conjoon

Just a quick update on the domain transfer conjoon.org/.com: The domains are back up again, the domain conjoon.de will redirect to the .org domain.

Last night the transfer of conjoon.org/.com was started. We are updating the servers due to the popularity the project gained, and we’ll be back with more performant hardware. We are also planning on providing a live demo, so stay tuned.

In the meantime, please use the address www.conjoon.de, which serves as our fallback domain.

V0.1a3 introduced an installation wizard that helps with setting up conjoon on a webserver.

Once you have configured your server to access the contents of /build/htdocs in a webbrowser of your choice, open up /install/index.php.

(NOTE: Users who upgrade to any version > 0.1a3 need to copy the contents of /build/htdocs into the root folder of your conjoon application. Override any existing file.)

Start screen

start screen of conjoon's install wizard

The start screen will introduce you to the installation procedure.  It will look up the installation.info.php and check if you are currently upgrading conjoon, or if you are installing the application from scratch.

If the installation.info.php file was found, most of the settings will be prefilled with the settings from a prior installation (except for passwords).

You have to provide the following settings in the start screen:

• Support key: If you have requested support from the conjoon project, supply your support key here. You can leave the field empty. We suggest you use your email address here if you have no support key.
• Edition: This is the “name” of your installation. It will appear here and there in conjoon, but is not important, though we suggest a value so that your installation can be identified. For example: We are running conjoon from USB-Sticks and used “USB edition” as the value for this field.
• Accept license terms: Before you proceed with the installation, read through the license terms and confirm that you agree to them. In short, this means you agree to the GPL license, under which the software is published.

Once you have provided your settings, click the “Next” button to continue with the installation.

Step 1: Checking requirements

Step 1: Checking requirements

The next step will check if your server’s configuration matches the requirements for running conjoon.

If the installation wizard detects a setting which could make conjoon to not work properly, it will inform you on this page. If a warning or error is generated, you can continue with the installation procedure, but we suggest you first configure your server until the installation wizard does not generate one of the above mentioned notices.

Step 2: Setting up the database

Step 2: Adjusting database settings

The next step lets you configure the database connection info. You can choose from a list of database drivers and need to provide the necessary connection settings.

You need to provide the following settings:

• Database type: The type of database you are using.
• Database host: The address of the database server.
• Database port: The port your database service listens to.
• Database user: The user name for the database connection.
• Database password: The password for the database conenction. You can leave the field empty if you do not use a password for your database connection.
• Max allowed packet: The maximum size of data your database can process at once when adding data to the database (in bytes).  If you leave this field blank, the installation wizard will try to determine this value automatically.

Step 3: Setting the path for the application folder

Step 3: Setting path for the application folder

conjoon’s backend relies on the Zend Framework, and all the custom controllers and templates can be found in the conjoon_application folder, which in turn needs to be put somewhere in your filesystem where the PHP scripts have read and write access.

You need to provide the following settings:

• Path to application folder: The path to the folder on your server where the conjoon_application folder should be stored. If the supplied path is neither readable nor writable by PHP, the installation wizard will generate an error, and ask you to provide another path. Hint: If you leave the field empty, the installation wizard will automatically choose the conjoon’s root folder as the path. This is not recommended and should only be used for demo setups.

Step 4: Setting the include path

Step 4: Setting the include path

conjoon relies on several PHP libraries which have to be stored in a readable location in your filesystem. You need to specify the path to the folder where the conjoon_libs folder should be stored.

You need to provide the following settings:

• Path to library folder: The path to the folder in your filesystem where the conjoon_libs folder should be stored. If the supplied path is neither readable nor writable by PHP, the installation wizard will generate an error, and ask you to provide another path. Hint: If you leave the field empty, the installation wizard will automatically choose the conjoon’s root folder as the path. This is not recommended and should only be used for demonstration purposes.
• Let conjoon add this path to php’s include path: It is recommended that you add the chosen path to your php.ini’s include_path setting. However, if you do not have access to the php.ini, conjoon can adjust the include_path-setting during runtime.

Step 5: Setting the document path

Step 5: Setting the document path

The “document path” is the the path where conjoon can be accessed using a webbrowser, minus the server’s name. For example, if conjoon can be accessed using the address http://my.domain.tld/path/to/conjoon, the document path would be path/to/conjoon. If you access conjoon using the document root of your server, the document path would equal to a slash (“/”).

You need to provide the following settings:

• Document path: The installation wizard will try to determine the document path automatically. If the suggested value does not fit your server’s setup, you can change it manually.

Step 6: Adding a root user

Step 6: Adding the root user

Versions prior to V0.1a3  came with a default “admin” user, so that you could sign in with the user “admin” right away. The installation wizard lets you specify the root user’s login credentials, and it is recommended that you do not use “admin” and “password” as the login data.

Note: This step will not be available if the installation wizard updates a previous version of conjoon, or if the table “user” in the specified database does already have a root user.

You have to provide the following settings:

• User name: The user name for the root user
• Password: The password for the root user
• First name: The first name for the root user
• Last name: The last name for the root user
• Email address: The email address for the root user

Step 7: Confirm your settings

Step 7: Confirming the settings

Before the installation wizard makes any changes to your filesystem, you have to confirm the settings you have provided. Read carefully through the listed values and click “Next” to start installation, or click “Previous” to browse through the various setup steps again.

Once the wizard has finished, the following files will be edited/put in the document root of your conjoon installation:

• .htaccess: File with mod_rewrite rules for your Apache Webserver
• installation.info.php: Settings you have provided for this installation (excluding passwords)
• config.ini.php: Configuration file for this conjoon installation

Once finished, remove the “install” folder out of conjoon’s document root, otherwise conjoon will not start up.

Please use the forums to discuss this article.

conjoon V0.1a3 is now available. We received some feedback regarding the ease of setting conjoon up on virtual hosts and decided it would be a good idea to push this feature release out before the first maintenance hits the road.

If you are upgrading V0.1a2, please note that the install wizard is NOT compatible with this version. Your best bet would be to do a full backup of your existing data (specially database), then run the install wizard.

If you need help installing conjoon on your server, please visit the forums at http://www.conjoon.org/forum.