Dolphin 7 Alpha Notes and Observations (in progress)

BoonEx has released it's Alpha version of Dolphin 7 and it was just as they had said it would be. There were more classes and as it appears a better way to make modules and extensions for Dolphin. Here's the download for Dolphin 7 alpha as of June 12, 2009.

These are two key items that from a programmer's point of view that will help make Dolphin more popular and extensible. Namely, the ability to standardize the install of modules and keeping all the classes in smaller and tighter bundles. In essence Dolphin 7 has the beginnings of a common framework. Organizationally, it looks much better. Below are some other observations:

Dolphin has a several different types of users. Some are hobbyist, designers, developers, programmers, small business and media companies. Yes, the market range is that vast and the expertise definitely varies from group to group.

For the hobbyist, alpha is not the way to go as it is too raw to be of any use. I say stick to 6.1.4/6 version of Dolphin. If you can't find a downloadable version, check outdialme.com. The site keeps track of the versions of Dolphin. I think he has a few downloads going back to 5.x.

For designers, developers and monkey-coders this alpha version of Dolphin 7 is a tease. It gives you just enough to get it working but not much more as it really is an intro to the admin side of things. The front end is incomplete and raw. But fear not, there is a public SVN that has been made availble. However, the SVN as of June 20, 2009 is not accessible. So what does this mean? It means you will need to download the .zip file at the bottom of the page. Here's the location of the Dolphin 7 SVN. To be of any real use, it needs to be set up on an SVN server or the current install needs to allow developers to connect via an SVN client. If anyone is interested in a basic SVN tutorial, I will post it if I can get enough interest.

For programmers, well it's a big munch. You will notice that compared to the class listing for Dolphin 616, Dolphin 7's class listing is much more extensive. You can see the class and functions listing for Dolphin 6.1.6 here and the class and functions listing for Dolphin 7 alpha here. I used phpdocumenter to list the various classes and functions straight from the file. I will be notating it as I find more info. It's the same as in D6 except there's much more to work with. What's great about classes that programmers can extend the class to customize it to their needs. However at this time, there is no documentation for any of the classes and functions. I am so hoping that will change with Poseidon.

Above: Dolphin 7 Alpha - List of classes and functions. There are a lot of classes and some new functions.
Dolphin 6.1.6 list of functions and classes is available here.

For media companies, don't even touch this unless you have the money for research, development and you have your own team of coders. This is as raw as they come and it would not be a good idea to use any type of alpha to do anything. Good for testing tho and for poking around. Stick to D6 and it's various flavours. I've had a lot of success with Dolphin 6.1.4.

Dolphin 7 packs more functions than previous versions and that's good news for the hobbyist, designer or developer who just can't do without the social net toys. For modders and programmers, Dolphin 7 opens up a way to standardize how they can deliver their mods or apps whether free or pay. With the new modules standard, I trust it Dolphin will follow the path of Joomla and WordPress with regards to how others can add to the current set of functions.

In conclusion, I think the Dolphin 7 alpha is acceptable to look at as a preview (as per BoonEx's notes) in the admin section and also how the code was structured. It's also a way for programmers to take the module/extension paradigm for a quick spin. There is an example file within the modules folder one can take a look at. I've had a chance to roll my own and it was pretty easy. I just took the example file and poked around until I got a simple mod to work. You know, the standard "Hello World" test. It may seem uneventful, but the tiny step will mean great things for both free and fee-based mods.

...sip...

Permalinks

A permalink is a search engine friendly version of the links that are generated on your site. Instead of using a query string, permalinks will display relevant named pages.

What Does a Query string look like?

A query string is a set of name/value pairs that gets passed to a Web page. For example, this is a query string:
http://www.boonexnerd.net/dolphin/orca/?action=goto&cat_id=12

Can you see the ?,& and = signs? Those are what make up the name/value pairs. Now compare that with a permalink and you will see that permalinks is easier to understand.

Here's what a permalink looks like:

http://mywebnerd.com/mytestsite/test

In terms of search engine friendliness, the permalink has more relevancy and can be visually identified much easier than a query string.

You can work with the predefined values by doing the following:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Permalinks
2. You will see a list of settings such as:
   • Enable friendly profile permalinks
   • Enable friendly articles permalinks
   • Enable friendly news permalinks
   • Enable friendly blogs permalinks
   • Enable friendly events permalinks
   • Enable friendly classifieds permalinks
   • Enable friendly gallery photos permalinks
   • Enable friendly gallery music permalinks
   • Enable friendly gallery videos permalinks
   • Enable friendly groups permalinks

Each setting is activated by selecting the checkbox. When you select the checkbox a check mark will appear. This means it will be active. The permalink function in Dolphin requires that you have the proper .htaccess configured. The default install of Dolphin has it built-in. This feature may not work with all Web hosting accounts. It will require that you turn off permalinks.

Meta Tags

Meta Tags is a basic way to get search engines to crawl your site. Dolphin allows you to add meta tags to your pages dynamically.

You can work with the predefined values by doing the following:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Meta Tags
2. You will see a list of settings such as:
   • Insert Meta description on site pages - Enter a brief description of your site giving an overview of what your site is about.
   • Insert Meta keywords on site pages (comma-separated list) - Enter a series of 10 - 15 keywords that are relevant to your site.

Database Pruning

Database Pruning allows you to choose items related such profile uploads, activation, confirmation and so forth to prune or limit the time the data stays in the database. This is a useful feature if you have a very active site.

You can work with the predefined values by doing the following:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Database Pruning
2. You will see a list of settings such as:
   • Clean old messages ( days ) - Indicates the numbers of days that has to expire until old messages are cleared. The default value is 180.
   • Clean old private messages ( days ) - Indicates the numbers of days that has to expire until private messages are cleared. The default value is 2.
   • Clean old profiles by last log in ( days ) - Indicates the numbers of days that has to expire until profiles are cleared. The default value is 180. This means that if a member does not login after 180 days, the profile is deleted.
   • Clean old profile views ( days ) - Indicates the numbers of days that has to expire until profiles views are cleared. The default value is 180.
   • Clean old greetings ( days ) - Indicates the numbers of days that has to expire until greetings are cleared. The default value is 90.

Each setting can be adjusted by simply updating the number of days you require. The number you enter indicates the number of days the pruning or deleting of database entries related to the setting is delete. Once deleted you will not be able to restore it.

Moderation Settings

Moderation Settings allows you to choose items related such profile uploads, activation, confirmation and so forth.

You can work with the predefined values by doing the following:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Moderation Settings
2. You will see a list of settings such as:
   • Moderation Settings can be set such as:
     Automatic profile activation after joining - If checked, a member will not require moderation after joining. Their profile will be immediately active.
   • Do not change profile status after photo uploading
   • Do not change profile status after editing profile information
   • Do not change profile status after sound uploading
   • Do not change profile status after video uploading
   • Automatic photo activation after uploading - If checked, a member will not require moderation by the admin.
   • Automatic profile confirmation without Confirmation Email - If checked, a member will not require an e-mail confirmation after joining.
   • Each setting is activated by selecting the checkbox. When you select the checkbox a check mark will appear. This means it will be active.

Polls Settings

Polls Settings allows you to choose items related such as member polls, number of polls and so forth.

You can work with the predefined values by doing the following:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Polls Settings
2. You will see a list of settings such as:
   Enable members polls - Checkbox indicates whether members are given the permission to create their own polls.

Number of polls that user can create - Indicates the number of polls a member can create.

Enable profile polls activation - Checkbox indicates if the polls will be included in the member profile page.

Tags Settings

You can control tags that you don't want to be entered as tags. These include redundant strings. There are two settings:
Non-parsable tags (type all tags in lower case, delimit them by comma)

You can work with the predefined values by doing the following:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Tags Settings
2. You will see a list of settings such as:
   Non-parsable tags (type all tags in lower case, delimit them by comma) - This is a list of words that you do not want to tag. These are words that are typically not unique. There is a list of words included by default that will flood the relevancy of tagging.

