the future (also links to the ticket viewer).
mail_lost.txt (Lost Ticket Retrieval)
=============
<%TICKET_INFO%> Packed information relating to all tickets submitted by the corresponding email.
mail_submit.txt (Confirmation for new ticket submission)
===============
<%TICKET_ID%> Ticket ID
<%TICKET_DATE%> Date of submission
<%TICKET_NAME%> Username provided
<%RECIPIENT_EMAIL%> Email provided (same as recipient's email)
<%TICKET_SUBJECT%> Subject of submitted ticket
<%TICKET_DEPT%> Department of the submitted ticket
<%TICKET_PRIORITY%> Initial priority of submitted ticket (staff can change this later)
<%LINK_TICKET%> Link to viewing the ticket.
mail_newticket.txt (Notification for new ticket submission)
===============
<%TICKET_ID%> Ticket ID
<%TICKET_DATE%> Date of submission
<%TICKET_NAME%> Username provided
<%RECIPIENT_EMAIL%> Email provided (same as recipient's email/mailing address specified for that department in the Admin CP)
<%TICKET_SUBJECT%> Subject of submitted ticket
<%TICKET_DEPT%> Department of the submitted ticket
<%TICKET_PRIORITY%> Initial priority of submitted ticket (staff can change this later)
<%LINK_ACP%> Link to Admin CP.
</pre>
<a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
<h1><a name="about" id="about">About</a></h1>
<h2><a name="release" id="release">Release Notes</a></h2>
<p><b>Version</b>: 1.0.1 <br />
<b>Release Date</b>: 29th April 2006 <br />
<b>Notes</b>: Only a few new features have been added to this version from the previous one, most importantly the email notifications for new tickets done one request.<br />
<a href="http://www.verminox.com/scripts/eps/changelog.php">View The Changelog</a></p>
<p>To upgrade from version 1.0.0 Final, simple add/replace the following files from your previous installations with the new ones:</p>
<ol>
<li>sources/main_submit.php</li>
<li>sources/mail_submit.php</li>
<li>sources/mail_newticket.php</li>
<li>config/mail_submit.txt</li>
<li>config/mail_newticket.txt</li>
</ol>
<a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
<h2><a name="support" id="support">Support</a></h2>
<p>Method of procedure for submitting Bug Reports, giving suggestions, making inquiries about certain matters, etc. can be found on the <a href="http://www.verminox.com/scripts/eps">website</a>.</p>
<a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
<h2><a name="copy" id="copy">Copyright and License</a></h2>
<p>Epix Power Support is licensed under the terms of the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html">GNU General Public License</a>. For more information please read the terms and conditions of the <a href="http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html">License</a>.</p>
<a href="#top">Back to Top</a>
<br /><br />
</div>
<div class="copyright">
Epix Power Support © 2006 <a href="http://www.verminox.com/scripts/eps">verminox.com</a>.
</div>
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