Contributors: A-Z Index

A

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Allen Ellis		Founder	Original designer for ocPortal Also conceived and coded the Theme Wizard and Point Store Son of one of the early inventors of Internet protocols (Usenet, aka Internet newsgroups) Token non-brit	View

C

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Chris Graham		Founder	Original developer of ocPortal, former lead developer of Composr CMS Masters degree in Computer Science from The University Of Sheffield Undertaken work for over 15 FTSE-100 companies, as well as many small and mid-sized organisations. Includes a number of banks and major brands.	View
Chris Warburton		developer for ocProducts	Made some key contributions to ocPortal	View

H

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Haydn Maidment		project manager for ocProducts	None available	View

J

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Jim Davidson		contributor	written many tutorials via Arvixe	View

P

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Patrick Schmalstig		Lead Developer	Joined Chris Graham behind the scenes in the development of Composr CMS in 2016. Took on the lead developer role in 2023 when Chris Graham stepped back to attend to his new lifestyle changes. Spearheaded the development of Composr CMS v11 and the new website, Composr.app. Formed the company PDStig, LLC to take on professional support and development for Composr CMS users especially after the discontinuation of ocProducts, Ltd.	View
Philip Withnall		Early Developer	Coded the chatroom, blogging support, the analytics system, and OcCLE (now Commandr) Masters Degree in Computer Science degree from The University Of Cambridge Other work has included helping out with Firefox, and ongoing work on GNOME	View

R

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Robert Goacher		Founder	Ran some of the early websites where ocPortal came from Technically the original developer of ocPortal, in that he wrote the first few lines of code Heavily involved in the feature design process Hosted some of our early meet-ups	View

S

Name	Photograph	Title / Role	Contributions / Notes
Steve Jarvis		project manager for ocProducts	Wrote many tutorials via Arvixe	View

Newest 10 Entries

Question	Are there any limitations to importing forum data?
Answer	Yes, some limitations exist, particularly with specific forum platforms. General: Private messages are often combined into private topics. phpBB: Usergroup configuration and HTML entities may require manual adjustments after import. vBulletin: Calendar recurrences, ratings (karma), and 'goes to coventry' are not imported perfectly. Attachments may need to be extracted directly from the live database due to potential corruption in SQL dumps. Simple Machine Forum: Banning features may not import perfectly due to differences in how Composr handles bans.

Question	Where can I find the import functionality in Composr?
Answer	Navigate to Admin Zone > Tools > Import.

Question	What data formats can Composr import?
Answer	Composr primarily uses database connections for importing. However, it also supports neutral data formats like CSV spreadsheet files and importing downloads from a directory.

Question	Can I import data from other platforms into Composr?
Answer	Yes, Composr offers importers for several popular platforms: Forum Software: Invision Board, MyBB, phpBB, Simple Machine Forum, vBulletin Content Management Systems: WordPress Special Importers: HTML website importer, Composr merge (for merging another Composr site)

Question	How do I move my Composr website to a new server?
Answer	Moving a Composr site involves transferring both the files and the database. Files: On the old server, ZIP the entire Composr directory. Download the ZIP file to your computer. Upload the ZIP file to the new server using SFTP/FTP. On the new server, unzip the file. Database: On the old server, create an SQL dump of your database using the mysqldump command or phpMyAdmin. Download the SQL dump file. If your URL is changing, search and replace the old URL with the new one in the SQL dump file. Upload the SQL dump file to the new server. Restore the database on the new server using the mysql command or phpMyAdmin. Important Steps: File Permissions: After transferring files, ensure correct file permissions are set on the new server. You can use the fixperms.php script, the upgrader script, or manually adjust them. Configuration: If database settings are different on the new server, update the _config.php file or use the config_editor.php script to change the settings for both the site and forum databases. Base URL: If your URL has changed, update the base URL setting in the Installation Options editor (config_editor.php). Caches: Clear the block cache using the upgrader.php script.

Question	Can I integrate third-party JavaScript libraries into Composr?
Answer	Yes, you can integrate third-party JavaScript libraries using various methods: Direct reference by URL: Include the library's URL in your theme's HTML. Composr's JavaScript API: Use Composr's API for organized inclusion and potential future compatibility benefits. Manual integration: Directly include the library's code in appropriate template files. Choose the method best suited for your needs and technical proficiency.