Minimum rating of tag to show it - Indicates a value that will consider a word to be taggable. The higher the number the more relevancy it requires.

Groups Settings

Groups Settings allows you to choose items related such as gallery images, invitation text, approvals and so forth.

You can work with the predefined values by doing the following:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Group Settings
2. You will see a list of settings such as:
   • Gallery max image width - Indicates the maximum width of a submitted gallery image.
   • Gallery max image height - Indicates the maximum height of a submitted gallery image.
   • Gallery max image thumb width - Indicates the maximum width of a submitted gallery thumb image.
   • Gallery max image thumb height- Indicates the maximum height of a submitted gallery thumb image.
   • Group invitation text - The invite text that an invited person will receive.
   • Group member approve notification - The notify text that an approved member will get once they have been approved by the group creator.
   • Group member reject notification - The notify text that a rejected member will get once they have been approved by the group creator.
   • Request message to group creator - The notify text that a group creator will get when someone tries to join the group creator's group.

News Settings

News Settings allows you to choose items related such as maximum length of news headers, news items, news previews, news text and so forth.

You can work with the predefined values by doing the following:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > News Settings
2. You will see a list of settings such as:
   • Maximum length of news header - Indicates how many characters appear in the news header or title. The default is 50.
   • Maximum number of news items to show on homepage - Indicates how many blogs will appear on the front page via the display block. The default is 2.
   • Maximum length of news preview- Indicates how many characters appear as the preview to the blog. The default is 128.
   • Maximum length of news text - Indicates how many characters appear as news text. The default is 4096.
   • Maximum length of story header - Indicates how many characters appear as the preamble to the news store header. The default is 300.
   • Maximum length of story preview text - Indicates how many characters appear as the preamble to the news text. The default is 400.
   • Maximum length of story text - Indicates how many characters can be submitted. The default 4096 characters is the standard 1 pager.

Blogs Settings

Blog Settings allows you to choose items related such as comments, visibility, auto approvals and the number of blogs that show on a page.

You can work with the predefined values by doing the following:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Blog Settings
2. You will see a list of settings such as:
   • Maximum length of Blog comment - Indicates how many characters can be submitted. The default 250 characters is the standard 1 pager.
   • Maximum number of Blogs to show on homepage - Indicates how many blogs will appear on the front page via the display block.
   • Maximum length of Blog Category caption - Indicates how many characters appear as the description to the blog. The default is 128.
   • Maximum length of Blog preview - Indicates how many characters appear as the preamble to the blog. The default is 150.
   • Maximum length of Blog Caption - Indicates how many characters appear as the caption to the blog. The default is 150.
   • Enable AutoApproval of Blogs - Indicates whether the submitted blog becomes automatically approved on submission. Autoapproval makes the blog immediately visible.
   • How many blogs showing on page - Indicates how many blogs appear on the blog listing page. The default is 10.

Payment Settings

Payment Settings allows you to choose the currency and manage payment providers. Along with the membership levels, you can complement the Payment settings by using a payment service like PayPal to charge for site memberships.

How to Set up PayPal Checkout Page

You can use PayPal for membership or subscriptions sales for Boonex Dolphin. Follow these step-by-step instructions and let me know how it turns for you. Please add your comments in the original thread.

Login to Admin

1. Go to Settings > Membership Levels
2. Under Membership settings, uncheck "Site is running in free mode". In other words, make sure there is no checkmark in the box. By doing this, it will activate the My Membership payment page. You can then go to your account page and you will see the checkout button. If you click it, it will take you to PayPal.

SET UP YOUR PAYMENT PROVIDER - PAYPAL

You then need to set it up your PayPal ID in Settings > Payment Settings

In the PayPal tab set the following values:

• Active [checkbox yes]
• Mode Live
• Debug (You can safely ignore this for now)
• Supports recurring [This defaults to yes]
• Business [put your pp email there]
• Process type [IPN is the most common]
• Connection type [HTTP unless you have HTTPS]
• Identity token [ignore]
• Don't prompt customer to include a note [I checkmark this]
• SandBox Business [If you are running a PayPal sandbox, then enter your sandbox biz name there]

To get a more details, click the "Payment provider setup instructions" link located just to the left of the Save button.

All the other stuff is optional. Now click the save button. Then click the validate saved configuration. On success, you will get a "Configuration valid" message.

Congrats, you've now set up PayPal with your site. Now you need to add your memberships.

ADD A MEMBERSHIP TYPE SO YOUR MEMBERS CAN BUY A SUBSCRIPTION

In order to make money from you site, you need to take out of "free mode". Taking it out of free mode will enable the membership and payment system to allow the collection of money via a gateway such as PayPal.

Here's how you take it out of free mode:

1. Login to admin.
2. Go to Settings > Membership Levels
3. Focus on the Membership settings and uncheck the "Site is running in free mode" check box.

You then need to add a membership type.

In the default install there are 3 that are currently available, they are:

• Non-member
• Standard
• Promotion

For this tutorial, let's add a membership. We can call it anything we want, for example, let's add a membership type call "Member Level 4".

Here's how you add a new membership type:

1. Focus on the Manage Membership Types panel.
2. You will see "New Membership". In the text field, enter the name of your membership.
3. Click the Add button.
4. Your new membership type will show up in the Membership Types list. As a default, its mode is [Inactive]. To activate the a custom membership type, click the [Inactive] link and it will toggle to [Active].

Add an Action to the Membership Type

Clicking on the membership type name will enable the Membership Actions panel. In this panel you can specify the allowed actions for the selected membership type.

1. You add actions by selecting the action from the drop down list.
2. Click the Add action button.
   The added action will then show up in the actions list for the selected membership type.

Specify Limits to an Added Action

You can limit the quantity of actions by clicking on the Show link that appears to the very right of the action.

For example, here are actions that relate to "can add_delete classified":

1. Number of allowed actions: [no limit]
2. Number of actions is reset every: [no limit] hours
3. This action is available since: [no limit] (This is date based)
4. This action is available until: [no limit] (This is date based)

By specifying the limits, you have some control on what actions can occur in terms of quantity and duration.

Delete an Action

You can delete an action by clicking the Delete button located to the very right of the action. It actually does not delete the action but rather will remove it from the list.

Add a Price to a Membership Type

Clicking on the Pricing link will enable the Pricing panel. In this panel you can specify the Number of days and the price for the selected membership type. Here's how to do that:

1. Add the number of days you want the membership type to be active by entering the number in the "Number of days (0 = life-time membership):" field.
2. You can then assign a price to the field by placing the cost in the price field.
3. Click the Add payment option.
4. The Pricing panel will refresh to show you newly added payment option.

Note: It is important to note you must enable a payment provider so you can receive money. This is done by logging into the admin and going to Settings > Payment Settings > Manage payment providers panel.

HOW A MEMBER BUYS A SUBSCRIPTION

A member must be logged into to your site in order to buy a subscription. Once logged in, you can provide them with the following link:

http://www.yoursite.com/membership.php

It will take them to a page where they can buy a membership. This page will show their membership level and also the what memberships or subscriptions you've defined as memberships.

In terms of providing the link, you can create a tab using the navigation builder or once logged in that will take them to the membership.php page. You can also provide it as a sub link via the navigation builder. Using the drag and drop builder, you can do this quickly.

Predefined Values

Predefined Values keeps a listing of values used in the site. You can also create custom lists for use in the form pages.

You can work with the predefined values by doing the following:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Predefined Values
2. You will see a pulldown menu with the label Select a list and a button labeled Create New.

CSS Styles Editor

CSS Styles Editor allows you to select and edit the CSS file. In order to save the update, you need to make sure the proper chmod permissions are set on the css files and folder.

You can modify the your CSS Files by doing the following:

1. 1. Login as admin and go to Settings > CSS Styles Editor
2. 2. You will see a pulldown menu with the label Select CSS file you want edit.
3. 3. Click and choose the CSS file you would like to edit.
4. 4. Just below the pulldown menu an edit box will appear.
5. 5. When you've finished your edits, click the Save button to save your edits.

