Unix Installation

Please remember: NEVER manually edit or delete your DB file after it's created!  This may result in POD not functioning correctly or the early expiration of trial period because POD forbids user hampering with the DB file.  After you configured POD, POD will take care of any DB operations including creation and managing.  You can always convert the DB file to whatever you want following instruction in Administration of POD .  There should be no need to delete or manually edit POD DBs.

Please note that the following instructions are for the first time users (please also check out Requirements section if you did not use POD before).  If you are experienced with POD set up already, you do not have to go through the exact steps. Also note that while these instructions seem very long, they are actually very easy to follow.

Directory structure of unzipped POD files:

Step 1: Files

Unzip the POD files in POD5_0.zip, POD_shared.zip and POD_static.zip to an empty or new directory on your computer. In the example on the left, files were unzipped into a directory named "package". Please note that when you unzip the files, you must preserve the original directory structure in the zip archive. If after unzipping, you do not see a directory structure as shown on the left, you should remove the unzipped files and unzip again, and make sure you preserve the directory structure (for example, if you are using winzip to unzip, just make sure you enabled "use folder names" in unzip settings).

Detailed explanation for files in the package can be found at List of Files section. A brief summay of which files go where is below:

  • All files under "local" directory should be on your local computer.
  • All files under "server" should be on your web server. After you finished installation by following instructions below, you can upload the files to your server so that all files directly under "server" is in your web pages root directory. Upload all files under "cgi-bin" to "cgi-bin" directory of your web site, and after you choose which template files you want to use (all template files are under "fldb", "gbook", "lib" and "prod" directories), upload that directory to your web server cgi-bin directory under the name of "fldb" (see detail below). You can simply think of "server" directory as your web pages root directory, and the directory structure on the left should be a mirror image to what are on your server after you uploaded all files/directories.

Step 2: Installation Instructions

First, pick a set of template files that you want to use as a start point for your database. The files under "fldb" directory in the above graph are template for an online addressbook, files under "prod" -> online product catalogue, "gbook" -> online guestbook, "lib" -> online library catalogue. If you choose "fldb", then delete the other 3 directories; If you choose another one, say, "gbook", then rename the word "gbook" in the names of some files under "gbook" directory to "fldb" (for example, "gbook.ini" -> "fldb.ini", "gbook-add.html" -> "fldb-add.html", and so on). Now delete the other 3 directories and rename "gbook" directory to "fldb". After this step, there should only be one directory under "cgi-bin" and it is named "fldb".

  1. After renaming of directory and files is done, go into "fldb" directory and open the file named "fldb.ini" with a text editor (e.g., notepad). Under the section called "[Administration]", set "Enable Remote Administration=" to 1, then set "Administration password=" to whatever password you want. An example:
    [Administration]
    Enable Remote Administration=1
    Administration password=myremotepwd
    (of course, you should never use "myremotepwd" as your own password).  Save the changes to "fldb.ini".
  2. Use a text editor to open the file "package/server/DBAdmin.html".  In the html source code, you will find "<form action=http://127.0.0.1/cgi-bin/fldbconf.exe, please change the URL to an appropriate URL. For example, if the URL for your webserver's cgi-bin directory is "http://mydomain.com/cgi-bin", then you should use "http://mydomain.com/cgi-bin/fldbconf.exe" to substitute for the "http://127.0.0.1/cgi-bin/fldbconf.exe" above.  Save the changes.
  3. Use a text editor to open "package/server/cgi-bin/fldb/fldb-add.html". In the html source code, you will find "<form action=http://myserver/cgi-bin/fldb.exe, please change the URL to an appropriate URL. Following example above, you should use "http://mydomain.com/cgi-bin/fldb.exe" to substitute for the "http://myserver/cgi-bin/fldb.exe" above.  Save the changes and do the same for "fldb-search-user.html", "fldb-search-admin.html" and "Sing-admin.html" in the same directory.
  4. Move "fldb-add.html", "fldb-search-user.html", "fldb-search-admin.html" under "package/server/cgi-bin/fldb/" to "package/server" directory.
  5. Now upload all files and directories under "server" onto your web server. As explained above, all files directly under "server" can be in your web pages root directory (they can be else where on your server too, but not in "cgi-bin" directory). Upload all files under "cgi-bin" to the "cgi-bin" directory of your web site, and "fldb" directory should still be under "cgi-bin" directory on your web server.
  6. Now open your web browser, and type in http://mydomain.com/DBAdmin.html (assuming that you uploaded "package/server/DBAdmin.html" to your web page root directory). Fill in "fldb" to the html form as the DB Name, and the password you set in instruction #2 above (myremotepwd) as the administration password, press the "start configuration" button which will take you to the administration page.
  7. Now please consult Administration of POD about how to set the DB options.  You have two choices here: If you want to use the DB as is, you can simply modify only the URLs and e-mail address in the options and leave most things else intact. Alternatively, if you want to use differentnames for your DB add or drop a few items and make other changes to make your own DB. In that case, you have to follow instructions in Administration of POD and make the changes accordingly.
  8. After you finish setting the options, go to the bottom of the administration page and again fill in the password you set in instruction #2 above (myremotepwd) as the administration password. Press the "submit new configuration" button.
  9. Now you would need to either write your own html files following instructions in User Manual or use the template html files (such as fldb-add.html, Sing-admin.html etc.) as is. Do not forget that you need to upload the modified html files to your web server before using them! You can then launch the web browser and type http://mydomain.com/fldb-add.html to add your first entry or more entries after that. You can use fldb-search-admin.html to search for an entry and then change/delete it, or use fldb-search-user.html to search for an entry for viewing purposes only.  Your DB users will most likely only need to access fldb-search-user.html which lets them view the entries you entered into the DB.  If after these steps you cannot add your entry and get error messages from your web server, please consult Trouble Shooting section.
  10. Remember to always back up your old DB file when upgrading to a new version of POD just in case. Upgrades should go smoothly, but it's always good to be careful if your DB is very important to you.