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	How do I manage refunds in Composr?
Answer	Monetary payments: Issue refunds through your payment gateway. Point payments: Manually refund points through the points system. Cancellations: Cancel purchases in the Admin Zone to allow repurchasing. Remember to manually undo any associated actions (e.g., removing name highlighting).

Question	What are the shipping options in Composr?
Answer	You can handle shipping costs in three ways: Flat rate per order: Configure a fixed shipping cost for all orders. Weight-based calculation: Define shipping costs based on the order's total weight. Shippo integration: Get real-time shipping quotes from various carriers based on weight, dimensions, and destination.

Question	How do I handle taxes in Composr?
Answer	Composr offers flexible tax handling: TaxJar integration: Supports international taxation for many countries. TaxCloud integration: Supports complex USA taxation, including destination-based rules. EU digital goods tax: Handles EU-specific regulations for digital products. Custom tax rates: Define your own percentage-based tax rates. Tax hooks: Developers can extend tax functionality and implement additional tax providers.

Question	What are the different types of products in Composr?
Answer	Composr offers various "products," which are broader than typical eCommerce products. They include: Usergroup subscriptions: Offer access to specific usergroups with recurring payments. Catalogue items: Physical or digital goods sold through the shopping cart and a special "products" catalogue. Orders: Collections of products purchased together. E-mail addresses: Sell personalized email addresses on your domain. Topic pinning: Allow users to pay to pin forum topics. Name highlighting: Offer highlighted usernames on the forum. Banners: Sell banner advertising space. Custom products: Define and sell any product or service you wish. Permission products: Sell access to specific permissions, such as download categories. Gambling: Allow users to wager points. Work: Represent invoiced services. Non-purchasable products: For accounting purposes (interest, tax, wages, other).

Question	How do I set up PayPal in Composr?
Answer	Sign up for a PayPal Business Account. Enable "Auto Return" in PayPal and set the return URL to `http://yourbaseurl/index.php?page=purchase` Enable "Payment data transfer" in PayPal and copy the data transfer identifier for Composr. In Composr, go to Admin Zone > Setup > Configuration > eCommerce options > Payment gateway (PayPal-specific). Paste the data transfer identifier and save.

Question	What payment gateways does Composr support?
Answer	Composr supports PayPal, CCBill, and Authorize.Net for processing payments. While Composr could be extended to support other gateways, doing so may require professional development and customization.

Question	What are the limitations for uploading large files?
Answer	32-bit PHP build: Files larger than 2GB are not supported. 64-bit PHP build: Files larger than 2GB are supported, but the file size will not be displayed. For very large files, it's recommended to upload them manually and provide the URL instead of directly uploading them through the web form.

Question	Can users search for specific downloads?
Answer	Yes, the unified Composr search system allows users to find downloads based on keywords. This includes searching within download titles and descriptions, as well as within the content of certain file types like PDFs, text files, and even some binary formats (providing they are not too large in size).

Question	Can I add images to my downloads?
Answer	Yes, Composr automatically creates a gallery for each download (if the galleries addon is enabled). You can easily add images directly after creating the download or through the download-view screen. The download gallery is displayed within the download-view screen itself.

Question	Are there security features to protect downloaded files?
Answer	Yes, Composr includes security measures to protect downloads. Protection from hackers: Uploaded files are stored with obscured filenames, preventing direct access and bypassing of the download system. Additionally, an anti-leech feature (when enabled) prevents direct download links from being shared on other websites (this is done by requiring a session ID which is validated against the person / device accessing it and only provided when Composr presents the download links to you on the site). Basic security: Composr will not let anyone upload dangerous scripts (such as PHP files) which can be executed. Rootkit detection: The rootkit detection tool under `yourbaseurl/rootkit_detection.php` can help scan files for shell scripts and backdoors. Composr's Health Check can also do this regularly. Note this only offers very basic detection and will not work for obfuscated backdoors (you should use antivirus to scan for those). It is the responsibility of webmasters to run antivirus on their site to regularly scan files uploaded to it. Composr does not include antivirus software or virus scanning.

