 version 1.0.6
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 1. Installation [back to contents] |
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1.1 Before starting [back to contents] Before installing FlashForum engine, please check that your web hosting fulfills the necessary conditions (see System requirements). To install FlashForum engine all you need is an FTP program (we recommend that you use FileZilla client | FileZilla's docs) to upload files to your web server. Now you are ready to go on Installation. |
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1.2 System requirements [back to contents] To run FlashForum engine on your host you will only need:
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1.3 Installing FlashForum engine [back to contents] Before you start installing, there are a few things you need:
Begin your installation by:
Quick installation:
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 2. Working with FlashForum engine [back to contents] |
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2.1 Basic features [back to contents] This section runs about common basic features which are available for forum users with any kind of group mode (guest mode, registered user mode, moderator mode, administartor mode) |
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2.1.1 Basic features >> Registering a new user [back to contents] To register a new user, follow these steps:
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2.1.2 Basic features >> Logging in [back to contents] Now that you have registered an account you can log in to the forum and start managing forum. To log in, follow these steps:
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2.1.3 Basic features >> Users search [back to contents] The user-search system is very useful when you search for people on forum especially the one in FlashForum engine, which has "active search" engine. So, how to search for users:
     
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2.1.4 Basic features >> Forum search [back to contents] This topic explains how to use the "Forum search" system (search for posts and topics). To use the "Forum search" you have to:
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2.1.5 Basic features >> User options [back to contents] "User options" is a submenu with several shortcuts, which allows you to look up user's information, add user to your bookmarks, find user's messages or send him a private message. You can access the user options menu everywhere you see a username actually, by clicking on it (see the screenshots below).   |
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2.1.6 Basic features >> User information [back to contents] The user information window which contains user's personal data can be accessed from the user options menu (see screenshots below).   |
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2.1.7 Basic features >> Bookmarking and ‘My bookmarks’ panel [back to contents] Wouldn't it be great to have a bookmarks panel where you could put your favourite topics, posts or bookmark your friends for fast access? We thouhgt it would, while developing the bookmarks panel. The bookmarks panel is 'hidden' on the left side of the forum. To open it, move your mouse cursor to the left border of the browser's window until you see the "open" button (with a star icon), than just press it to open the panel (see the screenshot below).  Now, that you have opened the bookmarks panel (see screenshot below) you can access your bookmarks (topic, post, user bookmarks) by pressing the menu buttons on the top of the panel (Topics | Posts | Users). To open a specified topic or post from the "Topics" bookmarks or the "Posts" bookmarks, simply click on a desired bookmark. To access user options menu of a desired user from the "Users" bookmarks simply click on the desired user bookmark. Use the "PREVIOUS" and "NEXT" buttons to navigate through your bookmarks. To close the panel press the "X" close button.  To add a new post or topic bookmark simply click on the  button at the top (see the screenshots below). To add a new user bookmark, open the user options menu and press the  button.  |
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2.2 User features [back to contents] This section runs about 'user' features which are available for registered and authorized forum users with 'user' mode. |
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2.2.1 User features >> Managing user settings [back to contents] After registering a new user account and logging in you can edit your "account", "personal" data, edit your "sign", change your "avatar" image and manage your "files". To access the settings dialog (create a new account, authorize if you haven't yet) and click on the "My settings" button in the main menu (see the screenshot below).  The "My settings" module contains of five sections:
2.2.1.1 User features >> Managing user settings >> Account settings [back to contents] This section runs about "Account" settings and options (see screenshot below).  