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concrete5: Beginner's Guide - Second Edition

Chapter 1. Installing concrete5

In this chapter, you'll learn what you need to get your own concrete5 site up and running on your local computer. You don't need to have a lot of experience with Apache, PHP, and MySQL configuration as we're going to use Bitnami, which will install all necessary components in almost no time.

Before you can start working with concrete5, you have to set up an environment, where you can test and play around with concrete5 to get used to it. If you have a web hosting account, you can install concrete5 there, but since that isn't always the case, we'll install everything concrete5 needs to work smoothly on your local Windows computer. We're assuming that you're working with Windows but instructions are available for those running Mac OS or Linux; most instructions work the same for all operating systems.

Bitnami installs a local web server, which we'll use to build and test the add-ons we're going to create. In the last chapter of this book, we're going to move the site from your local computer to a live web server.

Preparing for installation

There are a few tools you need, before you can start with the installation process. You probably already work with similar tools, but let's still make sure you've got everything before continuing.

Web browser

concrete5 supports all major browsers as long as you're working with an up-to-date version. Please note: you can create a website which is viewable with an outdated browser, but the in-context editing system won't work correctly, unless you're using a modern browser.

Whether you use Firefox, Chrome, Safari, or Internet Explorer doesn't really matter. concrete5 works with any recent browser with JavaScript capability, but it's recommended to use the latest browser version since most concrete5 community members test new releases with the newest browsers.

Text editor

Since we're going to edit PHP files you'll need a text editor. The requirements are quite small; you can pick almost any text editor you want. Just make sure it does support PHP syntax highlighting. Here are some possible editors:

PSPad (Windows only, free), http://www.pspad.com. A simple text editor with in-built FTP support. This can make a quick fix on your website even quicker.
TextWrangler (Mac OS only, free), http://www.barebones.com/products/textwrangler/. A very slick and clean text editor with extensive FTP support.
Notepad++ (Windows only, free), http://notepad-plus-plus.org/. A small and fast replacement for Windows notepad.

There are a lot more text editors, as mentioned previously; you can use almost any editor you want. If you're familiar with another product, just go with it. You won't find anything in this book where you need a special text editor feature.

Archive utility

The same with the file archive utility, there are plenty of tools out there and if you want, you can use the in-built extraction utility of Windows or Mac OS. If you're looking for something more advanced, you can go with 7-Zip at http://www.7-zip.org/ or IZArc at http://www.izarc.org/; both are free and do a good job.

FTP client

Once more, there are lots of choices. You'll have to change file permissions later, so make sure your FTP client includes this option. A powerful and well known client is FileZilla, http://filezilla-project.org/. It's free as well and has a lot more features than we need.

Time for action – installing Bitnami WAMP stack

concrete5 is a PHP application which uses PHP as its programming language in combination with a MySQL database. There are lots of possibilities to meet the requirements of concrete5. The preferred web server is Apache but IIS like any web server supporting PHP works as well, but only Apache is supported by the core team.

If you already have a server or a local Apache, PHP, and MySQL set up, you can skip this step and continue with the Downloading concrete5 section a few pages ahead. Otherwise, we are going to need to install Bitnami WAMP stack on your local computer by following these simple steps:

Go to http://bitnami.org/stacks/ and select the MAMP stack for Mac OS, WAMP for Windows, and LAMP for Linux. On the next page, click on Installer and double-click the EXE as soon as it has been downloaded. You should see the following window or a dialog you have to confirm if files downloaded from the Internet aren't executed directly on your computer:
Click on Next to get to the next installation screen. Here you'll see a screen with a number of preselected components. We don't need them, as we're going to install concrete5 as our Content Management System (CMS) and framework. phpMyAdmin can't be unselected, but that's okay.
Click on Next once more and you'll be asked to specify the installation folder. You can keep the suggested value but feel free to change it if you prefer a different location. For this book, we used Version 5.4.10. Your version might be higher. Cause the WAMP folder will have the version number in the name, all follow-up.
Click on Next again and you'll be asked to enter the MySQL password for the user root. It's important to keep it saved as this is the main user to access your database. You'll need this password later when we install concrete5.
There are a few more screens; click on Next and you'll have to enter the port number for Apache as well as MySQL in the following screen. You can keep the port number 80 for Apache and 3306 for MySQL. However, it might be possible that another application is already using one or both of these ports, in which case you have to disable the existing application or use a different port number. It's not a problem if you change these numbers; just make sure that you remember the port numbers as you'll need them later when we install concrete5.

