This article describes a DRAFT under discussion; contents, specifications and recommendations may change until the public discussion is complete.

Introduction

Understanding ccHost URLs

Understanding how URLs work in ccHost is a very important concept that you should understand before doing anything else.

URL Parts

ccHost URLs are composed of four main parts:

1. Root URL of installation

This is the URL address of where index.php lives. For example: http://example.com, or http://example.com/cchost

2. Virtual Root

Don't worry if you don't know what a 'ccHost virtual root' is, we'll get to it here but for now assume it's the word media.

3. Command

This part of the URL maps to an internal command in ccHost. This can be anything from a request for a submit form, a feed, a record listing, etc. Examples are people which shows a listing of the latest registered users who have uploaded or files which lists the latest uploads.

4. Parameters

Many if not most commands accept and even require parameters. For example, adding a specific user's name to the people command will display the user's main page, e.g. people/rejon

You should refer to the ccHost Command Reference for a listing of all available commands.

If you have enabled 'pretty URLs' in your installation then all the elements are strung together into one URL:

http://example.com/media/people/rejon

If not, then everything starting from the virtual root is prepended the following way:

http://example.com?ccm=/media/people/rejon

FAQ/Cookbook

How do I change the banner (logo)?

Log in as an administrator and go to the "Manage Site" section. Click on the "Banner Logo" link, click on the "Browse" button and select your preferred image. Hit Submit and enjoy!

How do I restrict file types users can upload?

Log in as an administrator and navigate to "Global Settings." Each filetype which is desired to be blocked should be set to "(D)isabled." The "(S)ignature" and "(V)erify" options allow uploads with either a simple check of signature or full file verification using getID3, respectively.

How do I restrict licenses?

How do I add administrators?

Administrative Settings

There are two Administrative Settings sections: Manage Site and Global Settings.

Below you will find explainations of the various options available to the administrator.

Manage Site

Note: Some of these settings may have been over written in other virtual roots.

Settings

Admins, editors, etc.

These settings are the general top level things which the administrator needs to set for the site.

Editorial staff: Comma-separated list of login names for users with editorial privileges
Auto Publish Uploads: Uncheck this if you want to verify uploads before they are made public.
Homepage: For example a file: docs/home or a navigation tab: view/media/home
Default Feed Query: Query to use for pages that do not specify a feed Leave blank for no default feed.
Ratings: Allow ratings for media virtual root. (Click here to configure global ratings)
Site Administrators: List login names of site admins. (e.g. admin, fightmaster, sally)

Skin

Choose a skin, theme, layout, colors, fonts, etc.

Load a Profile: Start here to pick from an existing skin profile
Basic Settings: String profile, listing choices, etc.
Layouts: Page layouts, tab placement, box shapes, etc.
Color, Font, Text size: Fonts and colors
Save this Skin Profile: Save the current settings to your own profile
Create Skin Template: For web developers: Sets up a new skin template

Navigator Tab Sets

Create and edit navigator tabs

File Formats

Pick which file formats are allowed to be uploaded

Formats available include:

aif, au, flac, mid, mp3, ogg, rm, Riff, wav, wma, zip, avi, mov, rmvb, wmv, bmp, gif, jpg, png, swf

License

Pick which licenses a user is allowed to select from

Upload Renaming

Configure how uploads are automatically renamed

Submit Forms

Edit what kind of submit forms the user can see

Examples:

Derived Work
Sample
Self-Contained

Banner and Footers

Edit what the banner and footer says on each page.

Banner Text, Footers, etc.: Edit the text of the banner, footer and other elements on every page
Banner Logo: Upload a logo graphic for the banner
New Page Element: Web developers: Create a new element for page template skin

Sidebar Extras

Pick what features are available on the side bar.

TODO: rewording? Drag items from here to sidebar (and back) to add (and remove) items. Drag items within sidebar to reorder.

Menus

Edit the menus

WARNING: If you change the global language setting all customizations made here will be destroyed. Therefore, if you plan to set the language to something other than the default you should do it before editing here.

You can revert to factory defaults menu it will however erase the customization you have done to the main menu, but not affect any virtual ccHosts menus that you have customized.

TODO: incomplete, describe the options.

ID3 Tagger

Configure how to tag ID3 compatible files (e.g. MP3s)

Available fields to set: Title, Artist, Copyright, Original Artist, Remixer, Year, Album ,and Artist's URL.