The Email address assosiated with the current account. Account email address is used for retrieving lost password, notifying about new replies, new private messages. To change your current email address, fill in the "Email" field, repeat the email address in the "Repeat email" field, type your current password in the "Current password" field (to verify your current password) and press the  button to save your new account email address.To change your current account password, type your new desired password in the "New password" field, repeat your new password in the "Repeat password" field, type your current account password in the "Current password" field and press the button to save changes.The "Show my email address" option controls the email address appereance. If you don't want other users to see your email address, when viewing your user information, leave the checkbox deselected (by clicking on it) or leave it selected if do. Press the button to save changes.The "Show birthday date" option controls the birthday date appereance. Same as the email address option, if you don't want other users to see your birthday date, when viewing your user information, leave the checkbox deselected (by clicking on it) or leave it selected if you do. Press the button to save changes.The "Allow other users to send me private messages" option allows or disallows other users to send you private messages. If you want to allow other users to send you private messages, leave the checkbox selected (by clicking on it) or leave it deselected if you don't. Mind that even if this option is deselected (private messages sending disabled) administators and moderators will still be able to send you private messages. Press the button to save changes.The "Email me about new private messages received" option enables or disables the private messages inform function. If this function is enabled (checkbox selected), an email will be send to your account email address every time you receive a new private message from other users. Press the button to save changes.The "Email me about new relies in my topics" option enables or disables the new replies inform function. If this function is enabled (checkbox selected), an email will be send to your account email address every time a user leaves a new reply in your topic. Press the button to save your account settings.The "Auto-check mailbox for new messages" option enables or disables the mailbox auto-check function. If this function is enabled (checkbox selected), your account mailbox will be auto-checked for new private messages within a specified interval, defined in the "Auto-check mailbox period" field (in minutes). You can set a desired the auto-check interval by changing the "Auto-check mailbox period" field. Mind that the minimum allowed value is one (1) minute. Press the button to save changes.2.2.1.2 User features >> Managing user settings >> Personal settings [back to contents] This section runs about the Personal details (see the screenshot below).  In this module you can change your personal data: your name, city, define your birthday date, icq, AIM, MSN, Yahoo, Skype, Jabber reference (uin, account, nickname etc), live journal address, personal web-site address, define your home time-zone, write some words about yourself. To change you birthday date press the  calendar button and select date/month/year (see screenshot below). To change your home time-zone, click on the "Time-zone" combobox and select the desired time-zone (see the screenshot below).  After you have made your changes don't forget to save your personal settings by clicking the button.2.2.1.3 User features >> Managing user settings >> Sign settings [back to contents] In this section you can change your forum sign, the appereance option (see screenshot below).  To change (create) your forum sign, just fill in the sign field and enable or disable sign appereance by selecting or deselection the "Display my sign in messages" checkbox. If this option is selected, your sign text will be displayed in every your message on forum (see screenshots below). "Display my sign is messages" is enabled:  "Display my sign is messages" is disabled:  2.2.1.4 User features >> Managing user settings >> Avatar settings [back to contents] In the "Avatar settings" module you can change your avatar image (see screenshot below).  The avatar changing is pretty simple. To upload a new avatar just click on the  button and select the desired image from your local computer.Note: supported avatar file formats are:
2.2.1.5 User features >> Managing user settings >> Files [back to contents] In the "Files" module you can upload files from your local computer to the forum or manage (delete, download) already uploaded files (see the screenshot below).  At the bottom of this dialog there is a capacity-meter  , which indicates the upload capacity (used memory/maximum allowed storage memory) (see managing forum settings).To upload a new file from your local computer press the  button and select the desired file from your local computer to upload (see the screenshot below). Now that you have uploaded the file to the forum, you can donwload your file by clicking the  donwload icon near the file you want to download. You also now can attach this file to your posts (see managing posts) (see the screenshot below). To delete a file from your uploaded files simply select the delete checkbox on the file you want to delete and press the  button. After the file is deleted, you will see an inform message (see the screenshots below).  2.2.2 User features >> Creating topics [back to contents] To create a new topic on forum, you need to register first and authorize (if you haven't done so, yet). As soon as you do this, you simply select the desired forum (by clicking on its title) and then click on the  button, to open the extend topic editor (see the screenshots below).   As shown on the screenshot above, the there editor contains some fields and panels (see the green circles). Topic title In the title field (see the  item) you specify the desired topic title (only plain text supported). To create a topic title simply fill in the title field with a desired text.Topic message & editor panel For more information about writing messages and the editor panel (see the  and  items) see managing posts.Topic tags You can specify tags (words that summarize your topics content) for your topic so that other users can find topic related to a specific tag word. Topic icon selector The topic icon selector (see the  item) allows you to specify an add-on subicon for your topic or to leave the topic without it. To select an icon simply select the radio button near the icon you desire or the "No icon" radio button if you don't want to use an add-on icon for your topic.While editing your topic title and message, you can preview the composed message by click the  button. As you fill in the title field, create your message and select the topic icon, press the  button to publish your newly created topic.2.2.3 User features >> Managing posts [back to contents] Creating posts Creating posts (replies i.e.) is the main function of every forum. This section runs about creating posts (the editor-panel management, supported bb-code tags) and managing already created posts. To create a new post (reply i.e.) in a desired topic, you need to register first and authorize (if you haven't yet). As soon as you do this, you simply select the desired forum (by clicking on its title), select the topic you want to reply (by clicking on its title) (see screenshots below).   