EliteTGP 2.0 - Users Manual
Program Overview:
     EliteTGP is the premier thumb gallery script on the internet. However it has a twist, it is also a topmast program rating all galleries by the number of hits they send you per day. This eliminates you from sending traffic to people  If you are looking to start a TGP or currently run one this software is defiantly worth checking out! 

     The program was created to be easy to maintain and very customizable. A web based administration program provides you with all the tools you need to update every aspect of your TGP. EliteTGP also includes an optional gateway program to prevent users cheating. When new users sign up they are given a snippet of code to place on there gallery page(s) this code automatically tracks all votes for the uses site. 

     The freeware version of this script places advertisements in a few places but is fully functional in every way. Users who do not wish to display our ads may purchase the professional version for only $59.95 from our site.

 

System Requirements:

- Ability to run perl cgi scripts. 
- Unix/Linux based server (It will probably run on Windows NT, but has not been tested)
- PERL 4+ (Most servers have this installed) 
- FTP/Telnet access (telnet not required, but recommend)
 
Installation Instructions:
Installation is fairly easy but does require some knowledge of your system. Just follow the instructions carefully and you should have no problems. If you do run into problems I will set it up for you free of charge, this usually only takes about 10 minutes.

1. Unzip EliteTGP  to a directory, you should see 2 directories.

   -scripts
   -templates
   -data
 
2. In the scripts directory there are 5 files with the extention ".cgi" that you may need to modify.

    -admin.cgi
    -click.cgi
    -qud.cgi
    -new.cgi
    -gallery.cgi

If your path to perl is "/usr/bin/perl" you don't need to modify ANYTHING in any of these programs. If not you need to change the first line each file to your perl path. *You will get a 500 error message if the perl path is wrong.

3. Connect to your server and create the following directories and chmod them accordingly. (directory names are ALL lower case)

-Under your Cgi-bin directory you need to create the directory "elitetgp" and chmod it 755.
-Under the "elitetgp" directory you just created, create a directory called "data" and chmod it 777.
-Under the "elitetgp" directory you just created, create a directory called "templates" and chmod it 777.
-Create the directory where you wish the TGP site to be generated and chmod it 777.

4. FTP in to your server and upload the following files to the correct directories and chmod them correctly. ( UPLOAD IN ASCII FORMAT )

      To the "elitetgp" directory upload the following :

  • admin.cgi                   chmod it : 755
  • click.cgi                   chmod it : 755
  • qud.cgi                     chmod it : 755
  • new.cgi                     chmod it : 755
  • gallery.cgi                 chmod it : 755
  • shared.pm                   chmod it : 755
  • admin.pm                    chmod it : 755
  • make.pm                     chmod it : 755
  • menu.pm                     chmod it : 755
  • new.pm                      chmod it : 755
  • elite.cfg                   chmod it : 777
      To the "templates" directory upload the following :
  • default.tpl                 chmod it : 755
  • sdefault.tpl                chmod it : 755
  • mail.txt                    chmod it : 755
  • new.tpl                     chmod it : 755
  • gateway.tpl                 chmod it : 755
  • post.tpl                    chmod it : 755
  • terms.tpl                   chmod it : 755
      To the "data" directory upload the following :
  • apa.dat                     chmod it : 777
  • spa.dat                     chmod it : 777
  • account.dat                 chmod it : 777


   5. Finally to get everything started continue on to program configuration.
 

Program Configuration:
1. Open your web browser and point it to admin.cgi on your web server. (If you get an error you probably chmod'd something incorrectly!) 

     - You should get a password prompt enter : ADMIN 

 2. After you get to the main menu select "Configure EliteTGP" and hit submit. 

- The main program configuration page should appear. 

      Site Title - This is what your TGP site will be called. 
      Email Address - Your email address. 
      Password - Change This! DO NOT LEAVE IT AS ADMIN! 
      Index File - This is the name of the html file that will be created as your main tgp page the extention of this file will be used for all sub pages as well. 
      CGI Path - The server path to your elitetgp cgi files.  ( example : /home/you/public_html/cgi-bin/elitetgp/ ) WITH TRAILING SLASH 
      CGI URL - This is the url to your elitetgp cgi files.  ( example : http://www.yoursite.com/cgi-bin/elitetgp/ ) WITH TRAILING SLASH 
      HTML Path - The server path to your elitetgp html directory. ( example : /home/you/public_html/mytgpsite/ ) WITH TRAILING SLASH 
      HTML URL - The URL to your elitetgp html directory. ( example : http://www.yoursite.com/mytgpsite/ ) WITH TRAILING SLASH 
      Sendmail Path - The server path to your mail program. ( example : /usr/sbin/sendmail ) NO TRAILING SLASH 
      Min Hits - Number of hits a site must send per day before being listed (Set to "0" to disable. )
      Expire - Remove site if it is inactive for "X" days ( Set to "0" to disable.
      Send Email - Send user an email after he signs up with linkcode & details. ( Recommended
      Auto Validate - Set program to auto validate all posts. (Good when just starting out.
      Use Gateway - Stops fake voting/cheaters ( Recomended if there is a cheating problem only
      Use Frame - Load gallery pages in a frame?

      Return Link - This is the image or text that will be given to new members to link back to you. You do not put the <A HREF tags in this box!
      Only place the text or the image you wish to use.
      (Examples) If you wanted the text link that said CLICK HERE simply type CLICK HERE in the box.
      However if you want to use the image, logo.gif you would type <IMG SRC=logo.jpg>.