After you've clicked your way through all the screens and confirmed the launch process at the end, you should have a running MySQL server as well as a working Apache web server with all necessary components to run a concrete5 site on your local computer. Before we install concrete5, let's make a small change to the MySQL configuration. MySQL table names are not case sensitive on Windows. This will cause some problems if you want to move your site to a Linux server where MySQL is by default set up with case sensitive table names. If you don't feel comfortable with this change, it's not necessary, but recommended if you move your site to another server at some point.

To change this, if you work with concrete5, do the following:

Go to the directory where you've installed Bitnami and open the folder mysql; it should look as follows:
The my.ini file contains several settings related to MySQL. Open the file and insert the following line immediately after the mysqld section:
```
lower_case_table_names = 0
```
The mysql section should look like as follows:
Now that MySQL is properly configured, locate the manager tool in your start menu. You should be able to find it in All Programs | Bitnami WAMP Stack | Manager tool and open it. You should see the following dialog:
Select MySQL Database and click on the Restart button in the right pane. The buttons go gray. When the buttons return to their regular state the restart of MySQL is complete.
If everything worked you should be able to open your browser and enter http://localhost/.
Note
If you had to change the port of your Apache service, make sure you append it to the hostname. Port number 80 is the default port to access websites and can be omitted. However, if you had to change to a different number like 8000, you have to use an address like this: http://localhost:8000/.

There's also one small change we have to make to the Apache configuration in order to make sure we can use a file called .htaccess, which allows concrete5 to change certain Apache configurations. Follow these steps:

Go to the directory where you've installed Bitnami and open the folder apache2 and then conf.
Within that directory, open the file called httpd.conf.
Look for a section which starts with <Directory "C:/BitNami/wampstack-5.4.10-0/apache2/htdocs"> and then look after a property called AllowOverride. You'll have to change its value from None to All.

The relevant part should look like as follows afterwards:

DocumentRoot "C:/BitNami/wampstack-5.4.10-0/apache2/htdocs"
<Directory "C:/BitNami/wampstack-5.4.10-0/apache2/htdocs">
    #
    # Possible values for the Options directive are "None", "All",
    # or any combination of:
    #   Indexes Includes FollowSymLinks SymLinksifOwnerMatchExecCGI MultiViews
    #
    # Note that "MultiViews" must be named *explicitly* --- "Options All"
    # doesn't give it to you.
    #
    # The Options directive is both complicated and important.Please see
    # http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.4/mod/core.html#options
    # for more information.
    #
    Options Indexes FollowSymLinks

    #
    # AllowOverride controls what directives may be placed in.htaccess files.
    # It can be "All", "None", or any combination of the keywords:
    #   Options FileInfo AuthConfig Limit
    #
    AllowOverride All

    #
    # Controls who can get stuff from this server.
    #
    Require all granted
</Directory>

After you've saved the change, go to the Bitnami Manager tool, select the Apache Web Server process, and restart it.

What just happened?

The Bitnami WAMP Stack setup package installed a working web server, including PHP with the most commonly used modules and a MySQL database. This is what a lot of web applications need, and you can use this environment for other CMSs as well.

You've also had a quick look at one MySQL configuration file to avoid problems when moving your data to a Linux server. If you want to know more about this setting, the MySQL documentation is going to answer almost any question about table names: http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.5/en/identifier-case-sensitivity.html.

We also enabled support for .htaccess files in Apache. We'll need it later in this chapter when we enable pretty URLs.

Pop quiz – requirements for concrete5

Like any other software, concrete5 needs certain things to run. Try to answer the following questions.

Q1. Which of the following server-side programming language(s) has been used to build concrete5?

PHP
Microsoft ASP
Java
All of the above

Q2. Which of the following database(s) can you use with concrete5?

PostgreSQL
MySQL
Oracle
All of the above

Q3. Which of the following operating system(s) can you use to run concrete5?

