QuickPlog

Contents

Introduction

Introduction

QuickPlog was developed to provide me with a quick way to post one or many images to a site without worrying about formatting, layout, etc. It will list all images in a directory that have not yet been posted in an entry, allow selection of 1 or more images, allow entry of text for each image or for the entry and let me have multiple pre built layouts. It has a few other features that I found lacking in other blog software and at the same time I didn't include several common blog features that I never use anyway. It was never intended to be a photo gallery or full blown text blog. Being PHP driven I would not recommend it for high traffic sites since almost everything on the index page is dymnamically built.

Getting Started

Getting Started

First Entry
If you haven't installed the software yet you'll probably find this hard to follow, but feel free to try.
Assuming you've installed the software following the installation instructions you should now have an administrator author and at least one plog.
To begin, load an image to the defined image path (using any FTP process you prefer). Sign onto Quickplog & select New Image Entry. Select the appropriate directory from the Image Path drop down and press 'Refresh Images'. Select the images for the entry, enter a title, select a Template from the drop down, select Public from the Publish to drop down and press 'Update'. Yer done. You've published an entry complete with photos.
If you want to add image captions or text to the entry select Edit Entries from the Main panel. From the Entry List select the Caption or Text option of the entry. Enter the text & press 'Update'.

How to...

There are two menu levels, the top level is the Application Menu. The secondary level is the Plog Menu. The Application Menu contains all panels that pertain to all Plogs. These are the Plog List, the Author panels, the Banned IPs panel, the Log and the New Plog panel. The Plog Menu contains to all panels that pertain to a single Plog. These are Entries, Comments, Categories, URLs and the Plog Profile.

Create an entry with photos

To add an entry with photos click Image Entry from the Main panel or New:Image Entry from the Entries panel. Select the image path from the drop list on the Images panel and press 'Refresh Images' as required. If the image count is greater than zero on the drop down list, I.E images/(12), but there are no images displayed in Available Images select 'All' from the Show drop down and press 'Refresh Images' as required.
Select one or more images by checking the box beside the image. Enter a title for the entry and press 'Update'. A new image entry has been created as a draft.
To preview the entry click Preview from the entry menu or click the entry name on the Entries panel.
To publish the entry select 'Public' from the Publish to drop down on the Images panel and press 'Update'.

Create a text only entry

To add a text entry without photos click Text Only Entry from the Main panel or New:Text Entry from the Entries panel. Enter a title for the entry, any text and press 'Update'. A new text entry has been created as a draft.
To preview the entry click Preview from the entry menu or click the entry name on the Entries panel.
To publish the entry select 'Public' from the Publish to drop down on the Text panel and press 'Update'.

Load photos

All photos must be loaded to the plog image path using a separate FTP process. Only images in the plog image path are available to include in an entry.

Create a template

Create a new entry or image template from the Entry panel on the Plog Profile submenu. Either create an empty template by selecting 'New Template' from the Select Template drop down menu and pressing 'Go' or copy an existing template by selecting the existing template from the Copy Template drop down menu and pressing 'Copy Template'.
The recommended method to create a new template is to use the copy function. Once the template has been copied change the template name. Make any changes to the template body ensuring that any style classes or id's used are defined in the style sheet.
Once the template has been saved create a test entry in draft mode and attach the template. You can validate the template by previewing the draft entry. Make any adjustments required before publishing the template.
If the new template is not ready for use you can set the status from inactive. This will prevent the template from being attached to any new entries. Any existing entries using the template will continue to do so.

Change a template

A template can be changed at any time from the Entry panel on the Plog Profile submenu. Changing a template will affect all entries using the template.

Create a new plog

A new plog can be created in the same directory as an existing plog or in a separate directory.
To create a new plog in a separate directory.
  • Create the new plog directory (path)
  • Create the new image directory (path)
  • Copy the .php pages, the usercfg.inc and plog-style.css file into the new plog directory
  • Create the new plog from the New Plog menu option
    • A new plog can be copied from an existing plog by selecting the existing plog from the Copy Plog drop down menu and pressing 'Copy' or entering all the plog information as required including all templates. The copy function copies all templates from the existing plog to the new plog.
    • Enter the new plog name, site path (new plog directory) and image path (new image directory)
    • Ensure the Page Names match the .php pages copied to the new plog directory.
    • Press 'Update' to accept the create the new plog
  • Note the Plog ID number immediately following the plog name on the Plog Profile panel. The Plog ID must be entered in the usercfg.inc file.
  • Update the usercfg.inc file in the new plog directory with the Plog ID and the relative path. The relative path is the path from the new plog directory to the public directory. If the public directory is public_html & the new plog directory is public_html/newplog/ the relative path would be '../'.
  • View new plog by selecting it from the Main (Plog List) panel.
To create a new plog in the same directory.
  • Copy the .php pages to new, unique names, I.E. copy index.php to newplog.php & bydate.php to newbydate.php, etc.
  • Copy the usercfg.inc file to a new, unique name, I.E. newcfg.inc
  • Copy the plog-style.css file to a new, unique name, I.E. new-style.css OR incorporate the new style definitions into the existing plog-style.css file
  • In each .php page change usercfg.inc to newcfg.inc
  • If the .css style sheet was copied to a new name then in each .php page change plog-style.css to new-style.css
  • Create the new plog from the New Plog menu option
    • A new plog can be copied from an existing plog by selecting the existing plog from the Copy Plog drop down menu and pressing 'Copy' or entering all the plog information as required including all templates. The copy function copies all templates from the existing plog to the new plog. The recommended method would be to copy an existing plog from the same directory
    • Enter the new plog name, site path and image path
    • Ensure the Page Names match the .php pages renamed for the new plog
    • Press 'Update' to accept the create the new plog
  • Note the Plog ID number immediately following the plog name on the Plog Profile panel. The Plog ID must be entered in the newcfg.inc file.
  • Update the newcfg.inc file in the new plog directory with the Plog ID.
  • View new plog by selecting it from the Main (Plog List) panel.

