ARTICLES
Setup & Management
How Do I Add A Block To An Article?
Assuming that you have already created your block, go to: "
Admin > Tiny Portal > Panels & Blocks > SELECT PANEL AREA >
Blocks" and edit the block you wish to add to an article. In the Block settings, look for "Show when viewing this article" option, and select the article you wish for it to appear in from the droplist.
If you have not created your block yet, please read: "
How Do I Create A Block?"
If your block in article is not showing, please read: "
I Added A Block To An Article, But It's Not Showing!"
Doc Written By: Xarcell
How Do I Adjust My Article's Visual Options?
To adjust an articles visual options, such as showing left panel, right panel, author, date, etc. Go to: "
Admin > Tiny Portal > Articles > Select The Article You Wish To Adjust > Edit Visual Options". You can also just select "edit visual options" at the bottom of any article, assuming you have permission to do such.
Then you will have a list of options as follows:
- Show Date: option to show date with article.
- Show Title: option to show title with article.
- Show Author: option to show author with article.
- Show Linktree: the series of links that shows your position within the site/forum.
- Show Top: option to show information header with article. Not present in some themes.
- Show Upper Panel: option to show center panel with article.
- Show Right Panel: option to show right panel with article.
- Show Left Panel: option to show left panel with article.
- Show Bottom Panel: option to bottom center panel with article.
- Show Top Panel: option to show top panel with article.
- Show Lower Panel: option to show lower panel with article.
- Show All Articles In Same Category: option to show all article within same category within article.
- Show Links To Other Categories: option to show links to other categories within article.
- Show Comments Underneath Article: this option allows anyone to see comments on your article.
- Allow To Comment?: this option allows users to leave short comments about your article.
- Do Not Collapse Comments Initially: comments are hidden/collapsed by default, this reverses criteria.
- Show Number Of Views: shows how many times your article has been viewed by someone.
- Show Ratings: shows the average rating and total number of rates.
- Allow To Rate?: option to allow user's to rate your article, based on article rate settings.
- Do Not Use SMF Templates: meaning the article will not appear in a theme, or template. Naked, so-to-speak.
- Toggle All
Use only this theme:
- [dropdown list]: select the overriding theme you wish the article to appear in.
Doc Written By: Xarcell
How Do I Create An Article?
There are 2 types of articles to choose from: the pure html/javascript type or a PHP type. Both will share the same options, but there will be no special text editor for the PHP type. It will also not have a "intro-text" option available.
To create an article, go to: "
Admin > TinyPortal > Articles > Add or
PHP". From there you will have the following options:
- Title: is of course the actual subject of the article
- Body Text: this is where you write your content.
- Use Intro: is a feature where you can specify a shorter text to be used in the category listing.
- Show On Frontpage: will make the article appear on the frontpage of TP. If you set the option of "use intro" the introtext content will be used instead.
- Date: is good to set if you want to shift the order of articles.
- Category: ..the spot to put your articles.
- Intro Text: this is where you write your intro to the article, if you chose to "use intro".
- Code modus: is an easy way to change the article type. [0.9]
- Display: will dictate how the article is displayed
[0]Use frame from theme - use a border around it
- Use just the title - no border, only the title
[0]Do not use title/frame - do not use either title or border
- Status: implies whether the article is on or off
Click save and your done!
NOTE: you may wish to edit your articles visual options after creation. Learn how to do that by reading this guide: "
How Do I Adjust My Article's Visual Options?".
Doc Written By: Xarcell
How Do I Embed A Internal/External Webpage?
You can embed a page in a combination of ways using a HTML/javascript or php in blocks or articles.
Basically you have 3 standard types. The php include, the dynamic iframe, or the simple iframe.
The
first and best way is to use the php "include" function in a php article or block. It doesn't have scrollbars, and applies the same theme unless otherwise directed in the file. The drawback is that it has to exist in your same SMF directory. This is done by using the following script:
include('LOCATION.FILENAME');
Replace "LOCATION" and "FILENAME" with the proper information.
Examples:
The
second way is to use the dynamic iframe in a HTML/javascript block or article. This is a javascript function that makes the iframe auto adjust height & width to fit the whole page, within your page. It is discussed
HERE and the original script can be found
Here. Like the php include, the file must exist within the same SMF directory.
