webpad is pretty light on your server, and doesn't require too many additional modules, but there are some that you will need. These tend to be very common, so if you don't know, then give it a try and you probably have them already!
webpad currently supports the following browsers/platforms. It may support others, but due to the complexity of some of the JavaScript used (specifically for the HTML tools), it may not perform entirely as expected. All browsers will need JavaScript, cookies and CSS enabled, and you should allow popups for the domain you have webpad installed on in any popup blocking tools you have.
Support for other browsers (esp. Safari) and platforms (hopefully Linux) is hopefully coming in future versions - if you'd like to help then please get in touch with me to discuss testing etc.
NOTE: Safari on OS X is not currently supported - it has some problems with the HTML tools in webpad that cause them to function incorrectly.
Back to topDownload the latest version of webpad from its project page at Dented Reality.
It should be available in compressed .zip format and .tar.gz
formats, so you can get one that works for you.
To 'install' webpad, all you really need to do is copy the files from the download into a directory on your server which is available from the web. You can uncompress the file on your machine and then FTP all of the files onto your server, or if you have shell (SSH/Telnet) access to your server, then it will be quicker to upload the compressed file, and then decompress it there. If you're uncompressing the file on your server, you should be able to use something like this (where <version> is obviously the version of webpad that you have downloaded):
tar -xzvf webpad-<version>.tar.gz -- OR -- unzip webpad-<version>.zip
webpad will uncompress into its own directory (named webpad-<version>/),
and will create all the files it needs.
If you're uploading the files individually then just create a directory on your server and go ahead and upload the contents of the compressed download into it.
If you access webpad using a browser right now, it will give you a message saying that the configuration file is missing - that's coming up soon, but first we need to check some permissions.
Back to topwebpad will run just fine with PHP in either CGI mode, or installed as a module within Apache or IIS. It has been most-thoroughly tested on Apache. If you have CGI mode available to you (for example with the excellent DreamHost), then I recommend you use that, because it means less hassles with file permissions, since webpad effectively runs as 'you' (your user).
NOTE: If you are running PHP in CGI mode, then it will run as your user, so you shouldn't need to change any permissions. This is the recommended mode to run PHP in for using webpad.
If you (or your host) are running PHP as a module, then you should be aware that all file access is based on the user that the web-server is running as (normally www, apache or IUSR_something). Because of this, you must give that user access to the files/directories that you wish to edit using webpad. On a *NIX/BSD machine (including OSX), you can do this at a shell prompt using a command like this:
chmod 777 *
or, if you'd like to give webpad to a home directory and all subdirectories
(assuming the home directory is called home_dir, then change into
the directory above home_dir, and enter this:
chmod -R 777 home_dir/
You should be able to do the same thing in most FTP programs using a "Change Permissions" option of some sort. If you are doing this, then you want to give read, write and execute permissions to "user, group and all".
NOTE: Changing permissions to '777' gives all users full access to your files. You should obviously not do this to any sensitive files. If you are in a position to do so, you might consider adding your user to the same user as the web server and only allowing that group access, or configuring your server somehow else to avoid this problem. This is where running PHP in CGI mode is handy!
Once you've configured those permissions, you also need to check webpad's /temp/
directory. Even if you don't give webpad the ability to edit itself (a good
idea security-wise), you need to allow it full access to its /temp/
directory to temporarily store files from places like FTP servers and uploads.
Do this (from inside the directory you installed webpad in, from the shell prompt)
like so:
chmod -R 777 temp/
As with the other permissions, you can also do this from your FTP client if it has the option to change permissions on the server.
NOTE: Your configuration settings are stored in the file /admin/configuration.php;by
default, this file is accessible via the web, although it should be parsed as
a PHP file (and produce no visual output). I've included a .htaccess
file to prevent direct access to all files in the /admin/ directory
except for hash.php (for creating a password hash). You should
confirm that this restriction works properly on your webserver and if not, implement
your own protection to prevent people accessing configuration.php
directly.
