In addition to this change, we have completed most of the user profile changes mentioned in the last blog entry. Many of these changes are related to the URLs used by user profile pages, so once again Beta users who are upgrading will need to update the .htaccess file. The new URLs  improve user readability of profile page URLs and hopefully it will also improve search engine indexing of profile pages (something that we now encourage).

There are a couple more features that we are trying to add before distributing the first Release Candidate version of Pligg 2. One such feature is the ability to sort comments based on votes or when they were submitted. Another feature that we are hoping to add is the ability to store module template files within your template directory. This change would allow template designers to provide customized module template files as part of their download package. Another benefit is that you wouldn’t have to worry about losing customizations made to module template files when updating a module. It’s something that we are very excited about, because it will make upgrades and customizing your site easier.

These are just a few things going on behind the scenes at Pligg CMS. We are very excited about the improvements we’ve made so far since Pligg 1, and we are looking forward to a not too distant Pligg 2 launch.

If you are a Beta User, please continue reporting any bugs discovered to the official Pligg 2.0 Beta Discussion thread in the forums. As of now the beta is quite stable with the exception of user profile pages as mentioned in the above paragraph.

Please be aware that the beta is still in the early stages of development and has some broken or incomplete features. You should not expect to use Pligg 2.0 Beta on a production site. You can discuss Pligg 2 through this dedicated forum thread.

Sales from this week will go towards the development of Pligg 2 and help out the developer “Chuckroast” who is in need of your help to meet some financial obligations due to ongoing medical expenses. Chuckroast has been a part of the Pligg CMS team for roughly 7 years now, and he is in need of your help. If you would like to help out Chuckroast more directly, you can donate to his Chipin campaign and read his personal appeal on ChuckRoast’s Blog.

This afternoon I wrote a simple script that will do just that. In roughly 150 lines of code, here is a PHP script that will randomly rename your registration file. What you want to do is save this as a .php file and upload it to the root of your Pligg web directory.

<?php
/**
  * Script: Pligg Random Registration File Name
  * Author: Eric Heikkinen
  * Description: The goal of this script is to block automatic user registration via spam bots. Place this file in the root of your Pligg site and run it from time to time.
  * Notes: 
  * 	- This file is meant to be run via a Cron job, or to be included in a registration template file.
  * 	- This type of feature will break direct links (and bookmarks) to the previous registration page
  * 	- It will also break the EVB submission features.
  *		- If more than 1 user registers during the Cron time period, it is possible that they will get a 404 error if the name change happens while they are filling it out.
  * 	- To prevent users from changing the register file name on their own, name this file something original
*/

///////////////////////////////////////// SETUP //////////////////////////////////////////

// Report all PHP errors 
ini_set('display_errors',1);
error_reporting(E_ALL);

// Set errors to none, used for error reporting
$errors = "";
$str = "";

// Establish a connection to the database
include_once './libs/dbconnect.php';
mysql_connect(EZSQL_DB_HOST,EZSQL_DB_USER,EZSQL_DB_PASSWORD);
mysql_select_db(EZSQL_DB_NAME) or die ('MySQL Error: ' . mysql_error());

/////////////////////////////////////// FUNCTIONS ////////////////////////////////////////

// Function for generating a random string
function rand_string( $length ) {
	$chars = "abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyzABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ0123456789";	
	$str = "";
	$size = strlen( $chars );
	for( $i = 0; $i < $length; $i++ ) {
		$str .= $chars[ rand( 0, $size - 1 ) ];
	}
	return $str;
}

/////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////////

// We're now going to count how many users are in the database, and compare that number to one stored during the last rename.
// If the number is higher, then we will run the script again.

// Count the users table to see if there are any new members
$sql = "SELECT COUNT(*) FROM pligg_users ";
$result = mysql_query($sql) or die( mysql_error() );
$user_count = mysql_result($result, 0);

// Get the existing registration renamer user count
$sql = "SELECT * FROM pligg_misc_data WHERE name='register_user_count' ";
$result = mysql_query($sql) or die( mysql_error() );
$row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result);

// Check if this is your first time running the script
if(isset($row['data'])) {
	// Assign existing database value for the registration rename user counter
	$user_count_old = $row['data'];
	$first_run = 'no';
	// echo 'Reading existing register_user_count: '.$row['data'].'<br />';
} else {
	$user_count_old = $user_count;
	$first_run = 'yes';
	// No user count value found, so let's insert it for the first time
	$sql = " INSERT INTO pligg_misc_data (name, data) VALUES ('register_user_count', $user_count)";
	mysql_query($sql) or die( mysql_error() );
	echo 'Added new register_user_count database field<br />';
}

echo "old count: $user_count_old <br />new count: $user_count<br />";

//  If the old user count is less than the one last recorded
if ($user_count_old < $user_count || $first_run == 'yes'){

