In this tutorial, we cover the major configuration you need to make in your Boonex Dolphin website. Amongst others, this will cover reCaptcha verification, license registration, copyright editing, customize registration, changing the logo, template installation and much more.
Further reading:
How to Install Modules in Boonex Dolphin
How to Install Boonex Dolphin Social Network
How to configure the default modules in Boonex Dolphin
Enabling reCaptcha human verification
In order to increase the security and to prevent spam bots to create fake profiles on your Social Community you will need to take advantage of the reCaptcha human verification service. Boonex Dolphin comes fully integrated with that service and the only thing you will need to do is to enable it.
To enable reCaptcha in Dolphin, you will need to:
Step 1: Generate the Required Keys
Step 2: Activate reCaptcha in Dolphin
Further reading:
How to Install Modules in Boonex Dolphin
Boonex Dolphin Web Hosting
How to Install Boonex Dolphin Social Network
How to configure the default modules in Boonex Dolphin
Step 1 Generate the Required Keys
First before you can begin configuring the feature you will need to have the appropriate keys issued. When we say keys we mean two randomly generated strings called Public and Private key. These should be generated from Google:
There you should click on the “USE reCAPTCHA ON YOUR SITE” button and then on the next page the “Sign up Now” button which will lead to the “Create a reCAPTCHA key” page.
On this page you should enter the domain name of your Social Community and press the Create Key button at the bottom of the form.
This action will generate the required keys which you will be presented with on the next page.
Please copy these keys on a save location for further use.
Step 2 Activate reCaptcha in Dolphin
Now that you have the keys generated it is time to activate those. In order to do so you will need to login into the administration area of your website and navigate to Settings>Advanced Settings.
On that page under the Security section you will notice the two fields “ReCAPTCHA Public Key” and “ReCAPTCHA Private Key”.
You will need to fill those fields with the keys you have generated earlier and once you are ready to click the Save button.
That’s it! You have now fully functional reCAPTCHA human verification enabled and you should be able to verify the feature on the Sign Up page of your Social Community.
Further reading:
How to Install Modules in Boonex Dolphin
How to Install Boonex Dolphin Social Network
How to configure the default modules in Boonex Dolphin
How to register your Dolphin license
Currently Boonex Dolphin comes with two types of licenses – Standard and Prime. The cost of these licenses and the features they provides are listed at the official Boonex Dolphin purchase page.
If you decide to purchase a license and you are wondering how to apply the license on your already built Social Community website this tutorial will show you how in few steps your license will be applied and working.
Step 1 Simple Activation
If you have used a trial version of the Boonex Dolphin platform until now you were most probably prompted with a message indicating that you should purchase a license and add it. Thus once you purchase your license you can simply logout from your administration area and then login again for that message to be prompted once again.
As you understand your license will be encoded string once you receive it and you will simply need to paste that string into the License field in the prompted message. Next if you press the “Register” button you will be able to register the license.
Step 2 Advanced Activation
If you would like to avoid the logout/login step you can directly input the license into the additional page of your admin area called “License”. That page is available in your Administration area > License.
There you will be able to see a single section where your current license type is listed. This can also serve as verification of your license once it is activated.
In the same section you will also find the registration form from the prompted message on login where you can also register your license. Assuming that you have not activated your purchased license and you are on this page you can simply input the license into the text field and then press the “Register” butt
Once the purchased license is registered you will be able to notice it with the change of the “TRIAL” word in the same interface to the concrete license you have purchased – “STANDARD” or “PRIME”
That’s it! You can now register your newly purchased Boonex Dolphin license!
Further reading:
How to Install Modules in Boonex Dolphin
How to Install Boonex Dolphin Social Network
How to configure the default modules in Boonex Dolphin
How to edit the Copyright Notice in Dolphin
The copyright notice is a short text indicating who holds the copyright on your website. The text is usually located at the footer of your application and after the default installation it will be sown as: © Year, YourCompany
In this tutorial we will show you how easily and in a manner of minutes to change this text depending on your company name.