Top 10 Entries

Question	What are some of the default endpoints available in the server-side API?
Answer	Default endpoints cover various functionalities, including: Account: join, login, lost_password, setup_push_notifications Misc: contact_us Content: commandr_fs Specific details on parameters and response data for each endpoint can be found in the documentation.

Question	How does authentication work with the server-side API?
Answer	Authentication is handled automatically using cookies, similar to regular website requests. If cookies are not feasible, the response parameters device_auth_member_id_cn/device_auth_pass_hashed_cn/device_auth_member_id_vl/device_auth_pass_hashed_vl from the login endpoint can be resent as POST parameters in subsequent requests.

Question	How do I access the server-side API for my mobile app?
Answer	The server-side API can be accessed via HTTP calls to http://yourbaseurl/data/endpoint.php. Results are returned in JSON format. The API utilizes endpoints with a 'hook' name and a 'hook type' categorization. Both REST-style and GET-parameter style requests are supported, with the latter recommended for simplicity.

Question	What is the purpose of the Composr Mobile SDK Toolkit?
Answer	The Toolkit, part of the composr_mobile_sdk addon, aids in mirroring Composr website resources into a mobile app. It includes tools for generating iOS/Android string resources from language files and exporting theme images in a directory structure suitable for iOS/Android app image assets.

Question	How can I obtain Composr Mobile SDK?
Answer	The iOS/Android SDK can be found on GitLab at: Composr ecosystem / Composr Mobile SDK · GitLab. To connect to a Composr site, you will need to install the composr_mobile_sdk addon, which is not bundled. This addon provides scripting to generate app assets from the Composr site.

Question	What is Composr Mobile SDK?
Answer	Composr Mobile SDK (CMS SDK) is a toolkit designed for experienced iOS and Android developers to build mobile apps that integrate with a Composr-powered website. It offers both Composr-specific integrations and a collection of standalone utilities for building apps, providing a common base between iOS and Android akin to the PHP and Composr APIs, enabling easier code porting while maintaining a native experience.

Question	What is the Composr maintenance policy?
Answer	Composr follows a rolling release model. This means: New major/minor versions are released as they are ready. Patch releases, primarily containing bug fixes, are only released for the latest supported major/minor version branch. Users are responsible for staying updated to the latest release or applying necessary hotfixes. This policy allows developers to focus resources on the latest versions and encourages users to leverage the ongoing improvements. You can find the release status on the Composr maintenance status page.

Question	What are the general courtesy guidelines for interacting with the Composr community?
Answer	Understand that Composr is developed and maintained by volunteers who dedicate their time to the project. Refrain from demanding free support or expecting developers to work on specific schedules. Avoid placing undue pressure on volunteers or pushing them beyond their capacity. Approach the community with respect and a collaborative spirit. Remember that offering financial sponsorship for desired features can accelerate development.

Question	How can I provide design feedback for Composr?
Answer	Constructive design feedback is valuable. To provide effective feedback: Be specific and detailed. Identify particular issues and provide clear examples. Offer solutions. Suggest improvements or provide mockups demonstrating your ideas. Avoid vague statements. General comments like "it looks dated" are unhelpful. Understand design constraints. Consider factors like modularity, generality, feature density, compatibility, performance, and the subjective nature of design. Directly reporting specific design bugs to the tracker or redesigning Composr interfaces yourself are excellent ways to contribute.

Question	How do I make a feature suggestion for Composr?
Answer	You can suggest features through the tracker or the Report Issue Wizard. When making a suggestion: Be comprehensive and self-contained. Provide all necessary information and context for the developers to understand your suggestion. Focus on widely beneficial features. Esoteric suggestions are less likely to be implemented. Understand developer constraints. Feature development depends on factors like developer availability, funding, and project strategy. Consider sponsoring features. Financial contributions can prioritize the development of desired features as it affords developers the time to implement it.

Statistics

Forum statistics:	45 topics, 14 posts, 2 members Our newest member is test