	// Get the new register file name
	$register_new = rand_string( 6 );

	// Get the existing register file value
	$sql = "SELECT * FROM pligg_misc_data WHERE name='register_name' ";
	$result = mysql_query($sql) or die( mysql_error() );
	$row = mysql_fetch_assoc($result);

	// Check if this is your first time running the script
	if(isset($row['data'])) {
		// Assign existing database value as the old registration name
		$register_old = $row['data'];
		// echo 'reading existing name: '.$row['data'].'<br />';
	} else {
		$register_old = 'register';
		// No value found, so lets insert it for the first time
		$sql = " INSERT INTO pligg_misc_data (name, data) VALUES ('register_name', 'register')";
		mysql_query($sql) or die( mysql_error() );
		echo 'Added new database field<br />';
	}

	// current directory (useful for Windows servers)
	$cwd = dirname(__FILE__);

	// Check if the file exists
	if (file_exists($cwd."/".$register_old.".php")) {
		// echo "The file $cwd/$register_old.php exists <br />";
		
		//chmod($register_old.".php",0777);
		
		// Try to rename files or return an error if it doesn't work		
		if(@rename ($cwd."/".$register_old.".php", $cwd."/".$register_new.".php")===true) {
			echo 'Renamed register file<br />';
		} else {
			$errors .= "Failed to rename register file<br />";
		}
		
		//chmod($register_new.".php",0644);

	} else {
		$errors .= "The file $cwd/$register_old.php does not exist<br />";
	}

	if ($errors != ''){
		print $errors;
	} else {
		// Write the database config value
		// Set the new register value
		$sql = " UPDATE pligg_misc_data SET data='$register_new' WHERE name='register_name' ";
		mysql_query($sql) or die( mysql_error() );
		//echo "Modified database field<br />old: $register_old<br/>new: $register_new<br />";
		
		// Modify the /libs/html1.php file
		$html1_file = $cwd."/libs/html1.php";
		if (is_writable($html1_file)) {
			$read_file = file_get_contents($html1_file);
			file_put_contents($html1_file, str_replace(array($register_old.'.php', "/$register_old/"), array($register_new.'.php', "/$register_new/"),$read_file));
		} else {
			$errors .= 'The /libs/html1.php file is not writable. Please CHMOD it to 0777, along with the /libs/ directory.<br />';
		}
		// Modify htaccess files
		$htaccess_file = '.htaccess';
		$htaccess_default_file = 'htaccess.default';
		if (is_writable($html1_file)) {
			if (file_exists($cwd."/".$htaccess_file)) {
				// Modify the .htaccess file
				$read_file = file_get_contents($htaccess_file);
				file_put_contents($htaccess_file, str_replace(array($register_old.'.php', "^$register_old/?"), array($register_new.'.php', "^$register_new/?"),$read_file));
			}
		} else {
			$errors .= 'The .htaccess file is not writable. Please CHMOD it to 0777, along with the root directory of your site.<br />';
		}
		if (is_writable($html1_file)) {
			if (file_exists($cwd."/".$htaccess_default_file)) {
				// In case they are using the default the .htaccess file
				$read_file = file_get_contents($htaccess_default_file);
				file_put_contents($htaccess_default_file, str_replace(array($register_old.'.php', "^$register_old/?"), array($register_new.'.php', "^$register_new/?"),$read_file));
			}
		} else {
			$errors .= 'The htaccess.default file is not writable. Please CHMOD it to 0777, along with the root directory of your site.<br />';
		}
		
		if ($errors != ''){
			print $errors;
			echo 'We were unable to write changes to your files. Please manually update the file(s) or correct the CHMOD errors.<br />';
		} else {
			// Set the new user count value
			$sql = " UPDATE pligg_misc_data SET data='$user_count' WHERE name='register_user_count' ";
			mysql_query($sql) or die( mysql_error() );
			
			echo 'Finished editing files.<br />';
		}
	}
} else {
	// The user count is the same as last time, so let's leave things be
}

?>

Important! You have to CHMOD 0777 the following files and directories so that the server can write changes to them:

• / (the root directory where Pligg is kept)
• .htaccess
• htaccess.default
• /libs/
• /libs/html1.php

Once that is done, you will want to load the file URL in your browser to run the script for the first time. After that completes, you should notice that your register.php file has been renamed to a random 6 character string. In addition to that your .htaccess and /libs/dbconnect.php files should be updated to point to the new file location.

Setting Up a Cron Job

From CPanel, select Cron jobs

The final step is to set up a Cron job. Crons are used to load files at specified intervals. In this example we are going to ping the file once every 5 minutes.

In the above example, the PHP file that I am using to rename the file is named “renamer.php” and sits in the home directory for my domain. You would change this value to match where you placed the file, and what you named it.