To change the copyright notice in Dolphin, you will need to:
Step 1: Find the Language Keys
Step 2: Edit the Language Keys
Step 1 Find the Language Keys
Usually the system text (added by default not custom) on your Social Community are held by language keys. Thus in order to change certain system text you will need to directly edit the language key holding that text.
This can be easily achieved if you login into the admin area of your Social Community and navigate to Settings>Language settings.
That link will redirect you to the Language settings page where you will be able to see the Filter field located in the first interface called Languages.
This field serves for easily filtering the language keys your Social Community uses and in order to filter the key holding your copyright notice you will need to enter in this field copyright and check the Apply checkbox.
Step 2 Edit the Language Keys
Then you will be presented with 3 language keys you can edit. The one you need is the last one labeled _copyright (System) and in order to edit it you will need to click on the Edit link at the end of the language key name.
The Edit link will prompt an additional interface where all of the language key contents will be displayed.
The value you will need to edit depend entirely on the languages your Social Community supports. For every language you have added you will be presented with a separate field where you will notice the following common string: © {0} YourCompany
The elements of this string are:
copy; - This code stands for “Copyright” and it is used for marking the content this key holds.
{0} – This part of the code stands for the current year. If you leave this value as it is the year in your copyright notice will be automatically updated. Instead if you would like to have a fixed year in your copyright notice you should edit this code to the actual year you would like displayed and it will not update.
YourCompany – The actual name of your company. You should change this string to your actual company name.
Once you are done editing the copyright notice for all of the languages your Social Network supports you will need to scroll down this interface and click on the Save button so the new copyright notice can be displayed on your website.
Congratulations you have successfully edited the copyright notice of your website!
Customizing the Registration Page in Dolphin
The registration form of your social community is the place where your new members will be signing up for an account in your Social Community. It is important to provide the new members with easy and secure way to register a new account on your application. Thus you most probably would like to edit the default configuration of theregistration form.
To modify the Registration form in Dolphin, you will need to:
Step 1: Find the Configuration Interface
Step 2: Configure the Blocks on the Registration page
Step 1 Find the Configuration Interface
The editor for your registration for is available under the Administration area>Builders>Profile Fields.
There you will find similar Fields Builder as the one you have used for building your navigation menu and also the blocks on your Home page.
Step 2 Configure the Blocks on the Registration page
The Fields Builder page is separated on 3 groups of items. Each group contains the items which in this case are the actual fields on your registration form:
Active Items – The items displayed on the registration form
Inactive Blocks – The blocks you can use on the registration page
Inactive Items – The items (fields) available for adding on your registration form
If you would like to add a field to your registration form you will need to drag-and-drop an existing item from the Inactive Items to the Active Items group at the location you would like the new field displayed at.
For example, let’s add the Religion field to the Misc Info section of the registration page. This can be easily done if we drag-and-drop the Religion item from the Inactive Items group to the Active Items group under the Misc Info block.
Now if we check our registration page the new field will be displayed correctly.
The removal of the fields is quite similar to adding such. The only different thing is that you will need to move the item you would like to remove from the Active Items group to the Inactive Items group.
Now you know how to manage the items for your registration page.
Changing the Logo of your community
Part of the customization of your social community will be changing the logo of your website. No matter if you are changing the default logo after successful installation or you are updating your already used logo the method is one for both of the cases.
To change the community logo in Doplhin, you will need to:
Step 1: Access the Logo Modification page
Step 2: Upload your New Logo
Step 1 Access the Logo Modification page
First you will need to have a logo image prepared on your local computer as the method of changing your logo does not allow for the logo to be directly included with a link.
Next you will need to login into your Boonex Dolphin platform administration area and navigate to Settings>Basic Settings.
There you will notice the second interface at the center of the page simply called LOGO.