If you do not have the correct permissions for your CSS Styles Editor, you will get the following message:

Editing file affiliates.css: File affiliates.css is not writeable

Membership Levels

Membership Levels allow you to set and manage memberships. This can also work alongside the Payment settings. For example, you can charge for membership to your site with PayPal

You can modify the membership levels by doing the following:

1. 1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Membership Levels
2. 2. You see a number of panels that include:
   • a) Membership settings
   • b) Manage Membership Types

Language Settings

Language Settings relate to the loaded language file. You can set the site language, add a new language file, search for srings and also add a new language key.

You can modify the language settings by doing the following:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Language Settings
2. You see a number of panels that include:
   • Please Pay Attention
   • Language
   • Language Files
   • Search for strings
   • Language strings

Email Templates

Email Templates are preset formats for messaging to members. It includes styling for HTML and text based e-mails.

You can modify the e-mail settings by doing the following:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Email Templates
2. Focus on the Settings panel.
3. You will see the following properties:
   • Send emails from queue, it happens every cron execution (5m-1h)
   • Enable new message notifications
   • Enable message destination user choice

(In progress)

WaterMark:

You can add a custom watermark based on a .jpg image file that you upload to your server.

Here's how to upload a watermark:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Advanced Settings
2. Scroll to the very bottom and you will see the Water Mark panel. It looks like this:
   
   
3. Click on the Browse button. A dialog box will appear where you can then search for your watermark image to upload.
4. Once uploaded you can set the transparency. The transparency controls how much of the image below will see through.
5. To enable the watermark, you need to check the Enable Watermark checkbox.
   
   
   
   
6. Click the Save button to save the watermark.

Note: Water marks will only appear on profile photos as of version 6.1.4.

Advanced Settings

Advanced Settings allow you to edit parts of you site such related to min and max settings, member settings or permissions and so forth. For most of the settings, it is self explanatory as per the descriptive labels attached to them. Below is a listing of the Advanced settings with a brief explanation of what each one does:

• Allow members to create events - If checked, it gives members permission to create events.
• Dolphin License Code - If you've purchased a Dolphin license, enter it here. You will need to make sure that you install is an Ad-Free version.
• Enable BoonEx ID import - If you have a BoonEx ID (for example at http://www.boonex.com/unit/) selecting this option will show the BoonEx login.
• My BoonEx Affiliate ID - If you are an affiliate and you've chosen to use the Free version, entering your affiliate id will automatically link the BoonEx logos to your affiliate id.
• Track all profile views. Later a member can manage these "views".
• New User Notify - If checked, when a new user joins, an alert is sent to the admin.
• Enable profile votes - If checked, it allows profiles to be voted on by members.
• Enable photos votes - If checked, it allows photos to be voted on by members.
• Enable Comments for profiles - If checked, it allows members to post comments on the profile page.
• Show zodiac signs - If checked, it will show zodiac signs. You can see it working if you do a search. You will see the member avatar and next to it the zodiac sign will appear. Apparently, Dolphin's Default Template "uni" does not support Zodiac sign representation.(See http://www.boonex.com/unity/blog/entry/5_big_problem_pls_help_)
• Enable profile customization - If checked, it allows a member to customize their profile.
• Show "More Photos" link on search result - Creates a link to show more photos based on a search result.
• Anonymous mode (no contact information) - If checked, it will inhibit a member's e-mail address from being requested.
• Lowest age possible for site members - Indicates the minimum age for the site.
• Highest age possible for site members - Indicates the maximum age for the site.

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• Max length of title for media file - Indicates the maximum number of characters that will appear in a media file such as photos and videos. The default value is 150.
• Min length of title for media file - Indicates the number number of characters that will appear in a media file such as photos and videos. The default value is 1.
• Max width of profile icon (in pixels) - Indicates the maximum width of the profile icon. The profile icon is the graphic that shows up in the top right corner just next to the "Hello" message. The default value is 45.
• Max height of profile icon (in pixels) - Indicates the maximum height of the profile icon. The profile icon is the graphic that shows up in the top right corner just next to the "Hello" message. The default value is 150.
• Max width of profile thumbnail (in pixels) - Indicates the maximum width of the thumbnail. The thumbnail is the graphic that shows up in the members browse page and also the home page blocks that show and feature members. The default value is 150.
• Max height of profile thumbnail (in pixels) - Indicates the maximum height of the thumbnail. The thumbnail is the graphic that shows up in the members browse page and also the home page blocks that show and feature members. The default value is 150.
• Max width of profile photo (in pixels) - Indicates the maximum width of the profile photo. The profile photo is the graphic that shows up in the profile page. Setting this larger than 340 may require you adjust your layout. The default value is 340.
• Max height of profile photo (in pixels)- Indicates the maximum height of the profile photo. The profile photo is the graphic that shows up in the profile page. Setting this larger than 340 may require you adjust your layout. The default value is 340.
• Max number of profile photos - Indicates the maximum number of profile photos that a user can upload. The default is 20.
• Enable auto-activation for gallery photos - Indicates whether gallery photos require moderation by the admin. By checking this setting, gallery photos are automatically approved. Moderation of photos can be accessed by going to Content > Photos.
• Number of gallery photos which can be uploaded by user - Indicates the maximum number of gallery photos that a user can upload. The default is 10.

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(In progress)

• New Gallery Feature for Classifieds - This features the photos in a classfieds gallery as a slideshow.
• New Gallery Feature for Profile Photos - This features the photos in a profile gallery as a slideshow.
• Enable Instant Messenger - When checked, it allows members to launch the chat application via the member profile page in the Actions block. You will see the "Chat Now" link. It is activated only when the user is online.. In order to use the chat you have to also make sure that you have the following settings in place:
  • Enable Ray
  • The current membership allows chat. If the site is in free mode then it will automatically be made available.
• Maximum number of messages stored in inbox - If the number of message exceeds this value, it will revoke any additional messages.
• Maximum message size in symbols - This indicates the size of the message based on the number of symbols.
• Time period in minutes within which a member is considered to be online - This relates to the online page and indicates status.
• Maximum number of online members shown in the member control panel -
• Enable Ability to work with Buy Now button in Classifieds - This will enable a "Buy Now" link in the Actions block for the selected classified.
• How long can Classifieds live (days) - Indicates the number of days the classified will run.
• Enable Sort in Classifieds - This will sort the classifieds in alphabetical order.
• Automatic advertisements activation after adding - Indicates whether the newly added ads will require moderation by the admin.
• Registration by invitation only (need before Enable affiliate support) - This relates to the affiliate support program and allows affiliates to benefit from people they have invited and have signed up. See the Affiliates tutorials for more information.

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• Enable cupid mails - This will send cupid e-mails based on the a profile match.
• Enable matchmaking - Enables profile-to-profile matches based on an algorithm.
• Send a cupid mail if the recently joined profile matches more than this percentage - If cupid mail is enabled, if a match based on the value entered is found, and e-mail alert is sent to the matching profile.

---------------
(In progress)

• Enable Users to Change Templates - This will allow user to specify what template they would like to view the site in terms of styling. The functions stay the same but the presentation is different. You will need to insert the following key "__switch_skin_block__" in your template page. For example, the _header.html file.
• Enable search by ZIP codes - If checked it will allow zip code searches. You will need to enable the zip block in the Fields Builder.
• Enable affiliate support - This requires a checkmark if you will be using the affiliate program.
• Show contact form on contact us page - If checked it will show a form that will request a name, e-mail, subject, text and a captcha. If unchecked, you can edit the information using the Language Settings search field. The default value is "Your contact information here".
• Enable Ray - This requires a checkmark if you want members to use the Ray Widgets. Otherwise, a blank screen is displayed.
• Show Friend List - (in progress)
• Use GD library for image processing - This activates the GD Library to deal with images.
• Enable Ray Pro (must be installed and Ray must be enabled) - This has been deprecated and was removed in 6.2. See http://www.boonex.com/unity/forums/topic/What-is-Ray-Pro--2008-10-25.htm
• Currency sign (for display purposes only) - This sets the symbol for currency. The default is "$".
• Short Date Format ? - Set the date in this format 05-08-07. If you change it, you can see the dates change in the articles.php.
• Long Date Format ? - Sets the long date format.
• PHP date format - Sets the date format.
• Template - Select templates to use for the site. Whatever is available will show up here. The default is the UNI template.
• Number of items per line in top menu. 0 - no breaking. - This controls how many links show up in the main menu bar. Keeping it at the default of 0 will show or fit all of the menu items on one line. If you change the the number to 3, it will show 3 menu items in one row then repeat until all the remaining menu items are accounted for.

