Forum

Installation notes

Nov 04, 2017 18:01

Download the zip files and extract the main forum zip to a folder on your local machine or server, do not unzip the mod files, they must be installed after the forum is set up.

Edit the web.config file as detailed below.

Database Connection

Under <connectionStrings> add the required info for your database connection, you will find examples for various database types. We currently support MSSQL (server/express or local) and MySQL.

Code:

<connectionStrings>
    <add name="SnitzConnectionString" connectionString="Data Source=.\SQLExpress;AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|\SnitzForumMvc.mdf;Integrated Security=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
    <add name="SnitzMemberShip" connectionString="Data Source=.\SQLExpress;AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|\SnitzForumMvc.mdf;Integrated Security=True" providerName="System.Data.SqlClient" />
</connectionStrings>

If using MySQL you will also need to make the following changes to web.config. Change the entityFramework section to match the one below

Code:

<entityFramework>
    <defaultConnectionFactory type="System.Data.Entity.Infrastructure.SqlConnectionFactory, EntityFramework" />
    <providers>
      <provider invariantName="MySql.Data.MySqlClient" type="MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlProviderServices, MySql.Data.Entity.EF6" />
    </providers>
</entityFramework>

You will also need to uncomment the block beneath it

Code:

<system.data>
    <DbProviderFactories>
      <remove invariant="MySql.Data.MySqlClient" />
      <add name="MySQL Data Provider" invariant="MySql.Data.MySqlClient" description=".Net Framework Data Provider for MySQL" type="MySql.Data.MySqlClient.MySqlClientFactory, MySql.Data, Version=6.9.8.0, Culture=neutral, PublicKeyToken=c5687fc88969c44d" />
    </DbProviderFactories>
</system.data>

Email Settings You can leave these, you can set them under admin options after installation

Edit the snitz.config file as detailed below
Once you have edited the web.config file, open the snitz.config file to edit the global appsettings

Code:

<appSettings>
	<add key="boolRunSetup" value="1"/>
	<add key="LanguageConnectionString" value="SnitzConnectionString"/>
	<add key="forumTablePrefix" value="FORUM_"/>
	<add key="memberTablePrefix" value="FORUM_"/>
	<add key="filterTablePrefix" value="FORUM_"/>
	<add key="customTablePrefix" value="FORUM_"/>
	<add key="LandingPage" value="Index" />
	<add key="strForumDescription" value="Snitz™ Forums community support forum, Mvc version." />
	<add key="strForumUrl" value="http://localhost:8080/ForumMvc" />
	<add key="strForumTitle" value="Snitz Forums 2000 MVC" />
	<add key="strForumImage" value="logo.png" />
	<add key="strCookiePath" value="/" />
	<add key="boolDisablePosting" value="0" />
	<add key="boolProhibitNewMembers" value="0" />
	<add key="strUniqueId" value="Snitz00" />
	<add key="boolAllowSearchAllForums" value="1" />
	<add key="boolFullTextSearch" value="0" />
	<add key="strAnonMembers" value="Administrator" />
	<add key="boolShowAvatar" value="1" />
</appSettings>

These can normally be left as is, unless you are upgrading and your forum tables are using a different prefix, if so, set as appropriate. You can also change the LandingPage from Index to AllForums depending on your preference.

Copy all the files and folders to either your website root, or set up an application folder to copy them to. The application pool should be set up as below.
You will need to give edit/create permissions on the App_Data and Content Folder and sub folders. Also allow edit for the snitz.config file in the forum root folder.
Open a browser and point it at the root of your site/app e.g. http://localhost or http://localhost/forum etc.
After a short delay (.Net will be loading stuff when you first load) you will be presented with either A or B below.
1. Setup a new Forum.
2. Upgrade an existing Forum.
Once the setup/upgrade has finished you should be redirected to the home page of the new forum where you can log in. You will probably need to login twice if this is an upgrade as the code has to map your existing log in to the new membership tables, first login will fail with incorrect user/password, just log in again and you should be in.

Upgrade Gotchas

FORUM_CONFIG_NEW
On a couple of upgrades, this table was found to have duplicate C_VARIABLE records, this causes the forum to error when loading, it will complain about duplicate key values in dictionary. Check the table and remove any duplicates.
Private Messaging
If you already have the PM mod installed, the upgrade process will attempt to rename your existing tables to avoid incompatibilities with existing table structures. If this fails, the new tables will not be created and you may experience problems using the PM functions. If this occurs, try running the PMFix script which you can find under Admin | Extras | DbsScripts

Installing Plugins
Plugins should be self installing, simply extract the files in the plugin zip to their respective folders under the forum root (make sure you copy the plugins subfolder last).
Now navigate to Admin | Other Config | Tools and press the ‘Reset Application’ button to recycle the application and load the new plugin.