Step 2 Upload your New Logo
In order to upload the logo you should point where it is located on your local computer using the “Browse” button. Once the logo image is pointed you should edit its size as you might want to have different than the preconfigured size of 64x64px.
At last you will need to simply click on the Upload button and your logo will be uploaded and activated.
Keep in mind that the logo will be displayed at the header of your website. If you have performed a default installation recently the default logo will give you best suggestion how your logo should look like.
Congratulations you have successfully uploaded your brand new logo!
Note:
Keep in mind that png images provides options for transparency especially useful if you would like the logo to nicely fit your background. Another advice we can give here is that you should avoid using images with massive proportions of width and height if of course you would like to achieve nice and user friendly design.
Installing a Custom Template in Dolphin
If you would like to build a good looking, user friendly community using Boonex Dolphin as a platform for your website you will reach a point when editing the overall design could be quite hard for achieving and timely consuming activity. Instead most of the website owners prefer to use already designed and verified templates which can be found over the web.
In this tutorial we will illustrate and describe the entire process of installing Boonex Dolphin template on your website. Of course some templates require different custom modifications to be performed which unfortunately we will be unable to review.
To install a new Template in Dolphin, you will need to:
Step 1: Prepare the new Template
Step 2: Upload the Template Files
Step 3: Activate the Template
Step 4: Clean the Cache
Step 1 Prepare the new Template
Usually when you download a template installation archive you will find different amount of files once you extract the archive. The name of the folder you are specifically looking for begins with the “tmpl_” prefix followed by the name of the template. This is the actual folder which holds the files and folders your template uses and you will need to upload that folder on your website in order for the template to be available for use.
There are quite a lot of websites providing free and licensed templates so you should be able to pick a template. Once you have downloaded the template installation archive extract in on your local computer and find the folder which names begins with tmpl_.
Step 2 Upload the Template Files
Now you will need to upload that folder to your Boonex Dolphin platform based website. The best way to handle that procedure would be if you connect to the hosting space for your website using the FTP service. If you are not quite sure how to do that please check out complete FTP tutorial series.
Once you are connected to the FTP Service for your website navigate to the folder where your Boonex Dolphin platform is installed and then find the templates folder. Once you access that folder you will probably notice that there are already installed templates which are the default templates provided by the platform.
In order for the new template you would like to install to be available for activation and for further use you will need to upload the folder we have mentioned earlier in this tutorial (the one which name begins with tmpl_) in the templates folder.
Step 3 Activate the Template
Since you have already uploaded your new template it is time for the same to be activated. This can be easily achieved if you login into your website’s administration area and navigate to Settings > Templates.
There you will notice a new template has appeared along the default templates “Uni” and “Alt” and the new template is the one you have just uploaded.
In order to activate the new template you will need to click on the Make Default button located just below the name of the new template.
Once you click that link the page will reload and you will now see that the “Make Default” has been replaced with the Default option indicating that this is the default template for your application from now on.
Step 4 Clean the Cache
The last thing you need to do is to clear the cache of your application. This is quite an easy task to handle and in order to do so you will need to navigate to Tools>Cache once you are logged in the administration area of your Boonex Dolphin platform based website.
On that page you will be presented with a the types of cached contents your application has already cached. In order to clean the cache you will need to use the All link next to the graphic in the center of the page.
Once clicked this option will clear all of the cached contents and the graphic you have been presented with will disappear as there will be no cached contents once you clear the cache.
That’s it! Congratulations, your new template has been successfully installed and activated. Navigate to your home page and verify if the template is displayed properly.
Configuring the profile privacy settings
Securing your profile is maybe the most important thing not only for the members of your social community but also to you as administrator of the website. The security offered by the Boonex Dolphin platform is actually a simple restriction to the other members of the website to view your profile and it can be successfully used if you would like to hide a specific piece of information or if you would like to provide concrete group of users only with the option to view that information.
In this tutorial we will show you how to easily change the security for your profile in few minutes.
