extensions/Downtime/README.html

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   3 <title>Downtime - Vanilla Extension</title>
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  12 <h1 id="top">Downtime</h1>
  13 <p>Downtime is a Vanilla extension that allows the administrator to take
  14 the forum offline for maintenance. Regular users will see a configurable
  15 message from the forum admins while privileged users will still be able to log
  16 in and use the forums normally, more or less.</p>
  17
  18 <h2 id="toc">Table of Contents</h2>
  19 <ul>
  20 <li><a href="#install">Installing and Enabling Downtime</a></li>
  21 <li><a href="#config">Configuration Settings</a></li>
  22 <li><a href="#quirks">Quirks and Gotchas</a></li>
  23 <li><a href="#develop">Development</a></li>
  24 </ul>
  25
  26 <hr />
  27 <h2 id="install">Installing and Enabling Downtime</h2>
  28 <p>In order for Vanilla to recognize an extension, it must be contained within
  29 its own directory within the extensions directory. So, once you have
  30 downloaded and unzipped the Downtime files, you can then place the folder
  31 containing the default.php file into your installation of Vanilla. The path to
  32 Downtime's default.php file should look like this:</p>
  33 <blockquote><code>/path/to/vanilla/extensions/Downtime/default.php</code></blockquote>
  34 <p>Once this is complete, you can enable Downtime through the "Manage
  35 Extensions" form on the settings tab in Vanilla.</p>
  36
  37 <hr />
  38 <h2 id="config">Configuration Settings</h2>
  39 <p>The easiest way to change Downtime's settings is to install and enable
  40 <a href="http://code.google.com/p/vanilla-friends/wiki/SetList">SetList</a>.
  41 Once you enable SetList, forum administrators will see a link to Downtime in
  42 the side panel of the Vanilla settings page.</p>
  43 <p>Downtime has two main settings to worry about. They are stored in Vanilla's
  44 <code>conf/settings.php</code> file.</p>
  45 <dl>
  46 <dt><strong>$Configuration['FORUM_IS_OFFLINE']</strong></dt>
  47 <dd>If this setting is removed or set to "0", your forum will work normally.
  48 If it is set to "1", then only users with special permission will be able to
  49 log in or use the forum. Everyone else will be logged out and will see a
  50 message that the forum is offline for maintenance.</dd>
  51 <dt><strong>$Configuration['FORUM_OFFLINE_MESSAGE']</strong></dt>
  52 <dd>This string contains the message your users will see when the forum is
  53 offline. This setting is optional, but recommended if you don't want to badly
  54 confuse your users.</dd>
  55 </dl>
  56 <p>Anyone who has the "Change application settings" permission (that is, your
  57 admins) will still be able to use the forum normally when it is offline. You
  58 can also allow non-admin users to "test" the forum by giving them the "Can use
  59 the forum normally when it is offline" permission on the "Roles & Permissions"
  60 settings page.</p>
  61
  62 <hr />
  63 <h2 id="quirks">Quirks and Gotchas</h2>
  64 <ul>
  65 <li>When the forum is offline, only the sign-in form will be viewable by
  66 non-admin users. This might give you trouble if you aren't using the standard
  67 Vanilla sign-in form (for example, if you have a Vanilla/Wordpress combo).
  68 Downtime should still work properly, but you might not see the "forum offline"
  69 message automatically because it only appears as a warning on the standard
  70 Vanilla sign-in form.</li>
  71 <li>When the forum is offline, most functions of people.php will be disabled.
  72 That is, pretty much anything other than sign-in won't work; no applying for
  73 membership, no password reset, etc.</li>
  74 </ul>
  75
  76 <hr />
  77 <h2 id="develop">Development</h2>
  78 <p>Downtime was written by
  79 <a href="mailto:squirrel@digitalsquirrel.com">squirrel</a>. Part of the
  80 <a href="http://code.google.com/p/vanilla-friends/">Vanilla Friends</a>
  81 project.</p>
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