Microsoft Windows
Mac OS X
Linux
All of the above

Q4. Name the web server(s) you can use to run concrete5:

Microsoft IIS
Nginx
Apache
lighttpd

Time for action – installing concrete5

To install concrete5 follow these steps:

Open your favorite browser and enter http://localhost/. You should see the following installation screen:
There are a number of checks that make sure your environment supports all the necessary functions needed for concrete5 before installing it. Our Bitnami stack contains everything and therefore only shows you green icons. A few words about the required items:
- PHP: Whenever possible, try to use the latest PHP version but make sure you run at least 5.2.4.
- JavaScript enabled: The concrete5 interface uses a lot of JavaScript to make things easy and smooth to use. It won't be possible to edit any content if you disable JavaScript in your browser.
- MySQL available: concrete5 needs a MySQL database; no other databases are supported.
- Supports concrete5 request URLs: By default you'll see index.php in each concrete5 URL you open. To get rid of this, you need to have the Apache module mod_rewrite, which we're going to deal with later in this chapter.
- Image manipulation available: There are a number of functions such as the creating of thumbnails, which need image libraries in PHP.
- XML support: In concrete5 you'll have some XML files to describe data structures, which is why XML support is mandatory.
- Writable files and configuration directories: Usually not a problem if you work with a WAMP stack on Windows. The web server must be able to write some files in your website's installation directory. We'll discuss this issue later, when we move the site to the production server.
- Cookies enabled: Cookies are used in the log in process and must be enabled in your browser.
Once you've managed to get every icon to be green, click on Continue to Installation to get to this screen:
To install concrete5 you have to enter the following information:
- Name Your Site: You can enter any name you want, which can be changed in the dashboard later.
- Email Address: This is the admin mail address. Make sure it exists; this is where you'll receive a link to change the eventually forgotten admin password.
- Password: This is the password for the user admin; make sure it's not too easy since admin is the main user with access to everything in concrete5.
You will also have to enter the following database information:
- Server: Since the database is running on the same machine as the web server, just enter 127.0.0.1. If you changed the default MySQL port from 3306 to something else like 3307, use 127.0.0.1:3307.
- MySQL Username, MySQL Password, and Database Name: concrete5 or whatever you used when you created the user in phpMyAdmin.
Next is the Sample Content section. If you select Sample Content with Blog, concrete5 will create a few pages to play around with. Enable this; if you're new to concrete5, it will create some nice pages where you can see the different blocks you can use to build your website. You can remove those pages later.
If you've entered all the necessary information, click on Install concrete5!

What just happened?

A few seconds after you've clicked on Install concrete5 you should see a screen with a confirmation that your site is up and running. Navigate to the actual site available at http://localhost/ and you should see the following screen:

You might wonder why we've used 127.0.0.1 and not localhost when connecting to the MySQL database. Both values would work, but it can happen that localhost is much slower because it resolves to an IPv6 address on Windows, in which case you'd run into a timeout first because MySQL doesn't support IPv6.

The configuration file

After you've successfully installed concrete5 you'll find a file called site.php in the config directory. This is where the installation process has saved the information you've entered during the process. Here's how it looks:

<?php 
define('DB_SERVER', '127.0.0.1');
define('DB_USERNAME', 'concrete5');
define('DB_PASSWORD', 'concrete5');
define('DB_DATABASE', 'concrete5');
define('PASSWORD_SALT', 'C8MKVa6UZveKlYxFGvmFFqspBAOR5hLjMf9Xsz');

DB_SERVER, DB_USERNAME, DB_PASSWORD, and DB_DATABASE are obviously just database related. If the credentials to access your MySQL database have changed, this is where you have to modify them to make sure concrete5 can access your database.
PASSWORD_SALT: This is a random string used in combination with the password to generate the password hashes found in the user table. Salts are used to complicate dictionary attacks and even if they are useless without a password, you should still not publish a real password salt to keep your site safe.

Pop quiz – the configuration file

Q1. You'll often have to check or modify a few lines in the configuration file, so where can you find it?

<concrete5 installation directory>\config.php
<concrete5 installation directory>\config\config.php
<concrete5 installation directory>\config\site.php

Disabling caching

There are a few different caching functions in concrete5 which can improve the performance of your site but also make things difficult if you keep changing the files. If you change a file without telling concrete5 anything about it, it will keep using the old values in the cache and not reflect the changes you've made. It's therefore recommended to disable all caches while working on a new site.