Since this is a profile setting you will need to edit your profile. This can be achieved if you login into the frontend of your Social Community and navigate to Profile > Edit.
On the right side of the Edit Profile Info page you should be able to notice the Edit Profile Privacy block. In that block there is a single drop down menu containing the user levels allowed to see your profile:
Me Only – Your profile will be visible only for you and for no one else
Public – Your profile will be globally visible to both registered and not registered members
Members – Your profile will be visible only for members of your social community
Friends – Your profile will be visible only to users included in your Friend list
Once you select the desired privacy level please use the Save button in order to save the changes for your Profile.
Congratulations! Now you know how to edit the privacy settings for your profile!
Modifying the content of the information pages in Dolphin
The pages About Us, Contact Us, Privacy, Terms and FAQ are commonly called Information pages due to the fact that they are providing the end user with information about the authors, purpose, terms and conditions for using your website and a way to contact you.
In this tutorial we will describe the editing process behind those pages and how exactly you should edit their components easily and less time consuming.
To edit the Information pages in your Dolphin, you need to:
Step 1: Access the Editing Feature
Step 2: Edit the Language Keys
Step 1 Access the Editing Feature
Since the content of these pages is strictly static these pages cannot be edited by the Page Builder feature as there are no blocks presented on these pages. In order to edit the content of these pages you will need to edit directly the corresponding language key for the elements of these pages.
We will begin editing the About Us page. Once you are logged into the administration area of your Social Network you will need to navigate to Settings>Language Settings.
There in the Filter box you will need to enter the following string:
ABOUT_US
And then check the Apply checkbox so you can filter the languages keys.
Step 2 Edit the Language Keys
The language keys you are looking for here are:
_ABOUT_US (System) – This key serves for the actual content of your About Us page and if you click the Edit link you will be presented with an interface which will allow you to edit the content of that page for each of the languages your Social Community supports.
_ABOUT_US_H (System) – This key holds the name of the About Us page – the string that will be displayed on the browser’s tab which the page is displayed in. Usually you do not need to edit that key since it is well structured by default. However you might want to edit all of the additional languages values.
_About Us (System) – This key holds the value for the title displayed in the content of your About Us page.
The steps are quite similar for all other pages we have mentioned in the beginning of this tutorial and only the language keys are different for each of these pages. In the next lines of this tutorial we will provide you with the exact language keys you will need to edit in order for the rest of the Information Pages to be edited.
Contact Us
_CONTACT (System) - Your contact information goes in this languages key.
_CONTACT_H (System) – The name of the Contact Us page displayed in the tab which the pages has been displayed in.
_CONTACT_H1 (System) – The title of the Contact Us page displayed in the content section of the page.
Privacy
_PRIVACY (System) – The actual content of the Privacy page goes in this language key.
_PRIVACY_H (System) - The name of the Privacy page displayed in the tab which the pages has been displayed in.
_CONTACT_H1 (System) – The title of the Privacy page displayed in the content section of the page.
Terms
_TERMS_OF_USE (System) – The actual content of the Terms page goes in this language key.
_TERMS_OF_USE_H (System) - The name of the Terms page displayed in the tab which the pages has been displayed in.
_TERMS_OF_USE_H1 (System) – The title of the Terms page displayed in the content section of the page.
FAQ
_FAQ_INFO (System) – The actual content of the FAQ page goes in this language key.
_FAQ_H (System) - The name of the FAQ page displayed in the tab which the pages has been displayed in.
_FAQ_H1 (System) (System) – The title of the FAQ page displayed in the content section of the page.
Once you edit each of these languages keys you will have all of your Information Pages edited.
Congratulations you can now edit the content for all of your informative pages!
How to change the Timezone used by Dolphin
By default Boonex Dolphin will use the timezone of the server it is currently installed at. However in many cases this timezone might be different than yours and this might cause some inconvenience since Boonex Dolphin uses timestamps when for example a post to your Forum is added or for the Spy module to properly display the data.
