Review Foundry Review Engine User Manual CONFIGURATION -- Paths / URLs

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• CONFIGURATION
• Paths / URLs

CONFIGURATION

Paths / URLs

Because specifying every path and URL correctly is always important to getting a web-based application functioning correctly, this is one part of the configuration process that you should take extra care with. As such, the variables controlling the path and URL information are spelled out in explicit detail here.

Take the time to ensure you have understood each of these variables, at least for as long as it takes to supply the correct configuration value!

The paths and URLs specified on the Paths / URLs control panel are referred to both in the Review Foundry code AND in the templates. Some of these are absolute, or fully specified, and others are relative to one of the absolute paths or URLs. All paths, absolute or relative, should begin with a forward slash /, as should relative URLs. Absolute URLs should begin with http://

Here are the path and URL variables, their meanings, and example values:

• site_name
  Example: Jed's Online Auto Shop
  Surprise. Not a path or a URL. This is the name of your company or business, or whatever your web site is known as.
• site_build_item_path
  Example: /items
  This represents the relative URL which prefixes all STATIC paths in your Category Item build directory. For example, if you offer car reviews you might change this to /cars
• site_build_member_path
  Example: /members
  This represents the relative URL which prefixes all STATIC paths in your Team Member build directory.
• site_build_supplier_path
  Example: /suppliers
  This represents the relative URL which prefixes all STATIC pages in your Yellowpage Suppliers build directory.
• site_document_root_url
  Example: http://www.mydomain.com
  This represents the absolute URL for your site's homepage.
• site_document_root_path
  example: /home/user/html
  This represents the absolute path to your document root (where HTML pages are stored).
• site_build_root_path
  Example: /reviews
  This is the path to your build directory relative to your site document root. It will also be interpreted as a relative URL by the application.
• site_html_path
  Example: /rms
  This is the path to your root Random Mouse Software HTML bin. It is relative to your site_document_root_path. The HTML bin is common to each application, such as Review Foundry or DBops, and each has its own separate folder in this HTML bin. These folders are used to store any documentation or images for the respective applications. This path will also be interpreted as a relative URL.
• site_private_download_path
  Example: /home/user/downloads
  This is the absolute path to your PRIVATE DOWNLOAD directory. This is where uploaded files which are NOT meant to be accessible from your document root are stored (only registered members who are logged in will be able to access files in the PRIVATE DOWNLOAD directory). This directory should be placed ABOVE your document root so that it is not browser-accessible. Files served from this location will be spooled using a CGI script.
• site_cgi_url
  Example: /cgi-bin/rms
  This is the URL to your root Random Mouse Software CGI bin (where all Random Mouse Software applications live). This URL is relative to your site document root site_document_root_url.
• site_cgi_path
  Example: /home/user/cgi-bin/rms
  This is the corresponding absolute path to your root Random Mouse Software CGI bin.
• site_app_path
  Example: /foundry
  This is the path to your Review Foundry bin, relative to your root Random Mouse Software CGI bin. It will also be interpreted as a relative URL.
• site_admin_path
  Usual Value: /do/admin
  This is the path to your ADMIN bin, relative to your Review Foundry bin. It will also be interpreted as a relative URL.
• site_admin_script
  Usual Value: admin.cgi
  This is the name of the admin script located in your ADMIN bin.
• site_admin_nph_script
  Usual Value: nph-admin.cgi
  This is the name of the admin NPH script located in your ADMIN bin. This is the script used to build static pages and index your tables (so that the search engine functions correctly). Usually an NPH script is REQUIRED to begin with nph- but this is webserver-dependent so you might be required to rename the script to get proper "non-parsed header" behavior (that is, the page is sent to the browser in pieces and the browser puts up the pieces one-by-one instead of waitig for the last piece to come in before printing anything--which is the usual behavior).
• site_review_alert_script
  Usual Value: review_alert.pl
  This is the name of the cron script located in your ADMIN bin which is used to send (nightly) review alerts by email. You will need to set up the cron job yourself. Alternately, you can telnet into your admin directory and run the script whenever you want subscribers of review alerts to be informed about the appearance on your site of new reviews. A nightly cron job is the best way to go, of course. For example, in your crontab-administered file set to run the script every night at 2 A.M.:

  0 2 * * * perl /path/to/review_alert.pl

• site_top_reviewer_script
  Usual Value: top_reviewer.pl
  This is the name of the cron script located in your ADMIN bin which is used to update (say, weekly) the list of Top Reviewers. Of course, you need to be receiving reviews and evaluating them regularly in order for it to be worth running this script. Ordinarily, the script is named top_reviewer.pl and you could also simply run it by telnetting into your admin directory if you want. For example, in your crontab-administered file set to run the script every Monday at 4.12 A.M.:

  12 4 * * 1 perl /path/to/top_reviewer.pl

In order to better appreciate the meaning of the Path and URL variables discussed above, here are some example paths and urls obtained by concatenating two or more of the variable (the concatentation operator is _ in these examples):

URL to the Review Foundry manual index page

    = site_document_root_url _ site_html_path _ site_app_path _ '/docs/review-foundry-manual.html'

    = http://www.mydomain.com/rs/foundry/docs/review-foundry-manual.html

Path to the Top Reviewers script

    = site_cgi_path _ site_app_path _ site_admin_path _ '/' _ site_top_reviewer_script

    = /home/user/cgi-bin/rs/foundry/do/admin/top_reviewer.pl

Path to the Review Foundry script

    = site_cgi_path _ site_app_path _ '/do/reviews.cgi'

    = /home/user/cgi-bin/rs/foundry/do/reviews.cgi

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