EasyEstimates Installation Instructions
Step-by-step Installation Tutorial
Installation Overview
Installation requires that you have authorization to update files and MySQL databases on your Web site. No MySQL education is needed but understanding how to transfer files to a Web server is required.
Installation involves:
1) Unpack the programs into a folder on your PC's hard drive.
2) Upload the programs into a directory on your Web server.
3) Install the databases and database controls.
4) Use EasyEstimates administration to setup the Activities for your company.
5) Integrate the EasyEstimates into your Web site.
Upload the EasyEstimates programs to your Web site
These files can be uploaded to any directory on your Web site. You may want to create a separate directory/folder
for EasyEstimates but it is not required. The default folder for PCs is C:/Program Files/easyestimates.
It is important that you upload all the files and sub-directories/sub-folders
without changing the structure of the files. After the files are installed you will need to set the following permissions:
1) Allow writes to the config.lib.php file in the config folder/directory, this will only be needed during installation.
2) If you will be adding custom graphics to EasyEstimates, the directory that hold EasyEstimates will need write access
until the custom graphics are uploaded.
Install the databases and database controls
1) Open your browser and enter: domain name/EasyEstimates directory/install.php. Your domain name will be similar to
www.sizzlingwebdesign.com. Substitute "EasyEstimates directory" for the directory name where EasyEstimates is installed
or just use domain name/install.php if it is installed in the root directory.
2) The EasyEstimates database installer will prompt you for a User Id and Password, this User must have administrative privileges
on the Web site.
If you have full administrative authority, "root" authority, on the Web server, the install program will complete all steps needed for the database installation and database controls installation.
If the Web site is on a shared server or write permission was not valid on the config.lib.php file, then there maybe a few additional manual steps. These steps are detailed by the installation program but only involve manually copying a few lines into the config.lib.php files and/or updating a few database permissions.
If for some reason the database installation program does not run on your server or you choose not to use it, the following
are the steps needed to complete a manual database installation:
Note: If you are only allowed one database and one database user, skip to step 6 and enter the appropriate
values for your database, user and password.
1) Logon to the cPanel for your web site.
2) Locate 'MySQL', 'MySQL Account Maintenance', or 'Manage MySQL'. Click on that item. You should see a page with a heading of 'MySQL Account Maintenance'.
3) At the bottom of the Database section you will see "Db:" followed by an input area, followed by a button labelled
"Add Db". Enter "estdb1" without the quotes in the input area, then press the "Add Db" button. A Database will likely
be created with your User Id followed by "_estdb1". Press "Go Back" to return to the "MySQL Account Maintenance" page.
3) Locate the section of the page titled 'Users'.
4) Enter these exactly. For UserName enter "estdb1" without the quotes and for Password enter a password.
Passwords of letters and numbers and at least 8 digits are recommended. Write down this password. Press 'Enter'. Then 'Go Back'
5) Just above the User area. Select in the dropdown box User, select the database and user you just created,
ending in "estdb1" from the dropdown boxes. Press 'Add User to Db' and then "Go Back".
6) Locate the config.lib.php file in the config folder on your hard drive in the EasyEstimates folder. Open the file with Notepad,
usually this is the default editor for php files.
7) Update the following values:
Change "sizzlin" to the User Id that was used for the database installation for the values that follow C_DB_NAME and C_DB_USER.
Change "mypassword" to the password you entered in step #4 above.
8) On the File menu, choose Save.
9) FTP or otherwise transfer this file to your Web server replacing the existing file.
10) Point your browser to the install50sql.php file in your EasyEstimates directory. You should see
a count of the SQL statements that were run. Note: If you're using an older version of
EasyEstimates substitute the "50" in install50sql.php with your version number.
Regardless of which implementation method is used. It is recommended that you change the config.lib.php file access permissions to read only access after the database installation is completed.
Use the EasyEstimates Administrative interface to customize EasyEstimates
EasyEstimates administration can started by pointing your browser to the directory where EasyEstimates is installed. Complete instructions for using the interface are located with the administration interface that is started from index.php file.
Integrate EasyEstimates into your Web site
Install one new page in the EasyEstimates directory for each Activity that will be created. For each page, it must
have an extension of ".php" and contain the following code:
<?php
$passgroupname="MyActivity";
require("easyestimate.php");
?>
To implement the Preview page use:
<?php
$passgroupname="MyActivity";
require("easypreview.php");
?>
If you have EasyEstimates located in a sub-directory use:
<?php
$easydir = "MySubDir/";
$passgroupname="MyActivity";
require($easydir."easyestimate.php");
?>
To implement the Preview page using a sub-directory use:
<?php
$easydir = "MySubDir/";
$passgroupname="MyActivity";
require($easydir."easypreview.php");
?>
Subsituting the name of the Activity you've created for MyActivity and MySubDir for your
sub-directory name.
easyestimatepage.php and easypreviewpage.php contain an examples of how to complete this implementation.
You will also likely want to customize or substitute the style.css, style
sheet, to match your web site. If you substitute your own style sheet,
also update the style sheet for linehelp.php (this is the pop-up help page).