Question	How does Composr handle user authentication with external systems like LDAP or HTTP authentication?
Answer	Composr can integrate with LDAP and HTTP authentication, but these features are considered complex and may require programming experience to set up correctly. Both methods allow users to log in to Composr using their existing credentials from the external system, streamlining access and management.

Question	What are the limitations of using a third-party forum driver?
Answer	Using a third-party forum driver can lead to limitations. Custom profile fields of type LONG_TEXT are limited to TEXT length, cookie integration is not officially supported and can be complex, and some forum drivers have specific quirks detailed in the nuances tutorial.

Question	What are the implications of using the "none-forum" driver?
Answer	Using the "none-forum" driver disables or limits many Composr features, including commenting, points, and user interactions. Consider using Conversr instead and restricting access to the forum zone, join module, and personal zone.

Question	How can I integrate my forum visually into my website?
Answer	Composr allows you to integrate your forum visually into your website. Enable "Show forum within website" in the Admin Zone configuration module and update the forum link in your menu to pass through the "forums" embedding module. You may need to adjust CSS to achieve a seamless look.

Top 10 Entries

Question	How can I customize Composr without modifying the core files?
Answer	Composr offers a robust override system. Instead of altering the original files, create a parallel structure within _custom directories. For example, to modify site/pages/modules/polls.php, place your customized version in site/pages/modules_custom/polls.php. The tutorials outline additional information on how to utilise overrides.

Question	What are the main components of the Composr framework?
Answer	Composr consists of: Modules: PHP files that provide related screens, forming the building blocks of addons. Comcode: Text files containing content written in a simplified markup language. HTML: Files containing standard HTML for web pages. Sources: PHP code files for the core API and functionality. Hooks: PHP files enabling addons to interact and extend each other's functionality. Blocks/Miniblocks: Reusable components for displaying dynamic content within pages. Themes: Folders containing images, CSS, and templates to define the look and feel. Language files: Files holding text strings for multilingual support.

Question	How can I embed third-party widgets into my Composr pages?
Answer	Composr supports embedding widgets from various websites, like Google Maps, Vimeo, and YouTube, by simply pasting the URL. For manually embedding widget code, you can paste it into the HTML source view of the WYSIWYG editor or within Comcode html tags if not using the WYSIWYG editor.

Question	What is the difference between blocks and boxes in Composr?
Answer	Boxes are visual elements that provide a container for content, while blocks are functional units that generate and display dynamic content. Although blocks often appear within boxes in the default templates, they are not inherently tied to any visual representation.

Question	Can I customize the appearance of blocks?
Answer	Yes, you can style blocks by editing the associated templates and CSS. Templates are typically named after the block they represent. For example, the main_news block uses the BLOCK_MAIN_NEWS.tpl template.

Question	How do I create custom filter forms for my content?
Answer	The main_content_filtering block can help you generate filter forms automatically. You can use it to create a default form and then customize the generated Filtercode string to refine the filtering options. Once satisfied, you can either continue using the block or extract the HTML and modify it further.

Question	Where can I use Filtercode and Selectcode in Composr?
Answer	Filtercode is supported in various blocks, such as main_multi_content, main_gallery_embed, and main_cc_embed. It's also actively used in modules like catalogues, downloads, galleries, members, and news. Selectcode is supported in blocks and Comcode tags that explicitly mention it, including the main_multi_content block and the if_in_group Comcode tag.

Question	What is the difference between Filtercode and Selectcode?
Answer	Filtercode is used for querying content based on properties and values, while Selectcode is used for directly specifying a list of IDs or categories to include or exclude. Filtercode offers more complex filtering options, while Selectcode is more straightforward for simple selections.

Question	How can I filter content in Composr?
Answer	Composr provides two filtering systems: Filtercode and Selectcode. Filtercode is used for selecting content based on defined filters, such as field values, ratings, or keywords. It utilizes a syntax of comparisons, separated by commas, where each comparison specifies a field and a matching condition. Selectcode is a simpler syntax for specifying a list of IDs or categories to include or exclude from the results. It uses a comma-separated list of match-specifier tokens, such as individual IDs, ranges, or wildcard characters.

Question	What are blocks in Composr and how can I use them?
Answer	Blocks are dynamic elements that can be inserted into Comcode pages to add interactive and data-bound functionality to your website. They are essentially reusable components that automatically generate content, such as recent forum posts or information about the logged-in user. You can add blocks to your pages using the block construction assistant, which allows you to select from a list of available blocks, set their parameters, preview them, and generate the necessary Comcode.

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