Now that you have opened the desired topic, you can start posting a new post (reply i.e.) using the FastReply editor (see the screenshot below).  FastReply editor The FastReply editor actually is the simple version of the ExtendReply editor (you can switch to the ExtendReply editor by pressing the  button). Type the desired message text in the field, format it using the edit panel (for more info see ExtendReply editor), and press the button.ExtendReply editor The ExtendReply editor provides all features of the edit panel for creating posts (also used for creating topics). The editing panel uses specific bb-codes. Supported bb-codes:
The editor panel is created to make text formating using bb-codes easier. To use text formating, select the text, you want to format and press the desired format-button from the editor panel (see the screenshots below).    Attaching files To insert an attachment into your post (reply i.e.) you need to upload one. Since you have uploaded the desired file, open the ExtendReply editor type your message text in the message field, click the  button from the editor panel
and select the desired file you want to attach from your attachments (see the screenshot below).    Managing created posts To make administrator's and moderator's life easier, registered users can edit and even delete their posts. To edit or delete your post (reply) simply click on the  button to open the options menu and select one of the actions (edit or delete) (see the screenshot below). 2.2.4 User features >> Managing mailbox [back to contents] This section runs about the forum mailbox. The mailbox allows users to send private messages to other users, manage sent and received messages. To accesss the mailbox, you need to register first and authorize (if you haven't yet). As soon as you do this to start using the mailbox, simply click on the "Mailbox" button from the forum main menu (see the screenshot below).   Mailbox viewer You can view your inbox messages by clicking the  button. New messages are marked with bold-styled text. To check for new private messages click the  button. To access your outbox messages click the  button.The capacity-meter displays the mailbox used/total memory allowed on forum  Sending a new private message To send a new private message, simply click the  button to open the message editor. After you open the editor, fill in the "To" field (recepient's login name), the "Subject" field, the "Message" field (see using the editor) and press the  button to preview the message, the  button to send the message or the  button to cancel sending and go back to the mailbox view mode (see screenshots below).   Managing inbox messages To access the inbox click the button (if you haven't done so, yet). The inbox holds all private messages sent to you from other users. New private messages are marked with bold text and a  icon.To view a specified message select it from the inbox datagrid and press the  button or just double-click on the selected message item.
To reply a desired message select the message and click the  button (see the screenshots below).  To delete a message while in view mode click the  button. To reply click the button.To delete more than one message, go back to the view mode (inbox or outbox), select the messages you wish to delete by clicking on their checkboxes (press the  button to select all messages) and press the button (see the screenshot below). | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2.3 Moderation features [back to contents] This section runs about the moderation features which are available for registered and authorized forum users with 'moderator' and 'administrator' modes. |
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2.3.1 Moderation features >> Extended topic, posts management [back to contents] Topic management Moderators and administrators have access to the topic management. Topic management includes: topic editing, moving topic to a specified forum, deleting, locking topics. Moving topic to a forum To move a topic to a desired forum you need to register an 'moderator' or 'administrator' account and authorized. Since you do this, simply go to the desired forum (by clicking on its title), then open the 'Topic options' menu, by clicking on the button and select the "Move topic" action by clicking on the  button. When the "Move topic" module is loaded, simply select the forum where you want to move the topic from the combobox and press the  button (see screenshots below).    