OOWP Introduction Part 2: Installation and Setup

[ootpFox07]

OOTP Open Web Platform Introduction Part 2:

Installation and Setup

In this second part of the OOTP open web platform introduction, we will walk through the steps to download and install the library on your web server. The Bonfire library makes installation a breeze so let’s see how we get it setup.

REQUIREMENTS

• A web server running PHP 5.1+, MySQL 5+ with min 200mb disc space (with upwards of 1gB depending on size of your league and its associated HTML report output)
• For League Commissioners and site owners – A copy of OOTP Baseball (v13.3.9 recommended)

INSTALLATION

• Download the latest release of the OOWP.
• As the OOWP is a customized version of Bonfire with the standard OOWP modules included, you can follow the official Bonfire installation Guidelines to install.

NOTE:
If you choose to use a database prefix for table names, be sure to note it as it will be important later in the setup process.

SECURITY NOTE:
As a measure of site security, it is recommended that you do not use the username “admin” or a name based on an administrative email address for your web site. This helps lessen hacking attempts by making your username more difficult for hackers to guess.

LOGGING IN

• From the site home page, login in with your administrative credentials you created during installation.
• Once logged in, click the Admin Dashboard link.
• You will now be on the Dashboard landing page and can browse all the administrative menus.

CUSTOMIZE LEAGUE SETTINGS

• Click the Settings link in the top nav and choose OOTP League Manager.
• Fill out all required fields (Game Version, League ID, HTML Asset and SQL path fields)
• If you set a database prefix during the site installation process, be sure to check the “Use Database Prefix for OOTP data tables” option
• Enter information in any additional fields.
• Click Save.

LOAD OOTP SQL DATA

• If you haven’t already done so, export a MySQL Data Dump from your OOTP game (See the OOTP Manual for help with this operation if you unfamiliar with the process). If you set a database prefix during the Bonfire site installation process, be sure to use the same prefix when exporting your database files.
• Using Filezilla (or another FTP client), upload the mysql.sql files to a non-public folder on your web server (at the location specified in your OOTP League Manager Settings).
• Click on the Custom menu and choose OOTP League Manager
• On the OOTP League Manager screen, click Manage SQL Files.
• By default, all SQL files required by the mod to run will be highlighted and selected.
• Scroll to the bottom of the list and click Load all Checked.
• Once complete, all loaded files will display a LOADED message next to the name and a value will appear in the “Last Load Time” column.

CUSTOMIZE SIM SETTINGS

If you plan to display sim information on your homepage, you need simply upload your league file to the server at the location specified in your OOTP league manager settings. Then tell the mod your sim schedule as specified below:

• Go to the OOTP League Manager Screen and click Set Sim Details.
• Update the Sims per week and Sims occur on fields and click Save.
• If you have a league file uploaded matching the name in your settings, you can then browse to the home page to view the automatic sim information.

If you want more precise control over the auto populated sim details displayed on the homepage:

• Return to Set Sim Details
• Uncheck the Use OOTP League details checkbox
• Enter the custom date and event values in the fields.
• Click Save and return to the homepage to see the custom values displayed.

INSTALLING NEW MODULES

By default, the Open Web Platform includes all the modules you need to run a basic OOTP web site and installs them automatically when you install the Bonfire library. If you wish to add additional modules to the site once it is installed and running,follow the steps below.

• Extract the module files to your hard disk and upload to the sites “bonfire/modules/” folder.
• If necessary, check if the module requires a migration by logging into the dashboard and going to Developer -> Database Tools -> Migrations.
• On the Migrations page, click the appropriate tab. “Core” manages migrations for the Bonfire dashboard itself. Individual module migrations can be selected on the “Modules” tab.
• Select the file matching the number in the “Available” column from the drop down for the first module and click Run Migration.
• Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all modules requiring migration.
• Visit the Settings tab to check if the module contains a settings options for review

ADD A LINK TO THE MAIN NAV BAR

If a module contains a public landing page (this can be confirmed by browsing to “bonfire/modules/[module name]/views” and checking for an index.php file. If it exists, you can add a link to it on the OOTP Home page public nav bar by following these steps:

• Click the Content button in the top nav
• Click Navigation -> Lists.
• Click Create New Navigation.
• Enter a name to display in the nav
• In Path, enter “/” and the module name
• Assure “header_nav” is selected for the group.
• Click Save.

