3 replies to this topic

[Andrew_GameLife]

Hey everyone,

New to SQL Database and all that stuff, but I know a little about programming, and I have a free Forums right now.

1. When you are buying the hosting service from someone other than IPB, is there certain things I should be looking for? I know I seen in another post, that you should have php 5 or something and some other things.

2. If I buy the web hosting from someone other than IPB, I could install joomla on it and connect the IPB forums will it correct? With doing this would I be able to link certain things like articles to the homepage? Sorta like a recent topics.

3. I know very little of mySQL Database, and FTP and things like such? Is there any good tutorials that IPB offers? and is it a big part of the IPB forums system?

4. If you are a beginner, how easy are the admin tools to adjust too? I tried the Demo and everything just seems a lot of things I don't know about.

5. How easy is it to install Templates, and edit them? Also how easy is it to install add-ons?

Thanks for the information, a little new to this, and just want to start off with a lot of information.

Andrew

[bfarber]

1) You can download our requirements checker script for free on our website to be certain the host you are looking at will work.

http://www.invisionpower.com/suite/requirements.php

2) You would need some sort of integration scripts to be able to integrate Joomla and IP.Board. We do not have anything in-house that would accomplish that, however you could check the marketplace, or check the Joomla developer community to see if any are available there. An alternative would be to use IP.Content, which features integration support with IP.Board of course.

3) You do not need to know MySQL or FTP to use IP.Board (either as a user or as an admin). FTP is the method where-by you can transfer files from your computer to the server. If you are not familiar with it, you can make use of our free installation service and let us install (or upgrade) the software for you. MySQL is the database backend where the data is stored. You can create a database in your website hosting control panel pretty easily typically, or if you need help, you can contact your host and ask them to do this for you. Once you have the details (the database hostname, the database name, the database username and the database password) you will rarely, if ever, need to do anything else with it outside of the software, so you don't need to know much else about MySQL typically.

There are some basic tutorials on how to install the software and similar in our knowledge base.

4) What are you trying to do exactly? The quick search in the top right should help you find your way around pretty easily. Beyond that, there is always going to be a learning curve with a large software package, but I think you'll find that once you get in and configure the software in the ACP to your liking, you'll find everything is well laid out and easy to navigate. The same will be said of any forum software really.

5) Very easy. You just upload the XML skin file packs (which you can download in our marketplace) in the ACP under Look & Feel -> Import / Export. Editing them will require some knowledge of HTML and CSS, and an understanding of the template logic we utilize.

http://community.invisionpower.com/resources/documentation/index.html/_/developer-resources/applications/using-skin-templates-r683
http://community.invisionpower.com/resources/documentation/index.html/_/tutorials/skinning/template-logic-and-variables-r155

[Andrew_GameLife]

Thanks for all the information, that definately makes me feel a lot more comfortable about signing up here soon. I had 1 more questions.

When I do events like a beta code event or something for a game, is there an addon or app that I can use to limit it to logged in players only once?

I could just load the codes into the addon and it just generates 1 per user.

Thanks, andrew

[bfarber]

So, you are saying you have events where you have beta access to a game (for example), and want to allow logged in players to sign up one time and receive a code?

I am not aware of anything by default that would accomplish this for you directly, however you have a couple of options (any route will require manual effort on your part, or customizations from a third party developer):

• You can utilize the calendar and create the events in the calendar. Enable RSVP for the events, and allow members to RSVP. You can then email the members that RSVP a code manually.
• You could create an IP.Content database and allow members to submit RSVP records to it, or create a record for each event and allow those wishing to attend to comment on the event. You would then either utilize custom templates to show a unique code to each user, or manually contact each user that submitted a record/comment.
• You could have a custom third party app developed that would accomplish this. It would probably be a relatively simple app based on your explanation.