more info for deploying Webhelp with Feedback?

[tomjohnson1492]

Is there any more information for deploying Webhelp with Feedback? I'm running into issues and the help isn't helping.

Issue #1: I'm installing on bluehost, not Xampp on my localhost. Are there instructions for installation on any regular web host?

Issue #2: I create a database and user via phpmyadmin, and then add the user to the database. I tried giving the user the privileges described in the help (step 3 in the auto-generated doc page: out/webhelp-feedback/oxygen-webhelp/resources/installation.html#deploy). I also changed the user_name and user_password values. Here's the sql statement it wants me to run:

INSERT INTO `mysql`.`user` (`Host`, `User`, `Password`, `Select_priv`, `Insert_priv`, `Update_priv`, `Delete_priv`, `Create_priv`, `Drop_priv`, `Reload_priv`, `Shutdown_priv`, `Process_priv`, `File_priv`, `Grant_priv`, `References_priv`, `Index_priv`, `Alter_priv`, `Show_db_priv`, `Super_priv`, `Create_tmp_table_priv`, `Lock_tables_priv`, `Execute_priv`, `Repl_slave_priv`, `Repl_client_priv`, `Create_view_priv`, `Show_view_priv`, `Create_routine_priv`, `Alter_routine_priv`, `Create_user_priv`, `Event_priv`, `Trigger_priv`, `Create_tablespace_priv`, `ssl_type`, `max_questions`, `max_updates`, `max_connections`, `max_user_connections`, `plugin`, `authentication_string`) VALUES ('localhost', 'user_name', PASSWORD('user_password'), 'Y', 'Y', 'Y', 'Y', 'Y', 'Y', 'Y', 'N', 'N', 'N', 'N', 'Y', 'Y', 'Y', 'Y', 'N', 'Y', 'Y', 'Y', 'Y', 'Y', 'Y', 'Y', 'Y', 'Y', 'N', 'Y', 'Y', 'Y', '', '0', '0', '0', '0', '', '');

But when I run this statement in the SQL part of phpmyadmin for this db, I get this error:

INSERT command denied to user 'idrathe1'@'localhost' for table 'user'

I gave the user all privileges on the database anyway, so I'm not sure if this detailed list of privileges is entirely necessary.

Issue #3: When I upload the oxygen webhelp folder to the server and then go to the /install path, things seem to work all right, but then the installation runs into problems. I get an error that says, "Could not connect to database using specified informations:"

Then more detail about the error is given:

r: Error:1045-Access denied for user 'idrathe1_ditaq2'@'localhost' (using password: YES)
#0 /home2/idrathe1/public_html/ditaqrg/webhelp-feedback/install/do_install.php(255): RecordSet->__construct(Array, false, true) #1 {main}
Config file not updated!

I'm wondering if I should be using localhost with the host field. That's what WordPress uses for similar installations, so again I'm not sure what could be wrong.

Issue #4: I'd like to see the properties in the config file to see if something is awry there, but I can't find where the config file is stored.

Can you help me sort through these issues? Thanks,

Tom

[adrian]

Hello Tom,

I believe you've already found the information page for installing WebHelp with Feedback:
http://www.oxygenxml.com/doc/ug-editor/ ... dback.html
This is pretty much it.

Issue #1: I'm installing on bluehost, not Xampp on my localhost. Are there instructions for installation on any regular web host?

I'm afraid not. The instructions are pretty specific for Apache+PHP+MySQL (XAMPP provides all of them in one package).

I'm not familiar with Bluehost in particular, but as long as you have PHP and MySQL you should be able to make it work.

Issue #2: If you manually created the database and an admin user for that database that has full access to it, it should be enough, you don't have to execute that INSERT command anymore.

Issue #3: Note that the config file is created by the installation and from that error message it's quite possible that the file could not be created. If you have the possibility, check if it has write access to the file system in that folder.

Issue #4: The config file (config.php) is located in:
/<webhelpProject>/oxygen-webhelp/resources/php/config

Regards,
Adrian

[tomjohnson1492]

Thanks for the info. Knowing that I could just create a user with all privileges to the database is helpful (rather than trying to guess whether there were special permissions in that sql statement). That is a pretty common process.

Also helpful is knowing the location of that config.php file so that I can update the various settings.

It turns out I was simply using the wrong username for the database. I forgot that my host prepends my account username before the username I chose. When I used the right name, it worked great.

It would be nice to have some more information on the feature, though, such as how you access the admin panel, notification options, and so forth. It seems like a pretty cool feature.

[adrian]

Hi,

I've submitted an issue for our documentation department to clarify what each step does (e.g. creating the user with full privileges to the database) and also for the administration panel.

To access the administration panel you have to log in with the administrator user that you created during the installation step. Hopefully the options are self explanatory.
Please let me me know if you need further clarification of the options.

Regards,
Adrian

[tomjohnson1492]

I did have one more question. Suppose I change a file name. When I publish the webhelp with feedback, does that register as a new topic without the comment history? Or is the topic_id that must be the same to maintain the comment history?

By the way, my notes on the type of information I was looking for in the help material about Webhelp with Feedback are here: http://idratherbewriting.com/ditaqrg/#w ... dback.html.

Thanks for submitting the ticket to improve the doc.

