Nethernet will install
the system for you for free, so some of this information is of little use to you, though
it will help you gain a greater understanding of how this system works. (Most of
these instructions are keyed toward installing the system on a Linux/UNIX Os. In the
future we will have a Win32 version available as well.
Editing
your HTML Templates:
There are a few HTML templates which you can customize to provide a more
unique look for your website. Remember to leave the strings starting with \$ they are important to the function of the program. It is recommended
that you just edit the top and bottom of this page, but once you understand the $variables,
you should have no problems changing the entire page's look. You will have to edit
these files and upload them via FTP, unless you purchase the Online HTML editor add-on for
an additional $30.
_modify.html - this is the page which will be displayed when a user
tried to Modify his/her info.
modify.html - this is the page which will be displayed when the user
editing his settings, and viewing the graphs of his traffic.
signup.htm - The page which will be displayed when a user wants to
sign-up for your topsites.
thanks.htm - The page which will display a users information once
they have signed up for your topsites. It should include some kind of thank you
notice.
What CGI
file does what?
We have compiled a brief explanation of what each CGI file does, so that
you won't be left completely in the dark when it comes to dealing with them.
signup.cgi - The CGI which lets signup for an account on your
topsites
modify.cgi - The CGI which lets users view their statistics, and edit
their settings
out.cgi - The C++ CGI
that logs the traffic being sent in and out
in.cgi - Basically a Gateway CGI which keeps track of which site
a each visitor comes from
create.cgi - The CGI which searches for <!-- top_tag
/top_tag--> and updates them when it is called via Web, or via a CRONTAB.
update.cgi - The CGI while keeps track of how many days each user has
been in your topsites, and resets all accounts to 0.
Editing the
Defaults File:
The default.txt file is one of the most important files for you to edit, it
contains many important settings which will control how your topsites works. Upon
registering you will be able to edit it via and an online interface. You can specify
any option that appears in the defaults.txt file and more, below is an overview of some of
the most common settings you might use in a top_tag specify in a top_tag.
Option: |
Example: |
Explanation: |
custom_file |
custom.pl |
Name of the file containing custom
CGI |
col_widths |
10,*,20,20 |
The Width of each Column separated
by a , |
col_types |
rank,description,score,
hitsout |
The item to be displayed in each
column separated by |
col_names |
Rank:,Site:,Score:,
Hitsout: |
The text describing each of the
above columns separated by ,s" |
type_bg |
black |
The BG color for the Row
containing the name of each column |
font |
verdana |
The font to use for the Column
names |
font_size |
-1 |
The Font Size for the Column names |
font_color |
white |
The Font color for the Column
Names |
col_color |
white,lightgray,white,
white |
The color for each Column
separated by ,s |
border |
0 |
The Border size for the table of
sites |
bgcolor |
white |
The BGcolor for the tables of
sites |
top_bgcolor |
black |
The BGcolor for header for the
table of sites |
cellpadding |
2 |
The Table's Cellpadding |
cellspacing |
2 |
The Tables Cellspacing |
cols |
4 |
The number of columns in the table |
head |
The Top 5
Sites |
The Default Header to be placed on
the table of Sites |
min_random |
3 |
The Minimum number of hits that a
site has to send in order to be selected as a site of the moment |
template |
template.txt |
the template containing the layout
for an entry in your topsites |
min |
1 |
The Minimum number of hits
required to be listed |
start |
1 |
The Starting point for the list of
sites |
end |
5 |
The ending point for the list of
sites |
inner_font |
verdana |
The font for each cell in the
topsites, such as the Rank column |
inner_size |
-1 |
The font size for the text in the
cell |
inner_color |
black |
The font color for the text in the
cell above |
inner_cus |
<b> |
A custom HTML tag that you want
before the text in the cell |
inner_cus_end |
</b> |
A custom HTML tag you want after
the text in the cell |
even_color |
gray |
The color for Even Rows |
odd_color |
white |
The Color for Odd Rows |
Getting
your Topsites to Auto Update:
It is really quite simple to get your topsites to auto update, all you have to do
is modify the crontab file we provide, and type the telnet command "crontab ntop.cron." This will tell the server to automatically run create.cgi every
hour and run update.cgi once a day. Before doing this you will need to modify the ntop.cron to
make sure that it has the correct path to your cgi files. (In most cases you should not
need to do this step since installation and setup is included with each license
purchased.)
Setting up
a Basic Topsites:
Setting up a basic topsites should take no time at all. Since in most
occasions the above steps should have already been done for you, all you have to do is add
the <!--top_tag /top_tag--> code to the HTML files you want the
create.cgi to parse. You should make some changes to the html templates to have them
reflect your site's layout, but you really shouldn't have to do much to launch your
topsites, and sitting back to enjoy the automation :-)
The
Top_Tag:
The top_tag is what makes Nethernet Topsites unique. Unlike other topsites
where you are trapped inside the creator's look and feel, the top_tag allows you to
incorporate the topsites data into your site anyway you want. For example you could
have the top3 sites displayed in a pop-up windows, or on an entrance page. You can
have your topsites span pages and more.
