This section of the tutorial will provide a closer look to the main configuration file of PHPFox and how to locate/use it. It does not matter if you are a developer or not, the main configuration file is something that you should be aware of. It contains some important information for your website.

When you access the directory of your PHPFox installation, you need to navigate to:

include/settings/server.sett.php

In our case, the PHPFox installation is located directly within the public_html/ directory.

The configuration file contains a lot of data. However, the most important part is the database details and the setup of your website’s domain. You can use that information for your PHPFox configuration, or when creating or restoring backups of your website.

$_CONF['db']['driver'] = 'mysqli'
$_CONF['db']['host'] = 'localhost'
$_CONF['db']['user'] = 'example_phpfox'
$_CONF['db']['pass'] = 't3mpp4ssw0rd'
$_CONF['db']['name'] = 'example_phpfox'
$_CONF['db']['prefix'] = 'dbo_'
$_CONF['db']['port'] = ''
$_CONF['db']['slave'] = false;
$_CONF['db']['slave_servers'] = array();
$_CONF['balancer']['enabled'] = false;
$_CONF['balancer']['servers'] = array();
$_CONF['core.host'] = 'www.example.com'
$_CONF['core.folder'] = '/'

This feature will allow you to set the name of your website, site title, copyright information and much more. It is important to configure that properly as it will provide basic details for your users when reviewing your website.

Access your website as administrator and then click on the AdminCP button at the top-right corner.

Select the Settings button from the top menu and then Manage Settings.

In the Global Settings section, choose the General option.

Edit the following options:

• Site Name: Enter the name of your website.
• Site Title: Enter a title for your website.
• Copyright: Enter the copyright information for your website.
• Official Launch Date: Enter a date when the website will be officially put into production.

Click on the Submit button to keep the changes.

Further reading:

PHPFox Extension Tutorial

PHPFox Management Guide

We will now review the process of forcing SSL redirect on certain pages on your website, such as registration, login, etc.

Step 1Dedicated SSL certificate

The first step of the process is to ensure that you have a valid SSL certificate installed on your domain. You can confirm that with the use of an online SSL checker, such as the one available here.

If you purchase an SSL certificate through Todhost, you will be contacted shortly to discuss the best convenient time for the actual installation.

Step 2 Force SSL

PHPFox automatically detects the SSL certificate on your domain and you will be able to access your website via both the http and https protocol. However, you can also force SSL use on your entire website and to achieve that, you need to access your website as administrator and then click on the AdminCP button at the top-right corner.

Click on the Settings tab from the top menu and then Manage Settings.

Locate the Global Settings section and then click on Server Settings.

Scroll down to the Secure Pages with HTTPS and choose True from the drop-down box.

Click on the Submit button to keep the changes.

Further reading:

PHPFox Web Hosting

Throughout this tutorial, we will review the process of enabling clean URLs on your PHPFox website. This is a good feature as it will improve the SEO for your website. To enable clean URLs, you need to complete the following steps.

Step 1 Configuration file

The first step of the process is to edit the main configuration file of your PHPFox website. Access the file and locate the following line:

$_CONF(‘core.url_rewrite’] = ‘2’;

and then change it to:

$_CONF(‘core.url_rewrite’] = ‘1’;

Step 2 Edit htaccess file

The next step is to rename the htaccess.txt file, which is located within the folder, where you have installed PHPFox. You simply need to rename it to .htaccess and make sure that you do not forget the dot (.) before the name of the file.

We now review the process of enabling SMTP on your PHPFox website. This will ensure the proper sending of system emails out of a certain email account on your hosting package.

Step 1 Create an email account

The first step of the process is to create an email account on your hosting package. This will be required for the SMTP configuration of your PHPFox website and it will also ensure that all emails from your website are successfully delivered to your users. You can create a new email account via cPanel.

Step 2 Configure SMTP

Once you have your email account created, you can proceed with the actual configuration of your PHPFox installation. You need to access your website as administrator and then click on the AdminCP button at the top-right corner.

Click on the Settings from the top menu and then Manage Settings.

Locate the Global Settings section and choose Mail.

Edit the following options:

• Send Mail Method - Choose SMTP from the drop-down box
• From - Enter your name
• Email - Enter the email account created in the previous chapter
• Signature - Choose a signature for the system emails
• SMTP Host - mail.example.com (change example.com to your actual domain)
• SMTP Username - Enter the email account created in the previous chapter
• SMTP Password - Enter the password for your email account
• SMTP Port - 25 or 2525

Click on the Submit button to keep the changes.

How to configure registration options in PHPFox

Receiving payments from your website is important, especially if you have already configured the subscription packages and advertisements. To configure that as well, you need to access your website as administrator and then click on the AdminCP button at the top-right corner.

Click on the Settings tab on the main menu and then Payment Gateways.

You do have the ability to use 2 payment gateways for your needs – 2checkout and PayPal.

Click on the arrow drop-down button next to the payment gateway you wish to edit. Then, simply click on the Edit Gateway Settings button.

<img alt="Choose a payment gateway to be used >

Edit the following options:

• Title: Set the title of the payment gateway.
• Description: Enter a short description for the payment.
• Active: Set the payment gateway as active/inactive.
• Test Mode: Set the payment gateway in test mode or not.
• PayPal Email (dependent on payment gateway): Enter the email for your PayPal account.
• 2Checkout Vendor ID Number (dependent on payment gateway): Enter your vendor ID for 2Checkout.

Click on the Update button to keep the changes.

How to change the logo on PHPFox website

The registration page of a PHPFox website is presenting a world map image. However, the concept of representing that the community is world-wide may not match your actual needs.

If you want to change that image to a custom one, which is related to the actual purpose of your PHPFox community, there is an easy way for achieving that.

Log into your cPanel account and locate the File section. Then, simply click on the File Manager service.

Access the location of your PHPFox website. In our case, this is the public_html/ directory. Then, you need to navigate to:

/theme/frontend/default/style/default/image/layout/

Click on the Upload button at the top menu and then upload the image that you wish to place on the registration page of your website. Make sure that it is using the same name: banner.png

All done. When you access the front-end of your website, you will be able to see the new image placed properly.