That’s it for part 2. By now, you should have a good idea of what the OOWP is all about and if you followed this lesson, you should have a working copy of the platform on your web server. In the next part of this tutorial series, we will dive more into Bonfire and the structure of its modules system which provides the basis for how mod authors will contribute tools to the platform.

Download the OOWP Today!
Download the latest stable release version from the official OOWP forums page. All the documentation you need is available in the installation and setup guide.

Contribute to the development and help the OOWP grow
The OOWP is a 100% free and open source project. The source code is publicly available on GitHub.com. If you want to contribute to the development, simply head over to my official Github page, fork the related projects, hack the code and send pull request with your updates. It’s that simple.

If you’ve built an OOWP module let me know and I’ll add it to the built on the OOWP list.

Want to help test?
Testing assures everything works as expected and that everyone gets the best fantasy experience possible. Simply download and test the site and log issues on the official Github issues pages. Each portion of the site has its own page and issues list so be sure to log the issue in the appropriate module portion of the site.

Donate
While the OOWP is free to download and use, we do very much appreciate any donations made towards its development.

[dangarion]

Hello,

I'm working on checking this out, just wondering if the folders relative to the root location of OOWP or from root?

The reason I ask is because when I fill out the required information for my OOTP league and hit Save it just goes to a blank page. If I don't type anything in it gives me an error saying I need to input the information.

[ootpFox07]

Originally Posted by dangarion

Hello,

I'm working on checking this out, just wondering if the folders relative to the root location of OOWP or from root?

The reason I ask is because when I fill out the required information for my OOTP league and hit Save it just goes to a blank page. If I don't type anything in it gives me an error saying I need to input the information.

The library works just like CodeIgniter where it bases everything off of the relative root of the OOWP folder. So it can serve as either the main web site itself or can also live any number of levels from the server root. See the other thread for debugging steps for the blank page error.

You can also see this article in the Bonfire help guide for blank page issues. Bonfire runs fine for me on my linux host, but needs some tweaking when I develop on my Windows desktop.

[dangarion]

Interesting, appears the issue was because I was Production, once I changed to Development it worked.

Unfortunately I'm having the same type of issue I used to have with BOSI and Statslab with the size of the MySQL files being too large. even when I split the files I get some memory errors. I was eventually able to get most of the files loaded but I'm not really sure what to do from there. There isn't a List option under content, only Links and Groups.

[ootpFox07]

Originally Posted by dangarion

Interesting, appears the issue was because I was Production, once I changed to Development it worked.

Unfortunately I'm having the same type of issue I used to have with BOSI and Statslab with the size of the MySQL files being too large. even when I split the files I get some memory errors. I was eventually able to get most of the files loaded but I'm not really sure what to do from there. There isn't a List option under content, only Links and Groups.

Hmm, if you don't mind PMing some of your host environment details, I'm very curious why development runs the site but production fails (it should be the other way around honestly). I'm guessing your not using Fidel's AllSimBaseball to host your league?

OOTP files tend to be big and some servers either timeout before all the queries can run or run out of memory (limits on shared hosting are nowhere high enough). I've looked into some methods to batch the loading of the sql scripts beyond just splitting but due to the sheer size of large leagues, never came up with anything reliable. Best advice I can give is to see if you can request a memory upgrade or contact Fidel about a move if he's not your host. I've run some pretty nasty league uploads on my demo site that he hosts and so far have not hit on any major issues.