<!--t--><!--top_tag name=value : name="value" /top_tag-->
The top_tag can
only span one line of your file, and must start with a <!--t--> to
identify to the parser that it needs to read in the following data.
The top tag must
start with <!--top_tag and end with /top_tag-->
The
name=value pairs must be separated by a : unless there is only
one name=value pairs. (you may use <quotes> around the value)
The name=value
pairs can be any value that you are allowed to define in the default.txt and more, you can
see a quick reference above.
Sending
Mail:
On the Send Mail page you can choose to mail only certain members of your topsites,
or to mail all of your users. The mail option is pretty much straight forward and
you should have no trouble emailing your members.
Viewing
your Stats:
Our program allows you to view certain statistics about your site on the view stats
page. Obviously there is not much for you to do on this page but look at your
statistics so you should have no trouble using this aspect of the admin.
Viewing all
Accounts:
This aspect of our system allows you to see all various information about all sites
in your topsites. You can use the field across the top right to choose how you want the
sites sorted. You can click on the title of a site to be presented with an editor
where you can modify all aspects of their site including their password, score, title,
description and more.
Searching
for Accounts:
Another one of our revolutionary concepts is to allow the administrator to edit
multiple sites at the same time. You can search your accounts for various
information, and edit or view the corresponding results.
In this section you
can select accounts to update, delete and to blacklist. The update command will
update the selected accounts (you must check the accounts you want to update.) The
delete command will delete the selected accounts but take no further action. The
Blacklist command will Delete the selected site(s), and log the webmaster's email and URL
to ensure that the webmaster does not try to rejoin your topsites.
Registration:
We highly recommend that you register your copy of Nethernet Topsites. This
helps us to keep copies from being pirated, and keep the cost down for you the paying
consumer. Once registration is completed you will be granted a username and password
to access our support area where you can download updates, post bugs, or just comment on
the system.
Import a
Database:
To make our system more versatile we have incorporated an import feature which will
allow you to import the topsites database from any Split Infinity topsites, and most newer
versions of the Solution Scripts Topsites. If you have another format of database
files, you can contact ben\@nethernet.com and we
quite possibly will program support for that database format into newer releases of
Nethernet Topsites.
Request a
Custom Tag:
You can use our request form to request a custom tag to use on your topsites.
We will post all custom tags in our customer support area along with minimal
documentation to get you started. In most cases we will complete your custom tag for
free, but for some enhancements we will request a payment.
Building a
Custom Tag:
We would like to keep an archive of custom tags on our site, so if you do decide to
program a custom tag for our system we'd appreciate it if you inform us, so we can make it
available to all of our users. Programming a custom tag is not for the weak hearted,
and you will need to know a bit about of PERL in order to get it to work.
An Example
Tag:
if(\$SET{'custom->random_site'})
{
srand();
\$b=0;
\$kill=200;
while(\$site[0] <= \$SET{'min_random'} && \$b++
< \$kill || !\$title) {
@site=split(/;;;/,\$ac[rand(\$#ac+1)]);
\$url="\$out_cgi?\$site[2]";
}
\$temp = "<a href=\"\$url\"
target=\"_blank\">\$title</a>";
}
$temp
represents the value which will be returned by the tag. In a custom Tag you can use
any variable that has been passed as an argument by using the associative array \%SET. You can also use the \@ac array which contains all of the accounts
in your database. The above tag is contained in the custom_tags.pl along with another example tag, so I am sure you'll be able to hack it
around if you know some perl.
The \@site
array if formatted like this:
\$site[0] = SCORE
\$site[1] = TITLE
\$site[2] = ID
\$site[3] = URL
\$site[4] = BANNER URL
\$site[5] = DESCRIPTION
\$site[6] = NAME of OWNER
\$site[7] = PASSWORD
\$site[8] = EMAIL
\$site[9] = AWARDS (to be added)
\$site[10] = Hits OUT
\$site[11] = HITS OUT TOTAL
\$site[12] = HITS IN TOTAL
\$site[13] = DAYS
\$site[14] = The rest
We are not
responsible for your use of custom tags, if you don't know what you are doing you could
really mess some stuff up. Please only try to create a custom tag if you know PERL!
Custom
Enhancements:
If you want something improved or something added don't hesitate to ask, we will
modify Nethernet Topsites to incorporate more features and help it fit your needs.
Just contact ben\@nethernet.com, We will give you
a discount since you have already purchased one of our amazing systems :-)