“Kwolla Lite Social Network” Documentation by “Vic Cherubini (Leftnode Software, Inc.)” v1.0.0
Created: 01/15/2011
By: Vic Cherubini (Leftnode Software, Inc.)
Email: support@kwolla.com
Thank you for purchasing the Kwolla Lite Social Network. You're minutes away from launching your own social network! If you have any questions that are beyond the scope of this help file, please feel free to email via my user page contact form here. Thanks so much!
Table of Contents
Installation - top
Installing Kwolla Lite is a cinch! The installation file and database dump is located in the install directory. Open kwolla-lite-install.pdf to follow step-by-step instructions on how to install Kwolla Lite.
Should you have any questions regarding the installation, please contact me on CodeCanyon or email me.
Directory Structure - top
Kwolla Lite is laid out in a very logical manner.
The entire directory structure is very straightforward. Comments regarding what each directory holds are italicized next to each directory.
- httpdocs Stores main application files, modules, and assets like CSS, JavaScript, and images.
- application These are the Controllers otherwise known as Modules. They hold the front end code that make Kwolla Lite work.
- Account
- Comment
- Contact
- Inbox
- Index
- Page
- Profile
- Root
- Search
- private When users upload content, it is stored in here under their own directory.
- public Public assets that are used, such as CSS, JavaScript, SWF files, and images.
- css
- flash
- font
- image
- javascript
- layout
- locale
- application These are the Controllers otherwise known as Modules. They hold the front end code that make Kwolla Lite work.
- install Installation SQL file and documentation.
- lib Backend library code and the Artisan framework.
- Artisan Artisan is used for the MVC framework, database, access, user authentication, sessions, and templates.
- Auth
- Cache
- Config
- Controller
- Customer
- Db
- Functions
- Interface
- Log
- Rss
- Server
- Session
- Shipping
- Template
- Validate
- Function Sitewide functions that are used.
- Object Models and objects used throughout the site.
- Model
- Report
- Search
- Uploader
- User
- Vista
- Artisan Artisan is used for the MVC framework, database, access, user authentication, sessions, and templates.
- services Small scripts to be set up as cron jobs.
Because Kwolla Lite is very customizable, you'll spend most of your time in the httpdocs/public/css, httpdocs/public/layout, and View directories. The View directories are under each Controller directory and hold the PHTML for that Controller.
CSS Files and Structure - top
Customizing Kwolla Lite through CSS is simple. Kwolla Lite uses the 960.gs CSS grid framework for layout, the Yahoo YUI3 CSS reset, and the jQuery UI CSS when needed.
The primary file that controls all of the CSS behind Kwolla Lite is named kwolla.css in the httpdocs/public/css directory. It is grouped by the different Controllers with some global CSS rules at the top.
Any images the CSS uses are located in the httpdocs/public/css/image/ directory. This makes it easy to reference each image in the CSS as they are relatively pathed.
Layouts - top
Kwolla Lite uses layout files as overall content structures. Each layout file is located in the httpdocs/public/layout directory and are actually PHTML files. There is only one layout now, index.phtml, but you can add additional layouts to customize Kwolla Lite for your needs.
The layout files make use of blocks. Blocks are rendered views that are inserted into the layout file. In Kwolla, all blocks come from the Root controller. This is located in httpdocs/application/Root/Root.php Controller. The method renderLayout() in the Root_Controller class renders different Views to the content blocks.
For example, the line that calls $this->render('root/header', 'header'); loads up the "header" View and renders it into a block named 'header'. The "header" View is located in httpdocs/application/Root/View/header.phtml. By opening that file, you'll notice the title tag, CSS, and JavaScript are all set here.
By rendering that View to the 'header' block, that block can be loaded in a future layout. Thus, in the index.phtml layout, the line <?php echo $this->getBlock('header'); ?> loads up the 'header' block and echo's it to the layout.
Changing the default layout is simple. Open the httpdocs/configure.php file you created during installation and change the key default_layout in the $config_artisan_router variable to point to the layout you want to use. Do not include the .phtml extension.
Permissions - top
Because Kwolla Lite runs as software on a web server, it needs to be accessible by the server itself. Kwolla Lite has been tested on an Apache server and works great on Apache 2.2 with the mpm-worker module installed. For best results, ensure the files are owned by the same user and group that Apache operates under and have the permissions at 0755.
You can easily do this by going to the directory where all of Kwolla Lite is installed and entering the follow commands into the shell (replace www-data with the user and group Apache runs under):
sudo chown www-data:www-data your-kwolla-lite-site.com -R sudo chmod 755 your-kwolla-lite-site.com -R
This will keep all of the files executable by all users, but only writeable by their owner.
Kwolla Lite Features - top
Kwolla Lite comes packed with many features and modules out of the box. Adding your own features is a cinch, but I'll go over the default ones so you get an understanding.
- Account - The primary Account module allows members to register for an account on your Kwolla Lite installation, update their Account, upload a Photo, and update their Status.
- Comment - The Comment module lets members post comments on each others profile and manage/respond to comments that have been posted on their profile.
- Contact - The Contact module lets members become friends with each other, manage pending friends, and remove members who are no longer their friend.
- Inbox - All private messaging between members is done with the Inbox module.
- Index - The Index module handles the home page construction and design.
- Page - Static info pages such as the FAQ, Privacy Policy, and Terms are loaded with the Page module. It also handles the interactive Contact Us form.
- Profile - One of the largest modules, the Profile module displays a members profile.
- Root - All other modules extend the Root module so they can have similar functions and characteristics.
- Search - Finally, the Search module lets members search for each other.
Once again, thank you so much for purchasing the Kwolla Lite Social Network. I wish you much success as you build your own social network. As I said at the beginning, I'd be glad to help you if you have any questions relating to this software. No guarantees, but I'll do my best to assist. If you have a more general question relating to the software on CodeCanyon, you might consider visiting the forums and asking your question in the "Item Discussion" section.
- Vic Cherubini