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Index Page Settings

You can customize basic settings related to the index page or the homepage.

To update hour index settings:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Basic Settings
2. Focus on the Index page settings panel.
3. You will see the following properties:

• Default Country on Index Page: This dropdown menu allows you to choose the default country.
• Show members on index page (if enabled in the template): This dropdown allows you to choose:
  • Random members - Shows random members.
  • Online members - Shows online members.
  • Latest members - Shows latest or most recent members.
  • Top members - Show the top members.
    
• Featured members layout direction: This dropdown allows you to choose:
  • Vertical - Shows the featured members in a vertical format order
  • Horizontal - Shows the featured members in a horizontal format orde
• Number of featured members displayed on front page: Indicates the number of featured members.
• How many results show on index page in top members area: indicates the number of members that show up in the members area.
• How many gallery files show on index page in photos area: Indicates the number of photo gallery files that appear. This is different from profile pictures. Photo gallery is public.

When you're done, click the Save changes button.

Add a Picture to Promo Block

You can add a series of pictures in the promo block. The promo block appears on the homepage is a lead graphic that can set the tone and mood of your site.

Here's how you can change it:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Basic Settings
2. Focus on the Promo block panel > Use Promo Flash Reloader. Make sure it is selected. The default has a series of jpg files labelled big01.jpg, big02.jpg and so forth. If you hover over the picture name you will notice it will show the image. This is a handy preview function.
3. You can delete the default promo blocks by clicking the delete link next to the picture.
4. You can upload new images by clicking the Browse button. A dialog box will pop-up. It will allow you to choose an image in jpg, gif or png format.
5. Once you've chosen the image, click the Upload button.

On success, you image should show up in the promo block list.

If you get an error, you should check you have proper chmod 777 permissions on the folder as the server needs to write to the images folder.

Use Custom HTML for Promo Block

As an alternative to the Promo Flash Reloader you can also use the Use custom HTML block. Select the option so that the radio button is filled.

To add you own custom HTML content to the promo block:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Basic Settings
2. Focus on the Promo block panel > Use custom HTML block. Make sure it is selected.
3. You can then add your html that you've created in another program or use the editor included.
4. Click the Save button.

Add a Logo

You can add your custom logo in Dolphin.

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Basic Settings
2. Focus on the Change Main Logo panel.
3. If you do not want your logo to be resized uncheck the Resize checkbox so that the checkmark is gone.
4. Click the browse button and locate the logo you want want to upload. When you've selected it, click the Ok button.
5. Click the upload button and your logo should upload.

On success, you logo should show up in the Main Logo panel. Ah yes, a thing of beauty I tell ya!

If you get an error, you should check you have proper chmod 777 permissions on the folder as the server needs to write to the images folder.

Basic Settings

You can update the site logo and the promotional block that is shown on the home page.

There are 3 panels:

1. Main Logo - This shows the current logo for the site.
2. Change Main Logo - This is the form that allows you to add or update your site logo.
3. Promo block - This is the form that allows you to add or delete the promo images. There are two panels contain here. They are:
   • Use Promo Flash Reloader
   • Use Custom HTML block
4. Index page settings

Admin Password

You can update your admin password information.

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Passwords
2. Focus on the Passwords panel. You will see the following fields to fill out.
3. Old Password - Enter your old password here.
   New Password - Enter your new password here.
   Confirm New Password - Enter your new password here again to validate the new entry.
4. Click the Save Password button to save your new password.

Settings

The settings section gives you control of your site's settings as it relates to items such as your site logo to how your pages will display in the browser url location field. For the most part a lot of the settings are self explanatory have been labeled based on what it is the setting is suppose to do.

There are 18 sub section. They are:

• Admin Password
• Basic Settings
• Advanced Settings
• Email Templates
• Language Settings
• Membership Levels
• CSS Styles Editor
• Predefined Values
• Payment Settings
• Blogs Settings
• News Settings
• Groups Settings
• Tags Settings
• Polls Settings
• Moderation Settings
• Database Pruning
• Meta Tags
• Permalinks

Logout

Clicking the Logout button will sign you out of the admin pages. It will take you back to the main index page of the site.

Admin Security

You can change the name of your admin directory so that it will not be as readily accessible by the masses.

You can add an ip address filter to your admin directory and pages.

You can add an alert script that will tell you if you're site has been accessed by an unapproved ip address.

Admin Menu Builder

At the very bottom of the left nav and just below the Logout button is a little wrench. Clicking on that will bring you tot he Admin Menu Builder. Just like the other Builder section, it uses the same drag and drop paradigm. In this case, you can drag, drop and organize how your want the different sections to be organized. You could say this is the internal navigation for Dolphin. Here's what it looks like below:

Admin

The chat admin is a separate Flash file that runs in its own window. It allows you to identify and moderate members in the chat.



There are 5 key areas in the chat. They are:

1. Main chat screen - Shows the current chats happening in real time.
2. Chat message send text area - Messaging area that allows you to send a whisper to a member or engage in the group chat.
3. Users listing - Lists all users in chat. Clicking on a user enables a pop-up list of actions towards the member. You can:
   • View Profile - Clicking on the link will open up the selected member's profile info.
   • Request Private Chat - Clicking on the link will initiate a private chat with the selected member.
   • Send Message - Clicking on the link will allow you to send a message to the selected member.
   • Whisper Message - Clicking on the link will allow you to whisper a message to the selected member.
   • Kick User - Clicking on the link will allow you to kick or deny chat to the selected member from the current chat.
   • Banned User - Click the checkbox to ban the selected member from chats.
   • Moderator - Click the checkbox to give moderator status the selected member from chats.
4. Rooms listing - Indicates the current rooms in the chat.
5. Video status - Indicates video availability and allowance to cast sound and video.

Updates

Updates gives you the option to update the current widget.

The default value for "Last updated" is "Unknown". To update, click the UPDATE button. If an update is available, it will initiate the download sequence for the update. Otherwise, if you have the most recent version, it will indicate you have the most recent version.

Languages

Languages will allow you to set the language of the widget interface.

The default language is English. Each widget has a "Download More Templates" link. You can then checkbox the template to make it available in the Default template drop down list. When choosing a template from the drop down menu, you will need to click the Save button to set the widget to the chosen template.

Templates

Templates will allow you to set the look and styling of the widget interface. Each widget has a "Download More Templates" link. When you click on the link, it will take you to a page that will showcase available templates or skins for the respective widget.

The default template for widgets is called "default". When you download and install a template, it will show up in the Optional templates list. You can then checkbox the template to make it available in the Default template drop down list. When choosing a template from the drop down menu, you will need to click the Save button to set the widget to the chosen template.

Settings

There are several settings available to A/V Chat. They are:

1. Chat Height (px) - Enter the height of the chat in the form field. The default is 600.
2. User Enter to send messages - Clicking the checkbox will allow your members to send their chat messages using the enter or return key on the keyboard instead of having to press the send message button on the chat. The default is a checked box.
3. Max number of rooms - The max number of rooms you can create in chat. Enter the number in the form field. The default is 10.
4. Update intervals - This sets the number of seconds the chat will poll the server in order to refresh the chat. The default is every 5 seconds.
5. Video quality - This sets the quality of the video. The default is 100. The quality is presented in increments of 25 with 25 being the lowest quality.
6. Default user type - This sets the level of interaction a user will receive. The default is full and that allows all the actions to be available to the user. Then there is text and view version.
7. Use sounds - Clicking the checkbox will enable sound for the different actions in the chat such as login, change room, video and so forth. The default is a checked box.
8. Clicking on the Save button will save the current showing settings. You can go back to the original defaults by clicking the Default button.
   
