Customizing how Mitch's Guest Book works

Configuration Options

The config.lib.php file contains comments about how to make specific changes to that file.

One specific item to note is the lockmode parameter. This controls access to Mitch's Guest Book Administration. If you forget your password: (1) Change this to "r", (2) Go to Mitch's Guest Book module gblogin.php and assign a new password, (3) Change lockmode back to "p".

The configuration file allows:

• The number of entries displayed on the public guest book
• The number of entries displayed for adminsitrators
• The "From" email address for the notification email. This is primarily for display purposes.
• The "Subject" for the notification email
• The "To" email address for the notification email. This is the administrator of the guest book
• An indicator as to whether or not the notification email should be sent
• An indicator as to whether or not spam checking should be done. The specific spam checks can also be changed on a later parameter.
• A list of values to check the entry fields of name, country, and the message to see if the value is anywhere within the field. If the value is found then the proposed guest book entry is flagged as spam and not allowed. The default values identify links to web pages and email addresses as spam. This checking is only done if spam checking is required by a previous indicator.
• An indicator as to whether or not the challenge should be done. The challenge is the simple math problem that will discourage spam bots.
• The limit on the input size of the guest book entry.
• An indicator as to whether or not spam checking should be done. The specific spam checks can also be changed on a later parameter.
• The height of the input message area.
• The width of the outer border. Other characteristics of the outer border can be changed in the CSS file.
• The width of the guest book.
• The format of the date displayed for guest book entries. This uses standard MySQL controls.
• The configuration file also contains parameters to change wording, include use of non-English languages for all text and messages.