Web site customization

Customizing the default web site

When you create a BOINC project using make_project, a web site is created for you. This consists of a front page (html/user/index.php), which links to pages where users can log in, edit preferences, create profiles, and so on.

Before your project goes public, you'll want to change this web site by adding content and giving the web site a graphical identity specific to your project. Make sure you do a good job; your web site has a large impact on your project's ability to recruit and retain participants.

Some of this customization can be done by editing the main page (index.php) and the stylesheet (white.css) files. Other aspects are changed using a configuration file, described below.

An alternative version of the Account page, with many graphical icons, is available here: http://boinc.berkeley.edu/BOINC_WebIcons_and_php_code.zip (not supported, and doesn't work any more).

Web configuration file

The file html/project/project.inc serves as a configuration file for your web site. It exists in a separate directory (html/project) so that you can put all project-specific web files there (create symbolic links from html/inc and html/user). You should put this directory under version control (SVN or CVS).

The file project.inc is generated by make_project with default values. Edit this file to customize the constants and functions it contains.

Constants:

PROJECT

The name of your project

URL_BASE

Base URL for web pages (usually same as master_url defined in config.xml). Warning: if you change your master URL, volunteers will have to detach/reattach your project.

SECURE_URL_BASE

(optional) URL prefix for forms with passwords. If your web server supports HTTPS, set this accordingly.

STYLESHEET

Name of stylesheet file (such as white.css)

STYLESHEET2

Name of an optional project supplied stylesheet.

IMAGE_PATH

relative path to user-uploaded profile images (default: ../user_profile/images/)

IMAGE_URL

url path to above defined path, is appended to URL_BASE (default: user_profile/images/)

PROFILE_PATH

relative path to user profiles (default: ../user_profile/)

PROFILE_URL

url path to user profiles, is appended to URL_BASE (default: user_profile/)

LANGUAGE_FILE

name of a text file that contains language names that are shown in a selection box to the user at his profile. File is expected in html/user. (default: languages.txt)

COPYRIGHT_HOLDER

Name of copyright holder

SYS_ADMIN_EMAIL

Users are directed here if they have complaints about message-board moderation.

UOTD_ADMIN_EMAIL

Messages about user-of-the-day running low are sent here.

POST_REPORT_EMAILS

Moderation-related emails (such as user complaints) are sent here.

INVITE_CODES

Regular expression used for controlling account creation.

EMAIL_FROM

'from' address for emails

EMAIL_FROM_NAME

'from' name for emails

COUNTRY_FLAGS

If defined, show country flags in forums. Steps:

• Download flag images from ​http://www.famfamfam.com/lab/icons/flags/famfamfam_flag_icons.zip
• Put the .png's in html/user/flags/
• Put define("COUNTRY_FLAGS", 1); in your html/project/project.inc

FORUM_QA_MERGED_MODE

Set this to true to merge Message boards and Q&A section

The following constants, if defined as true, turn off web features involving user-supplied content. This eliminates having to deal with spammers.

DISABLE_TEAMS

Turn off team-related features.

DISABLE_PROFILES

Turn off profile-related features.

DISABLE_FORUMS

Turn off forums. Project admins can still post and edit news items; there's a link to this in the project admin page.

Certificate-related constants:

CERT_SIGNATURE

Signature image filename

CERT_DIRECTOR_NAME

Name of project director

CERT_PROJECT_LOGO

Project logo image filename (if any)

CERT_INSTITUTION_LOGO

Institution logo image filename (if any)

Variables:

$banned_email_domains

An array of strings. An account's email address may not end with any of these strings.

Functions:

project_banner()

Prints page header

project_footer()

Prints page footer

show_profile_heading1(), show_profile_heading2()

Text on user profile page

show_profile_question1(), show_profile_question2()

Text on user profile page

project_workunit($wu)

Prints project-specific text on workunit page

project_user_links($user)

Return project-specific text to be shown after user name.

project_user_summary()

Prints project-specific text on user page

project_user_page_private()

Prints project-specific text on private user page

donations_intro()

Displays customized donation information. Useful to describe what the project uses donations for, and project specific guides for donations. If function is not defined, standard donation information is displayed.html/user/donations.php.

project_rules_policies()

Displays customized project rules and policies. If return value is true, standard rules and policies are appended. If function is not defined, default rules and policies are displayed.

project_forum_post_rules()

return a string describing message board policies.

To use ​PHPMailer (the preferred way to send emails to participants), you must download PHPMailer and put it in PROJECT/html/inc/phpmailer (i.e. the files class.smtp.php and class.phpmailer.php should be in that directory). Than modify the following function:

make_php_mailer()

return a PHPMailer object with authentication information (see ServerIntro#PHPMailer), used when the above is set to true.

If you do not define make_php_mailer() then e-mail to participants can still be sent, but it will use PHP's simpler mail() function.