In this tutorial we will show you how to edit the timezone of your Social Community in order to fit the timezone you are currently located at.
To change the timezone used by Dolphin, you need to:
Step 1: Access the Code Edit Feature
Step 2: Edit the Code of your Files
Step 1 Access the Code Edit Feature
The change will require entirely edits upon the code of your Boonex Dolphin platform, thus we would like to begin by letting you know that we will be describing those edits using the Code Edit feature of the File Manager service of your cPanel.
The“Code Edit feature is available by selecting a file you would like to edit the code for, right clicking on the selected file and then choosing the Code Edit option:
Now that we have a common way of editing the code of the files let’s begin doing so.
Step 2 Edit the Code of your Files
The first file you will need to edit is the header.inc.php file. It is located in the inc/ folder contained in the installation directory of your platform. For example if your Boonex Dolphin platform is installed in the public_html folder the inc/ folder will be located at the following path:
/public_html/inc/header.inc.php
The code you will need to add here should be added AFTER the following piece of code located near the 160th line:
mb_regex_encoding('UTF-8');
The new code you should add is:
date_default_timezone_set(“timezone”);
The “timezone” sting should be changed with the concrete identifier for your timezone. All of the currently available identifiers can be checked at the official php documetation page.
For example if you would like to set the timezone for your Social Community to Chicago please use the following line of code:
date_default_timezone_set(“America/Chicago”);
Now save the file!
T
he second file you will need to edit can be found in the inc/classes/ folder and ti is called BxDolDb.php (public_html/inc/classes/BxDolDb.php if your Boonex Dolphin platform is installed in the public_html folder).
Find the following line of code in that file:
mysql_query("SET @@local.connect_timeout=9000;", $this→rLink);
and add AFTER that line the following code:
mysql_query("SET @@local.time_zone='offset'", $this→link);
Now save the file!
The third file you will need to edit can be found in the flash/modules/global/inc/ folder under the name of db.inc.php. (public_html/ flash/modules/global/inc/db.inc.php if your Boonex Dolphin platform is installed in the public_html folder).
Find the following line of code in that file:
mysql_query("SET @@local.connect_timeout=9000;", $this→rLink);
and add AFTER it the following code:
mysql_query("SET @@local.time_zone='offset'", $this→rLink);
Now save the file!
The fourth file you will need to edit can be found in the modules/boonex/forum/classes/ folder and ti is called BxDb.php (public_html/modules/boonex/forum/classes/BxDb.php if your Boonex Dolphin platform is installed in the public_html folder).
Find the following line of code in that file:
mysql_query ("SET NAMES 'utf8'", $this→link);
and add AFTER that line the following code:
mysql_query("SET @@local.time_zone='offset'", $this→link);
Now save the file!
That is all! Once you are done with all of these changes please do not forget to clear the cache of your Social Community via Tools >Cache by clicking on the Clear All link.
Setting up the Email Templates used by Dolphin
When a user sign up to your Social Community the native way of handing that new registration is to send a confirmation email and once the profile has been confirmed for a Welcome email to be sent. The content of these emails is usually preconfigured with the default installation of the Boonex Dolphin platform and most probably at some point you might want to edit them.
To configure the Email Templates in Dolphin, you will need to:
Step 1: Find the Email Templates page
Step 2: Edit Email Templates
Step 1 Find the Email Templates page
As we have mentioned earlier the Boonex Dolphin platform comes with all of the emails your Social community will sent preconfigured. They can be found for editing in your administration area, under the Settings>Email Templates link.
Once you access that link you will see a single section called Email Templates. In this section as you can see there are quite a lot of predefined email templates. Thus let’s take for example the Profile activation notification email template.
Step 2 Edit Email Templates
In order to edit the Profile activation notification email template you will need to click on the little arrow at the end of the email template name.
That's it
