A nicely done FAQ manager

Whenever I find a well done php script, I usually like to tell others about it.  I found this one while looking for an FAQ manager.... because I wanted more functionality than what was built into 6.1.4

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http://www.it747.com/faq757/index.php

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I bought this script for use with 6.1.4, but haven't added to my main site yet, since it's on hold awaiting the release of D7.  I did install the free version on a do-nothing test site of mine, and you can get an idea how it would look when added to 6.1.4 here: http://astrosturf.com/support.php   I haven't added any Q&A, just set up some categories.  I'm definitely going to use this with D7.

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Anyway... just thought I'd throw this out there in case anyone is looking for a way to provide their users with an enhanced help section.

Thanks for sharing this... I would be interested in using it.  It states "This script is for experienced web developers only. This is NOT for beginners."  how difficult was it to install?

It's been a while since I installed it, but I don't remember anything very difficult. It's the usuall.. create mysql database...upload files... file/directory permission stuff, etc.  I guess the only tricky part is that it doesn't come with a default template... you have to download that seperately and install it after the main install.  It's not too difficult if you pay close attention to the directions.  You definitely want the user_100 template here: http://www.it747.com/faq757/index.php?page=download_template

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I thought all the included directions were well done and easy to follow.

Thanks I'll give it a try.

Here's an important page to look at: http://www.it747.com/faq757/index.php?page=tiny_mce

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The TinyMCE editor is not installed by default. This page gives directions on installing it.  Again, it's pretty straightforward.  I'd recommend downloading TinyMCE from the Moxiecode website, as it will be a more up to date version. 

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My TinyMCE initialization is a little different than the one shown at the link above:

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<script language="javascript" type="text/javascript">
tinyMCE.init({
    mode  : "textareas",
    theme : "advanced",
    plugins : "advimage,iespell,emotions,media,print,advlink",
    theme_advanced_toolbar_location : "top",
    theme_advanced_buttons1 : "removeformat,separator,fontselect,fontsizeselect,forecolor,backcolor,separator, undo, redo",
    theme_advanced_buttons2 : "cut,copy,paste,separator,sub,sup,bold, italic,underline,strikethrough,separator,justifyleft,justifycenter,justifyright,justifyfull,separator,hr,bullist,numlist,outdent,indent,separator,link,image,blockquote,code",
    theme_advanced_buttons3 : "iespell,emotions,media,separator,print",
    content_css : "tinymce.css"
});
</script>

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On that last line, 'iespell' is an internet explorer spell checking plugin http://www.iespell.com/  If you want to use it, you'll have to install the IE plugin.  It won't hurt anything to leave it in the TinyMCE init, it'll just tell you you don't have it installed if you click on the spell check icon within TinyMCE.  The 'Media' plugin that comes with TinyMCE will make it easy for you to embed videos in your FAQ section.

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Dolphin 7 will have a lot of stuff, so I plan on having a pretty extensive help section.  I'm going to use Jing http://www.jingproject.com/   to create screen capture videos to show my members how to use certain features.  I figure the more time I spend creating the help section, the less questions I'll have to answer in the long run.  The Pro version of Jing is well worth the $14.95 a year, since it allows you to create H.264 videos with no Jing copyright stuff plastered all over the video.  The pro version also lets you upload the video diectly to youtube, which I think is pretty cool...... Youtube hosts your video, saving your bandwidth..... and you have a video on youtube promoting your site.  Then you just embed the youtube video in your FAQ.

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Just try doing all this with Dolphin's built in FAQ.

Thanks.

Very nice and useful tool :-)

Thank you houstonlively ;-)

There's a line in my TinyMCE Init above that is truncated by orca, but when you cut and paste the text, it's all there.

