+===========+
| OpenForum |
+===========+
1. Introduction
---------------
OpenForum is an opensource forum using the language PHP to run forums on web server.
The following type of data stores supported:
- file oriented data store (base on directories)
- MySQL
- SQLite
It is possible to start using the file oriented data store and migrate data later on to MySQL or SQLite.
Pre-requisites: Web server running PHP 5.x with GD support, libxml and sendmail support. MySQL or SQLite are optional.
2. Installation
---------------
Follow the following steps:
1) Unpack the zip file in the main directory of the target web server.
2) Use your favorite browser to open the index.php script hosted in the web server. Installation will start.
3) If it is the first time, the script will ask you to create an administrator login.
4) The script will report the result or failure in your web browser.
5) In case of successful installation, press the reload button in your browser, you should be able to see the main page of openforum!
WARNING: this release is a beta release, meaning that it cannot be used in a production environment, as data model is subject to change, no migration is supported for beta release!
WARNING: this release is only for test environment!
Update the .htaccess of your web site using the .htaccess stored in the zip file. The .htaccess is needed to enhance security of your web-site.
3. Features
-----------
OpenForum is a forum engine providing several features to users.
The following classes of users are supported:
- administrator: users with full control of the configuration and users, be careful to provide such level to anyone else
- registered: any ordinary users
- anonymous: guest users not logged in
- banned: users that are banned, i.e. cannot do any post
- deleted: users that are removed from the system, meaning that they are not allowed to login anymore
Registered users are allowed to perform the following actions:
- view forums
- create a topic
- post items in the topics
- answer to other posts
- search for information in the forums
- view a subset of the profile of the other users
- update own profile
Administrators are allowed to perform the same actions as registered users and other special actions:
- direct access to the list of all users
- create a new forum, delete/close/re-open/rename an existing forum
- restrict the access to a specific forum
- close/re-open/delete a topic
- modify the style of the portal, including colors, using HTML templates
- edit the configuration of the portal
- make a backup of data
- accessing log files
- define new user groups and related access rights
- remove, ban, change group to any user
- view the full profile of any user
- change any parameter in any user profile
Administrator commands and messages are all in English (sorry). The admin.php script implements the administrative tasks.
4. PHP Scripts
--------------
Please refer to file forum.txt
Note that the core part of the forum is handled by the class EngineAPIClass.
It is possible to customize the login/logout procedure by extending the class Authentication in the script custom.header.php (further details will be defined later)
5. Licensing
------------
This software is released under the GPL license, please refer to: http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl-2.0.html
The use of this software is at your own risk. The software is provided on an "As Is" basis, without warranty of any kind.
6. Versioning
-------------
08-11-2008, version 0.66: Beta release. Better html generation, log files are now in their directory, some graphic enhancements
04-04-2009, version 0.69: Beta release. Now username and email are stored in lowercase, to avoid problems with case entered by the user.
11-10-2009, version 0.70: Beta release. removed usage of short tags to avoid portability issues
17-10-2009, version 0.71: Beta. Added support for spanish and french languages
Version 0.72, 24-10-2009: Added support for filebase.engine.class.php. Solved security issue http://www.securityfocus.com/bid/32536
Version 0.73, 01-11-2009: Changes in data structure for threads, further info in file form.txt. Migration of old data is partly supported. Registration of new users enhanced with terms and conditions
Version 0.74, 14-11-2009: Rendering of web page is now based on HTML template. A user can select which template to use. Templates are stored by the administrator. Post textarea is powered by TinyMCE. Added support for reporting spam.
Version 0.75, 29-11-2009: Sitemap generation.
Version 0.76, 08-12-2009: Enhanced handling of groups. Support for anonymous user, via the new 'anonymous' group. Note: migration of existing custom usergroups is not supported.
Version 0.77, 13-12-2009: UTF-8 charset encoding support implemented! 404 page (not found) in multiple languages.
Version 0.78, 08-05-2010: Added support for MySQL and SQLite.
Version 0.79, 25-09-2010: Enhanced login procedure: the login/logout can be customized.
Version 0.80, 10-10-2010: Following faults corrected: notification handling, accessgroups in forum
Version 0.81, 30-10-2010: enhanced templates: please read section below "7. Templates". Old templates are no longer supported.
Version 0.82, 08-12-2010: Enhancements for administration and security of openforum. 'username' field extended from 50 to 128 characters.
Version 0.83, 06-01-2011: enhanced password security (md5 sent over http)
+==============================================================================+
| IMPORTANT NOTE: database is changed from version 0.79 to version 0.80. |
| If you are using a database engine and want to upgrade from 0.7x to 0.80, |
| you shall run the following command on the database: |
| |
| ALTER TABLE forum ADD accessgroups VARCHAR(256) |
+==============================================================================+
+==============================================================================+
| IMPORTANT NOTE: database is changed from version 0.81 to version 0.82. |
| If you are using a database engine and want to upgrade from 0.8x to 0.82, |
| you shall run the following commands on the database: |
| |
| ALTER TABLE User MODIFY username VARCHAR(128) |
| ALTER TABLE Registration MODIFY username VARCHAR(128) |
+==============================================================================+
7. Templates
------------
Openforum supports several styles, where each style is a set of templates for rendering the html code.
Each style is contained in a sub-directory of the directory "styles". Each sub-directory shall contain at least an index.html file, the main template.
It is possible to define templates for the different views of openforum, with the tpl extension:
- forums.tpl
- search.tpl
- post.tpl
- profile.tpl
- members.tpl
- register.tpl
- forgot.tpl
Note: in case a style doesn't define its own tpl file, the engine will use the template stored in the "default" style.
The index.html template is an html page where it is possible to use the following variables:
{{$language}}, {{$title}}, {{$styledir}}, {{$content}}, {{$writeme}}, {{$admail}}, {{$lbottom}}, {{$btitle}}, {{$rbottom}}, {{$version}}
In the templates with tpl extension, it is possible to use any expressions {{expr}} and control structures:
@if (expr):
@else:
@endif
@foreach (array_expression as $value):
@endforeach
@foreach (array_expression as $key => $value):
@endforeach
@for (expr1; expr2; expr3):
@endfor
@while (expr):
@endwhile
8. Todo
-------
- rss.php: feeds for main, forums and threads
- implement shorter id for threads
- add support for new styles in admin page
- enforce strong password in script forgot.php (at least 6 chars,....)
- max number of allowed posts per day
- search index to speed-up search feature
- add restore button
- provide "virtual" forums that can be activated with a specific code (based on the secret)
- possibility to define the content of the main page (headings and visible forums), administrator shall be able to add separators between different groups of forums
- add icons and other graphical content, enhanced graphic layout, styles
- multidomain support
- search based on time criteria (e.g. last week, last month...)
- webservices
- QR tag image
- optimize support of mobile browsers
- test other browsers: IE8, Opera,...
9. Acknowlegments
This software uses the following softwares:
- pclzip.lib.php library, according to GPL/LGPL license. For further details please visit http://www.phpconcept.net
- TinyMCE javascript library, according to GPL/LGPL license. For further details please visit http://tinymce.moxiecode.com/
=============
project initiator: javalc6@gmail.com
other contributors: kevin.m.shaw@gmail.com (DB design: MySQL and SQLite)
=============
IMPORTANT NOTICE, please read:
This software is licensed under the terms of the GNU GENERAL PUBLIC LICENSE,
please read the enclosed file license.txt or http://www.gnu.org/licenses/licenses.html
The use of this software is at your own risk. The software is provided on an "As Is" basis, without warranty of any kind.