Time for action – enabling pretty URLs

Follow these steps to get rid of the index.php from your URLs:

Log in to concrete5.
Click on the Intelligent Search box in the top-right corner.
Type pretty, and while you type, concrete5 searches for the correct entry. Once found, click on Pretty URLs.
Check Enable Pretty URLs and hit on Save; you should see the following screen:
concrete5 should have created a file called .htaccess in the root of your website (C:\BitNami\wampstack-5.4.10-0\apache2\htdocs\.htaccess). This is the file where the rewrite rules are stored that remove index.php from the URLs.

What just happened?

Congratulations, you're done! concrete5 is running and you've also activated some options to improve the behavior of concrete5.

You've enabled pretty URLs, which uses the Apache mod_rewrite module to rewrite URLs. You can now open a subpage by entering http://localhost/about/ without having index.php in the address. In case you'd like to know more about this Apache feature, this is the official documentation:

http://httpd.apache.org/docs/2.2/mod/mod_rewrite.html

.htaccess is a configuration file most commonly used by Apache to configure Apache modules on a directory level. It's a simple text file you can open with any text editor of your choice. If you haven't worked with Apache before, the content might be a bit confusing but concrete5 took care of it. You shouldn't have to modify anything on your own in this file.

Note

Pretty URLs can also be used with Microsoft IIS but you need to install a rewrite filter first.

If you want to try it on your own, you can find a solid and free rewrite filter at this address: http://iirf.codeplex.com/.

File and directory structure of concrete5

As mentioned previously, there are a lot of folders in concrete5. Most of these top level folders are empty—resist the temptation to delete these as they are required for customizations. To give you a head start, here's a short list of the most important folders:

Folder	Explanation
`blocks`	You can find custom blocks and block templates in this folder. You'll learn more about blocks in the next few chapters.
`concrete`	Probably the most important part, this is where all core files, the actual CMS is located. Never update anything in this folder.
`config`	The folder where concrete5 puts the configuration files.
`files`	The file manager stores your files in this directory.
`packages`	This is where you have to put add-ons if you install them manually.
`updates`	The concrete5 auto update feature puts the new core in this directory. Never update anything in this folder.

There are a few more folders but you probably won't need them unless you dive deep into concrete5. There's one important thing to remember when working with concrete5: The directory concrete looks a lot like the root directory, but never change anything in the concrete directory. You'll find several directories in both places. That's because you can override a single file by placing it in the same structure in the top level.

Here's one example without going into too much detail. Later in this book, we're going to work with a block called content block, a few times. This block basically adds a formatted text to your page. The actual output is printed from this file: /concrete/blocks/content/view.php. How can we change that file without causing any problems with updates? Simply copy the file and place it here: /blocks/content/view.php. The structure is the same; there's just no concrete in the path. You'll have to create some directories first, but at the end, you just copy and paste a file and can then change its content.

Dispatcher process

As we've mentioned previously, every request to a page in concrete5 is forwarded to index.php. You might be able to see this by looking at the URL which starts with index.php, but if you enabled pretty URLs, this is hidden by some Apache mod_rewrite instructions. No matter which option you're using, index.php is always involved.

The actual logic is located in a file included by index.php, which you can find in concrete/dispatcher.php. Every time you request a page, the code of the dispatcher is executed. If you want to dig deeper into concrete5, you'll want to have a closer look at this file at some point. For now, let's just have a look at this quick summary of what happens in the dispatcher:

Initializing the error handling
Fetching all constants and configurations necessary for the site
Loading the database classes and establishing a connection
Creation of a session necessary to remember things such as login information
Loading all settings related to localization
Checking events that have to be run at some point
Parsing of the URL and fetching the correct object from the database related to the current URL
Rendering of the page object as well as all its blocks

You can find more information about the dispatcher flow on this page: http://www.concrete5.org/documentation/introduction/dispatcher-and-application-flow/.

Key benefits

Create your own theme to customize the look of your site.

Create new blocks from scratch to learn how to embed new content elements in your concrete5 site using HTML, CSS, PHP and JavaScript.

Wrap everything in a package for easy handling and distribution of your add-ons.

Learn how to install and set up a concrete5 website.

Build block templates to change the output of blocks to suit your needs.