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Here's what my support.php file looks like:

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<?php

require_once( 'inc/header.inc.php' );
require_once( BX_DIRECTORY_PATH_INC . 'design.inc.php' );
$javapopup .= "<link rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"lytebox.css\" type=\"text/css\" media=\"screen\" />\n";
$_page['name_index'] = 500; // this is the number of the html page linked with this php file; change it as you wish
$_page['css_name'] = 'general.css'; // this is the name of the CSS file linked with the above mentioned HTML file; change it as you wish

$_ni = $_page['name_index'];
$_page_cont[$_ni]['page_main_code'] = PageCompMainCode();

PageCode();

function PageCompMainCode()
{

}

?>
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(Some of the code looks wrong with the line wrap, but when you cut and paste , it's ok.)

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And the corresponding file   /templates/tmpl_uni/page_500.html

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__include _header.html__

<html>

<script type="text/javascript"><!--
/***********************************************
* IFrame SSI script II- © Dynamic Drive DHTML code library (http://www.dynamicdrive.com)
* Visit DynamicDrive.com for hundreds of original DHTML scripts
* This notice must stay intact for legal use
***********************************************/

//Input the IDs of the IFRAMES you wish to dynamically resize to match its content height:
//Separate each ID with a comma. Examples: ["myframe1", "myframe2"] or ["myframe"] or [] for none:
var iframeids=["myframe"]

//Should script hide iframe from browsers that don't support this script (non IE5+/NS6+ browsers. Recommended):
var iframehide="yes"

var getFFVersion=navigator.userAgent.substring(navigator.userAgent.indexOf("Firefox")).split("/")[1]
var FFextraHeight=parseFloat(getFFVersion)>=0.1? 16 : 0 //extra height in px to add to iframe in FireFox 1.0+ browsers

function resizeCaller() {
var dyniframe=new Array()
for (i=0; i<iframeids.length; i++){
if (document.getElementById)
resizeIframe(iframeids[i])
//reveal iframe for lower end browsers? (see var above):
if ((document.all || document.getElementById) && iframehide=="no"){
var tempobj=document.all? document.all[iframeids[i]] : document.getElementById(iframeids[i])
tempobj.style.display="block"
}
}
}

function resizeIframe(frameid){
var currentfr=document.getElementById(frameid)
if (currentfr && !window.opera){
currentfr.style.display="block"
if (currentfr.contentDocument && currentfr.contentDocument.body.offsetHeight) //ns6 syntax
currentfr.height = currentfr.contentDocument.body.offsetHeight+FFextraHeight;
else if (currentfr.Document && currentfr.Document.body.scrollHeight) //ie5+ syntax
currentfr.height = currentfr.Document.body.scrollHeight;
if (currentfr.addEventListener)
currentfr.addEventListener("load", readjustIframe, false)
else if (currentfr.attachEvent){
currentfr.detachEvent("onload", readjustIframe) // Bug fix line
currentfr.attachEvent("onload", readjustIframe)
}
}
}

function readjustIframe(loadevt) {
var crossevt=(window.event)? event : loadevt
var iframeroot=(crossevt.currentTarget)? crossevt.currentTarget : crossevt.srcElement
if (iframeroot)
resizeIframe(iframeroot.id);
}

function loadintoIframe(iframeid, url){
if (document.getElementById)
document.getElementById(iframeid).src=url
}

if (window.addEventListener)
window.addEventListener("load", resizeCaller, false)
else if (window.attachEvent)
window.attachEvent("onload", resizeCaller)
else
window.onload=resizeCaller
// --></script>
<iframe id="myframe" src="/faq/support/" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" vspace="0" hspace="0" style="overflow:visible; width:100%; display:none" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></p>
</html>

__include _footer.html__

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757FAQ was installed in the 'faq' subdirectory of my Dolphin installation and the template files were installed in a subdirectory of 'faq' which I named 'support' (The template directory was originally named 'user_100' but I renamed it 'support'.   Then, I just used menu builder to create a menu item linked to support.php  There's really no need to integrate this with the Dolphin user DB, since the admin is the only one that's going to be entering Q&A.  Any member can still post comments, and their comments will be held in a moderation queue until approved by admin.

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Credits:

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Iframe code by dynamicdrive.com  http://dynamicdrive.com/dynamicindex17/iframessi2.htm

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Page code: Boonex.com

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FAQ Manager: http://www.it747.com