Manage Comments

Everyone likes to get feedback once in awhile, the trade off is occasionally you get spammed. Comments can managed in several ways ranging from a complete elimination of comments to accepting all comments.
From the Plog Profile panel 'Comments Allowed' or 'No Comments' can be selected. Selecting 'Comments Allowed' will open the comments entry form on the single or 'byentry' page. Selecting 'No Comments' will prevent the comments entry form from being displayed.
In addition to 'Comments Allowed' and 'No Comments' there are two more drop down menus. The first drop down allows selection of 'No Notification' or 'Email New Comments'. Setting this drop down to 'Email New Comments' will cause all new comments to be emailed to the plog owner email address. The second drop down provides control on abusive comments. This drop down has three options. The first 'No Autobanning' turns autobanning off, abusive comments will not trigger an automatic banning of the source IP. The second option, 'Autobanning', will automatically ban any IP that posts abusive comments. The third option is 'Email on Autoban'. When set to this option Autobanning is on and any trigger of the autobanning function will also generate an email to the plog owner email address.
To manage comments once they have been posted is a easy. There are two options, remove the comment or do not remove the comment. A list of comments posted to a plog can be displayed from the Comments option of the Plog menu. A list of comments posted to an entry can be displayed from the Comments option of the Entry menu. To remove a comment select the checkbox beside the comment and press 'Update'.
The last option in comment management is to remove the <?php include ($srclib . "comments.inc"); ?> code snippet from the byentry.php page. This code snippet displays comments and presents the comment entry form. Removing the snippet will eliminate access to the comments and comment entry form.

About Autobanning

Autobanning is an attempt to control abusive comments without having to constantly monitor your site. Abusive comments are any comments that you don't want. Autobanning uses preset criteria to filter comments as they are posted. When a comment or a series of comments do not pass the filter criteria the IP producing the comments is added to the Banned IPs list. IPs on the banned list do not have the comment form presented when the accessed page is displayed. The remaining sections of the pages are presented unaltered.
Banning IPs is not a 100% effective method of blocking abusive users since most ISPs reassign IPs frequently but Autobanning provides some protection against automated loading of your comments. Banning IP's in your .htaccess file is an effective way to block access to your entire site from exceptionally abusive IPs.
The filter criteria for Autobanning can be set according to your requirements. As delivered more than 2 identical comments posted will trigger autobanning. More than 1 comment from a single IP within 5 seconds will trigger autobanning. Any censored word posted will trigger autobanning. To change these settings see Site Options in the Installation Options section.
IPs banned based on Autobanning criteria are listed in the Banned IPs list and can be easily removed from the banned list.

Panels

Main (Plog List)

The main panel lists all photo logs (plogs) available for the author. Each plog has options to add a new photo entry or text only entry, update existing entries, update the plog profile, update categories & comments or delete the plog and all related information. If the current author created the plog then 'Owner' is shown, if an author managed by the current author created the plog then 'Administrator' is shown. The plog can be viewed by clicking through on the plog name.
New Photo Entry
To add a new photo entry select this option. Text can be added later.
New Text Only Entry
To add a new text only entry select this option. Photos can be added later.
Edit Entries
To view a list of existing entries, both draft & published select this option.
Profile
To view or update the plog characteristics select this option.
Categories
To view, add or remove categories from the plog select this option.
Comments
To view, add or remove comments from the plog select this option.
Delete
To delete the plog select this option. All entries, comments, categories & links attached to the plog will also be deleted. The physical pages must be manually removed from the appropriate directory.

Entries

This panel shows all entries in the plog. The publish status (public or draft) is shown with the creation date. The first photo in the entry & an excerpt of text may also be shown depending upon the plog profile 'Entries showing images' option.
New Photo Entry
To add a new photo entry select this option.
New Text Only Entry
To add a new text only entry select this option. Photos can be added later.
Images
This option allows images to be added or removed from the entry.
Text
This option allows the text of the entry to be updated.
Captions
To update captions on any images attached to this entry select this option.
Comments
This option allows the comments attached to this entry to be viewed or removed.
Delete
This option allows the entry to be removed with any attached comments or captions. Images are removed from the entry but remain available in the directory for another entry.

Photo Entry

This panel allows new photo entries to be added and photo's to be added or removed from an existing entry. Photos can be added to an entry previously entered from the Text Entry panel.
Image Path
Select the directory containing the photos for this entry. All paths available based on the plog image path are shown in the drop down with a count of the number of images in each directory. Some or all of these images may already be assigned to another entry.
Show
This drop down controls whether all images in the selected image path are shown, only images not attached to another entry are shown or only images attached to an existing entry are show. The default is to show images not attached to another entry.
Refresh Images
Pressing 'Refresh Images' will display all images based on the image path & show selections.
Date
Date & time of the entry, only shown on existing entries.
The date & time can be updated by pressing the '>>' button and selecting a date and time from the drop down menus.
Category
Select a category from the drop down of categories available for this plog. Categories can be removed from an entry by selecting the checkbox beside the category name in the list of categories assigned to the entry. Categories can be added or removed (from the plog) from the category panel.
Title
Enter the title of the entry.
Publish to
Select either Draft or Public. All public entries are visible in the photo log. Draft entries are not visible in the photo log. A public entry can be made draft at any time.
Image Template
Select the appropriate template for this entry from the available templates. Templates can be defined on the Entry panel on the Profile menu.
Existing Images
All images assigned to the entry are shown.
Available Images
All images not assigned to the entry are shown based on the image path & show selections.