Each time that the Cron job runs the file, it will run a check to see if there have been any new users added to the database. If there have been, it will rename the registration PHP file and perform some other actions to update links to that page. If there aren’t any new users, it will wait until the next time that the Cron is run to perform another check. The reason we put this user count check in place is to try to prevent users from having the registration file renamed on them while they are creating a new account.

Just because Pligg CMS is open source, doesn’t mean that it is being developed for free. We pay a few developers for their contributions, and in the past we have always been able to fund development through sales of Pligg Pro shop items. Unfortunately this development cycle has required significantly more funding, so we will be seeking additional funds through a Kickstarter campaign.

One of the main reasons that we haven’t provided a downloadable beta version yet, is because we would like to reward Kickstarters with early access to Pligg 2. If we are able to meet our Kickstarter goal in a 30 day period, backers will receive a beta build of Pligg 2 (as well as other goodies) at the close of the campaign. Backers will receive exclusive access to Pligg 2 beta, and early access to a release candidate version.

We are trying to finish up some details concerning the Kickstarter campaign and hope to start it soon. We apologize for taking longer than expected, but please be patient with us as we work to provide a better CMS.

First, let’s talk about features. Pligg 2 is going to have some major updates to bring it up to speed with some of the latest trends. If we were to try to list out all of the new features and bug fixes, this page would seemingly go on for ages so here is an abbreviated list of some of the features we are most excited about.

• Responsive Design. We want to present a beautiful browsing experience no matter what device you are viewing the site on. The Bootstrap-based front end and admin templates will accommodate computer, tablet, and mobile screens.
• Up + Down Voting. The new default voting method for Pligg is through up and down buttons.
• Infinite Scrolling. Why lose visitors by making them click through pagination links to continue reading? The new infinite scrolling feature (optional) will automatically load the next page’s content when you approach the bottom of a page.
• Multiple Level Commenting. Continue the discussion with as many levels of sub-comments that you need.
• Comment Permalinks. Similar to Reddit.com, you can now link to the start of a specific comment thread.
• Improved User Profiles. User profile pages will now feature Skype, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Google+, and Pinterest links.
• Change Authors. Want to attribute an article to another member? Edit the author from the edit story page.
• Maintenance Mode. Similar to WordPress’ method, display a message to non-admin users when you need to temporarily bring your site down for maintenance.
• Password Reset Method. Pligg now emails you a link so that you can choose the new password when you forget it.
• Greatly Improved Admin Panel. Expect a future blog entry detailing the many changes made to the Admin Panel.

Frequently Asked Questions about Pligg 2

Q. When will I be able to download Pligg 2 to try it out myself?

A. Right now we are working on a few more major features, and also fixing known bugs. The list is still pretty extensive and at last count there are around 80 items left to be addressed. At this point we have invested roughly 750 development hours on Pligg 2 and we believe that we are are about 70% of the way to releasing the first beta version.

We don’t want to provide an exact date for a beta release, but we hope that it will be out before the end of September.

Q. Will I be able to upgrade from Pligg 1.x to Pligg 2?

A. Absolutely! We are making sure that Pligg 1.x databases will be able to upgrade to Pligg 2. We have to be honest though and warn users that due to the number of new features being added to Pligg 2, upgrading your template files will probably be a pain. We highly recommend that you re-skin your site based on the new Bootstrap template files.

Q. Is Pligg 2.0 rewritten from scratch?

A. No, Pligg 2.0 will be a major upgrade to Pligg 1.0′s code base. This means that if you’re experienced with the code from Pligg 1 you shouldn’t have an issue understanding Pligg 2. Similarly, templates designed for Pligg 1 should be able to be upgraded to Pligg 2 without having to start from a blank slate.

What’s great about AppFog is that you can try them out for free, without having to add a credit card or anything to your account. Even cooler is that they give you up to 2GB worth of ram and 2GB worth of disk space. That should be enough to handle most Pligg sites, but should a time come that you need to expand your server resources you can do so very easily without interrupting service to your site.

Installing Pligg on AppFog

This tutorial covers the installation process for a Windows 7 user. These steps may not be correct for other windows versions, or for Mac and Linux users because of the different command prompt (terminal) utilities.

Step 1: Register an account at AppFog.com

Step 2: Create an App

• Choose PHP.
• Choose an infrastructure. I went with Amazon West.
• Choose a name that will be used as your infrastructure service subdomain.

