Flash CMS: Installation

Download Turtlebite Flash CMS

Upload the folder “turtlebite_cms” to your server. Rename it if you like, for example “cms”.

In the folder you have just uploaded be sure that the file permissions of the following 2 folders are set to “755”:

• config
• data (it may be that this folder has not been uploaded because it is empty. If so, create it manually)

Create a new database. (If you want, you can also use an existing database. 3 tables will later be created, starting with “turtlebite_”). Contact your hosting provider if you need assistance for this step.

Open “config.php” (located in folder “config”) and fill in all required values. It is all commented in the file itself. There are three basics steps involved:

• MySQL Settings
• General Settings (CMS title, background color, language etc.)
• User Settings (Manage Users and Passwords)

In your browser, start “config/create_tables.php”. This will create 3 tables: “turtlebite_index”, “turtlebite_slot”, “turtlebite_content”. Note: Don't worry if you run this script more than once: If the tables already exist, the creation will just fail and nothing is damaged.

What you have done so far is installing the back end Flash CMS on your Server with a basic setup. To see if everything is working fine, login now and test it: In your browser start the Flash CMS. Depending on your domain name and CMS folder name, it may look like this: "http://www.yourdomain.com/cms/login". After you are logged in, follow these steps:

1. In the menu bar, click “edit”, than “test”. You will see the following:

2. Click “Add new”. A new, empty “slot” will be created, as shown in the next screenshot:

3. Click on the textfield and enter some text in the text editor which is opened. When you are happy with your text, save it.

4. Next, upload a picture. In the menu bar, click on “upload”, than “test”. In the window that pops up click on “upload” (see the screenshot below) and select a picture from your hard drive.

5. In this step, you will upload an image, define the section (crop) and create 2 versions of the image: a preview and a large image. Just follow the on screen instructions.

It should now look something like this when you select the file:

You can now close the upload window.

6. Lets load this image in the slot. Click on the picture selector and select the image you have just uploaded.

7. Done! If your screen looks similar to the screenshot below than you have successfully tested the basics of the Flash CMS.

You should now have a working installation of the Turtlebite Flash CMS. The next step is obvious:

How do you connect the cms to your swf files?

Open “example_cs4.fla” (or “example_cs3.fla” if you are working in Flash CS3) in the folder “frontend” and have a look at the code in frame 1. You need to set the path to your cms installation so the SWF knows where to load the data from. Just follow the instructions in frame 1 and compile the FLA. You should see something like this:

Common Problems
If your SWF looks similar to the screenshot below (fonts not showing), than the fonts are not embedded correctly.



Check in the library if “Arial, regular” and “Arial Black, regular” are exported. In the case of the screenshot above, the font “arial” was set to “Bold” instead of “Regular”.

The best way to quickly get your head around this framework is to check out the tutorials.

I spend almost all my spare time to this project, there is still a lot to explain and document. While I'm working on this, please don't hesitate to contact me if you have any questions/comments/suggestions/criticism!