Text Only Entry

Enter any text for this entry. Text can be added to an entry previously entered from the Photo Entry panel.
Date
Date & time of the entry, only shown on existing entries.
The date & time can be updated by pressing the '>>' button and selecting a date and time from the drop down menus.
Category
Select a category from the drop down of categories available for this plog. Categories can be removed from an entry by selecting the checkbox beside the category name in the list of categories assigned to the entry. Categories can be added or removed (from the plog) from the category panel.
Title
Enter the title of the entry.
Publish to
Select either Draft or Public. All public entries are visible in the photo log. Draft entries are not visible in the photo log. A public entry can be made draft at any time.
Image Template
Select the appropriate template for this entry from the available templates. Templates can be defined on the Entry panel on the Profile menu.
Existing Images
All images assigned to the entry are shown.

Captions

For each photo in an entry caption information can be added. If caption information already exists embedded in the image it can be extracted and updated. The initial image in the entry is shown as a default. To select other images in the entry click on the image under Available Images.
IPTC Info
Select this and press 'Show' to display any IPTC informtion embedded in the image.
File Info
Select this and press 'Show' to display the informtion attached to the image for this entry. This is the default display.
Date
Date & time of the entry, only shown on existing entries.
The date & time can be updated by pressing the '>>' button and selecting a date and time from the drop down menus.
Title
Enter the title of the entry.
Publish to
Select either Draft or Public. All public entries are visible in the photo log. Draft entries are not visible in the photo log. A public entry can be made draft at any time.
Image Template
Select the appropriate template for this entry from the available templates. Templates can be defined on the Entry panel on the Profile menu.
Headline
This is the headline or title for this particular image.
Copyright
Enter any copyright information associated with this image.
Create Date
This is the creation date of the image. This date will be appended to the copyright information when displayed on the entry.
Caption
Any caption you wish to enter for this image.
Entry
Any entry text you wish to enter for this image.
Existing Images
All images attached to the entry are shown. To display the caption information attached to the image or the IPTC information embedded in the image select the image by clicking on it.

Categories

All categories available for this plog are shown on this panel. To see all the entries assigned to a category select the category by clicking on it.
New Category
Enter a new category and press 'Update' to add a category.
Category List
All categories attached to the plog are shown. To remove a category select the checkbox and press 'Update'.

Comments

This panel will display all comments attached to a plog or an entry.
Comment List
Each comment shows the comment text and any information captured at the time the comment was entered. To remove a comment select the checkbox beside the comment and press 'Update'.

URLs

Any number of links can be entered and listed on the site pages. Each link must have a URL. The title and Group are optional. Selecting the checkbox and pressing 'Update' will remove a URL.
URL
This is the URL of the site in the form wwww.thissite.net.
Title
Enter the optional title of the site. This text will be displayed on the site page.
Group
Groups can be used to build multiple lists that can be displayed in separate blocks on the site pages.
URL List
Each URL listed can be removed by selecting the checkbox and pressing 'Update'. A URL can either be Active or Inactive. Only Active URLs will be shown on the site pages.