   

After updating any of the settings, you can save those settings by clicking the Save button. If you want to revert to the default, click the Default button and the original settings will be restored.

Status

The status indicates whether the widget is active or not. If the status is "ENABLED" that means the widget can be accessed by your members depending on the permissions that you've set. The reverse of this is "DISABLED". You can toggle the mode by clicking on the "X" to "DISABLED" or the arrow button to set to "ENABLED"

.

A/V Chat

A/V Chat allows your members to communicate with one another using video and chat. In order for the video portion to work, your site will need a connection to RMS services.

To get to the A/V Chat admin interface, click on the "+" icon to the left of the title.

Clicking on the "+" is how you would go about opening up all the other widgets. After you've clicked on the "+" it will turn into a "-".



It will open up to show:

1. Status - This will either show ENABLED or DISABLED.
2. Settings - You can control properties of the A/V chat here.
3. Templates - You can choose different skins for your chat.
4. Languages - You can choose available languages here.
5. Updates - The A/V Chat updater.
6. Admin - This allows you to moderate the chat.

My Widgets Tab

There are 10 Widgets. They are:

• A/V Chat
• Desktop
• Messenger
• Music Player
• Shoutbox
• Video Player
• Video Recorder
• Web Presence
• Whiteboard
• pMusic Player
  
  

Ray Suite

The Ray Suite enhances Dolphin by adding several cool and useful widgets. To launch the admin tool for Ray:

1. Login as admin and go to Plugins > Ray Suite
   
   
   
   
2. Click on the Ray Suite link. This will launch a Flash based admin.
   
   
   
   
3. You will notice there are 4 tabs. They are:
   • My Widgets - These are the Ray Widgets that come with Dolphin.
   • Add Widgets - This a listing of available widgets that can further enhance your site.
   • Base Settings - These settings relate to RMS or Ray Media Server.
   • Base Updates - This gives you information about your version install of Ray Base.

There are a few additional mods that can extend the Ray Widgets.
Free Widgets from Rayz
Banner Manager - http://www.expertzzz.com/Downloadz/view/2549
Banners Manager 2.0 - http://www.expertzzz.com/Downloadz/view/3751

To get the most interaction amongst members with Ray Suite widgets you can use an RMS or Ray Media Server. RMS is based on a modified version of Red5 Server. It allows the Ray widgets to interact with one another in real time. For example, RMS makes it possible to stream video chat and voice.

RMS requires technical expertise to set up and deploy. The instructions on how to set up your own RMS is found at:
http://www.boonex.com/trac/ray/wiki/RayTech
http://www.boonex.com/trac/ray/wiki/RayServerInstall

If you are not interested in doing your own install, there are several RMS Hosting companies available in list format at www.boonexnerd.com in the resources section.

Plugins

Plugins is a special area in the admin that links you to the Ray and Orca Admin pages. When you click on Ray, it will launch a Flash based admin. Clicking on the Orca Forum link will take you to the Orca forum in admin mode.

• Ray Suite
• Orca Forum

Edit a Banner

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Banners
2. Focus on the Banners panel.
3. You will see a list of current banners. The Preview link will show you the banner's appearance. The Delete link will delete the banner. The Modify link will enable the banner editor. It will also allow you to insert the edited banner as a new entry.
   
   

You will notice to the right of the listing, it will show you the number of clicks and impressions.

Edit a Banner

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Banners
2. Focus on the Banners panel.
3. You will see a list of current banners. The Preview link will show you the banner's appearance. The Delete link will delete the banner. The Modify link will enable the banner editor. It will also allow you to insert the edited banner as a new entry.
   
   

You will notice to the right of the listing, it will show you the number of clicks and impressions.

Banners

You can add a banner at different locations in your site. based on a star and end date.

Add a Banner

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Banners
2. Focus on the Manage banners pane
   
   
   
   
   
   
3. You will see a form where you can submit your information. Here they are:
   
   
   • Banner Title - The banner title.
   • Banner Url - The URL location you want the banner to go to when it is clicked.
   • Banner Active - This is a checkbox that will activate (when checked) or deactivate the banner.
   • Banner Text (HTML Only) - This is where you actually add you banner. As long as it's html, it will get parsed out. For example, this example will place a banner centered on the page:
   • <center><img src = "http://www.boonexnerd.net/dolphin/becomemember1.jpg"></center>
   • Start Date - The date when you want this banner to appear.
   • End Date - The date when you want this banner to no longer show.
   • Position on the Page - There are 4 key spots that you can have your banner show up. They are top, bottom, left and right. Clicking the check box will enable the banner to show where you've checked. You also apply a Horizontal and Vertical shift offset for the left and right spots.
   • Insert as new - This is enabled when you are modifying an existing banner. Clicking this checkbox will insert the banner being edited as a new entry.

Delete a Quote

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Random Quotes
2. Focus on the Daily Quotes panel.
3. You will see a listing of quotes. You will see Edit, a Delete button, Add new and a way to select all with a checkbox.
4. To delete a quote, click the corresponding checkbox.
   
   
   
   
5. You can then click the Delete button to delete the selected quotes.
   
   
   
   
6. You can also click the Check all link to select all of the quotes in the list.

Edit a Quote

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Random Quotes
2. Focus on the Daily Quotes panel.
3. You will see a listing of quotes. You will see Edit, a Delete button, Add new and a way to select all with a checkbox.
4. Clicking on the Edit link and it will enable the form where you can edit your quote text and the quote author.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Click the Insert button to update the quote.
   
   

Random Quotes

As of 614 the Random Quotes function requires that you add a key in your template html file. You can find instructions on how to do this at www.BoonexNerd.com/dolphin-random-quotes.php

Add a Quote

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Random Quotes
2. Focus on the Daily Quotes panel.
3. You will see a listing of quotes. You will see Edit, a Delete button, Add new and a way to select all with a checkbox.
   
   
   
   
4. Clicking on the Add new link will enable the a form where you can add your quote text and the quote author.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Click the Insert button to add the quote.
   
   

Edit Site News

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Site News.
2. Focus on the News panel.
3. You will see a listing of news. You will see Edit, Delete, date and the news title.
   
   
   
   
4. Clicking on the Edit link will enable the edit mode for the site news selected.
5. Clicking on the news title will load the site news in the browser.
   
   
   
   
6. The Delete link will delete the news. Be careful with this one. As of 6.1.4, there is not confirmation pop alert that will ask if you want to delete the news. It will just delete it immediately the moment you click the delete link.
   
   

Site News

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Site News.
2. Focus on the News compose panel.
   
   
   
   
3. You will see the editor that will allow you to add the header, the intro snippet and the text. Click on Add news button to add an article.
   
   

Delete an Article

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Admin Articles.
2. Focus on the Articles panel.
3. Choose a Category and it will show a listing of articles for the selected category.
   
   
   
   
   
4. Click the Delete link to delete an article.
   
   
   
   
5. You will get an alert box. If you want to continue with the delete, click the OK button.
   
   

Edit an Article

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Admin Articles.
2. Focus on the Articles panel.
3. Choose a Category and it will show a listing of articles for the selected category.
   
   
4. Click the Edit link to enter into edit mode.
   
   
   
   
5. You will now be able to edit the information such as Article Title, Article Content and category.
   

Delete an Category

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Admin Articles.
2. Focus on the Articles panel.
3. Click the Delete link to delete an article.
   
   
   
4. You will get an alert box. Click OK to delete the category.
   
   

Edit a Category

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Admin Articles.
2. Focus on the Articles panel.
3. Click on the Edit Category link.
   
   
   
   This will enable a form where you can enter the Category Caption and the Category Description.
   

After entering the info, click the Submit button and it will update the category.

Add a New Article

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Admin Articles.
2. Focus on the Articles panel.
3. Click on the Add New Article link.
   
