guestbookmx v1.05

	guestbookmx is Copyright (c) 2002 by Richard Podsada.  
	All rights reserved.
	
	guestbookmx displays a guestbook and allows users
	to post comments into it. It uses a PHP script and
	MySQL in order to store the data in it's original
	form, but can work with just about any CGI interface
	(ASP, Perl, C, C++, Java, Visual Basic, etc) if
	you feel like writing it.
		
	guestbookmx is free for non-commercial and educational 
	use. If you modify the program you must remove the 
	guestbookmx logo. Feel free to replace it with your own. 
	For commercial inquiries, please contact me.  You can
	find my contact info at http://www.oblius.com/



Notes:

	You need a server which lets you use PHP scripts,
	and must have access to a MySQL database if you
	intend to use the script as is.  
	
	I assume you know how enough about MySQL to 
	create a database, table, and get that end of it 
	set up.	I will leave up	to you and your 
	system administrator to work out the
	details of doing that.  Don't e-mail me with
	MySQL tech support questions, I won't answer.
	


	
Installation instructions:

	UnZIP all of the files into a folder.  You will 
	be making some changes to them before uploading.
	
	First, you need to create a table for the 
	guestbook in your database. Remember what 
	you named it, because you'll need it when 
	configuring	the PHP script.
	
	I have provided an SQL script which contains the
	CREATE TABLE statement needed to set up the
	guestbook table. It will call the table "guestbook".
	If you are running PHPMyAdmin or MySQLFront 
	(or just about any other GUI that supports 
	SQL Scripts), import this script and run
	it to create the guestbook table.
	
	If you prefer to do it manually, then the table 
	needs to have 3 fields (name them exactly as shown):
	
		- guestbookID 	- (primary index, INT)
		- name			- (VARCHAR(30))
		- comments		- (MEDIUMTEXT)
	
	Once your table is created, jot down the
	following information:
	
		- The hostname of your MySQL database
		- Your login to the MySQL database
		- Your password to the MySQL database
		- The name of your MySQL database
		- The name of the guestbook table you created
		
	Open up the PHP script, "guestbook-distro.php"
	in your text editor and scroll down to the 
	Configuration section.
	
	There you will see a few settings which
	you need to change.  Follow through the instructions
	inside of the PHP script to set it up.  Use the
	information you jotted down just a litle while ago
	to fill in the blanks.
	
	When you finish changing those, the PHP script is
	ready.  Save it as whatever name you want it
	(I recommend "guestbook.php") and remember what
	you named it, you'll need the name to configure
	the Flash file.
	
	Open up your FTP client, login to your website
	folder, and create a directory named "guestbook"
	for the guestbook application.	Upload the PHP
	script to this folder, and note down the URL
	your PHP will be at, for example:
	
	http://www.website.com/guestbook/guestbook.php
	
	Fire up Flash MX and open up the "guestbook_v1.03.fla"
	file.  This is the Flash client for the guestbook, which
	takes new entries and displays the current entries.
	
	There's only one frame in the movie, and the
	code that runs most everything on the layer called
	"Controller".  The movie clip instance named "control"
	on that layer holds the code for the guestbook.
	
	Near the top, inside the "onClipEvent(load)" block,
	you'll find more configuration settings you can
	change.
	
	First one to change is _root.guestbookServer.
	Change this to the full URL of the PHP script you
	uploaded a little while back.
	
	You may also want to change the _root.refreshTime
	variable to the amount of seconds between automatic
	refreshes.  Remember that if you have a busy page, 
	there may be 200 people refreshing at the same time,
	and with alot of guestbook entries, this can put
	a signifigant load on your database server.	Keep 
	that in mind when setting the refresh time.
	
	Now, save the guestbookmx project as "guestbook.fla"
	and publish it (Shift-F12).  Inside the folder
	you unzipped all the files, you should now have
	a file named "guestbook.swf", and "guestbook.html".
	
	Upload "guestbook.swf" and "guestbook.html" 
	to the /guestbook folder you created on your server, 
	alongside the PHP script.  Feel free to edit 
	guestbook.html to however you want it to look.
	
	If you put the guestbook.html file into a different 
	folder than the SWF, change the	address in the HTML 
	so it points to the correct location of your 
	guestbook file, e.g.:
	
	http://www.website.com/guestbook/guestbook.swf
	
	That's it!  You should be able to load up your
	script.  If you used the same folder names as these
	instructions, you should be able to use something like:
	
	http://www.website.com/guestbook/guestbook.html
	
	.. to test the guestbook out.
	
	
	
Troubleshooting

	Do you have the correct login, password, hostname,
	database name for your database?
	
	Does you have access priveleges to the database
	and the table you created for it?
	
	Did you make sure the address of the PHP script
	in your Flash configuration is correct?
	
	Does the HTML point to the right
	location of the guestbook.swf flash file?
	
	Did you use the exact field names when creating your
	MySQL table above? Same types? Capitalization?
	
	Is PHP properly installed on your server, and if so,
	are files supposed to be named with .php?  Do you
	have PHP version 4+ on your server?
	
	Did you set the access permissions (unix servers)
	to the folder and guestbook PHP script, SWF and HTML
	file properly?
	
	

Contact information & Support

	In general, this is a free product, I do this
	on my spare time, so I can't guarantee that I'll be 
	able to help you with installation. If you think the
	problem is a bug in the software, do contact me.
	
	If you want to contact me about a custom project,
	or to use guestbookmx for a commercial application,
	you can find my contact information at:
	
	www.oblius.com