Plog Profile

Each photo log (plog) can be divided into three sections, 1) the physical pages in the directory, 2) the entries and 3) the plog characteristics. This panel presents all the plog characteristics.
Title
This is the title or name of the photo log (plog).
Plog ID
This is the ID of the plog. The ID must be set in the usercfg.inc file in the directory of the main (index) page for the plog.
Subtitle
This is the subtitle of the plog.
Description
This is the description of the plog.
Current Entries
The current entries options determine how long an entry remains on the main (index) page.
The available options are;
  • Current Day - only entries entered today are shown
  • Current Week - only entries entered this week are shown
  • Current Month - only entries entered this month are shown
  • Number of Entries - A number of entries (between 1 & 31) are shown.
  • Last Entry Only - only the last entry is shown
    At the very least the last entry will be shown. I.E. if the option Current Day is selected & an entry is made for several days the last entry made will still be shown.
    Recent Entry List
    The number of individual entries to show on the recent entry list.
    Date/Time Formats
    The date & time shown on the entries can be set to a wide variety of options. The formats are defined using the standard PHP date/time format characters.
    Show day as
    Select None, Full Day or Abbreviation.
    None suppresses the display of the day of the week, Full day will show the full day name, I.E. Monday. Abbreviation will show the short form for the day of the week. I.E. Mon
    Show time as
    Enter the time display format. The initial format is g:i a which will show the time as a twelve hour clock, I.E. 1:14 pm
    Show month/date as
    Enter the date display format. The inital format is F jS, Y which will show the date as January 1st, 2004
    Copyright string
    This copyright string will be shown at the bottom of each page.
    Default new entry
    This setting will determine whether a photo entry or a text only entry is created when selecting New Entry option from the Image, Text or Caption panel. The options are Image Entry, Text Entry or Same as Current. When set to Same as Current the new entry type will be Image when selected from the Image panel & Text when selected from the Text panel.
    Entries showing images
    This option controls whether a thumbnail is shown on the entry list for entries with images. Options are None, All entries, or a value of 5 to 100 entries. When set to None no image thumbnails are shown, when set to All Entries all entries with images will have one thumbnail shown and an excerpt of text. Entries without images will have an excerpt of text shown. When set to a value of 5 to 100 then the selected number of entries will have the images / excerpt shown with the remain entries not showing the image or excerpt.
    Comments
    The first drop down has two options;
    • No Comments - will not allow comments to be entered. Existing comments will be shown
    • Comments Allowed - will allow comments to be entered
    The second drop down has two options;
    • No Notification - comments are posted but no notification is sent to the author
    • Email New Comments - comments are posted and notification is sent to the author's email address
    The third drop down has three options;
    • No Autobanning - entry of abusive comments will not result in the IP address being banned immediately
    • Autobanning - entry of abusive comments will result in the IP address being banned immediately
    • Email on Autoban - entry of abusive comments will result in the IP address being banned immediately and the author will be notified at the email address on file
    Site Path
    Set the directory path to the main (index) page. Typically this will be blank if the main page is in the public html directory. If the main page is in a directory below the public html directory set the path relative to the public html directory. I.E. plog/
    Image Path
    Set the directory path to the photo directory. This path must be under the Site Path. I.E. if the site path is plog/ the image directory must be under the site path, I.E. /plog/images/ and must be entered as images/
    Any number of sub directories can be created under the image path.
    Page names
    Page name define the source of the pages to be shown. These page names must match the physical pages in the site path exactly. If you need to change the names of these pages first create the physical pages in the site path before changing the names of the pages in the plog profile.
    Index
    This is the main (index or home) page in the site path, the default name is index.php.
    By Date
    This is the page used to display entries by month, the default name is bydate.php.
    By Category
    This is the page used to display entries by category, the default name is bycat.php.
    Entry
    This is the page used to display a single entry, the default name is byentry.php.
    By Image
    This is the page used to display a single image, the default name is byimage.php.
    Image Template
    This is the display template used to display a single image in the By Image page. This template must be created in the Entry panel on the Profile menu.
  • Entry & Image Templates

    The Entry Template contains three individual templates. The entry template, the image template and the image tag template. Multiple templates can be created. Each entry has a template attached to define how the entry is displayed.

    The entry template defines how the plog entry is presented, I.E. where the title, date, author, text & images appear.

    The image template defines how images are presented within an entry and on the Image page.

    The image tag template defines how each image is presented, I.E. borders, size.

    Each entry template must contain an <PImagearea> tag. Additional information can be shown using the available tags.
    Each image template must contain an <PImagetag> tag and must have valid image tag defined. The image tag must name the image name using the <PImagesource> tag. These are the minimum requirements. Additional information can be shown using the available tags.
    Copy Template
    To create a new template from an existing template select the existing template from the drop down menu and press 'Copy'.
    Select Template
    To show or update an existing template select that template from the drop down & press 'Go'.
    New Template
    To create an new template select 'New Template' from the drop down & press 'Go'.
    Template Name
    This is the template name and must be unique.
    Template
    This is the template that defines how images are shown and what information is shown with each image. See tags for available tags.
    Status
    Each template can either be active or inactive. Only active templates are available to use on an entry or the Image page.
    Use
    Select either Sized Image or Thumbnails. If Thumbnails are selected then the thumbs/ directory will be checked for a thumbnail of the image. If it exists it will be used. If it doesn't exist the full image will be used at it's original size. If Sized Image is selected the images will be displayed at a size determined by the Maximum Image Dimension.
    Images per block
    Select either All or Tagged. If All is selected all images in the entry will be shown within on occurence of the image template. This is a good option for thumbnails or galleries where caption, headline, etc. information will not be shown with the image. Select Tagged to only place images on each Image Tag found in the image template. If there are more images in the entry than Image Tags in the template addtional templates will be concatenated into the entry. This is a good choice where caption, headline, etc. information is shown with each image.
    Maximum Image Dimension
    This is the maximum image size to be shown within this template. This is only used when Sized Images is selected in Use. When selected each image is reduced proportionally so the maximum dimension is no larger that the set size. I.E. if an image is 250x200 and the maximum dimension is 125 the image size will be shown as 125x100. Note that the image on the server is not changed. The size is set in the HTML using the image tag size parameters. If your images are large the transmission time could be excessive. It is recommended that the largest image size kept on the server be a maximum of the largest size you want to display.
    Access
    Future Use
    Image Tag
    An image tag template must be entered to define how each image is displayed. The image URI must be set. Image sizing should be set. Other parameters such as an ALT tag or a style class can be defined. See tags for available tags.

    Image Templates

    Comment List

    This template defines how existing comments are displayed on the site pages. See tags for available tags.

    Comment Entry

    This template defines how the comment entry form is on the site pages. See tags for available tags.

    Image Templates

    List Templates

    List templates define how each available list is shown on the site pages. Each list template must define the URL. Each list should define the list entry to display. Other formatting such as style class, breaks, etc. can also be entered. See tags for available tags.
    Recent Entry List
    This template defines how the recent entry list is shown.
    Date List
    This template defines how the entries by date (month) list is shown.
    Category List
    This template defines how the entryies by category list is shown.
    Link List
    This template defines how the link list(s) (URLs) are shown.

