NooseLadder Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 Hi, I'm new here. i just found out about Processwire today and am very interested in finding out more. I can see how you build a site from scratch. I have a few questions: 1. Can Processwire be used to allow the client (end customer) to edit/update certain pages only without having the whole site inside Processwire. In other words: If I have an existing site in html/css. Can Processwire be added to the server so that for example only a page on the html site (say a photo gallery page) can be managed through it. Or does the whole site need to be created in Processwire. 2. What is the process for moving an exisiting html/css site into Processwire? I look forward to your replies. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yellowled Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 2. What is the process for moving an exisiting html/css site into Processwire? Like with most CMS, you would convert your HTML into a PW template, basically replacing anything which will be generated dynamically by PW with PHP tags/PW API calls. There's a standard template in /site-default/templates/ of the PW download archive which you can use as a boilerplate. Have a look at the .php/.inc files in there. Basically, you need to reproduce your site's HTML structure there, replacing the parts which will later come from PWs database with the appropriate PHP tags/API calls. You can also replace references to the standard template's CSS and JS files with references to your own CSS/JS, or you can just leave the CSS/JS references and replace the content of those files with your own CSS/JS. As it is most of the time with PW, it's entirely up to you. (And that's great about PW, at least in my book.) Now, what's generated dynamically? Well, that really depends on what you want PW to do. Typically, all page content and the navigation are generated dynamically. You'll find examples for generating a navigation in the standard template, but there's also soma's excellent MarkupSimpleNavigation module. The standard template also has templates for a search function and a sitemap – you might or might not need those in your site. Hope that clears that part up a little. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan Posted May 29, 2012 Share Posted May 29, 2012 If I have an existing site in html/css. Can Processwire be added to the server so that for example only a page on the html site (say a photo gallery page) can be managed through it. Or does the whole site need to be created in Processwire. You can have as much or as little of your site in ProcessWire as you want. ProcessWire will run alongside static HTML sites or sites running in other applications. As for access control, you can define access per-template. So if you want the client only updating the photo gallery page, you would only give them access to edit/create pages using your photo-gallery template. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NooseLadder Posted May 29, 2012 Author Share Posted May 29, 2012 Thank you both for your replies. That sounds great. Are there any examples of how to put only part of your site into Processwire? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I think that the basic profile that is included with ProcessWire is probably the best example. Install that, and then copy a few of your other HTML files into the same root directory you've installed ProcessWire in. Those HTML files will still be accessible when accessed in the URL. So if you are putting part of your site in PW and the other part not, then it's just a matter of linking the two (by way of <a href=...>, etc.) 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diogo Posted May 31, 2012 Share Posted May 31, 2012 I just wanted to say that you can easily put static html files inside PW with all the advantages: nice urls, making them appear on dynamic navigation and searches, or being able to make them dynamic quickly, to name only few. For this, you just have to put them on the templates folder and change the .html extension to .php. Then, go to templates in PW and create a new template for each one, and associate them to these files. Then, create the pages on the tree and choose the correspondent template. That's it! There are also advantages on keeping them as static files of course, being speed the most obvious. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NooseLadder Posted June 1, 2012 Author Share Posted June 1, 2012 Ok. You have to be patient with me. 1. I copy the existing html files into the site/templates folder. OK. 2. I create a new template for each one. OK. 3. And associate them to these files. This is where I'm stuck. Do I have to manually put in the links to images, CSS files into each template file. Not sure what you mean here. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
diogo Posted June 1, 2012 Share Posted June 1, 2012 1. I copy the existing html files into the site/templates folder. OK. Don't forget to change the file extension to .php 2. I create a new template for each one. OK. If you changed them to php, they will appear on "templates found" when creating a new template. 3. And associate them to these files. This is where I'm stuck. Do I have to manually put in the links to images, CSS files into each template file. Not sure what you mean here. The files I was talking about were the old html files, now turned in php files in step one. For the css files and images, you can keep the exact same structure you had. Just move the folders where they were to the templates folder also, so the relations are the same (this will work only if the paths are relative of course). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NooseLadder Posted June 19, 2012 Author Share Posted June 19, 2012 I've got a site ready to put into PW. All the pages are .php. I have installed PW on localhost. Path is localhost>newsitename>processwire. I've got the basic template and pages structure. I have deleted basic page. There's the current Home page that comes with the template. I have put the newsite pages in the processwire>site>templates directory and created each one as a template. Now I'm a bit confused on how to integrate the new pages into the existing template. Do I put them as children under the existing Home page? I'm only really interested at this stage to use PW for access control for my end user to a few pages. I though it would be easier to put all the sites pages into the template and only give the user access to the ones they want to update. I will be having a gallery and a latest news page and maybe one other. My imported site has already been split into separate .php files (header, footer, sidebar etc) and I have those in the templates directory as well as the main content pages. I want my new index.php to be the home page. But i need some guidance on how to integrate into the template. Current pages in pw Admin>Pages: Home Site Map Search 404 Page Not Found Admin Trash Thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan Posted June 19, 2012 Share Posted June 19, 2012 I'm not sure I follow 100%, but it sounds to me like the next step you need to take is add the templates in ProcessWire. If your files are already ready-to-go in your /site/templates/ directory, then you can go to Setup > Templates > Add New Template. Check the box next to all the ones you want to add (of course, leave out your header/footer includes since those are partials rather than actual templates). Then create your new pages using those templates you've added as appropriate. How you structure them is up-to-you. ProcessWire gives you a tree structure which you can push in any direction you want to. Think of your pages as a family tree and decide what should be "children" of another. With regard to access control, you can configure this on a per-template basis. You can also leave it off, which will make each page using a given template inherit access control settings from the nearest ancestor page that has a template defining access (often the homepage). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NooseLadder Posted June 19, 2012 Author Share Posted June 19, 2012 Hi Ryan, Thanks for the reply. I have added the templates for each of my new pages. The existing pages tree as supplied in the basic template is: Home Site Map Search 404 Page Not Found Admin If I add my index.php page to the tree it will be a child under the existing Home page. Is that what needs to happen? I somehow felt that my index (home) page should be the parent, this is where I am confused. So should my tree look like this: Home Index About Us Contact Us Gallery Admin Other page1 Other page 2 etc The existing Home page has the fields that came with the template. So I will need to delete them. OR would it be easier in this case to start with a blank canvas? I tried deleting Home page but it wouldn't let me due to it controlling Access rights. I'm probably overcomplicating this for myself and I feel like a total dunce. I hope you can clarify. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ryan Posted June 20, 2012 Share Posted June 20, 2012 Every site needs a 'root' page (homepage) but it doesn't matter what you do with it. I think all you need to do is just copy whatever is in your index.php file and paste it into the home.php file. And then get rid of your index.php file, because it will be home.php instead. Of course, you can also add/delete fields from the home template as needed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NooseLadder Posted June 20, 2012 Author Share Posted June 20, 2012 Ok thanks. i'll try that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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