Step 3: Create a MySQL Database

• From the “Mission Control” page, click on the services tab on the left.
• Select MySQL
• Enter a name for your MySQL database

Step 4: Edit your /libs/dbconnect.php file

Download the latest version of Pligg to your computer and unzip it into it’s own folder. Now navigate to Pligg’s /libs directory and open the dbconnect.php file to edit it. Place the following code in the file, replacing all existing content:

<?php
$services_json = json_decode(getenv("VCAP_SERVICES"),true);
$mysql_config = $services_json["mysql-5.1"][0]["credentials"];
$username = $mysql_config["username"];
$password = $mysql_config["password"];
$hostname = $mysql_config["hostname"];
$port = $mysql_config["port"];
$db = $mysql_config["name"];

define("EZSQL_DB_USER", $username);
define("EZSQL_DB_PASSWORD", $password);
define("EZSQL_DB_NAME", $db);
define("EZSQL_DB_HOST", "$hostname:$port");

define("EZSQL_DB_HOST", "$hostname:$port");
if (!function_exists('gettext')) {
	function _($s) {return $s;}
}
?>

Step 5: Install Ruby for Windows

Download and install Ruby for Windows on your computer. Once the installation process completes go to your computer’s Start button, Ruby directory, then launch “Start Command Prompt with Ruby”.

Step 6: Update Ruby

From the command prompt window opened in the last step, we are going to update Ruby to the latest version available. do so by running this command:

gem update --system

Step 7: Install AppFog for Ruby

gem install af

Step 8: Log into AppFog via Command Prompt

Log into AppFog using the account details that you use to log in to the AppFog website.

af login

Step 9: Change to your Pligg Directory

Next you will want to change what directory you are currently browsing from the command prompt tool to the directory where you have stored the Pligg files on your computer. You will need to customize the next line to point to that directory.

cd C:\wamp\www

Step 10: Upload the files

Upload the current directory to the root of your AppFog. Replace “pligg” with your AppFog app name.

af update pligg

Step 11: Install Pligg

Since we have already configured the dbconnect.php file to connect your site to the database, we need to skip install steps 1-3. We will only need to run the last two steps, which will ask for your Pligg admin credentials and then install Pligg into your MySQL database. To do this, we will need to manually enter a URL.

Click on the “Visit Live Site” button that appears near the top of the AppFog website. Then manually add to the end of that URL:

/install/install.php?step=4

This will lead you to the final two installation steps, where you can complete the Pligg install.

You’re finished! Navigate to your AppFog URL to start managing your free Pligg site.

One last thing that I want to mention is that the PHPFog service provided by AppFog would probably make more sense for Pligg users, but the disadvantage to going that route is their limitations on the free accounts. AppFog allows for more server resources within the free account level. On the other hand, the big disadvantage to AppFog is that it is much less user friendly and gives you less control of your server through front-end interfaces.

The next phase of testing will include an open beta, where users will be able to download a development build of Pligg 2.0 to install on their own websites. We are currently addressing some major bugs and features that need to be fixed before we proceed to that step. As we suggested in the previous blog entry, please subscribe to this forum thread so that you will be alerted via email when we progress with the 2.0 development. That way you can be among the first members to test out the next major version of Pligg CMS.]]> http://pligg.com/blog/1633/beta-test-2-0-on-pligg-demo/feed/ 16 http://pligg.com/blog/1631/pligg-2-0-beta-testers-needed/ http://pligg.com/blog/1631/pligg-2-0-beta-testers-needed/#comments Fri, 08 Jun 2012 16:02:09 +0000 Eric Heikkinen http://pligg.com/blog/?p=1631 We have decided to shake things up and refresh Pligg CMS with the next release and are in need of some beta testers to help us test development builds as we preview Pligg 2.0. The next generation of Pligg CMS will be using the same back-end PHP base from the 1.0 series, but the front end design will be drastically changed as we switch over to a template based on Twitter’s Bootstrap project.

One of the great things about using Bootstrap, is that it is well documented through their project website. There are many examples of different HTML elements, scaffolding layouts, and JavaScript effects that are built into the project. The new template for Pligg, which is based on Bootstrap, is roughly 35% of the way complete. We are very excited about some of the changes made not only to the style but also to the functionality of Pligg CMS. One of these featured changes will be a switch from the standard up-vote method to an up/down voting system similar to Reddit or the latest version of Digg.

We are also taking this opportunity to update the admin panel template to a Bootstrap-based design. This will allow us to address some limitations that we have discovered since our initial admin panel design that was introduced in Pligg 1.0. The new admin panel will have a left sidebar to allow modules and future updates to add content without the current horizontal menu space restrictions. We will also be changing up some of the JavaScript used in the admin panel and front end template to take advantage of Bootstrap’s built-in jQuery effects.

This coming update is going to be a big one, and as such we will need to be extra careful about testing it before releasing it to the general public. That’s where you, the beta testers come in. We could use a few dedicated forum members to help us out by testing out the latest version. You can do this by either viewing the official demo page (in the near future), or by hosting your own copy of a development build to test out the admin panel. If you discover a bug or if you want to suggest a new feature, submit it to the Pligg demo website. If you want to be alerted when we are ready for testing, please subscribe to this forum post for email updates.