Now on to configuring your specific settings for webpad!
Back to topThe first time you attempt to access webpad, you will be asked to configure it, and be directed straight to the 'Settings' page. From there, you can adjust all of the settings required to make webpad work just the way you want it to.
Make sure you enter a username to access webpad, and then specify a password (and confirm it in the box next to that) to secure your installation. By default, the Settings page will suggest the directory that webpad is installed in as your home directory; you can change that to anything else you like. Once you've entered a directory, you should click the 'Test' button to make sure webpad can access it properly.
Some sections (Email, FTP and Plugins) need to be enabled (by checking the checkbox next to the title) before you can change any of their settings.
When you are done configuring all your settings, click 'Save' and then you can click the link to go back to webpad. If this was your first time entering any configuration details, then you will need to log in using the username and password you just set first.
Now that you're done configuring your plugins, there are a collection of optional
settings that you may like to tweak as well. These settings are more 'system
level', so you definitely shouldn't need to change them, but
you can if you like. You can modify these in the /admin/webpad_conf.php
file if you need to.
$config['mycomputer_icon'] = 'mycomputer.gif';
$config['mycomputer_label'] = 'My Computer'; $config['myserver_icon'] = 'myserver.gif'; $config['myserver_label'] = 'My Server'; $config['ftpserver_icon'] = 'ftpserver.gif'; $config['ftpserver_label'] = 'FTP Server'; $config['plugins_icon'] = 'plugins.gif'; $config['plugins_label'] = 'My Plugins'; $config['webpage_icon'] = 'webpage.gif'; $config['webpage_label'] = 'Webpage';
These settings all control the icons and labels that appear in the Locations
Bar. If you'd like to change them, go ahead, but keep in mind that the labels
have to fit into a narrow bar, so they can't be too long. You can either copy
your own icons over the ones specified here, or enter a new filename. The icon
is expected to be in the /images/ directory within webpad's installation,
and should be a 35 x 35px transparent-background .gif file, done
over a matte of hex code #265997.
$file_types = array();
$file_types['css'] = 'Cascading Style Sheet (*.css)';
$file_types['html'] = 'Hypertext Document (*.html)';
$file_types['js'] = 'JavaScript Source File (*.js)';
$file_types['php'] = 'PHP Script File (*.php)';
$file_types['sql'] = 'SQL Dump File (*.sql)';
$file_types['txt'] = 'Text File (*.txt)';
$file_types['xml'] = 'XML Document (*.xml)'; $file_types['all_files'] = 'All File Types (*.*)';
The $file_types array contains all of the recognized file formats
to display as options when saving a file to the client. This is simple used
to auto-complete the filename if the user forgets to put it when the type a
name. Set the array with the extension (no dot) as the key, and the label you'd
like to appear for that file type as the value.
$config['restrict_files'] = array('jpg', 'gif', 'png',
'xls', 'pdf', 'tar',
'gz', 'zip', 'ico',
'exe', 'swf', 'rar');
This array restricts access to that users don't open files that webpad can't handle. If any file with one of the extensions in this array is encountered in a server or FTP listing, it will be avoided (and webpad will not allow access to it).
Back to topNow that you have configured webpad, if you haven't already done so, you may log in and try it out.
Point your browser to the directory you installed webpad in (e.g. http://www.yourserver.com/webpad/)
and you should get the login screen.
If you get an error message of some sort, it should tell you what you need to do to fix it, so go back, take care of that, then come back to here and try again.
Assuming you get the page asking you to log in, enter the username you specified, and the password you specified on the Settings page. Click 'Log In' and you should be taken directly to webpad.
Now you can try opening some files from around the place and make sure everything works. If something doesn't appear to work, it's normally because the permissions on your server are wrong. Go back, check all your settings, make sure the permissions on your server are set correctly and then try again.
Now you'll want to know what all those cool-looking buttons and things do, just jump over to the User Manual and find out!
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