   
   
   This will enable an editor that will allow you to add the following information:
   • Article Title - Enter you article title here.
   • Article - This is the editor that will allow you to add your article.
   • Select Category - You can select what category for the article.
     
     

After entering the info, click the Submit button and it will add the article to the list.

Admin Articles

You can admin articles that have been submitted by your members. You can also add your own articles as the admin.

Delete a Link

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Links Page.
2. Focus on the Manage links panel.
3. Each link has an Delete link to the right of the description.
   
   
4. Click on the Delete link. This will delete the link and a message will appear stating the link has been deleted.
   
   

Edit a Link

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Links Page.
2. Focus on the Manage links panel.
3. Each link has an Edit link to the right of the description. Click on the Edit link.
   
   
4. This will enable and edit panel. You can then edit the information and click the Save button to update the information.
   
   

Add a New Link

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Links Page.
2. Focus on the Manage links panel.
3. At the top right of the panel, click the Add New Link link.
   
   
   
   This will enable panel where you can enter the following information:
   • Title - The title of you link.
   • URL - The full URL to the link. For example: http://www.JamesTadeo.com
   • Description - A description of the link. For example: This is the author's Web site.
     
     
     
4. After filling out the form, click the Save button. A message will appear that says your link was successfully added.
   
   

Links Pages

You can add, edit and delete links from your links page.

Polls Administration

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Admin Polls.
2. Focus on the Polls administration panel.
   
   
   
   
3. Click the Edit link to edit the poll. It will show up underneath the Polls administration panel. It will also allow you to set the Active Poll option via a checkbox. Click the Update poll button to update the poll.
   
   
   
   
4. Click on the Delete link to delete the poll. It will clear it from the database.
5. Click on the title of the poll and it will show the poll as it would appear in the polls page.
   
   

Admin Polls

As an admin you can create polls that will show up in the Polls page. Member polls show up in the Polls block on the front page.

Add a Poll

1. Login as admin and go to Admin Polls > Polls.
2. Focus on the Polls panel.
3. Add your question in the Question field.
   
   
   
   
   
4. Add the possible answers in the fields Answer 1 to Answer 6. You don't need to fill up all the fields. Just the ones you need.
   
   
   
   
5. Click the Add poll button. It will add your poll to the list in the Polls administration panel.
   
   
   
6. After clicking the Add poll button, your poll will show up in the list.
   

Database Restore

You can backup the entire database.

1. Login as admin and go to Database Backup > Database tools.
2. Focus on the Database Restore panel.
3. If you've previously have done a backup of your database, the file will show up in the Select a dump drop down menu.
   
   
   
   
4. Select either Restore data from dump or Delete dump from server.
   
   
   
   
5. Click the Submit button to initiate the dump procedure.

There is a second part to the Database Restore panel. If you have saved a dump file on your local drive, you can do a select by clicking the Browse... button. It will allow you to choose your dump file for upload to your server. Clicking on the Send files will initiate the upload.

You can automate the backing up of your database by using a set of scripts. The scripts are good for both the AdFree and the Free version of Dolphin. If you have the SmartPro Pack then you may need to use an alternative way to backup your site database. The database for the SmartPro Pack exceeds 50MB and the script provided is not optimized enough to handle anything larger than 10 MB or so.

Database backup tools

You can backup the entire database.

1. Login as admin and go to Database Backup > Database tools.
2. Focus on the Database backup tools panel.
   
   
   
   
3. You can choose the operation. To choose the operation click the drop down menu and choose the backup type. You can choose either Backup structure and content or Backup structure only.
   
   
   
4. Choose where you want to save the table. You can Save to server, Save to your PC or Show on the screen.
   
   
   
   
5. Click the Backup database button to initiate the save procedure based on your settings.
   
   
   
   
6. You will get an alert just below the Backup database button indicating success.
   
   

Tables backup tools

You can backup a specific table.

1. Login as admin and go to Database Backup > Database tools.
2. Focus on the Tables backup tools panel.
   
   
   
   
3. You can choose the operation and table. To choose the operation click the drop down menu and choose the backup type.
   
   
   
   To the right of the operation, you can use the drop down menu to choose the table. The default is the first table.
   
   
   
4. Choose where you want to save the table. You can Save to server, Save to your PC or Show on the screen.
   
   
   
   
5. Click the Backup table button to initiate the save procedure based on your settings.
   
   

Database Backup

You can backup the entire database, tables and also do a restore.

There are 3 panels to the Database Backup sub section. They are:

1. Tables backup tools
2. Database backup tools
3. Database Restore
   
   

Money Calculator

You can find out how much money your site has generated. A prerequisite to this requires the Affiliate system be enabled.

In order to allow affiliates, you have to make sure that Affiliate support is turned on. To do this go to Admin > Settings > Advanced Settings > Enable Affiliate Support.

Find out Transaction Sums

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Money Calculator.
2. Focus on the Finance panel. You will see the following options:
   • Total amount - This will give you your all time sum.
   • For order number - This is specific for the order number you enter.
   • On the date - This is specific to a particular date you choose.
   • Between date x and x - This creates a range for the sum.
     
     
     
     
3. For example if you select the total amount and then click the Submit button, it will enable the Transactions and Calculations panel just below the Finance panel. It will give the calculations based on the query.
   
   

Regarding Mail Queue and E-mail Not Sending Out

When you create a queue, you need to make sure you have a member(s). Being and admin is not counted as being a member.

It should also say "1 emails was successfully added to queue." There should be at least 1 e-mail in the queue. For example, this one has 7 e-mails in the queue:

You should also check your Quick Stats. You can find that info in your admin panel as well as the main page usually. In the admin panel it should have at least 1 Member. If it is "0" then you need a member to join up. Otherwise, the job will not run as there is nothing to do. If you have no members it will say:

"0 emails was successfully added to queue".

How to Send Out a Message

1. Login as admin and go to Tools > Mass Mailer.
2. Focus on the E-mail message panel. We will be creating out message so it gets added to the queue.
3. Add your e-mail subject and message.
   
   
   
   
4. If you click the Preview message button, you will see what your message will look like.
5. Click the Add Message button. You will notice it will create a text e-mail equivalent of your message.
   
   
6. You can edit your message or delete it. Clicking the Delete message button will permanently delete the message. Clicking the Update message button will update and save your edits. If you're satisfied with your message, click the Add message button. It will add it to the queue.
7. Your message will then get added to the Message drop down menu where you can then choose it.
8. You can now add your message to the queue. Click the Queue message button. There is also a mechanism that will allow you to control what type of members will get your message.
   
   
9. You will know if your message made it to the queue when you see its status in the Mass Mailer Status panel. It looks like this:
   
   

If at some point, you wanted to clear out the queue. Click on the Empty Queue link found in the Mass Mailer Status panel and it will clear the queue.

Mass Mailer (In progress)

Mass mailer allows you to send messages to your members. As a prerequisite, you need to ensure that you cron jobs are set.

The mass mailer works on a queue concept. If there is nothing in the queue then it can't send any mail out. So to send out mail we need to add a message in the queue. Once added, it gets picked up and sent. The queue is controlled by the cron job.

Tools

The tools section allows you to do site maintenance duties such as backup your database to adding links to your site.

There are 10 sub sections. They are:

Mass Mailer
Money Calculator
Database Backup
Admin Polls
Links Pages
Admin Articles
Site News
Random Quotes
Banners
Modules

Edit Feedback

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Feeback.
2. The Feedback page will load.
3. Under the Title column, click the Edit link.
   
   
   
   This will load the editor. After editing the feedback, click the Update feedback button.
   
   

Delete Feedback

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Feeback.
2. The Feedback page will load.
3. Click the checkbox that relates to the feeback you want to activate.
4. Click on the Delete button.
   
   

Deactivate Feedback

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Feeback.
2. The Feedback page will load.
3. Click the checkbox that relates to the feeback you want to activate.
4. Click on the Make inactive button.
   
   

Feedback

Feedback are messages from your members giving critiques or feedback. You can activate, deactivate, delete or edit feedback. This admin page breaks you out of the current admin section and will take you to the Feedback page that a member would also see.

