i  TIPS on configuring your phpAutoMembersArea

  • Integrating phpBB forum
          Note: You must make a separate install of phpBB to use the following

phpAutoMembersArea
members

give access to
è


phpBB

Backup before implementing.   BACKUP now, wait, someone will still not bother! 
Backup, do not come whinging.....

If you intend to use phpAutoMembersArea as your authentication system (allowing automatic access to phpBB by all existing and new phpAutoMembersArea members) then complete the following:

  • edit the file: /members/constants.inc.php
    changing the constant FORUM_ENABLED to true.
  • replace your existing phpBB login file (/forum/login.php) with the file:
      /phpautomembersarea/extras/phpbb/login.php
    Change the $pama_folder_name and $pama_location variables within this file as required.
  • edit the phpBB register file (/forum/includes/usercp_register.php) adding the following to the top of the file at approx. line number 36:

*Change $url to suit your needs.

Note: you may also need to amend the constants: FORUM_LOCATION and FORUM_FOLDER_NAME within the /members/constants.inc.php file.
       The default settings are for the following folder structure:

                   

Also, for this to work correctly both phpAutoMembersArea and phpBB need to be on the same domain/web space (but can use the same or different databases).  When setup you will be able to access your phpBB forum as an administrator from the main menu (system watch section).

Creating a link to the forum - use the file:
    /members/content/Forum (phpBB access).html
file, or just make a link to /members/phpbb/_phpbb_login.php
it is secure to link directly to this file - only if your member is logged in will they gain access to your forum.

Existing phpBB members!
If a member exists in phpBB then it will login to phpBB using this (so long as the phpBB member email address is the same as phpAutoMembersArea email address), if a related account is not found then the new member is registered with phpBB.  The new username will be the same as the phpAutoMembersArea username (trimmed to  a maximum length of 24 characters) with the "@" symbol replaced with " - " (space hyphen space), this is done to prevent spam bots collecting email addresses.  


Restricting access to phpBB
- login to your forum as an administrator and Go to Administration Panel.
- then click on the permissions link on the left.
       For more details on this please refer to the
phpBB site.


phpBB
members

give access to
è


php
AutoMembersArea

available in next version


  • Creating private content
    (allows you to provide individual files for each member if required)
    In this version 2.1, this is already integrated and ready to use.  To activate this all you need to do is:
    1. Create a folder for each user within the content folder like this:
      /phpautomembersarea/members/content/[username]/
      i.e. /phpautomembersarea/members/content/them@theirdomain.com/
      ENSURE the username folder is created in lowercase.
    2. Then add your required html or PHP files to each users folder.

Optional config:
change the constant on line 22 of file /phpautomembersarea/members/specific_member_pages.php, change this text to your requirements:

     "<b>Your personal files:</b>"

Note that private content is only available with the drop-down menu type (can not be used with the standard type menu).

ONLY when there are files (.html or .php) within a members folder will the personal menu appear.


  • When testing a new account
    There is no need to log off from your admin area, just open your members area in another window and login.  Click here to open members area login in another window and login to your members area.
    Note: if you logoff from either admin or your members area it will clear both admin and member login sessions, therefore you will need to login again. Simple DON'T click the Logoff link!

  • Altering the Company name
    This can be changed by altering the value assigned to CO_NAME within the config.inc.php file.  This is set when you first install the application.


  • Changing the footers
    You can easily add your own html to both /members/footer.html and /_admin_/footer.html
    (where _admin_ is the original name of the admin folder)


  • Changing the headers
    Changing the headers can result in errors as these contain PHP.    However, you can still add your own html, but this requires a greater amount of care.  The header files are /members/header.html and /_admin_/header.html
    (where _admin_ is the original name of the admin folder)|


  • Altering the main menu type
    This can be changed by altering the value assigned to MENU_TYPE within the /members/constants.inc.php file (this file also holds many other constants used within the application).  By default this is set to:  menu-type-dropdown.php
    There are two menu types provided, the other type is: menu-type-standard.php (this produces standard text hyperlinks)


  • Registration: Changing the final message displayed
    The message displayed to NEW members having just registered is either MANUAL_ACTIVATION_MSG or AUTO_ACTIVATE_MSG depending on if you have auto activate set to manual or not.  You can change this in /members/constants.inc.php file.