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| Question | Can I display different content to different usergroups? |
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| Answer | Yes, you can achieve this by leveraging Tempcode within your templates. By using conditional statements like {$IS_IN_GROUP} and {$HAS_PRIVILEGE}, you can show or hide specific content sections based on the user's group membership or privileges. This technique allows you to "tease" premium content to non-paying users or tailor the user experience based on their access level. |
| Question | What are match-key permissions and why would I use them? |
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| Answer | Match-key permissions provide a more granular level of access control beyond the standard zone, page, and category permissions. They allow you to restrict access based on specific "match-keys", which are unique identifiers for different actions or content within Composr. For instance, you could use match-key permissions to prevent guests from submitting banners or to restrict access to the member directory for all but specific usergroups. You can also specify custom access denied errors for each match-key. A "match-key" is typically a page-link, such as cms:cms_banners:add. |
| Question | How can I control who can view specific pages or categories? |
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| Answer | You can manage access control for zones, pages, and categories primarily through the Permissions Tree Editor (Admin Zone > Security > Permissions Tree Editor). This tool provides a central location to set view permissions for different usergroups. You can also edit individual zone and category permissions through their respective editing interfaces, but the Permissions Tree Editor offers a more streamlined and efficient approach. |
| Question | What is the difference between access permissions and privileges in Composr? |
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| Answer | Access permissions control whether members of a certain usergroup can view specific areas of your site, such as zones, pages, and categories. A member only needs one of their usergroups to have access permission to view the content. But permissions work on a deny-first policy; if one of the permissions applicable to viewing something is denied for a usergroup, then the whole thing is denied for that usergroup (e.g. even if a download itself grants access, access will be denied if its category denies access). Privileges, on the other hand, dictate what actions a usergroup is allowed to perform across the website, like using advanced Comcode or bypassing the word filter. |
| Question | How can I change the news archive display to show summaries instead of just headlines? |
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| Answer | By default, the news archive screen shows only headlines. To display summaries like the news block, add :inline=1 to the page-link. For example, if your news archive page-link is site:news, modify it to site:news:inline=1. This will show summaries instead of just the headlines in the archive view. |
| Question | What are Trackbacks and how do they work in Composr? |
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| Answer | Trackbacks are a blogging feature that creates a link from an article on one blog to an article on another, acting as a citation mechanism. How Trackbacks Work:
To enable trackbacks, go to Admin Zone > Setup > Configuration > Feature options and check the "Trackbacks" option. You can then enable trackbacks for individual content items. |
| Question | How can I filter the news archive to show specific content? |
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| Answer | The news system allows advanced filtering:
These filters are controlled through parameters passed to the news blocks and carried through navigation links. When viewing a news post, you can also filter by the categories associated with that post. |
| Question | How do I display external RSS feeds on my Composr website? |
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| Answer | Composr offers two blocks for displaying RSS and Atom feeds in a news-like format:
To add a block, use the Block Construction Assistant or insert the following Comcode into your page: [block="http://example.com/feed.xml"]main_rss[/block] [block="http://example.com/feed.xml"]side_rss[/block] Replace "http://example.com/feed.xml" with the actual feed URL. Important: Exercise caution when using external feeds. Ensure the source is trustworthy, as malicious feeds can contain harmful code. |
| Question | What are RSS/Atom feeds and how do they benefit my website? |
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| Answer | Feeds, in formats like RSS and Atom, are XML files that syndicate your website content, making it accessible beyond your website. They can be viewed using feed reader applications (e.g., Feedly, Vienna) or integrated into other websites or web browsers. Composr supports both RSS and Atom for syndicating news and other content. While RSS is more common, Atom is a cleaner, standardized format. Both effectively share your content updates. Benefits:
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| Question | What are Personal Categories/Blogs in Composr? How do I create one? |
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| Answer | Composr allows members of permitted usergroups to have their own personal news categories, also known as "blogs". These blogs appear as a tab on the member's profile (Conversr-only) and may also appear in the main news block depending on your configuration. To create a blog, a member simply adds a news post and selects their personal category. If the category doesn't exist, it will be automatically created upon submission. A dedicated "Blogs" CMS module (Admin Zone > Content > Blogs) is available if the "Separate blogs" configuration option is enabled. This simplified module focuses on blog posting and can be used to restrict members from submitting to general website news. |
Top 10 Entries
| Question | How do I set the correct file permissions for Composr? |
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| Answer | If you're using the quick installer, it will handle file permissions automatically. On a suEXEC-style server, default permissions (744 for directories and 644 for files) are usually sufficient. However, _config.php should have 600 permissions for security. Without suEXEC, specific directories (e.g., caches, uploads) and files (e.g., _config.php) require 777 (full access) or 666 (read/write) permissions. The fixperms.php script can automate this process on Linux and Windows. |
| Question | How do I install Composr on Linux? |
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| Answer | After ensuring your web host meets the requirements and you have a database ready, you can install Composr on Linux using the following steps:
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| Question | What are the prerequisites for installing Composr? |
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| Answer | Before installing Composr, ensure your web host meets the minimum requirements. Familiarize yourself with your web host's control panel (e.g., Plesk, cPanel), which you'll use to manage databases, subdomains, and other settings. Gather your SFTP/FTP credentials (hostname, username, password), usually emailed upon signup. Set up a MySQL database and note its details: hostname (often 'localhost'), username, password, and database name. Ensure the database user has full read/write/administer access to the database. |
| Question | What tools are available for debugging Composr code? |
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| Answer | Composr offers a code quality checker addon that helps identify various types of errors, including parser errors, run-time errors, and logical errors. This tool can significantly reduce debugging time and enhance code reliability. It is available through the testing_platform addon. |
| Question | What are some key coding standards in Composr? |
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| Answer | Composr emphasizes clean, well-structured code with a focus on readability and maintainability. Key standards include proper indentation, consistent use of comments, and clear function headers with type definitions. Remember: beautiful code leads to better functionality and collaboration! |
| Question | Where can I find resources for learning PHP programming? |
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| Answer | While Composr documentation doesn't cover basic PHP, resources like the official PHP documentation (PHP: Hypertext Preprocessor PHP is a popular general-purpose scripting language that powers everything from your blog to the most popular websites in the world. |
| Question | What is the purpose of the Code Editor? |
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| Answer | The Code Editor is a web-based tool for editing Composr code files directly on the server. It requires password authentication and automatically manages overrides within _custom directories. To access it, go to yourbaseurl/code_editor.php. |
| Question | How can I export and import custom addons? |
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| Answer | Composr allows exporting addons as TAR files, containing all necessary files and an addon.inf file for metadata. You can import these addons to share and reuse them across different Composr installations. To do this, make your necessary files for the addon in the Composr installation, and then go under Admin Zone > Structure > Addons > Export addon. You can select the relevant files for the addon, provide information about the addon, and then download the TAR file (which can then be imported on other Composr sites). |
| Question | Can you give an example of creating a new module? |
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| Answer | Imagine creating a "Testing" module to manage collaborative testing:
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| Question | What are the different ways to extend Composr functionality? |
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| Answer | You can extend Composr through:
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