ClassAd administration
The administration is rather self-explanatory. To start the administration, open the script admin.php.
If you are using the administration for the first time or if you have restarted your web browser, you have to log in. For security reasons, it is highly recommended that Admin name and password are changed before using the script on a website (see inc/config.inc.php)
After a successful login you should see the following options:
Edit ads
In some cases it is necessary to edit the inserted ads. Select menu item "Edit ads" to edit, release, delete, or to use other ad options. In detail, the following actions are implemented:
Ad overview
In the upper left part of the dialog you see the ad overview. All ads stored in the market's database are displayed here. Every entry includes the following information:
- Unique ad id
- Ad title
- "Featured ad" (shown as !* FEAT *!)
- Picture attached (shown as !* PIC *!)
- Only closed usergroup (shown as !* 18 *!)
Ad filter
To edit an ad, you have to select it with a left mouse click. If your market runs well and you have a lot of ads shown in the ad overview, you should use the filter function to find a special ad.
To use the filter function, simply put in the search key into the related text input and click "Set Filter". After that, only the matching ads are displayed in the ad overview. To display all ads again, click "Delete filter".
The filter allows for ad id, ad title, and name of ad inserter.
Edit ad
Click on the "Edit ad"-button to edit the details of the selected ad. After editing the relevant fields, click "Save" to store the changes into the database.
Release ad
Click on the "Release ad"-button to release the selected ad. The release may be necessary, if an user inserted an ad with inappropriate 'direct submit'-rights (see inc/config.inc.php). As an alternative, you can use the link contained in the Administrator's notification of an unreleased ad.
Delete ad
Click on "Delete ad"-button to delete an ad, before the regular end of lifetime, from the market. Please keep in mind that this action is irreversible, i.e. the ad and all attached pictures are permanently deleted from the database.
Prolong ad / (unlimited)
Prolong a selected ad for 30 days or unlimited (10 years).
Featured on / off
The Administrator has the privilege to mark an ad as 'featured', what mens that it is displayed on the homepage/index of the market. The marking can be revoked by the Administrator at any time.
Closed usergroup on / off
Every ad can be defined whether it belongs to the closed usergroup. With this option, an ad can be defined as only visible for users that are members of the closed usergroup.
Edit and delete users
For some circumstances it is necessary for the Administrator to edit user data. Select "Edit users" to start the ClassAd user management.
What you should know about users in ClassAd:
- User names have to be unique and are not editable (not by user and not by the Administrator)
- The user selected e-mail address has to be unique within the ClassAd system. This prevents (more or less) double entries of users and ensures that the 'Password lost'-function is working.
- Users can be blocked, i.e. they cannot log in anymore
- Users can be registered using the recommended optional-in-procedure. Detailed information.
The following function are available for user management:
User overview
In the upper left part of the dialog you can see an overview of all existing users. Each entry contains the following information:
- Username
- Realname of user
- User blocked (shown as !* BLOCKED *!)
- User not released/activated (shown as !* AUTH *!)
- User is member of closed usergroup (shown as 18)
Select user / Filter
For all kinds of actions it is necessary to select a user with a mouse click. If your market runs well and you have a lot of users shown in the user overview, you should use the filter function to find a special user.
To find an user, enter the search key in the related text input and click "Set Filter". To inactivate the filter, click "Delete Filter". The filter allows for username, realname and city of user.
Edit user ...
This function enables you to change the contact and address data of a user. Furthermore, you can assign one or several user types to an user.
More information about the available user types in ClassAd can be found here.
Activate/ deactivate user
An user account can be blocked temporarily in case of breach of market rules (general terms and conditions or similar). This means that the user may not login for a certain time period and hence cannot use any market functions.
This blocking can be done or cancelled any time.
Delete user
An user can be deleted from the database due to false entries, breaches by users or other. If the user should be able to take part in future market transactions, the user account should be blocked temporarily only.
When a user has been deleted, his ads remain in the database.
Warning: This step is irreversible, i.e. user data are deleted from the database and are lost irrecoverable.
Closed user groups on / off
This option clears a certain user for the closed user group or deletes the clearing. A cleared user can access ads and categories which are marked as only visible for closed user group. A user who hasn't been cleared cannot view these categories and ads or cannot access them.
User authenticated on / off
An user can be authenticated or not, according to his market status and security settings which have been set (further details of security options are here). The button is an abbreviation for the path user editing / set user rights / save.
Define free fields
With free fields, you may add further fields according to your wishes and requirements according to standard input fields. Further details of this feature are here.
Add category
This option enables you to add new categories to the database. The category overview on the upper left serves to your information only and a chosen category has no effect on new categories.
A new category needs three inputs:
- category name ,
- category description,
- and a logo file from the subfolder /graphics.
In case you are working with the enhanced (structured) category model, you must choose a mother category ("superior category") additionally. The new category will be subsidiary to this mother category as a child category. To create a category on the upper level ("top level"), choose "----" as mother category.
Additionally, you may define whether a category should be accessible for all users who are part of closed user groups. Members who are not part of this group cannot view or access the ads in this category.