Activate Feedback

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Feeback.
2. The Feedback page will load.
3. Click the checkbox that relates to the feeback you want to activate.
4. Click on the Make active button.
   
   

Tree Classifieds Browse

Another way to navigate your categories and sub categories is by using the Tree Classifieds Browse link. If you click on the "+" sign next to the category name, it will dynamically open up the sub categories beneath it.

.

You can then click on the sub category where you will see all of the items for sale in the selected sub category

Update the Unit Name

The Unit Name applies to the currency denomination. You can change it to pounds, rupees or dollars.

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Classifieds.
2. Focus on the Manage classifieds panel.
3. Next to the Unit Name label, enter the currency denomination you'd like to use and click the Apply button.
   
   

Add a Custom Fields

This is a special function that will will give the option to set custom fields as it relates to the listing. For example, the default custom fields for the default category "Cars For Sale" are price maximum and minimum. This effectively gives the seller and buyer a range in which to negotiate. The best way to get an idea of how this works is to navigate to the Classifieds tab on your site as a member and try adding an item for sale.

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Classifieds.
2. Focus on the Manage classifieds panel.
3. At the top of the panel is the Categories drop down menu. Just below that are two labels:
   • CustomField1: Name: - Add your custom field name here. For example, price.
   • CustomField1: Action: - Determine whether it's the maximum or minimum.
     
     
     
     
4. Once you've filled out the Name and Action, click the Apply button. It will commit the information to the database.
5. You can do the same steps for CustomField2.

Add a Sub Category in Classifieds

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Classifieds.
2. Focus on the Manage classifieds panel.
3. At the top of the panel is the Categories drop down menu. Select the category where you would like to add a sub category.
   
   
   
   
4. Near the bottom of is the SubCategories pulldown. If it's the first subcategory you are adding, it will be empty and very narrow. Click on the Add link to add a new sub category. It will enable a way for you to add a Title and a Description. Add your title and description then click the Add link.
   
   

Add a Category in Classifieds

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Classifieds.
2. Focus on the Manage classified panel.
3. At the top of the panel is the Categories drop down menu. To the right is the Add link.
   
   
   
   
4. Click on the add link to add a new category. It will enable a way for you to add a Title and a Description. Add your title and description then click the Add link.
   
   
   
   
5. Your newly created category will show up in the Tree Classifieds Browse listing. It will also show up in the Categories drop down menu.
   
   

Classifieds

[Note: It looks like the classifieds are auto approved]

You can manage classifieds categories and subcategories.

Moderate a Poll

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Polls.
2. Focus on the Polls PostModeration panel.
3. In each poll, you will see a checkbox in the top left corner of the poll. Click on the checkbox so that a checkmark appears in it.
4. Underneath the polls are two links. The View Profile link will allow you to view the member profile and the Edit Profile will link you to the Edit Profile page.
5. Click the Confirm button to confirm the poll or click the delete button to delete the poll. If you have polls, you click the Check all link to select all the currently viewed poll en masse.
   
   

Polls

Polls show up on the main page in the Polls block. Polls by default are automatically approved. You can moderate polls by changing the default settings by doing the following:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Polls Settings.
2. Focus on the Settings panel.
3. You will see;
   • Enable members polls - This will allow members to generate polls if it has been checked.
   • Number of polls that user can create - The default is 4. You can increase or decrease this.
   • Enable profile polls activation - By un-checking this, you can have control of whether a poll will be activated or not.
     
     

Profile Backgrounds

Profile backgrounds appear behind the member's profile.

Moderate a Profile Background

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Profile Backgrounds.
2. Focus on the Profiles PostModeration panel.
3. In each profile background photo, you will see a checkbox in the top left corner of the photo. Click on the checkbox so that a checkmark appears in it.
4. Underneath the picture are two links. The View Profile link will allow you to view the member profile and the Edit Profile will link you to the Edit Profile page.
5. Click the Confirm button to confirm the file or click the delete button to delete the file. If you have several background images, you click the Check all link to select all the currently viewed images en masse.
   
   

Moderate a Group

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Groups
2. Focus on the Group Categories panel.
3. Clicking on a category that has a group will enable the "Groups of category" panel. It will show the groups that are in the selected category. The groups are each contained in a box that shows the group name, the nickname who leads the group, the group type, creation date, members counts, location and status.
4. You can suspend the group by clicking the "Suspend" link. Suspending the group will inhibit the group from showing in the listing.
   
   

Add a Group Category

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Groups
2. Focus on the Group Categories panel.
3. Go to the very bottom of the list and you will see a box with the label "Add new category". Enter the name of your category and click the Add button.
   
   

Edit a Group Category

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Groups
2. Focus on the Group Categories panel.
3. Click on the pencil and file button next to the category you want to edit.
   
   
   
   You will be prompted asking what name you want to name you want to use.
   
   
   
   Enter the name you want to use and click the OK button.

Delete a Group Category

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Groups
2. Focus on the Group Categories panel.
3. Click on the red square button with the "X". You will be prompted asking if you want to delete, click the OK button.
   
   

Groups

You can add a new group category, edit the name and also delete a category. The hierarchy is Category > Groups.

Moderate a Profile Music

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Profile Music
2. Focus on the Profile Music Postmoderation panel. You will see music files that require approvals. You will notice that they have a red box around them.
   
   
   
   
3. To the top left of the box is a checkbox. Clicking this will select the box and its music file. You can then click the Change status button to give it approval. This is a toggle button. Clicking the Change status button with the music selected will bring it back to pending status.
   
   
   
   
   
   
4. If you click on the title after approval, it will launch the music player.
5. Clicking on the member nickname will link you to the member profile where you can further moderate or admin the member profile.

Profile Music

You can moderate the profile music via the Ray music module that gets launched when you click on the Profile music link. Keep in mind that you need to make sure you are running a properly configured RMS setup. Otherwise, you will experience problems in approvals. You also need to ensure that "Files auto approving" is NOT checked. Below is a screen capture from the Ray interface that shows the Video Recorder Settings:

Participants

This will list the participants for the event.It will enable the Event participants panel. Clicking on the ID will link you to the member profile.

Clicking on the Particpants link will show the partcipants for that event. You can then administer the participants such:

• Send a message to all of the particpants by click the Check all link, adding your message in the text area and then clicking the Send message button.
• Remove a participant by clicking the checkbox next to the participant or you can delete all participants by clicking the Check all link and then clicking the Remove form event button.
• Uncheck all will uncheck all selected participants.

Matches

This links participants who match with each other based on a set of criteria.

Add an Event

Administrators can add events. To add an event:

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Events.
2. Focus on the Manage Events panel.
3. Click on the Add new event link. This will show an event form.
4. The event form for administrators has more fields than the member event form. For example, adding an event as an admin will give you options such as:
   • Ticket sales
   • Membership levels
   • Female to male ticket counts
   • Event pricing

Delete an Event

To delete an event, click the Delete link. This will delete the event.

Moderate an Event

Once you've found an event using the search, you can moderate the even via the Events panel. You can edit, delete, view the participants, view the events and matches. It will also show you the event picture and give details of the event.

Here's what you can do to moderate an event:

• Edit - This link will take you to edit mode for the event. The edit mode will allow you update and specify the following items:
• Title - Update the event title.
• Description - Update the event description.
• Status - You can specify Active, Inactive or Cancelled.
• Status message - You can specify a reason for the change in status.
• Country
• City
• Place
• Venue photo - You can upload a photo to show what the venue looks like.
• Event date - You can specify more details such as the event star and end. The ticket sale start and end.
• Responsible person or company - details relating to name, e-mail and phone information.
• Event participants - details relating to sex, age, membership types that are allowed to participate, female and male ticket count, female and male ticket price.
• Member side options - Choose period in days and filter to allow members to view participants list.

Below is partial screen capture of the Edit Event form:

Events

You can admin an event using a set of moderation links that will allow you to edit, delete or deny a member submitted event. You can also add a new event.

