yappa-ng Regular Documentation

FAQ

FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) for yappa-ng

  1. GENERAL
  2. SETUP / INSTALL
  3. ADMIN - (MENU) - QUESTIONS
  4. HANDLING
  5. SECURITY Some of these Security-Topics are in the INSTALL.html too. I do want you to read them here or there! :-)
  6. FUNCTIONS AND FEATURES
  7. MISCELLANEOUS


1. GENERAL

Is there an overview over all available docs for yappa-ng?

yes - of course! :-)

Take a look at the _README.FIRST.html in your installation /docs directory.
At the moment all documentation is English language only - SORRY!

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I need help - is there a support for yappa-ng?

yes - of course! :-)

Take a look at the SUPPORT_REQUESTS.html in your installation /docs directory.
At the moment all documentation is English language only - SORRY!

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I have yappa-ng installed and I think its great. Can I help you somehow?

Yes - of course! ;-)

If you could do only one of the above lists: it would be GREAT!!!

If you send me an email PLEASE write yappa-ng into the subject so I open the mail and do not discard it as spam!!!

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2. SETUP / INSTALL

Where are my hits stored?

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Why are my album hits not updated / shown?

Please refer to: Where are my hits stored?!

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Why are no image hits shown and the TopX does not work?

Please refer to: Where are my hits stored?!

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How can I put my NEWS in the starting-page and how can I change the default welcome-page of yappa-ng?

Please take a look into the MANUAL - there is a step by step guidance how to make your own WELCOME and NEWS pages!

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I want to make a new theme to blend yappa-ng into my website!

To change the appearance of yappa-ng and/or create a new theme you will have to know HTML. If you want to make a complete new theme and not just change the colors and background-images of an existing theme you will have to have basic PHP knowledge!
Look at the file "yappa-ng/themes/themes_support.inc.php"! In this file there are more or less all the main definitions.

I would be VERY PLEASED if you could share a new theme with all of us!
PLEASE send me the files you changed for the new layout! I will check it and if I think its correct HTML and different enough from existing ones I will make it available for everyone! I will post it on sourceforge.net and integrate it into the official yappa-ng distribution!! And your name / email and a link to your homepage (if you want) will get posted on my homepage and of course as copyright in the new theme!
(I will take out any Site-Logos or banners or similar!)

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I have to type http://mydomain/yappa-ng/index.php to view yappa-ng on my server. I do not want to type the "index.php"!

If I type "http:/wwww.zirkon.at/yappa-ng_demo" than yappa-ng starts and I do not have to type the index.php!

Answer:
Your web server is not configured to treat the "index.php" as starting-file like the "index.html".
You can reconfigure your webserver (if its your own) or just rename the "index.html.redirect" that comes with the yappa-ng distribution for exactly this case and rename it to "index.html". Then edit the new "index.html"-file and put your own url into it.
Now you can type http://yourdomain/yappa-ng without anything again, and yappa-ng starts up!

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3. ADMIN - (MENU) - QUESTIONS

Rotate Image: Why is the "Rotate Image" not working? I'm using GD-library.

If you are using the GD-library and run PHP < 4.3.0 than you will get only errors if you try to rotate an image.
Answer:
I'm sorry, but this feature is built into PHP in versions greater than PHP 4.3.0 !
(Info: PHP-ONLINE-Manual: http://www.php.net/manual/en/function.imagerotate.php)
If you really need the rotation-feature than please upgrade your PHP-version or use ImageMagick.

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Create New Album: Why is there no "Create New Album" in the Admin-Menu? I have seen it in your Demo Gallery!

Your yappa-ng system-admin has a parameter in the global yappa-ng system configuration to disable this admin-selection.
Now if you do not see the admin-menu item "Create New Album" then your system-admin has decided that he does not want to enable fileuploads.
Please do not bug him to enable for you and you only this feature - he cannot! It is an "everything or nothing" switch! He himself has to make new albums manually if he switches of this menu-item! ;-)

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Where are the many Admin-Options? I have seen much more in your Demo Gallery!

Maybe you are a "PowerUser"? Your Album-Admin can configure a "PowerUser" with only some of the Album-Admin Menus!
If you log into the Album-Admin-Menu with the "PowerUser"-password you will see the Menues your Album-Admin wanted you to see. Your Album Admin has only 3 restrictions:

This "PowerUser" setting is for all album-admins who want other users to have access to parts of the Album Admin Features but do not want them to have total control over the album!

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File-Upload: Why can I not upload any files with the Admin-Module "Upload Images"?

yappa-ng is not the source that restricts uploads and sets upload-limits.

Run the check_setup.php (point your browser to the check_setup.php) and take a look into the created file: check_setup.txt
I check the PHP-settings in your php.ini (or php.conf)- and there you will find your answer.
The needed settings for the file upload are:

In your php-version the parameter needed to change could also be: LimitRequestBody !
The value displayed in the Upload-Module shows only the size defined in the yappa-ng configuration and is only valid if the PHP-settings are bigger. Its only purpose is to help sysads to *restrict* users - NOT to override the PHP-settings if the PHP-settings are lower!!!

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4. HANDLING

I created a new album with the Admin-Module and cannot configure / edit it!

