ADbNewsSender - user manual – Installation

Step by Step -Instructions:

1. Modify the File /protected/database/DBconf.php.inc and provide the following information:

$db_type: Type of your database. Currently MySQL (mysql), MariaDB (mariadb) and PostgreSQL (postgresql) are supported. When using PostgreSQL the user's default schema will be used as location for all tables.
$db_server is the host of your database server.
$db_name is the name of the database that you want to use. (The database must exist before starting the setup script.)
$db_user: Your db user name.
$db_password: Your database password
$db_encryptionPassword: Encryption password. This password will be used for newsletter encryption and mailserver password encryption. (Read chapter Encryption functionality for more information!)

Prevent unauthorized access to the database configuration file!
Especially when using a Shared hosting Provider, you should prevent unauthorized access to the file DBconf.php.inc.
However, you must ensure that the Apache HTTP Deamon (and thus ADbNewsSender) can access the database configuration file.
For instance you can restrict the access with the (FTP) command chmod 750.
This provides read/write access to the file owner, read access to the owning group (in which the apache deamon user should be a member) and forbids acces for all other users.
Please consult your web hosting provider, if you don't know which chmod code is the right for your server environment!

2. Modify the files "subscribe.php", "confirmation.php" and "renewal.php".

confirmation.php:

This file is used to confirm the subscriptions. After subscription, a receipiant receives a confirmation e-mail (which you can modify by editing the file "/protected/localization/lang/eng/confirmationmail.php.inc"), including the confirmation link.

subscribe.php:

This file is used as the subscribe- and unsubscribe page. To change the layout of the subscribe/unsubscribe form just modify the file /templates/SubscriptionFormLayout.txt.
Use the variable $default_language to set a default language if no newsletter has been selected.

You can add this file to your website by displaying it in an iframe or by including it by the php include function.
Of course you can simply link to it, too.
If you want to preselect a newsletter, you can link to the subscribe page (or display it in an iframe) with the parameter ?NewsletterID=[Newsletter ID number].
For example, if you want to preselect newsletter ID #1, use the URL http://www.yourdomain.tld/path-to-ADbNewsSender/subscribe.php?NewsletterID=1

If you want to use an other file-name just rename it or copy the code to the destinated file.
If you do so, you should also modify the relative path to the file "subscribe.php.inc" and change the subscribe URL in the global configuration, if you don't want to use also the original file.

For more information take a look at How to add ADbNewsSender to your Website!

renewal.php:

This file is used to renew expiring subscriptions.

3. Upload all files to your FTP host!

4. Make sure that you have restricted the access to the directory "./protected/" by using htacces!

This is important to protect your admin area from unautorised access.

If you have no experience with HTACCES, read the Apache HTACCES Documentation at http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/howto/htaccess.html and http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.0/howto/auth.html.

Please Note: If you want to use the address export function in the admin area you need to set sufficient write permissions to the directory "/protected/export" (e.g. CHMOD to 666).

5. Visit "http://www.Your-Domain.com/(ADbNewsSender-folder)/protected/setup/".

Language selection:

Please select your preffered language.
This language will be used in the admin area. You can set different languages for each newsletter later.

License information:

Please take note of the GNU Public License.

After reading the license information you can choose between the following options:

Installation: Install ADbNewsSender (If not yet installed)

Reinstall: Reinstall ADbNewsSender based on your previous installation's settings.
Existing newsletters, including confirmed and unconfirmed subscriptions, archives and drafts, won't get lost.
However, some global configuration settings may get reset to default values.
(If already installed, can also be used instead of the option "Update".)

Update: Update ADbNewsSender. (If ADbNewsSender is already installed and the version you want to install is higher than the existing installation.)

Uninstall: Delete all tables from your database. (If the version that has to be installed has the same main version as the existing installation or is equal to the existing version.)

Basic configuration:

Now you have to provide the following information:

-URL of your Website

-Your e-mail address

-Subscribe/Unsubscribe -URL:
URL to subscribe and unsubscribe page. This URL will be added to every sent newsletter message.

-Renewal-URL:
URL to the renewal page. Starting at one month before a subscription expires, concerned subscribers will see this URL in every sent newsletter message

-Confirmation-URL:
URL to file where subscribers can verify their subscriptions.

-Use queued dispatching of newsletter issues?:
You should enable this feature if a newsletter has more than 500 receipients or if the sending process lasts too long.
If enabled, newsletter issues will be stored in a queue and either get dispatched during the next maintenance run or with a delay between one and 48 hours as selected during the creation process of the issue.
Please note: If you want to enable this option, it is recommended to run the maintenance by cron job, preferably by using the php interpreter.

-Keep dispatched queued issues for n days:
Dispatched queued issues will be kept in queue for the selected number of days (default: 7). Of course, the dispatched issues won't be sent again.

-Enable WYSIWYG editor?
Use this option to enable the integrated WYSIWIG editor tinyMCE.

Please note that tinyMCE may not work with all web browsers. See also: Requirements.

-URL to your archive page:
URL to the archive page.

Creating global tables

The setup script now creates the needed tables and save your settings.

If you are able to create cronjobs please make sure that the file "maintenance.php" in the main directory of your ADbNewsSender copy gets executed every hour! This cann be done by calling the URL (e.g. http://your-website.com/path-to-ADbNewsSender/maintenance.php) or -if possible- preferably by using the PHP-interpreter (Example for Linux-Servers: /usr/bin/php /absolut/path/to/maintenance.php).

If you are not able to create cronjobs, please include the file to all of your pages as image:
<img src="http://yourdomain.com/maintenance.php?fakecronjob=yes" width="0" height="0">

Be aware that expired confirmed and unconfirmed subscriptions can not be deleted if this file is not executed every hour or at least once per day!

Information about adding ADBNewsSender to your website and how to modify the layout of the subscription form are available at "How to add ADbNewsSender to your Website"!