Editing topics To edit a desired topic, go to the forum where the topic is located (by clicking on its title) then open the 'Topic options' menu, by clicking on the button and select the "Edit topic" action by clicking on the  button (see screenshots below). Topic editing is just the same as the post management. Deleting topics To delete a desired topic, go to the forum where the topic is located (by clicking on its title) then open the 'Topic options' menu, by clicking on the button and select the "Delete topic" action by clicking on the  button. After clicking on the button a confirmation window will appear. Click on the  button if you confirm deletion or the  button to cancel deletion (see screenshots below)  Locking or unlocking topics Locking topic is a useful feature when you want to create a 'News' topic for example and you want it to be read-only (other registered users with 'user' mode don't have access to post replies in this topic, only read). To lock or unlock the desired topic, go to the forum where the topic is located (by clicking on its title) then open the 'Topic options' menu, by clicking on the button and select the "Lock topic" or "Unlock topic" (if the topic is already locked) action by clicking on the  or  button. After clicking on the or button a confirmation window will appear. Click on the button if you confirm the lock/unlock action or the button to cancel (see screenshots below)  Posts management Moderators and administrators can edit or delete every post on forum. Editing posts To edit the desired post, go to the topic, where the post is located (by clicking on its title) then open the 'Post options' menu, by clicking on the button and select the "Edit post" action by clicking on the  button to open the ExtendReply editor (see the screenshots below). For more information on editing posts see posts management.  Deleting posts To delete the desired post, go to the topic where the topic is located (by clicking on its title) then open the 'Post options' menu, by clicking on the button and select the "Delete post" action by clicking on the  button. After clicking on the button a confirmation window will appear. Click on the button if you confirm deletion or the button to cancel deletion (see the screenshots below)  2.3.2 Moderation features >> Categories management [back to contents] Forum users with 'moderator' or 'administrator' account modes can create new categories. Creating categories To create a new category you need to register a 'moderator' or 'administrator' account and authorized. Since you do this, simply click on the  button to open the 'Category editor'. Then simply fill in the "Title" field with the desired title text and press the button (see the screenshots below).  2.3.3 Moderation features >> Forum management [back to contents] Forum users with 'moderator' or 'administrator' account modes have access to the forum management. Forum management includes features: creating new forums, editing created forums, deleting forums, locking (unlocking) forums. Creating new forums To create a new forum you need to register an 'moderator' or 'admin' account and authorized. Since you do this, open the 'Forum editor' by clicking on the  . When the 'Forum editor' module is loaded, simply fill in the desired forum title text in the "Title" field, select the category where you want to move the new forum from the "Select category" combobox, fill in the forum description text in the "Description" field and press the button (see the screenshots below).   Editing forums To edit a desired forum, open the 'Forum options' menu, by clicking on the button and select the "Edit forum" action by clicking on the  button to open the 'Forum editor'. Edit forum's title, category location, description and press the button (see screenshots below).  Deleting forums To delete a desired forum, open the 'Forum options' menu, by clicking on the button and select the "Delete forum" action by clicking on the  button. After clicking on the button a confirmation window will appear. Click on the button if you confirm deletion or the button to cancel deletion (see the screenshots below).Note: when deleting a desired forum, mind that all topics in the deleted forum will be also deleted.   Locking and unlocking forums To lock or unlock the desired forum open the 'Forum options' menu, by clicking on the button and select the "Lock forum" or "Unlock forum" (if the forum is already locked) action by clicking on the  or  button. After clicking on the or button a confirmation window will appear. Click on the button if you confirm the lock/unlock action or the button to cancel (see the screenshots below).Note: when locking (unlocking) a forum, mind that all topics in the desired forum will be also locked (unlocked).   |
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2.4 Administrator's features [back to contents] This section runs about administrator's features which are available for registered and authorized forum users with 'administrator' account mode. |
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2.4.1 Administrator's features >> Categories management [back to contents] Creating categories See creating categories. Editing categories To edit the desired category, open the 'Category options' menu, by clicking on the button and select the "Edit category" action by clicking on the  button to open the 'Category editor'. Edit category's title and press the button (see the screenshots below).  Deleting categories To delete the desired category, open the 'Category options' menu, by clicking on the button and select the "Delete category" action by clicking on the  button. After clicking on the button a confirmation window will appear. Click on the button if you confirm deletion or the button to cancel deletion (see the screenshots below).Note: when deleting category, mind that all forums in the deleted category will be also deleted.   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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2.4.2 Administrator's features >> Managing forum settings [back to contents] This section runs about forum settings management which is available for registered and authorized forum users with 'administrator' account mode. The forum settings module gives access to the forum parameters such as: avatar size params, allow user file-upload disk quota, user mailbox quota, allowed forum file-upload file extentions and the forum time-zone. To open the 'Forum settings' module, simply click on the "Forum settings" button from the main menu (see the screenshots below).  