The
third way is a simple HTML iframe. You can embed an web-page outside your domain this way, bu it will not auto-adjust in height. The width can be percentage or fixed. This will not make the content make your theme. You can use the script below, but set the parameters accordingly:
How Do I Lock An Article?
To lock an article to keep anyone from commenting on the article, just go to: "Admin > Tiny Portal > Articles > Select The Article You Wish To Lock > And Click The Lock Icon".
If you need to unlock the article, just navigate your way back to the article and click the Lock icon again.
Doc Written By: Xarcell
How Do I Manage My Articles?
The best way to manage your articles to create article categories for them. This will help keep them organized, based on specific needs. Be sure to edit your category settings to suit your needs. You can read more about category settings
HERE.
From there, you can quick edit any of your articles within their perspective categories from "
Admin > TinyPortal > Articles & Categories > Articles".
How Do I Port My Old HTML Page Content To An Article?
First you will need to create an article. You can do that by going to: "
Admin > Tiny Portal > Articles > Add". The WYSIWYG editor should appear unless you have it disable. If it is not disabled, you will need to click the "source" button. This will bring up the actual code.
Then on your old webpage, highlight all your HTML code between your & tags and copy it by right clicking and selecting "copy", or press "CTRL C".
Now you will want to place that code into your new article. In your article right click and select "paste". If the editor is enabled, it may not let you. You will need to press "CTRL V" to paste the code into the article.
Finally, you will need to select your article options.
Title
- [textarea] Enter your article title here.
Body text:
- [textarea] This is where you paste your content/code.
use intro
Show on front page:
Category
- [dropdown list] Select from the list of categories you have created, if you have created some.
intro text:
- [textarea] Enter your article intro here.
After Saving There Will Be Additional Options
Query title:
- [textarea] Enter your query title here if applicable.
Date:
- [dropdown list] Select your day, if you wish to change it.
- [dropdown list] Select your month, if you wish to change it.
- [dropdown list] Select your year, if you wish to change it.
Click "Save" and your done. If you wish to adjust it's visual options, follow this guide:
How Do I Adjust My Articles Visual Options?
Doc Written By: Xarcell
How Do I Print An Article?
To print and article, just click Print Icon when viewing an article. This will print only the content inside of the whole article, as apposed to the whole webpage.
If you do not see a print icon, then as the admin, make sure it is enabled. Go to: "Admin > Tiny Portal > Articles > Settings > Show print icon in articles?". Make sure it is toggled to "Yes".
Doc Written By: Xarcell
How Do I Sort My Articles?
Currently, the only way to sort your article is to place them into an article category that you have created. In your article category settings, you can toggle sorting options for that article category by selecting it from the droplist.
Current Options are:
- By Date
- By Position
- By Author
- By ID
There is currently no way to sort any articles that are not within a category.
Doc Written By: Xarcell
How Do I Sticky An Article?
To Sticky an article to keep listed above all other article in a category listing, just go to: "Admin > Tiny Portal > Articles > Select The Article You Wish To Make Sticky > And Click The Pin Icon".
If you need to unsticky the article, just navigate your way back to the article and click the Sticky icon again.
Doc Written By: Xarcell
What Are Article Categories?
Article categories are titled sections in which you can place your articles for easier organization and navigation. You also choose not to place an article into a category, and you can create as many categories as you would like.
To create a category, go to: "Admin > Tiny Portal > Articles > Categories > Add Category". Name your category and you can choose to make a parent category, or a child category(sub-category). Once you view your category listing, you can even choose to add an icon to each category by writing in the URL of your image and click "save" at the bottom.
If you wish to change the name of your article category at a later time, simple view your category listing by going to:"Admin > Tiny Portal > Articles > Categories > Catlist". Change the name of the category you choose, and click "save" at the bottom.
That's all there is to it!
Doc Written By: Xarcell
What Are Article Icons?
These are icons or illustrations you can use with your articles when they are published for viewing. In "Admin > Articles > Categories > SELECT CATEGORY" you can edit which type of layout you wish to use for all articles within that category.
Some layout options use icons, and others use illustrations. Icons are generally small, while illustrations will be resized to 128 x 128 for a dramatic visual effect.