      Frame URL - If your using a frame, this is the url to the html page that will be loaded into the bottom of the frame.

Once you have entered all information correctly you may hit the Update Configuration button.
 
 You should now add all the categories you wish to add, you can do this from the category editor option on the main menu.

If you wish to block out sites coming from certain places or people  you can add blacklist entries. Blacklist entries are global so be carefull when using them, creating a blacklist entry of .com would eliminate 90% of people on the net from submitting to your gallery post. However if you just wanted to block sites from geocities you could add geocities.com and they would not be accepted.
 

Templates: 
EliteTGP creates all pages from a series of template files. This enables the webmaster to have complete control of the entire site layout and design. Each template has a series of tags that can be used to place specific script generated content. If this seems confusing just look at included template files. It is really VERY simple.

Category Templates : These are the main templates you will want to edit, they control the layout of the actual gallery pages. There are two ways to handle category templates.

1. Two Default Files - This is the most common setup, there are two default templates one called default.tpl and the other called sdefault.tpl.
     default.tpl - This file is used for the main "overall" category this will always be used for the index page.
     sdefault.tpl - This file is the default template for all sub categories.

2. Separate Category Files - In this setup you will make a separate template file for each category. The template files will be named according to the category names they must be in all lower and can only contain letters & numbers. So if you had a category called Cars the template file you would create would be called cars.tpl . However if the category was called Car Pics then the template file would be named carpics.tpl . The same would be true if the category was called Car-Pics the template would be carpics.tpl . Notice that spaces & non alpha-numeric characters are removed in the template file names.

In both of the above cases you have the ability to use the following tags in the templates. These tags will be replaced with the appropriate content when the html is generated. Remember when placing these tags that they are all lower case.

Category Template Tags :
<!--rank#-->   : This prints the rank of site #. (Replace the # with the number)
<!--cat#-->    : This prints the category of site #. (Replace the # with the number)
<!--desc#-->   : This prints the description of site #. (Replace the # with the number)
<!--images#--> : This prints the number of images for site #. (Replace the # with the number)
<!--votes#-->  : This prints the number of votes for site #. (Replace the # with the number)
<!--join-->    : This places a link to your gallery submission page.
<!--tjoin-->   : This places a link to your gallery submission page but displays your terms page first.
<!--navbox-->  : This generates a drop down nav box to every category you have.
<!--page-->    : This prints the category name.
<!--list-->    : This ouputs the list in "Classic TGP" list mode.  NEW!!!

So if you wanted a page that ranked only your top 5 galleries in a simple list you would do something like the following.

<HTML><HEAD></HEAD><BODY>
<!--rank1--> |  <!--cat1-->  |   <!--desc1-->   | <!--images1--> | <!--votes1--> <BR>
<!--rank2--> |  <!--cat2-->  |   <!--desc2-->   | <!--images2--> | <!--votes2--> <BR>
<!--rank3--> |  <!--cat3-->  |   <!--desc3-->   | <!--images3--> | <!--votes3--> <BR>
<!--rank4--> |  <!--cat4-->  |   <!--desc4-->   | <!--images4--> | <!--votes4--> <BR>
<!--rank5--> |  <!--cat5-->  |   <!--desc5-->   | <!--images5--> | <!--votes5--> <BR>
</BODY></HTML>

The output would look similar to :

1  |  Cars   | 92 Chevy Camaro RS | 10 | 10056
2  |  Celebs | Nev Campbell       | 30 | 100
3  |  Plants | Some palm trees    | 5  | 30
4  |  Cars   | 99 Chevy Corvette  | 12 | 11
5  |  Cars   | 98 Chevy Camaro SS | 10 | 1

Or if you wanted the classic TGP look you would simply use the <!--list--> tag the output would look similar to:  NEW!!!

  • 13 Pics Cars Description of first
  • 25 Pics Cars Description of second... ect ect..


This is a very simplified example for more examples of what you can do, I suggest you see the demo, or look at the included template files.

Terms Template : This template is very simple, it is a standard HTML file called terms.tpl .

The only tag that is used in this template is :
<!--join-->   : This places a link to the submission form after they have agreed to your terms & conditions.

Gateway Template : This template is very simple, it is a standard HTML file called terms.tpl .

The only tag that is used in this template is :
<!--enter-->   : This places a link to count the vote and enter the tgp.

New Gallery Template : The new.tpl file controls the layout of the gallery submission form.

New Gallery Template Tags :
<!--start-->  : This tag is required and starts the form.
<!--email-->  : This tag places a box for the uses to input his email.
<!--cats-->   : This tag places a drop down box of available categories.
<!--pics-->   : This allows the user to select the number of pics in his gallery.
<!--url-->    : This tag places a box for the users gallery URL.
<!--desc-->   : This tag places a box for the users gallery description.
<!--mlist-->  : This tag places a check box that allows the user to be added to your mailing list.
<!--finish--> : This is required & finishes the html form

Post Template : The post.tpl file controls the page that is shown to the webmaster after completing the sign up process. 

The only tag that is used in this template is :
<!--link-->   : This displays the users unique link code.

Mail Template : The mail.txt file is the email message that is sent to the new user after they submit there gallery.

New Gallery Template Tags :
<!--title--> : This prints the title or your TGP.
<!--link-->  : This prints a copy of the users return link code.
<!--email--> : This prints your email address.
 

Support:
If you have any problems, questions, or comments simply email me: EliteCGI@EliteCGI.com