Search for Events

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Events.
2. Focus on the Manage Events panel
   
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3. You can select any one of the search criteria as it relates to events. For example, selecting the "Show all events" radio button and then clicking the Show button will enable a search for all of the events. Selecting the "Show events between" will allow you to choose a start date and an end date for the event. Selecting the "Show events by country" will allow you to choose the country. In all cases, it is a filtering mechanism. Once you've clicked the Show button it will give the search results in the Events panel.
   
   

Profile Videos

You can moderate the profile videos via the Ray video module that gets launched when you click on the Profile Videos link. Keep in mind that you need to make sure you are running a properly configured RMS setup. Otherwise, you will experience problems in approvals. You also need to ensure that "Files auto approving" is NOT checked. Below is a screen capture from the Ray interface that shows the Video Recorder Settings:

Moderate a Profile Video

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Profile Videos
2. A pop up Flash based Video Recorder Admin will appear.
3. To the left of the screen is your view area. It is where you can playback profile videos that a member has recorded.
4. To the right of the Video Recorder Admin is a list of members who have recorded a profile video.
5. The listing includes:

• NickName - This link will show the member's profile info.
• Videos - This will list the videos that have been recording.
• Pending - This gives the number of profile videos waiting to be moderated.
  
  

1. Click on the video link and it will load the profile videos for the respective member in the video player.
2. You will notice the profile video will have a word "PENDING" overlay on top of the video along with the length of the video near the bottom left corner.
3. Click on the video and click the "+" button located at the bottom of the video player to approve. To remove, click the "X". It will remove the video.
   
   

Blogs

You can admin a blog using a set of moderation links that will allow you to edit, delete or deny a member submitted blog.

Moderate a Blog

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Blogs.
2. Focus on the All Blogs panel.
3. You will see a listing of blogs along with the blog writers.
   
   
   
   
4. Clicking on the picture will take you to the blog's owner profile.
5. Clicking on the nickname will take you to the blog.
6. You can do the following to the blog by clicking on the respective links. For example:

Posts Block

1. Disapprove - This link will disable the blog and render it unavailable.
2. Edit - This link will take you to edit mode where you can then modify the content.
3. Delete - This link will delete the blog from the database.
   
   

Description Block

1. Edit - This link will allow you to edit the description.
2. Delete - This link will delete the blog from the database.
   
   

Profile Photos

You can admin profile photos uploaded to your site by deleting or setting the status of the selected profile photos. Clicking on the nickname link will take you to the selected members profile info where you can then view items such as membership status, featured, and membership level.

In order for the Profile Photos PreModeration panel to work you first have to ensure that the moderation is activated. To do this follow the instructions below:

1. Login as admin and go to Settings > Moderation Settings.
2. Focus on the Settings panel. You will see "Automatic profile activation after joining".
3. Uncheck "Automatic profile activation after joining". Doing this will allow you to moderate the profile photos.
   
   

Approve a Profile Photo

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Profile Photos.
2. Focus on the Profile Photos PreModeration panel.
3. In each profile photo, you will see a checkbox in the top left corner of the photo. Click on the checkbox so that a checkmark appears in it.
4. Click the Approve button.
   
   

Delete a Profile Photo

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Profile Photos.
2. Focus on the Profile Photos PreModeration panel.
3. In each profile photo, you will see a checkbox in the top left corner of the photo. Click on the checkbox so that a checkmark appears in it.
4. Click the Delete button.
   
   

Music

You can admin music uploaded to your site by deleting or setting the status of the selected music. As an administrator, you can also find out more about the music and member who posted the music by clicking the first title link. Just below that is a nickname link. Clicking on the link will take you to the selected members profile info where you can then view items such as membership status, featured, and membership level.

You are also given the elapsed timed since the music was uploaded and the number of views the music has received.

Delete a Music File

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Music.
2. Focus on the List of Music files panel.
3. In each video, you will see a checkbox in the top left corner of the music. Click on the checkbox so that a checkmark appears in it.
4. Click the Delete button.
   
   

Change the Music Status

The music status determines whether it can be viewed by your members or not. When in viewable mode, you will see a green box outline containing the music. In non-viewable mode, the outline will be red. Here's how to change the status:

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Music.
2. Focus on the List of Music files panel.
3. In each music file, you will see a checkbox in the top left corner of the picture. Click on the checkbox so that a checkmark appears in it.
4. Click the Change status button. This is a toggle button and will enable the opposite mode of what currently shows.
   
   
   
   

Video

You can admin videos uploaded to your site by deleting or setting the status of the selected video. As an administrator, you can also find out more about the video and member who posted the video by clicking the first title link. Just below that is a nickname link. Clicking on the link will take you to the selected members profile info where you can then view items such as membership status, featured, and membership level.

You are also given the elapsed timed since the video was uploaded and the number of views the video has received.

Delete a Video

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Videos.
2. Focus on the List of Video files panel.
3. In each video, you will see a checkbox in the top left corner of the video. Click on the checkbox so that a checkmark appears in it.
4. Click the Delete button.
   
   

Change the Video Status

The video status determines whether it can be viewed by your members or not. When in viewable mode, you will see a green box outline containing the video. In non-viewable mode, the outline will be red. Here's how to change the status:

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Videos.
2. Focus on the List of Videos files panel.
3. In each video, you will see a checkbox in the top left corner of the picture. Click on the checkbox so that a checkmark appears in it.
4. Click the Change status button. This is a toggle button and will enable the opposite mode of what currently shows.
   
   
   
   

Photos

You can admin photos uploaded to your site by deleting or setting the status of the selected photo. As an administrator, you can also find out more about the photo and member who posted the photo by clicking the title link. Just below that is a nickname link. Clicking on the link will take you to the selected members profile info where you can then view items such as membership status, featured, and membership level.

You are also given the elapsed timed since the photo was uploaded and the number of views the photo has received.

Delete a Photo

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Photos.
2. Focus on the List of Photo files panel.
3. In each photo, you will see a checkbox in the top left corner of the picture. Click on the checkbox so that a checkmark appears in it.
4. Click the Delete button.
   
   

Change the Photo Status

The photo status determines whether it can be viewed by your members or not. When in viewable mode, you will see a green box outline containing the picture. In non-viewable mode, the outline will be red. Here's how to change the status:

1. Login as admin and go to Content > Browse Photo.
2. Focus on the List of Photo files panel.
3. In each photo, you will see a checkbox in the top left corner of the picture. Click on the checkbox so that a checkmark appears in it.
4. Click the Change status button. This is a toggle button and will enable the opposite mode of what currently shows.
   
   
   
   

Content Moderation

All content related admin/moderation duties can be done in the Content section. For example moderating photos, videos, music and also dealing with site and user submitted information.

Below is a list of the current content sub sections:

• Photos
• Videos
• Music
• Profile Photos
• Blogs
• Profile Videos
• Events
• Profile Music
• Groups
• Profile Backgrounds
• Polls
• Classifieds
• Feedback

Suspend a Moderator

1. Login as admin and go to Users > Moderators.
2. Focus on the Manage Moderators panel.
3. Click on the moderator ID link and it will allow you to edit the Status dropdown menu. Select the "suspend" option.
4. Click the Update button.
   
   

Delete a Moderator

1. Login as admin and go to Users > Moderators.
2. Focus on the Manage Moderators panel.
3. Click on the check box to the very right of the list and click the Delete button. This will delete the moderator.
   
   

Moderators

You can assign moderators to administer your member profiles.

To create a moderator:

1. Login as admin and go to Users > Moderators.
2. Focus on the Manage Moderators panel.
   
   
   
   
3. You will see a form where you can enter the following:

• Name [Add the name of the moderator here]
• E-mail [Add the e-mail of the moderator here]
• Password [Assign a password for the moderator]
• Status [Give approval status]

For example, once you've filled it out, click the add button:

After clicking the Add button, you will get this:

Once you've created a moderator, the new moderator can then login to:

http://www.youdolphinsite.com/moderators/

Here's what the default moderator login looks like:

They will need to use the assigned name and password.