Further information about category planning and administration please look here.
Edit category
Created categories can be changed or restructured by the admionistrator at anytime.
To change a category, choose the category from the upper left list box by marking it with a left mouse click. All actions conducted from hereon refer to the chosen category.
Next, edit the input fields you would like to change - for category characteristics which should not be changed, leave the input fields empty or choose the respective option. To save your changes to the database, click "Submit changes ".
When editing categories, a circular reference may occur. This error needs a short explanation. A circular reference can occur when a superior category in a category which is to be changed needs to be switched. Through this action it can happen that a superior category is changed in a way that a category, directly or indirectly, becomes its own mother category (i.e. is linked over several other categories). This behavior would destroy the category tree, as this is not linear anymore, but shows a circular reference. ClassAd checks this with every change of the superior category.
Delete categories
To delete a category from the category tree, click "delete category". The marked category will be deleted irreversibly - for this reason, this function should be used with care only.
Optionally, cou may click the check box "also delete display of marked category". When this option is activated, all included ads will be deleted when the category is being deleted. This deletion is irreversible also.
Update category cache
ClassAd has a two-step cache model which enables you to high-performantly build a large category tree with many levels. Under certain circumstances (e.g. when switching between test and active database) it can be necessary to induce the reorganisation of cache.
For further information about caching of ClassAd please click here.
Note: After a change in categories no manual cache update is necessary as ClassAd executes this autonomously.
Delete expired ads
Ads in ClassAd dispose of a defined expiration date. This expiration date can be defined by the user when the ad is entered. In the ad overview, the expiration date can also be prolonged by the user.
Expired ads are deleted in three ways by ClassAd:
- Automatic deletion through maintenance script (via Cronjob)
- Automatic deletion through index page (by chance)
- Manual deletion through the menu item described herein.
In the ad selection area, all ads are displayed whose expiration date is before the current date. Mark one or several ads which you want to delete and click "delete marked ads". The marked ads are deleted from the database irreversibly.
Display statistics
In ClassAd 4.0, a rudimentary statistics module was implemented which displays an overview of top ads, top categories, top users, and general performance indices.
In detail, the following statistics are currently implemented:
- General statistics
Includes information on number of categories, ads, and users and gives the ad-per-day-index which displays how many ads have been entered per day during the market runtime (and which are still active).
- Top ads
Ads which have the highest number of views. Sorting is relative, i.e. based on the runtime up to now. Ads which have not been published for three days in the market, are excluded from the statistics to avoid distortion.
- Ad per day
A good market index is the ad-per-day-index according to time spans. It shows how the ad quantity (insertions) has changed within a certain time span. Please remember that statistics (especially in longer periods) will be distorted by the fact that deleted ads cannot be calculated any longer within statistics.
- Category statistics
The category statistics give an overview about the categories used most (according to number of included ads) .
- Top user
User according to number of included ads
Show logfile
This option is for display of all important recorded events. The name logfile is actually deceptive as the events are stored in the database and not in a file.
In detail, the following events are recorded:
- Conducted searches including the search word
- Successful registrations of market users
- Abortive registrations
- New user entries, editings, and deletions
- New ad entries, editings, and deletions
To every entry the IP address and user ID are recorded also (if available).
Choose the kind of logfile information and click "show logfile". Then you can view the list of records as well as information to all actions. Sorting is chronologically descending.
In periodical intervals - according to their effective use - of ClassAd the logfiles should be deleted to unload the database. To do this, choose a logfile and put the option button to "delete logfile". Start the deletion process with the button below.
Display PHP information
This menu item displays PHP information.
Maintain database
This menu item makes functions available for the Administrator, which allow him to maintain the ClassAd database. Generally spoken, MySQL is a very stable database system and it is improbable that your tables will ever be destroyed. But on systems with heavy traffic (mainly write-access), tables should be checked and optimized regularly.
!Warning: Database maintenance should only be done, if it is really necessary. Further more they should be done by someone, who has database knowledge and a working desaster-recovery strategy!
The following maintenance options are provided by ClassAd:
- Check database
Checks the database for errors in table- and index-structure. It should be activated after a system crash, anytime the database could not be closed regularly and/or once a month.
- Optimize database
Optimizes the ClassAd database, i.e. indices are rebuilt and simple table errors are repaired automatically. It should be activated once every three months; on systems with high traffic even more often.
- Backup database
Creates a complete backup of all tables into a specified backup directory (see inc/config.inc.php). Please make sure that all tables are backed up properly to avoid dataloss on recovery.
Attention: The backup/restore-system uses MySQL system-functions ('Dump'), which makes it necessary to access the local filesystem on your webserver. If this is not available at your webspace provider, you should use other backup-methods instead.
- Restore database
Restores a complete database from backup directory.
! Attention: ClassAd will not delete an existing database or its tables by design. To restore a database, the database itself has to be created and must not contain any tables.
Logout Administrator
Please leave the administration with this button, because this is the only *really* safe way to do that.