Description

concrete5 is an open source content management system (CMS) for publishing content on the World Wide Web and intranets. concrete5 is designed for ease of use, and for users with limited technical skills. It enables users to edit site content directly from the page. It provides version management for every page and allows users to edit images through an embedded editor on the page. concrete5 Beginner's Guide shows you everything you need to get your own site up and running in no time. You will then learn how to change the look of it before you find out all you need to add custom functionality to concrete5. concrete5 Beginner's Guide starts with installation, then you customize the look and feel and continue to add your own functionality. After you've installed and configured your own concrete5 site, we'll have a closer look at themes and integrate a simple layout into concrete5. Afterwards, we're going to build a block from scratch which you can use to manage a news section. We're also going to add a button to our site which can be used to create a PDF document on the fly. This book also covers some examples that show you how to integrate an existing jQuery plugin. concrete5 Beginner's Guide is a book for developers looking to get started with concrete5 in order to create great websites and applications.

What you will learn

How to install concrete5

Understand the configuration of concrete5

What you need to know to build your own theme

How you can turn the slideshow block into a gallery

How to add a new dashboard page

How to create new blocks from scratch

How to put different elements into a package for easy handling and distribution

What you need to know to use concrete5 in a different language

How to deploy a local site to a production server

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Instant access to your digital copy whilst your Print order is Shipped

Paperback book shipped to your preferred address

Redeem a companion digital copy on all Print orders

Access this title in our online reader with advanced features

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concrete5: Beginner's Guide - Second Edition

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UrbanInbound May 21, 2013

So first a little background. I am a developer of two years who started specializing in concrete5 last year. The docs to concrete5 are fantastic and I was up and running in no time. I was walking around thinking I was playing in the big leagues. Then I read this book......Holy monkey shines batman!If you are going to use C5 (and you should) you need to read this. The guy who wrote is is one of the most active members of the concrete5 community (Remo). His understanding of the system is vast and because of all the time he spends answering forum questions he has a very easy to follow explanation style. This isn't your fathers book on Computer Science theory, get ready to roll up your sleeves, grab a wrench and get ready to get dirty!Example: I was on a 13 hour train ride form Adirondacks to DC and thought I would just finish up a site i was working on (I had not yet read the book) I needed to set up a section of the site that handled new customer registration/login and an advanced permission system. The trains Wifi was out so I cracked my C5 for beginners guide. I was finished with the whole permissions system with registration and login in less then 1 hour. I was shocked. So now it is my go to book.If you work with C5 (again, you should) you need to read this book, whether you are a professional or DIY type this read will give you the basics that will let you soar.Sidebar (make sure you read the themeing site over portion and block creation as that part also just pulled me out of the proverbial fire)

Amazon Verified review

John Carr Jun 11, 2014

The book is a good step by step guide to learning C5. If you learn by doing it is great and easy to follow the exercises for creating your website. It does not cover everything but it is a good start. C5 is not as intuitive as I thought it would be but this book helps you through the processes. Regardless of what software you use - it just takes time an practice to use it efficiently. Do not expect to go far creating a website without some knowledge of HTML and CSS. Even if you just understand the basics it makes it so much easier to understand C5. I found "Build Your Own Website the Right Way using HTML & CSS" by Ian Lloyd to be another step by step type guide for learning and actually building web pages without a CMS like C5. But it is easier with C5.

C. Parson Jun 13, 2013

This book is invaluable to those learning Concrete5. The author knows his stuff and is one of the most active members of the Concrete5 community. You will get the ins and outs of working with this wonderful CMS (Content Management System).

gingebean Jun 26, 2013

A very good read with up to date easy to follow information.I strongly recommend this book to all that are new to concrete 5.It is extremely well written with practical exercises and pop quizzes that make reading both enjoyable and fun.The book is full of best practices that will prove vital in avoiding any beginner errorsAll visual aids are up to date and accurateIt provides you with everything you need to have your own custom made concrete 5 site up and running.10 out of 10 , Congratulations to the author.

Bogomil Dimitrov May 26, 2013

Just the right amount of information to give you a head start and generate interesting possibilities for extensions or future development.

concrete5: Beginner's Guide - Second Edition: concrete5 is a superb content management system and this book will show you how to get going with it. From basic installation through to advanced techniques of customization, it's the perfect primer for web developers. , Second Edition

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