All icons & illustrations uploaded, can be removed at a later time if necessary.
Doc Written By: Xarcell
What Are The Article Category Settings?
Here are the category settings as follows:
Name:
- [textarea] | This option allows you to change the name of the category.
Parent:
- [dropdown list] | This option lets you select from a dropdown list of existing categories you want this category to be a child(sub-category) of.
Icon:
- [dropdown list] | This option lets you select the icon you want displayed with the category.
Delete:
- [
] | Click icon to preview this category.
- [
] | Click icon to delete this category.
Access:
- [check boxes] | This option lets you select which membergroups have access to this category and articles within it.
Articles per page:
- [textarea] | This option lets you select the number of articles displayed when viewing this category, before having to go to the next page. EXAMPLE: If the settings is 5, and you have 11 articles, 5 will be one page and 5 will be on page 2, and finally 1 article on page 3.
Query title:
- [textarea] | This option lets you manually change the name of the category within the database. Not recommended, and never should more than one category should have the same query title.
Sort options:
- [dropdown list] | This option lets you list articles in order by date, author, position, or ID number.
- [download list] | This option lets you list articles along with the first option by descending or ascending order.
Layout:
[Show any child categories:
Layout Type:
- Normal article
![](/Themes/default/images/tinyportal/TPcatlayout1.gif)
- Normal + icons
![](/Themes/default/images/tinyportal/TPcatlayout2.gif)
- Icon + links
![](/Themes/default/images/tinyportal/TPcatlayout3.gif)
- Picture + Article
![](/Themes/default/images/tinyportal/TPcatlayout5.gif)
- Menu + fade-in Article
![](/Themes/default/images/tinyportal/TPcatlayout5.gif)
What Are The Article Settings?
Articles have several settings as follows.
Use the WYSIWYG editor?:
- No | This option will disable any WYSIWYG from being used in HTML/BBC articles & blocks.
- Any WYSIWYG editor installed | This option will use the selected editor installed for all HTML/BBC articles & blocks.
Image directory for image uploads through editor:
- one for all | This option creates one directory to keep all uploaded images in through the WYSIWYG editor.
- one by GroupID | This option creates one directory per membergroup, to keep all uploaded images by that membergroup through the WYSIWYG editor.
- one by UserID | This option creates one directory per user, to keep all uploaded images by that user through the WYSIWYG editor.
Use visual verification for comments in articles?
- Yes | This option will show a graphical image, in which the user will need to type what he/she sees to submit his/her comment. (for preventing spam bot posting).
- No | This option will not use a graphical image to prove human visual verification.
Hide the edit article link under articles?
- Yes | This option will hide the quick "edit" link for those with permission at the bottom the article.
- No | This option will show the quick "edit" link for tose with permission to edit the article.
Show print icon in articles?
- Yes | This option will show the icon, allowing user's to print just the content of the article.
- No | This option will not show the icon, not allowing user's to print just the content of the article.
Doc Written By: Xarcell
Where Can I Get TP/SMF PHP Scripts For My Articles?
Who Can Submit Articles?
TinyPortal is designed to allow the administrator to select who can post and moderate articles by membergroup.
So within any TP site, it's solely up to the admin who can submit articles, and who can't.
If you wish to enable article submission by membergroup on your site, simply go to: "Admin > TinyPortal > Articles > Categories > Submissions"and check the membergroups that you want to allow article writing for your site.
Doc Written By: Xarcell
Troubleshooting
I Added A Block To An Article, But It's Not Showing!
Doc Written By: Xarcell
PHP Script In Article Crashed My Site & Database!
In some rare cases, a php script you attempt to use in your php articles may crash your Database, meaning your whole site. In this case, you will need to manually delete the article you created from your database.
For phpMyAdmin:
Go to: "
phpMyAdmin Control Panel > Database You Are Using > Structure > smf_tp_articles > Browse > Name Of Article You Wish To Delete".
Problem solved.
If you cannot access your database, contact your host and ask them to remove the name of your article, which will be your "subject name" row from your "smf_tp_articles" table. For example: If the name of your database is "myDatabase" and the name of your article is "test", ask them to remove:
Subject Name: "test" from the "smf_tp_articles table" in "myDatabase".
Doc Written By: Xarcell