    Author List

    The author list is only displayed for authors who have the ability to maintain other authors. The list of authors shows all authors, the author name, alias, authority and the plogs the author has access to. An author can be deleted by selecting Delete. The Author detail can be updated by selecting Detail.

    New Author

    A new author can be entered by selecting the New Author option. The user signed on at the time the author is created is considered the new author's administrator.

    Author Profile

    Each author has a profile containing unique information for the author.
    Name
    This is a unique name for the author. Once set it cannot be changed.
    Alias
    This is a descriptive name for the author. This is the name that will show on the site pages.
    Authority
    There are six levels of authority available.
    • Administrator - the highest level, has the authority to do anything
    • Editor - has the authority to add/delete other authors, can add/delete plogs, add/delete entries
    • Author - has the authority to update other authors, can update plogs, add/delete entries
    • Proofreader - has the authority to update entries
    • Clerk - has the authority to add/delete entries
    • Client - has no authority - for future use
    Email
    The author's email address. This address will be used for notifications, lost userid recovery, password resets. This must be a valid address.
    Copyright
    A copyright string can be entered for each author and shown on entries made by that author as requried.
    Assign Plog
    Select an existing plog for the author. Plogs already assigned to the author are listed. To remove a plog from an author select the checkbox beside the plog name and press 'Update'. If the author is the primary (originating) author of the plog the plog cannot be removed from the author.
    Password & Confirm
    To change the author password enter the new password in Password & Confirm. Passwords must match.

    Banned IPs

    IP addresses can be banned from entering comments by entering the IP address. Note that banning an IP address will not necessarily ban as particular person as many ISPs reassign IP address frequently. By selecting Autobanning on the Plog Profile panel the comment entry system will check for abusive comments and automatically ban the offending IP.
    Ban this IP
    Enter the IP address in the form 000.000.000 and press 'Update' to add the IP address to the banned list.
    Banned IP List
    All banned IP addresses are listed with the date banned and the last access date. To remove an IP from the banned list select the checkbox beside the IP address and press 'Update'.

    Log

    The log provides a record of significant actions. These include updates/adds/deletes of plogs, entries, categories, URLs and authors. IP bannings, sign ons, sign offs and system problems. An administrator can purge the log as necessary.

    Appendix

    Tags

    The following table of tags are supported in the referenced templates.
     
    Tag Valid Template(s) Represents
    <PImagearea> Entry Template Placement of the Image Template
    <PImagetag> Image Template Placement of the Image Tag
    <PImagesource> Image Tag Image path/name
    <PImagesize> Image Tag Image dimensions in HTML IMG format
    <PImagename> Image Template, Image Tag Image name with file type
    <PImageentry> Image Template, Image Tag Image entry
    <PImagecaption> Image Template, Image Tag Image caption
    <PImageheadline> Image Template, Image Tag Image headline
    <PImagecopyright> Image Template, Image Tag Image copyright string
    <PImagecreatedate> Image Template, Image Tag Image create date
    <PSitetitle> Entry Template Plog title
    <PSitesubtitle> Entry Template Plog subtitle
    <PTitle> Entry Template Entry title
    <PDay> Entry Template Entry day of the week, note that plog day format must be set
    <PDate> Entry Template Entry date, note that plog date format must be set & valid
    <PTime> Entry Template Entry time, note that plog time format must be set & valid
    <PAuthor> Entry Template, Image Template, Image Tag Entry author name
    <PAuthoralias> Entry Template, Image Template, Image Tag Entry author alias
    <PAuthoremail> Entry Template, Image Template, Image Tag Entry author email address (this tag is not recommended for public plogs)
    <PAuthorcopyright> Entry Template, Image Template, Image Tag Author copyright string
    <PEntry> Entry Template Entry text
    <PEntercommentstart> Entry Template Start position for a link to comments
    <PEntercommentend> Entry Template End position for a link to comments
    <PComments> Entry Template
    <PCommentcount> Entry Template Number of comments on an entry
    <PDirectlinkstart> Entry Template Start position for a direct link to the entry
    <PDirectlinkend> Entry Template End position for a direct link to the entry
    <PImagedirectlinkstart> Image Template, Image Tag Start position for a direct link to the image
    <PImagedirectlinkend> Image Template, Image Tag End position for a direct link to the image
    <PCommentname> Comment List, Comment Entry Name associated with a comment
    <PCommentday> Comment List Day the comment was entered, note that plog day format must be set
    <PCommentdate> Comment List Date the comment was entered, note that plog date format must be set & valid
    <PCommenttime> Comment List Time the comment was entered, note that plog time format must be set & valid
    <PCommenttext> Comment List, Comment Entry Comment text
    <PCommenturl> Comment List, Comment Entry URL associated with a comment
    <PCommentemail> Comment Entry Email address associated with a comment
    <PCommentsubmitbutton> Comment Entry Submit button for the comment entry form
    <PListurl> List Templates URL of a link
    <PListname> List Templates Name of the URL

    Date / Time Formatting

    The following table of format codes are supported to display dates & times as required. Any unrecognized characters are displayed as-is.
     