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2.4.3 Administrator's features >> Managing user privileges [back to contents] Only users with 'administrator' account mode have access to the user privileges management and the ban status management. To manage the ban status or to change the user privilegies of a desired user account simply open the "User information" window (see user information). Changing user privilegies To grant to 'user' account moderator's or administrator's rights open the user information window and simply change account group to 'user', 'admin' or 'moder' by selecting the desired group from the 'Group' combobox and press the (see the screenshots below).   Changing user ban status To ban or unban user account open the user information window and simply change the ban status by selecting the desired status from the 'Ban status' combobox and press the (see the screenshots below).  Note: we strongly DO NOT recommend you to grant 'administrator' rights to any other users except your account (do it on your own risk) ! |
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 3. Customizing FlashForum engine [back to contents]Files used for customization:
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3.1 Customizing FlashForum engine >> Configuration [back to contents] This section runs about the "forumSettings.xml" file which is located in the "conf" folder. The "forumSettings.xml" holds main UI (User Interface) parameters. You will need to edit this file when customizing the UI. To edit this file you will need a xml editor or a text editor (Adobe Dreamweaver, Open XML Editor, Textmate, Notepad etc. any will suite). All descriptions are given as comments in the "forumSettings.xml" file. But before editing the settings file you should know the basics of the UI parameters. The settings file holds global params like (fps, enableCacheControl etc) and UI parameters to style forum graphics properly. For example, here are the "Forum" parameters and the representation screen so that you understand the basics of all UI parameters.
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3.2 Customizing FlashForum engine >> Localizing forum [back to contents] The FlashForum engine is localizable. All forum messages, alert, titles etc are changeable and are declared in the "conf/forumLang.xml" file. To edit this file you will need a xml editor or a text editor (Adobe Dreamweaver, Open XML Editor, Textmate, Notepad etc. any will suite). The file structure is pretty simple to understand.
The "lang" attribute of the "<root>" element simply describes the current language (ex: 'en' for english). This parameter is optional (you can leave it blank).
Every "<row>" element actually refers to a certain alert message, title, text, label through a specific "id" attribute value. So all you have to do is to change the element's value defined in the "<![CDATA[value]]>" (where value - your desired text). For example, let's change the "on-login" alert message (the row refered to this type of message has the "ALERT_LOGIN_SUCCESS" id value):
Now that you have changed the message text, save the file, open your desired browser, open the forum (type address in the address bar) and authorize to test the result (see the screenshots below).   Things to know about the "forumLang.xml" file:
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3.3 Customizing FlashForum engine >> Changing style [back to contents] The FlashForum engine just as other web projects uses a simple Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) file to style all text messages and labels. To edit forum styles you will need a css-editor (of your desire). Go to the "conf" folder, open the "forumStyle.css" file and start customizing forum styles. Supported properties:
Using external fonts What are external embedded fonts? When you specify a specific font in the FlashForum engine, Flash Player will look for a device font (a font that resides on your computer) with the same name. If it doesn't find that font on your system, or if you have a slightly different version of a font with that name, the text will display using default fonts "_sans" or "_serif". If you want to use an extraordinary font (your own for example) you will need to create an external .swf font library file, register external fonts library in the "conf/forumFonts.xml" file, set the "useExternalFonts" param to "true" in the settings file "conf/forumSettings.xml" and define that the font is "embedFont: true" in the CSS file. Difficult, you'd say? Here is an example so that you make sure that it's pretty simple and fast. Using external fonts >> instruction First of all you will need Adobe Flash CS4 to create an external .swf font library. Launch Adobe Flash CS4, go to "File" >> "New..." and select "Flash file (Action Script 3)".  Now that you have created a new "Flash file (Action Script 3)", save it as "MyFont.fla" (for example). Select "Frame 1" of "Layer 1" and open the "Actions panel" ("Window >> Actions").  Copy and paste the following code into the Script window:
In the highlighted code above, the following parameters inside the [Embed] metadata tag are used to embed a "Trebuchet MS" font:
 Now test the FLA by choosing "Control >> Test Movie". The Flex SDK Required dialog box appears (see screenshot below).  Click the "Update Library Path" button to add the flex.swc file from the Flex SDK to the Library path of the FLA file. After that choose the "Control >> Test Movie" to preview the SWF again, and you'll see the "MyFont.swf" file preview:  That's it. Now that you have your external fonts library created place the "MyFont.swf" in the "fonts/" folder. After go to the "conf/" folder and open the "forumFonts.xml" file and register the fonts library file path ("MyFont.swf") like this:
Where the "url" parameter defines the path to the .swf library file. Now open the settings file "forumSettings.xml" from the "conf/" folder and edit the "useExternalFonts" parameter, set it to "true" in order to tell the FlashForum engine to load external font libraries from the "forumFonts.xml" file like this:
Now that you have created your library, registered it's fonts and defined the "useExternalFonts" parameter, you can use this font in the CSS file ("conf/forumStyle.css") for example, let's change the Post message text style:
Note: embedded external fonts don't work properly with input text fields on Linux (see it in the official bug list) |
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3.4 Customizing FlashForum engine >> Changing icons [back to contents] FlashForum engine's icons are located in the "skins/icons/" folder. To use icons in the forum you need to register icons in the "conf/forumIcons.xml" file which almost the same as the localization described previously. Open the "conf/forumIcons.xml" with a desired xml editor. The file structure is pretty simple to understand.
Every "<row>" element actually refers to an icon through a specific "id" attribute value. So all you have to do is to change element's value defined in the "<![CDATA[value]]>" (where value - the relative path to the desired image). Note: supported icons formats:
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3.5 Customizing FlashForum engine >> Changing smilies [back to contents] FlashForum engine's smilies are located in the "skins/smilies/" folder. To use smilies in the forum you need to register smilies icons in the "conf/forumSmilies.xml" file which almost the same as the localization described previously. Open the "conf/forumSmilies.xml" with a desired xml editor. The file structure:
Every "<smile>" element has four attributes:
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3.6 Customizing FlashForum engine >> Changing forum UI skins [back to contents] You can also totally change the FlashForum engine's UI design, by editing the UI skin file. All UI skin files are located in the "skins/ui/" folder. You will need an raster image editor (Adobe PhotoShop, Adobe FireWorks, Paint.NET, etc). Things to know about the skin files:
** used only for checkbox and radio button. All other UI skins (such as top bar, forum etc) use only the size rectangle and the UP state.  Here is an example to help you understand how to edit skin files. Say you want to change the button skin. Launch your desired image editor (mine is Adobe FireWorks CS4), open the button skin file "skins/ui/ui_button.png" and draw 5 states for the new button and place them in the necessary order (UP, OVER, DOWN, ENABLED, SELECTED):  Then export the image as "PNG32" file format and replace the existed "ui_button.png" file which is located in the "skins/ui/" folder. To see the result, open your desired browser, type in the address of the forum (where you have it installed) and for example open the login window (press the login button from the main menu).   Note: as you can see the new skin made for the button is pretty 'light' so it is better to change the font color from white to another color. To do that open the "conf/forumStyle.css" file, find the ".button" style and change the "color" property to "#AC6802" (for example). Save changes and open the forum again (also see changing forum styles).
 Note: source files of the sample ".button" skin PNG or PSD. |
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 4. Extending FlashForum engine [back to contents] |
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4.1 Extending FlashForum engine >> Plugins [back to contents] FlashForum engine is extendable, which mean you can add donwloaded (or purchased) widgets or even create your own and add them to the 'Plugins' module. A 'plugin' could be anything you wish (a game, an application, a web service etc) - any ActionScript 3.0 based .swf file. To view the list of installed plugins and launch the desired one, open the 'Plugins' module by clicking on the 'Plugins' button from the main menu (see the screenshot below). To launch a desired plugin, simply click on its icon.   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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4.2 Extending FlashForum engine >> Installing plugins [back to contents] To install a new plugin follow this simple instruction:
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4.3 Extending FlashForum engine >> Creating own plugins (dev) [back to contents] You can build your own flex/flash plugins for the FlashForum engine. Here are some useful links for developers: |
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