wiki:WebConfig

Version 35 (modified by davea, 8 years ago) (diff)

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  1. Web site customization
    1. Customizing the default web site
    2. Web configuration file
      1. Constants
      2. Functions

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 as follows:

  • Add and alter content:
    • Edit the main page (index.php).
    • Add new pages, linked to from the main page. These might describe your project's research, its leadership team, etc. Typically these are .php files of the form 
      <?php
require_once("../inc/util.inc");
page_head("Title");
... content
page_tail();
?>
    • Customize page headers and footers (see below).
    • Set config options (see below).

Try to do a good job; your web site has a large impact on your project's ability to recruit and retain participants.

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).
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.
SHORTCUT_ICON
Path (relative to html/user) of icon file shown in web browser tabs.
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.
UOTD_THRESHOLD
Send email if # of UOTD candidates falls below this (default 7)
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:
FORUM_QA_MERGED_MODE
Set this to true to merge Message boards and Q&A section
NO_MYSQLI
Set this to true if your web site includes custom PHP script that use the old (and now deprecated) mysql_* MySQL interface.
POSTAL_CODE
If set to true, ask users for their postal code and store in DB. This is not the default because it can be seen as a privacy issue.

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.
DISABLE_BADGES
Don't show badges.

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
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_form_post_info($forum)
return a string describing instructions for a particular forum (e.g. how to post in Questions and problems).
project_forum_post_rules()
return a string describing message board policies.
project_rules_policies()
Displays customized project rules and policies. If return value is true, standard rules and policies are appended. If function is not defined, default rules and policies are displayed.
project_user_links($user)
Return project-specific text to be shown after user name.
project_user_page_private()
Prints project-specific text on private user page
project_user_summary()
Prints project-specific text on user page
project_workunit($wu)
Prints project-specific text on workunit page
server_status_project_info()
Prints project-specific info on server status page (server_status.php).
show_profile_heading1(), show_profile_heading2()
Text on user profile page
show_profile_question1(), show_profile_question2()
Text on user profile page

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). Then 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.