Available strings references to grab data from the id3 tag:

%% Percent sign (%)
%Y% Current year (eg: 2008)
%artist% Artist name
%artist_page% Artist page URL
%contest% Contest (Internal Name)
%contest_fullname% Contest (Full Name)
%d% Current day (eg: 23)
%ext% File extension
%feat% Collaborating artists
%filename% %title% + %ext%
%license% License name
%license_url% License URL
%login% Artist login name
%m% Current month (eg: 06)
%site% Site name
%song_page% File page URL
%source_artist% 'Sampled from' artist
%source_title% 'Sampled from' title
%title% Title
%unique_id% Guaranteed to be unique number
%url% Download URL

Menu Groups

Edit the menu groups

TODO: Explain this section.

Thumbnails

Configure thumbnails handling (for image uploads)

Available options:

Enabling/Disabling the display of Thumbnails

Constrain proportion of image to the original image's height (y value)

Set the max Thumbnail width
- Leave this blank or 0 (zero) to use the image's natural size
Set the max Thumbnail height
- Leave this blank or 0 (zero) to use the image's natural size

Global Settings

Admin Help

Help on configuring the site

This points to this document you are reading now.

Global Setup

Cookies, ban message, admin email, 3rd party add ins, etc.

Cookie Domain: This is the name used to set cookies on the client machine. Recommend to leave this blank unless you are having problems.
Default File Permissions: chmod() access mask to use when writing new files. Do not edit this unless you understand UNIX permissions, Apache, PHP CGI mode, etc. Changing this value will affect future writes.
Use URL Rewrite Rules: Check this if you want to use mod_rewrite for 'pretty' URLs.
- Note: In order to enable Rewrite rules ('pretty URLs'), you must include the following lines in your Apache configuration (virtual host or .htaccess):
- RewriteEngine On RewriteBase / RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f RewriteRule ^(.*)$ /index.php?ccm=/$1 [L,QSA]
Feed Caching: Feed caching can optimize replies for feed requests
Number of feed items: Number of items to list in feeds (recommended: 15)
GetID3 File Verify Enabled: Enable/Disbale GetIDE File Verification
Path to GetID3 Library: Local server path to library (e.g. /usrer/lib/getid3/getid3)
Tag ID3v1: Tag old style v1 tags as well as v2
Registration Confirmation: What type of registrations confirmation should the system use.
Limit Queries: Limit the number of records returned from api/query (0 or blank means unlimited - HINT: that's a bad idea)
Search Method: Check this to use mysql TEXTINDEX searching
Show Google(tm) Search Form: Check this to show users a Google search form
Enable Reviews: Allow users to review uploads
Include BPM in Upload Forms:
Run Once: Comma separated list of xml files in viewfiles directory that registered users will see once.
Allow email notifications: Is it ok to allow users get notified on activity on their accounts and others?
Allow User Text Formatting: Allow users to format text (bold, italic, etc.)
Allow Admin Text Formatting: Allow admins to format text

Manage Page Content

Manage special pages and topics

TODO: Explain what Content Pages/Topics are in the "basics" section TODO: Explain create a new topic

Here you can Create new Content Pages and new Content Topics.

Create a new page: Some sample properties which you can set for a new page include: Title, Content Type, Layout Style, and Sort By field. You can also set if you want an rss/atom feed made for that page.
Create a new Topic: describe here

Paths

Configure where ccHost looks for stuff

NOTE: Changing the values here will not move any files around. You are responsible for that and the system will not work until the directories match these values.
NOTE: Fields with ** need to be set up so that PHP scripts have full write access.

Forum

Configure forums access, groups, etc.

Ratings

How ratings are calculated, who can rate, etc.

Default User Avatar

Upload a default avatar for new users

Super Users

Edit list of super users

Restrict Access

Restrict access to commands

Language

Configure Language use

Upload Throttles

Limit the number and types of uploads per user

Activity Log

Configure the administrator's activity log

Import Files

Import files from your server into ccHost

Disable Site

Disable site when doing maintainence.

Email

Configure system email address and access

Create Contest

Create a new contest, set its start time, rules, etc.

Download Manager

Count, checksum and license options for downloading

Moderation/Flagging

Configure moderation (Ban) and upload flagging

Playlists

Manage Playlists

Pseudo Verify

Configure usage of exotic and other dangerous file types

Quota

Configure user quota

Virtual ccHost

Create a new virtual root

Query Browser

Configure query browser

Channels Page

Configure playlists for the channels page

Sample Pools

Managing sample pools and trackbacks

CcHost5Documentation

Contents