    a "am" or "pm"
    A "AM" or "PM"
    B Swatch Internet time
    d day of the month, 2 digits with leading zeros; i.e. "01" to "31"
    D day of the week, textual, 3 letters; e.g. "Fri"
    F month, textual, long; e.g. "January"
    g hour, 12-hour format without leading zeros; i.e. "1" to "12"
    G hour, 24-hour format without leading zeros; i.e. "0" to "23"
    h hour, 12-hour format; i.e. "01" to "12"
    H hour, 24-hour format; i.e. "00" to "23"
    i minutes; i.e. "00" to "59"
    I (capital 'i') "1" if Daylight Savings Time, "0" otherwise.
    j day of the month without leading zeros; i.e. "1" to "31"
    l (lowercase 'L')day of the week, textual, long; e.g. "Friday"
    L boolean for whether it is a leap year; i.e. "0" or "1"
    m month; i.e. "01" to "12"
    M month, textual, 3 letters; e.g. "Jan"
    n month without leading zeros; i.e. "1" to "12"
    O Difference to Greenwich time in hours; e.g. "+0200"
    r RFC 822 formatted date; e.g. "Thu, 21 Dec 2000 16:01:07 +0200" (added in PHP 4.0.4)
    s seconds; i.e. "00" to "59"
    S English ordinal suffix for the day of the month, 2 characters; i.e. "st", "nd", "rd" or "th"
    t number of days in the given month; i.e. "28" to "31"
    T Timezone setting of this machine; e.g. "EST" or "MDT"
    U seconds since the Unix Epoch (January 1 1970 00:00:00 GMT)
    w day of the week, numeric, i.e. "0" (Sunday) to "6" (Saturday)
    W ISO-8601 week number of year, weeks starting on Monday (added in PHP 4.1.0)
    Y year, 4 digits; e.g. "1999"
    y year, 2 digits; e.g. "99"
    z day of the year; i.e. "0" to "365"
    Z timezone offset in seconds (i.e. "-43200" to "43200"). The offset for timezones west of UTC is always negative, and for those east of UTC is always positive.

    Templates

    Template processing is at the center of QuickPlog, the motivating factor to create this software was to have a simple way to post photos in various layouts without revisiting the HTML for each post. To accomplish that end templates are used to define a basic entry layout for each plog that can have many layouts for the photos in the entries. It should be possible to change the template for any entry and have the page display properly without changing any entry information or changing any HTML.
    Each entry posted has three basic templates. The entry template that defines the entry heading, entry text and where the photos will be shown in relation to the other entry information. The second template is the image template that defines how the images will be shown in relation to each other and what information will be shown with each image. The third template is the image tag. The image tag defines how the individual image is shown. I.E. size, borders, ALT text.
    The entry template for the plog can contain any of the tags defined for the Entry Template but it MUST contain the <PImagearea> tag. This tag determines where the image template will be placed in the entry.
    The image templates can contain any of the tags defined for the Image Template but it MUST contain the <PImagetag> tag. This tag determines where the image tag (each individual image) will be placed within the Image Template. The <PImagetag> can occur once or many times in the Image Template. If it occurs many times the Images Per Block value should be set to Tagged. If it is set to All the substitution process will place all images for the entry on the same <PImagetag> tag.
    The image tag for the image template can contain any of the tags defined for the Image Tag but it MUST contain the <PImagesource> tag. This tag represents the image path/name.

    Template Samples

    The following are samples of templates. Note that the HTML class or id identifiers must be defines as styles in your pages.
    Entry Template
    <div class="entryheading"><PTitle></div>
    <div class="entrydate"><PDate></div>
    <div class="imagearea"><PImagearea></div>
    <div class="textarea">
    <PEntry>
    <div class="texttagline">
    <div class="postedby">Posted by <PAuthor> on a <PDay> at <PTime></div>
    <div class="postedtime">
    <PEntercommentstart>Comments? (<PCommentcount>)<PEntercommentend>
    </div>
    </div>
    </div>
    Comment List Template
    <div class="commentwrapper">
    <PCommenttext>
    <div id="texttagline"><div class="commentby">
    <PCommentname> had nothing to do <PCommentday>,
    <PCommentdate> at <PCommenttime> (<PCommenturl>)
    </div></div></div>
    Comment Entry Template
    <div class="commentformwrapper">
    <table border="0">
    <tr>
    <td width="80px">
    <div class="commentname">
    Name:
    </div>
    <td align="right">
    <PCommentname>

    <tr>
    <td width="80px">
    <div class="commentemail">
    Email:
    </div>
    <td align="right">
    <PCommentemail>

    <tr>
    <td width="80px">
    <div class="commentemail">
    URL:
    </div>
    <td align="right">
    <PCommenturl>
    <tr>
    <td align="right" colspan="2">
    <div class="commenttext">
    <PCommenttext>
    </div>

    <tr>
    <td colspan="2" align="right">
    <div class="commentbutton">
    <PCommentsubmitbutton>
    </div>
    </table>
    </div>
    Image Template (Full Size Image)
    <div class="imagesingleblock">
    <div class="imageheadline"><PImageheadline></div>
    <div class="imageblock">
    <div class="imagecaptionfloat">
    <PImagecaption>
    <div class="imagename">(<PImagename>)</div>
    </div>
    <PImagetag>
    <div class="imagecopyright">© <PImagecopyright> <PImagecreatedate></div>
    </div>
    </div>
    Status:Active
    Use:Sized Image
    Images per block:Tagged
    Maximum Image Dimension:320
    Access:Public
    Image Tag
    <img class="imagefullsize" border="2" <PImagesource> <PImagesize>>
    Image Template (Thumbnails)
    <div id="images"><PImagetag></div>
    Status:Active
    Use:Sized Image
    Images per block:All
    Maximum Image Dimension:150
    Access:Public
    Image Tag
    <img id="imagethumb" <PImagesource> <PImagesize> alt="<PImageheadline>">
    List Template
    <a <PListurl>><PListname></a><br/>

