This tutorial shows you step-by-step how to use XSAS to build multiple XOOPS websites on your own computer (XOOPS Stand Alone Server). I use most of this information almost every day, and I hope you do, too. As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts or get your ideas.
(It is assumed that the reader knows how folders work, how to set permissions, how to do basic things in phpMyAdmin, and, of course, how to install XOOPS.)
- Make a database with the same name as the database your website is using (the site on the Internet)
- Open PHPMyAdmin from the XSAS GUI's advanced tab
- Open that folder and run the XSAS Setup program in it.
- Rename the HTML folder to match the site that will be built (i.e.: Client1, Site2, etc.)
- Unpack a new copy of Xoops in a temporary folder.
- Start up the XSAS server on your own computer.
- Copy the HTML folder from your Xoops package into the different folders you made in step 3. Make a folder called Localhost on your hard drive
- Make folders for the different sites you will be building in the www root of XSAS (i.e.: Clients, Personal, etc.)
(That is, replace the Internet URL that the site would use online with the local url.
example: Search for http://yourdomain.com/
Replace this with http://localhost/the directory where you installed Xoops/) Save your file.
The best way to do the step in question is to copy and paste.
If you're going to be working on more than one site, it's helpful to keep a bookmark of http://localhost. When I start working on a new site, I add a bookmark to http://localhost/clients/client1, http://localhost/clients/client2, etc.
- Now, after you've made all the changes you want to your site locally, it only takes a few steps to put your work online.
It's also important to remember that if you added any extra files to your website while working on it locally (such as themes, modules, hacks, etc.), you'll need to upload those files to your web server before updating your database.
On a different note. If you've set up your local server the way I've shown, and you want to work on your website away from home, you can just copy the entire Localhost folder onto a USB Pen Drive and take it with you. Then, all you have to do is run XSAS from the pen drive on any Windows 98 or newer computer. Since XSAS always makes a virtual w: drive, this method works well for portable development and demos.
This article mostly talks about XSAS and XOOPS, but most standalone server software and content management systems can use the same steps. These two were used because I know that they work well together and are easy to use.
