Administering Crew1501 Wiki

Notes for/from the Administrator(s)

If issues isn't here, check the blog.

Table Of Contents


Philosophy:

  • I'm the administrator because I'm paying for the domain and the hosting. Why? Both costs fit nicely on my annual 1040, Part A, and, IMHO, this is a great way to stay current with Web 2.0 functionality (fundamental for any/all Chief Technology Officers; but my day job is not important here). Bottom line, I'll take care of the basics for the Crew's site. But I'd prefer not to do this all by myself.
  • Any/all members of the Crew who want, and will help, will get access consistent with their needs and ability.
    • Youth will need to get approval from at least one parent.
    • Anyone found violating BSA policy on Internet content or use will be banned from access to the maximum extent possible. In addition, understand that the Web is both ephemeral and eternal; you might post unacceptable content or make an inappropriate comment that you quickly remove, but someone might have captured it and could hound you with it forever.
  • Any Youth willing to perform in a role of responsibility is due compensation. Any/all resources from Crew1501.org (external link) are negotiable. For example, you need a way to demonstrate a class project but don't have the time to burn a CD? You need a place to store your Eagle project or Gold Award? Want the option of going to an interview for a tech job and be able to say "Instead of this paper description, how about I give you a tour of my on-line work?" Then step up to be a leader, I'll be your tech support (day job permitting; see above), and we'll make it happen.

Advancement

  • On-line advancement (external link) Suggests using Internet Explorer. FireFox seems to work, but the site administrator has programmed the application to issue a warning.
  • Unit ID: 100151349
  • Instructions:
There are three stages in the Internet Advancement process:
Stage 1Load Roster You load the unit information from the council or you may upload a unit advancement file for processing. NOTE: Poor wording; implication is I need a file in-hand. The information from council, however, can be loaded system-to-system just be clicking the right links.
Stage 2Update Member You select the members you wish to update and insert new advancement information.
Stage 3Submit Report You submit your unit's advancement information to the council. This step ensures Council has the same advancement info as the unit. Then print the Advancement Report Package with the Unit Awards Summary and the Advancement Update Summary (helps when shopping for the awards).

Notes:
  • From the site: You may leave the process and return later. Internet Advancement will save your work, and you will begin at the beginning of the stage you were in when you left. We recommend that you gather all the required information, including youth advancement records and merit badge applications with appropriate signatures, before beginning this process. You must complete Internet Advancement on a computer connected to a printer. To upload an advancement file, you must first create the file from PackMaster or TroopMaster , Rank N' File, Scoutmate , or ScoutSoft .
  • Personally, I recommend clicking on Review Unit Roster, then publish the resulting PDF in the Private files area of this site. Removes doubt regarding official information.

  • The http://www.troopmaster.com (external link) website has instructions. Can't find how to use Troopmaster to manage the Troop and Crew membership, though. Mrs. Hamilton is researching.

Recharter


List servers

List of MembersListserver
Venturers?http://crew1501.org/mailman/admin/venturers_crew1501.org
Adults?http://crew1501.org/mailman/admin/v1501parents_crew1501.org
Philmonties?http://crew1501.org/mailman/admin/philmonties_crew1501.org

Concept mapping

Though FreeMind appears rated highly, but supports Mind Maps, not concept maps. Will try the mapping tool (external link) from the Institute for Human and Machine Congnition, IHMC (external link).

Issues with TikiWiki 3.0 and higher

Basically, the issues are that modules users learned to use in TikiWiki 2.4 aren't working in Version 3.0 or higher.
For example, the Tiki events module (the small calendar typically in the right menu) doesn't seem to function in 3.0. Also, the image gallery in 3.0 will not create 300x300 pixel thumbnails. When I set the image gallery to create 300x300 pixel thumbnails, the result are images equal in size to full-size images. The TikiWiki 3.0 instance of the Crew website (MySQL database: _tkwk01) could be backed up, a new TikiWiki site created and the backup imported (hope it works). Should result in a 2.4 version site with all the content of the current site. This process worked for the Troop (MySQL database: _tkwk03). Will try (as of 2009-08-23).
Appears the effect is temporary; logging back in shows thumbnails. Must be patient.

Creating Content

There are two ways to create a page, both begin by specifying the name of the new page in an existing page.
1. Enter a word in CamelCase-a word in which at least two non-successive letters are upper case and the rest are lowercase, like NewPage . The word will be the name and title of the new page;
2. Create a relative link in the text with ((New Page|reference to new page)) ("New Page" is the title and "reference to new page" is displayed).
When the edited page is saved, you will notice a small red question mark to the right of the link you just created. If, while logged in, you click on the question mark, you'll start an edit session on the new page.