    Code Snippets

    Code Snippets are small pieces of PHP code that perform various tasks. The delivered .php pages contain all the snippets you need to present a complete photo blog. You can change the layout of your pages by wrapping these snippets in <div> or <span> blocks with different styles, moving them to a different area of the page or changing the applicable template. The only snippet you may need to change or duplicate is the link list (URLs) snippet.
    The table below lists all snippets available, which page requires (R) or can optionally (O) use the snippet. N/A indicates the snippet will not function correctly and may cause the page to fail if included.
    Code Snippetindexbyimagebycatbyentrybydate Description
    <?php include ("usercfg.inc"); ?> RR RRR Site Configuration
    <?php include ($srclib . "header.inc"); ?> RN/AN/AN/AN/A Display routines
    <?php include ($srclib . "headerimage.inc"); ?> N/ARN/AN/AN/A Display routines
    <?php include ($srclib . "headercat.inc"); ?> N/AN/ARN/AN/A Display routines
    <?php include ($srclib . "headerentry.inc"); ?> N/AN/AN/ARN/A Display routines
    <?php include ($srclib . "headerdates.inc"); ?> N/AN/AN/AN/AR Display routines
    <?php include ($srclib . "title.inc"); ?> OOOOO Page title - this snippet should appear betweeen the HTML <title> tags
    <?php include ($srclib . "plogname.inc"); ?> OOOOO Plog name
    <?php include ($srclib . "recent.inc"); ?> OOOOO Link list to recent entries
    <?php include ($srclib . "byDate.inc"); ?> OOOOO Link list to entries by date (month)
    <?php include ($srclib . "byCategory.inc"); ?> OOOOO Link list to entries by category
    <?php print (linklist($plog["ID"],
    $plog["linklist"], "putgrouphere")); ?>
    OOOOO Link list(s) to URLs assigned to the plog. If groups are assigned to the URLs enter the group in 'putgrouphere' to show each URL group list. Enter 'ALL' (in caps) to show all links regarless of group, enter 'BLANK' (in caps) to show only URLs with no group assigned.
    <?php include ($srclib . "description.inc"); ?> OOOOO Plog description
    <?php include ($srclib . "subtitle.inc"); ?> OOOOO Plog subtitle
    <?php include ($srclib . "body.inc"); ?> RRRRR Displays the entries & images.
    <?php include ($srclib . "copyright.inc"); ?> OOOOO Plog copyright
    <?php include ($srclib . "dbclose.inc"); ?> RRRRR Display routine
    <?php include ($srclib . "comments.inc"); ?> N/AN/AN/AON/A Display & accept comments
    <?php print '<a href="' . $plog["index"] . '">
    Main
    </a>' ; ?>
    N/AOOOO Return to the Main (index) page
    <?php print $prev ; ?> N/AN/AN/AN/AO Go to the previous months entries
    <?php print $next ; ?> N/AN/AN/AN/AO Go to the next months entries
    <?php include ($srclib . "randomimage.inc"); ?> OOOOO Display a random image
    <?php print htmlit($plog["name"]) ; ?> OOOOO Plog name
    <?php print htmlit($plog["description"]) ; ?> OOOOO Plog description
    <?php print htmlit($plog["subtitle"]) ; ?> OOOOO Plog subtitle
    <?php print htmlit($plog["copyright"]) ; ?> OOOOO Plog copyright

    Installation

    Requirements

    • Apache 1.3.31
    • PHP 4.3.7
    • MySQL 4.0.20-standard
    • FTP service
    QuickPlog requires the above or better. It has been tested on Linux & Windows.

    Source

    Unzip the source libraries into three directories. All members in the Public directory should be placed into the directory where the index page will be accessible, I.E. public_html/. The members in directory 'qp' should be moved into a directory immediately below the directory where the index page resides, this directory should preferably be called 'qp'. The members in 'qpadmin' should be placed in a separate directory immediately below the index directory named 'qpadmin'. Once installed you should have the index directory, ie. public_html, a qp directory, I.E public_html/qp, and an qpadmin directory, I.E. public_html/qpadmin. It is recommended that the 'qp' & 'qpadmin' directories be protected with .htaccess passwords.

    Database

    MySQL
    Create a database and two user ids. The first user id (useridA) should have full access. Define the second user id (useridB) with select & insert authority on the database.
    In public_htl/qp/config.inc set dbase to the database name, dbuser to 'useridB', & dbpass to the appropriate password. In public_html/qpadmin/config.inc set dbase to the database name, dbuser to 'useridA' and dbpass to the appropriate password.
    To build the tables enter public_html/qpadmin/initial.php into the browser address bar. Enter an author and plog name into the form and press 'Create Tables'. The author entered here will become the initial Administrator author, see Installation Options. If you need to recreate the tables for any purpose press 'Drop Tables' and repeat the previous step. WARNING: Dropping the tables will delete ALL information in the tables. Any images in the directories will NOT be removed.
    Once the tables have been created it is recommended that initial.php be deleted from the qpadmin directory.

