FAQ - VCD-db - Trac

Wiki Navigation

VCD-db FAQ

Installation

How do I install VCD-db?

VCD-db has a built-in web based install wizard. Just fire up a browser, goto the VCD-db directory and you will be redirected to the installer. Then follow the instructions to complete your install.

How do I upgrade my VCD-db installation?

VCD-db comes with web based upgrade wizard, extract the updated vcddb-xxx.tar.gz file, overwriting existing data, point your browser to vcddb/setup/upgrade.php and follow the onscreen instructions.

How do I enter Oracle XE database params in the installer process

Database host server: = //localhost/XE
Database username: your username
Database password: your password
Database name: "leave empty"
Database type: Oracle

Setup / Customization

How do I enable the LDAP authentication module?

To enable LDAP Authentication you must edit the file 'config.php' in the vcddb root and make the following changes.

1. Set LDAP_AUTH to 1
2. Set LDAP_HOST to your directory IP or server address
3. Set LDAP_BASEDN to match your Base DN on the Directory Server
4. Set LDAP_AD to 1 only if you are using Windows Active Directory Server as LDAP server
5. Set LDAP_DOMAIN to your windows domain name if step 4 is true.

Then save the file, reload your page and login with your domain account.

How do I create my own CSS template theme?

Goto vcddb/includes/templates/ and copy one of the folders, name the folder with the desired name of your theme. Edit the style.css with your favorite CSS editor.

Your theme is now included in available themes in the "My Settings" page. If you want your new theme to be the default one, edit config.php and change the constant STYLE so it matches your new template name.

User interface

How do I change the date format VCD-db uses ?

Open the config.php file, edit DATE_FORMAT and TIME_FORMAT to match your desired format.

For list of available formats check out this page on Smarty.net

I get a blank page when exporting movies/thumbnails zipped/gunzipped

The tar/zip process uses alot of memory and with bigger datasets the memory consumption gets bigger. If you get the blank page during export, you will need to increase the memory limit in the php.ini Try changing ini setting in php ini to memory_limit = 128M That should do the trick.

Data handling

How do i fix titles and text being single quoted (\') from fetch sources?

To change this behavior open your php.ini and change the following values ..

magic_quotes_gpc = Off
magic_quotes_runtime = Off

If you do not have access to change the php.ini, such as if you are running vcddb at your ISP. An alternative might work .. First create a file in the vcddb root folder called .htaccess (the dot in front is not a typo) Edit the file and add these two lines ..

php_value magic_quotes_gpc 0
php_value magic_quotes_runtime 0

Database specific

What collation should I use with a new MySQL database?

Since all data in VCD-db is stored in UTF-8 format, utf8_unicode_ci would be the best choice.

What collation should I use with a new Postgre database?

Since all data in VCD-db is stored in UTF-8 format, UTF8 would be the best choice.

Why can't I upload images to my MSSQL database?

File upload must be set on in the php.ini and maxfile size should be set to at least 2mb for non rejected image uploads. Be sure that magic_quotes are off, they can corrupt binary streams to the database. Limits in the php.ini should be changed from 4096 (which is default) to at least 1mb, can be more ... otherwise the read from the db will fail. Change these settings in your php.ini file

mssql.textlimit = 2147483647
mssql.textsize = 2147483647

I'm using SQLite, where is the database file located?

Your SQLite database is located in the folder vcddb/upload/cache/ and the filename is vcddb.db

Webservices

Where can I see the WSDL files for the VCD-db webservices?

The WSDL files are located in the folder vcddb/proxy/

You can also see them online at the VCD-db demo site

How to I connect my VCD-db instance to another VCD-db remote instance

First, you will need to know the webservice password on the remote VCD-db instance. The webservice password is visible when you login to the "admin panel". Then edit your config.php and change the webservice section to match your settings. Below is an example of how to connect to the VCD-db demo site. The password is correct so you can try these settings for testing purposes.

define('VCDDB_USEPROXY', '1');
define('VCDDB_SOAPPROXY', 'http://demo.vcddb.konni.com/');
define('VCDDB_SOAPSECRET', '4f5865');
define('CACHE_MANAGER', '');

VCDDB_USEPROXY tells VCD-db whether to use remote SOAP proxy or not.
VCD_SOAPPROXY tells VCD-db what endpoint to use when enabled.
VCDDB_SOAPSECRET tells VCD-db what password to use when calling the remote service.
CACHE_MANAGER Tell VCD-db to use some other cache manager such as xcache instead of the default cache manager.

Extending VCD-db

I want to add a new page to VCD-db, how is that done ?

First you will need to edit the file vcddb/classes/controllers/pages.xml
Add a new page entry to the XML file describing your new page.
These are the definitions for a page entry.

* Page properties:
* standalone: Is the page embedded in the main look? [optional] (default yes)
* auth:       Does the page require valid user [optional] (default no)
* name:       The page identifier
* handler:    The controller to handle the page
* template:   The smarty template behind the page [optinal] (requred for controllers that need to display content)
* action:     The page parameter used to trigger the controller

Below is an example of a new test page ..

<page standalone="false" auth="false">
  <name>MyTestPage</name> 
  <handler>VCDPageTest</handler> 
  <template>page.test.tpl</template> 
  <action>mytest</action> 
</page>

For the above example you would need to add a new class called VCDPageTest in the folder vcddb/classes/controllers/ since that class has been defined as the page handler.
You would also have to create a new template in the vcddb/pages/ directory called page.test.tpl which will act as the View
Your page will then be triggered when parameter ?page=mytest is used.

Your new class would then look something like this.

<?php
class VCDPageTest extends VCDBasePage {
    
    public function __construct(_VCDPageNode $node) {
        parent::__construct($node);

       // Call some of my new functions to assign variables to the smarty template.
    }
}
?>

You can also take a look at some existing classes and templates to see how things are done.

How to create a new Fetch Class ?

Details on the subject can be found on the HowToCreateFetchClass page.

My modifications are not being displayed, whats wrong?

VCD-db uses the Smarty template system. For maximum performance the templates are compiled and stored in the cache folder.
If you have made any modifications to the .tpl files in the vcddb/pages/ folder you will need to flush the template cache.
To do that, open the "admin panel", select tools and execute the task "Clean up the cache folder". That will flush the cache and your new changes will be displayed when you reload the page.

There is also another option available when developing or changing existing template, that is to disable the template caching mechanism. To do that ... edit the file vcddb/classes/VCDPage.php, change the lines

$this->force_compile = false;
$this->compile_check = false;

To ..

$this->force_compile = true;
$this->compile_check = true;

Just remember to set these values back to false when you are finished.

Miscellaneous

I want to support VCD-db, what can I do ?

There are several things you can do to support VCD-db.

You can translate VCD-db to your native language, or update existing translation if there are some language keys missing. You can find out more on the VCD-db Translation page.
You can promote VCD-db by telling your friends and colleagues about VCD-db.
You can donate to VCD-db, check the donate button on the frontpage.

Is there an API available for VCD-db ?

Yes, you can view the VCD-db API online here.

I want to translate VCD-db to my language, how ?

VCD-db has it's own translation system.
Goto the VCD-db translation page and register for an account.
Create a new language and start the translation. When you have finished, download the translated XML file and place in your VCD-db language directory (vcddb/includes/languages/).
Then your new language file will become available in the language select box.

Does VCD-db require PHP short open tags?

NO, since VCD-db 0.990 short open tags are no longer required.

Where can i subscribe to new VCD-db releases?

You can subscribe to VCD-db default branch on freshmeat.net and
you can subscribe to VCD-db file releases on Sourceforge.net

Download in other formats:

Plain Text