All album configurations are stored in the album itself (file "config_album.inc.php").
If you created a new Album with the "Create New Album" Option in the Admin-Module you have to log out of the album you where in when you created the album. Now click on the link to the new album. You will get the message "No Images in this Album". NOW log in as Admin again (with the admin-password you gave this album) and start uploading images, configure the layout,...
OR
Click onto the link to change to the new album directly, provide the password you set and you can start uploading! :-)

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5. SECURITY

Why is there an index.html in every album with "Nothing here for you" in it?

The only reason for this file is to prevent others to browse your directory.
If this file is missing and someone gives the album name without filename as url in his web browser most web servers will present the directory / filelisting of this directory.
If there is an index.html, the web server will present this file instead!

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How can I protect my photo-albums (or "why .htaccess")?

If your web server supports .htaccess directory-protection (Apache) you should protect your complete yappa-ng "photo_root" (Main Photo Directory)! You need no direct web-access to this directory - everything is done with PHP-scripts from your yappa-ng main directory!
It is important for you if you have userprotected albums. If the directory name AND the image name is known someone can access these images without the yappa-ng password-query if no .htaccess-protection is in place!

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What is this Zero Byte File "cannot-delete-album"?

This file locks the album so that it cannot get deleted. You can delete images; you can create subalbums and delete them again - but you cannot delete THIS album (=subdirectory) from the Album-Admin Menu Task: "Delete Album".
This is a tool for SysAdmins if they give admin-passwords for certain albums to others but want to be sure that THIS subdirectory remains!
It does not matter if this file has 0 Bytes - only the existence of this file is queried!
The Album-Description will not get deleted too - but the person(s) with the admin-login can edit it - or overwrite with nothing!

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Why should I delete/rename the "check_setup.php" after successful install?

The file "check_setup.php" is one more possibility for you to give you the information needed to setup yappa-ng in difficult environments. It was very important in times before the "setup.php", but is still useful for getting support. All information I need to help you install yappa-ng should be in the created file "check_setup.txt".
Point your Browser to the file and activate it.
After this you will find a file "check_setup.txt" in your yappa-ng directory with all of your settings and paths. In this file there are all your yappa-ng setups AND PATHS (!) AND some of your PHP-setup AND WebServer-setup parameters!
Everyone can activate this script if you do not delete / rename it and create the file "check_setup.txt". Than he can point his browser to this file and look at your installation parameters.
Maybe this could be used as source of knowledge about your server you do NOT want to share with the entire Internet!!!
So: after installation delete/rename your "check_config.php" and delete any "check_config.txt".
btw: you can execute the script even if it has a completely different filename!
BUT: the output-filename will always be the same! DELETE it!

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Album Admin password

After first installation of yappa-ng the passwords to log into the albums is the same as you selected within the Setup Tool.
You can use this password for the Setup Tool, the albums and the ToolBox (toolbox.php)!

From this point on the Album passwords and the yappa-ng Administration password will be independant!!!

Log into your home-photo album (this is where the "Welcome to yappa-ng..." text shows after installation) as Album-Admin as soon as possible after installation and change the default password to your own (Even if there are no images in it and even if you never will have images directly in this central folder).

There is no real security issue if you do forget / ommit it, but it could happen that someone changes the password to one you do not know, upload/delete images,...
And I do not believe you will think this is funny! ;-)

Hint:

Before you start creating many albums after installation configure your home album as you want to have it.
Everything but the admin-password will be inherited to the next "child album"!

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6. FUNCTIONS AND FEATURES

Can I FTP / move my images into the Album?

Of course! The "Upload Images" Module is only a help for all who have no FTP or direct server access.
Just make sure the webser can read all images!!! All links, thumbnails, resized images,... will be created automatically when the first visitor views the album. It's really easy! :-)
If you want to rotate the images (some of them) the images have to be writeable for the webserver!

RESTRICTION: If your webserver has the "Safe Mode Restrictions" enabled forget all this and use the Admin Menu "Upload Images"!

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Can I FTP / move complete directories full of images into yappa-ng?

Of course! The "Create New Album" and "Upload Images" Modules are only a help for all who have no FTP or direct server access.
You can create a new directory within your Photos directory and copy/move/FTP all your images/photos into it!
You can even make complete directory trees. Make sure the webserver can read AND write all directories and images!!!

Before you can see the albums and images in your yappa-ng gallery you have to IMPORT the directories into yappa-ng with the help of the ToolBox (toolbox.php)!
Log into the ToolBox and select the Option "Global Album Manipulation", than select "Import New Albums". You will get a list of all your current albums and a list with all albums which are not imported at the moment. More details are within the option in the ToolBox! ;-)
This "importing" of directories does NOT change the location! Importing makes automatically the following steps:

All links, thumbnails, resized images,... will be created automatically when the first visitor views the album. It's really easy! :-)
If you want to rotate the images (some of them) the images have to be writeable for the webserver!

Albums which you created with the "Create New Album" Album Admin Module need NOT to be imported!!

RESTRICTION: If your webserver has the "Safe Mode Restrictions" enabled forget all this and use the "Create New Album" and "Upload Images" Album Admin Modules !

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7. MISCELLANEOUS

Have Fun!

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Part of yappa-ng Documentation by Fritz 'wizard' Berger: >> yappa-ng Homepage <<