    Images

    If you want to organize your photos into a directory you should create the directory now. The image directory must be under the index directory. If the index directory is public_html/ the image directory should be public_html/images/. You can define sub directories under the image directory. If you intend to load thumbnails create a thumbs/ directory in images/. Directory names can be anything you wish with the exception of the thumbnail directories which must be thumbs/. You can place all your images into the public_html/ directory if you wish although it is not recommended. It is recommended that you protect the image directories with .htaccess passwords, hotlink protection if available and turning indexes off.
    Once the image directories are created photos can be loaded using any FTP software.

    Set Up

    You should now be able to sign onto QuickPlog by entering public_html/qpadmin/index.php and entering the Administrator author and password. The initial password will be the same as the Adminstrator author. You should change the password immediately.
    From the Main panel select Profile for the photo log (plog) listed. From the Plog Profile panel update the plog title, site path and image path. The image path must be relative to the site path. I.E. If the site path is the public_html directory & the image directory is public_html/images the Site Path on the plog should be set to blank and the Image Path should be set to images/.
    Once photos are loaded you can create an entry. See Getting Started.

    Installation Options

    QuickPlog Application Options
    The application configuration file contains several parameters that can be changed to customize QuickPlog. The application configuration file is qpadmin/config.inc.

    Relative Path

    This is the path to the public directory (public_html/) relative to the 'qpadmin' directory. If the 'qpadmin' is immediately below the public directory (public_html/qpadmin/) the path should be set to '../'.
    Options
    $application["relativepath"] = '../' ; // default setting

    HTTP Authorization

    If .htaccess password access has been set up on the 'qpadmin' directory the QuickPlog signin panel can be bypassed by setting the 'httpauth' parameter to true. If this parameter is set to false the QuickPlog signin panel will be displayed.
    Setting this parameter to true streamlines the signin process but it also requires that QuickPlog author & author password match the .htaccess user id & password. When the password is updated in .htaccess it must also be updated in QuickPlog. When set to true the password reset & author find functions that are on the signin screen are no longer available.
    Options
    $application["httpauth"] = false; // default setting
    $application["httpauth"] = true;

    Date / Time Formats

    The date & time formats shown in lists on the QuickPlog application are determined by these settings. See Date / Time Formatting for the available formatting codes.
    Options
    $application["dateformat"] = "Y-m-d"; // default setting
    $application["timeformat"] = "h:i a"; // default setting

    Image Display Sizes

    These parameters determine the maximum display size in pixels of images on various QuickPlog panels.
    $application["largeimagedim"] = 300; // default setting
    $application["thumbimagedim"] = 150; // default setting
    $application["listimagedim"] = 60; // default setting


    Site Options
    Site Options work in combination with either Plog Profile settings or include members in the HTML pages to customize the look & function of the site.
    Site options are set in the site configuration file, qp/config.inc.

    Autoban

    Autoban must be set to true for any of the auto IP banning functions to work. When set to false all Plog Profile settings for autobanning are ignored. When set to true autobanning will function according to the Plog Profile settings and the Maximum Duplicates, Maximum Frequency and Censoring parameters.
    Options
    $application["autoban"]=true; // default setting
    $application["autoban"]=false;

    Maximum Duplicates

    This parameter determines the number of duplicate comments allowed before the IP posting the comments is banned. Note that the maximum is for comments in all entries & plogs in the datebase. If an IP posts more than the set number of duplicate comments to any entry or plog in the database autobanning will be triggered.
    Options
    $application["maximumduplicatecomments"]=2; // default setting

    Maximum Frequency

    This parameter determines how quickly (in seconds) comments will be accepted from a single IP. If more than 1 comment is received within the number of seconds set in this parameter autobanning will be triggered. Note that 1 second would be set as 1, 1 minute would be set as 60, 1 hour as 3600.
    Options
    $application["maximumcommentfrequency"]=5; // default setting

    Censoring

    Censoring allows words, parts of words or phrases to be censored from messages and the IP sending the message to be banned. In the parameter below the words 'censor', 'this' & 'message' all are censored. A comment such as 'This message cannot be censored' would become 'Th*s me**age cannot be cen**red'.
    Enter any words you need censored but note that the commas and parenthesis are critical and must be placed exactly as shown.
    To eliminate censoring set the parameter to $application["censor"]=array();
    Options
    $application["censor"] = array(
      array("censor","cen**r") ,
      array("this","th*s") ,
      array("message","me**age")
      );

    Random Image

    Random image is a code snippet that will present an image chosen randomly from all images in a plog. The display size of the image shown is determined by the randommaxdim parameter. The formatting of the image is determined by the randomiamgetemplate parameter. See Tags for available imagetag template tags.
    Options
    $application["randommaxdim"] =60;
    $application["randomimagetemplate"]='<img <PImagesource> <PImagesize> alt="<PImagename>">';
    $application["listtemplate"]='<a <PListurl>><PListname>

    Disclaimer & Copyright

    This software is provided "as is" and any express or implied waranties, including but not limited to, the implied warranties of merchantability and fitness for a particular purpose are disclaimed. In no event shall Imageplanet and the author or authors be liable for any direct, indirect, incidental, special, exemplary, or consequential damaged (including, but not limited to, procurement of substitute good or services; loss of use, data, or profits; or business interruption) however caused and on theory of liability. Whether in contract, strict liability or tort (including negligence or otherwise) arising in any way out of the use of this software, even if advised of the possibility of such damage.
    This software is the sole property of QuickPlog and is protected by copyright law. © 2004