[adrian]

Hi,

Later Edit: I was wrong in my original reply:
<badreply>
The file name of the source topic does not matter, you can change it without losing the comment history.
As you've guessed, it's the topic id that is relevant (it's also used as the name of the output topic) and must not be changed in order to maintain the comments.
</badreply>

Changing the file name or the location (folder path) of the source does break the comment history.
I've checked in the database and the key used for identifying to what page a comment belongs to is the relative file path to the output page (starting from the WebHelp project root). Since the output file and folder names mirror the source, any change of file or folder name in the source affects this.
e.g For the Introduction page from the Oxygen User Manual

Code: Select all

http://www.oxygenxml.com/doc/ug-editor/#topics/introduction.html

The key used in the database for comments from this page is "topics/introduction.html". The project root is "ug-editor".

So, in conclusion, the topic_id of the source is not relevant for keeping the comment history. That would be an interesting idea, but the topic IDs would have to be unique across a project.

Thank you for the notes, I'll forward them to the documentation department.

Regards,
Adrian

[tomjohnson1492]

Thanks.

[tomjohnson1492]

Here are a few more questions I have in using webhelp with feedback:

On the first deployment, how do you specify the administrator? When you install webhelp with feedback, there isn't a field where you set the admin. By default, there is a username called "administrator" tied to the administrator's email address (specified in the configuration). But you have to request a password reset to get the password.

On the configuration, I found this option confusing:

"Display comments from other products. If checked, on this product pages will be visible also comments from other specified products!"

Here's how I interpret that. If there are other products (webhelp with feedback files) in other directories, if those other products have topics with the same topic ID, comments from the other topics will appear on all topics with the same IDs.

Is that correct?

Another question. On my first installation, I received email notification of a time zone error:

Unknown error type: [2] date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'UTC' for 'UTC/0.0/no DST' instead on line 52 in file /var/www/html/-------/oxygen-webhelp/resources/php/recover.php , PHP 5.3.3 (Linux)

This error message eventually went away. There wasn't any place for me to specify a time zone. I received the error about a half a dozen times and then no more.

Final question. When I generate the webhelp with feedback, I'm prompted to enter a documentation product ID. I assume this ID is critical in connecting comments with the right product, but I'm not really sure what happens to that product ID. Where does that product ID get stored?

[adrian]

Hi,

On the first deployment, how do you specify the administrator? When you install webhelp with feedback, there isn't a field where you set the admin. By default, there is a username called "administrator" tied to the administrator's email address (specified in the configuration). But you have to request a password reset to get the password.

Actually for the first install (when you create the database structure for the first time) you should always see it in the section "Create Webhelp Administrator Account" from the Installation Settings for ... page. You can set there the admin username, email, and password.
If you do the install a second time, you have to recreate the database structure (check the option "Create new database structure " if you want to change the admin username). Note that checking this option drops all tables from the selected database, so you basically start from scratch (there's a warning message).

On the configuration, I found this option confusing:

"Display comments from other products. If checked, on this product pages will be visible also comments from other specified products!"

Here's how I interpret that. If there are other products (webhelp with feedback files) in other directories, if those other products have topics with the same topic ID, comments from the other topics will appear on all topics with the same IDs.

Is that correct?

Yes, that's correct down to the last detail. Note that when you check that option ("Display comments from other products") a small panel entitled "Display comments from" appears at the bottom of the page and allows you to pick the "other products", if you have multiple Webhelp with Feedback folders.

Another question. On my first installation, I received email notification of a time zone error:

Unknown error type: [2] date(): It is not safe to rely on the system's timezone settings. You are *required* to use the date.timezone setting or the date_default_timezone_set() function. In case you used any of those methods and you are still getting this warning, you most likely misspelled the timezone identifier. We selected 'UTC' for 'UTC/0.0/no DST' instead on line 52 in file /var/www/html/-------/oxygen-webhelp/resources/php/recover.php , PHP 5.3.3 (Linux)

This error message eventually went away. There wasn't any place for me to specify a time zone. I received the error about a half a dozen times and then no more.

For the WebHelp with Feedback output generated with v16.0 and earlier there is no time zone setting during the installation. I'm being told that PHP had a default time zone at one time, but that was dropped in more recent versions of PHP, so now you have to manually set it in php.ini (date.timezone) to avoid that error message. For v16.1 of Oxygen (still in development) our developers have already added a timezone setting during the installation.

Final question. When I generate the webhelp with feedback, I'm prompted to enter a documentation product ID. I assume this ID is critical in connecting comments with the right product, but I'm not really sure what happens to that product ID. Where does that product ID get stored?

Yes, your assumption is correct, this ID is critical. It is stored in the database. Or was the question where in the database is it stored?

Regards,
Adrian

[adrian]

Hi,

Regarding your question and my answer about maintaining the comment history, I had some doubts about the topic IDs (since they are not necessarily unique) and I double checked. I was wrong about that.

I did have one more question. Suppose I change a file name. When I publish the webhelp with feedback, does that register as a new topic without the comment history? Or is the topic_id that must be the same to maintain the comment history?

Changing the file name or the location (folder path) of the source does break the comment history.
I've checked in the database and the key used for identifying to what page a comment belongs to is the relative file path to the output page (starting from the WebHelp project root). Since the output file and folder names mirror the source, any change of file or folder name in the source affects this.
e.g For the Introduction page from the Oxygen User Manual

Code: Select all

http://www.oxygenxml.com/doc/ug-editor/#topics/introduction.html

The key used in the database for comments from this page is "topics/introduction.html". The project root is "ug-editor".

So, in conclusion, the topic_id of the source is not relevant for keeping the comment history. That would be an interesting idea, but the topic IDs would have to be unique across a project.

Regards,
Adrian