Today's Holy Grail

Photo gallery. Have tried Gallery and was highly disappointed when, due to unknown security setting, the site got hacked. Am currently using Gallery for another site I support; Lutheran Church of the Abiding Presence (external link) in Burke, VA (works, but statistic reports imply hackers are hitting the gallery more than the membership).
Until we have a solid, maintainable security model, I'll continue to manually create the HTML (one index.html for a folder of images; sub-folder contains thumbnails created using EasyThumbnails) and publish the folder to the /public-html/Event directory; won't use PHP applications pulling from a MySQL database of images. Much safer using basic HTML displaying JPEGs (plus, I also get a way to display the event image folder from local files; no Internet connection required!). I don't think the Crew needs anything fancy. Just a time-ordered set of captioned and dated thumbnails with options to view higher resolution versions by clicking on the caption or image. I'd prefer to generate much of the caption. For example, I currently create the HTML using a Windows batch program and a spreadsheet. The batch program creates a listing of file names and dates (would love to know how to print out Exif information). The spreadsheets converts the HTML from the listing. The discussion in the caption is manually created (usually by having Crew members make comments).
Research needed into the following:

Another quest, XP Pro Batch Files

  • Windows Batch Files for Fun and Profit (external link): Looks promising. Why? Trying to control volume of "stuff". For example, a computer I support had 4Gb free out of a total of 80Gb. What was "eating" the space?
    • Did a search of C: in file explorer for *.ppt* Found 1,072 files.
    • Many were colored blue (indicating Disk Cleanup had compressed them).
    • Sorted by date. About 80% had dates of last modification prior to 1-Jan-2007.
    • Found 3 folders using 1.2Gb space with no new files in past 3 years.
    • Discussed findings with the owner. Didn't have a plan for determining the value of the old files, but was highly reluctant to discard them. Sound familiar to anyone?

And another quest, Subdomains

  • What about Venturers who have projects and need a collaborative space for their "stuff". Should be able to create a sub-domain (xxx.Crew1501.org or yyy.T2761.org). "How" is the question (setup, secure, monitor, ... a bunch of "hows").
  • Easier than expected.
    • Run the SimpleScript for the desired application, install in new subfolder of public_html. Then create the subdomain in cpanel, being sure to specify "Use existing folder", the folder created with SimpleScript.
    • Becomes clear, now, what was behind the question from the BlueHost (external link) knowledge base: "How to stop people from being able to use the sub-domain to get to your add-on domain." Sub-domain? Add-on Domain? Why would you want to stop the use? For example, the Scouts in GSA Troop 2761 are working on their gold award project. They've created a groupware site at http://goldaward.t2761.org (external link). If they needed to create their own domain (T2761Gold.org, for example), they would not want www.goldaward.t7621.org to work.

Stumbled on Favicons

  • Wanted an alternative to the TikiWiki icon in the address; wanted the Venture logo. Quick search came up with an on-line favicon creator at HTML Kit (external link). Look to the left of the "http://crew1501.org" in the address window.
Won't recommend it for general use, but it is an interesting example of how a site that provides a service may become more popular (higher visit rate) than a portal.

FTP test

Photos. Could use CopperMine , Gallery, or other photo gallery, but that's tantamount to telling the cracker world "Come on in!". I've created a folder for photos (V1501-Images). Now I need to create an account for the ftp.
Form of the ftp will be:
ftp://user%40yourdomainname.com:FTPACCOUNTPASSWORDHERE@yourdomainname.com (external link)
I will require the user to enter the password, so I'll leave out the ":FTPACCOUNTPASSWORDHERE"
What appears to work well is using FileZilla to V1501ImageUpload (a folder that's the peer of public_html). Create a directory with YYYYmmDD -Event format of name, upload images, log into the site, and run Image Galleris/Directory Batch. Select one file and all options (e.g., to remove extension, to use name for description, and use subfolder to create directory).

What databases support which sites?

Site Database Description
http://www.waisanen.us/Crew1501 (external link) waisanen_tkwk04 Legacy Crew site
http://www.waisanen.us/Troop1501 (external link) waisanen_tkw2 Production Troop site
http://www.waisanen.us/V-1501 (external link) waisanen_tkw3 Test Crew site
http://www.waisanen.us/Venturing1501 (external link) waisanen_tkw4 Production Crew site
http://www.waisanen.us/Crew1501-20100314 (external link) waisanen_znp3 Production Crew gallery
http://www.waisanen.us/Troop1501Photos-ZP (external link) waisanen_znp1 Production Troop gallery

If admin password is lost/forgotten:

Answer: Go to PhpMyAdmin and run the following command:
Code to update admin password
UPDATE `users_users` SET `password`='MYNEWPASS', `hash`= md5('adminMYNEWPASS') WHERE `login`='admin';

For example, to reset password to admin:
Example of update
UPDATE `users_users` SET `password`='admin', `hash`= md5('adminadmin') WHERE `login`='admin';

Make sure to use something else as a password though!

If you delete the admin account, how can you restore it?
Answer: Go to PhpMyAdmin and run the following command:
Code to create admin account
INSERT INTO `users_users` SET `password`='MYNEWPASS', `hash`= md5('adminMYNEWPASS') WHERE `login`='admin';