CMS INSTALLATION

The CMS requires web hosting with PHP version 5.6 or higher. A fresh install requires approximately 24mb of file space with additional space required for template files, content and images etc.

To install the CMS all files need to be uploaded to your host. You'll need to use an FTP client (eg. FileZilla) to upload files and to set file permissions. It's usually best to upload to the CMS folder into your website's root directory, this way all CMS files are all contained in their own folder and not mixed with other files and folders in your website's root directory.

An example install directory: /public_html/cms/

File Permissions

Once uploading is complete ensure that the following directories have write access:

/sys
/themes

File permssions can be set using an FTP client or through a file manager on your hosting control panel. Setting permisions to 777 will work for all cases. If your hosting allows scripts to write files into directories with lower permissions such as 755 or 775 you can choose to set permissions to one of these instead.

License File & Loaders

When you download the CMS it includes a trial licence file so you can get up and running quickly. The trial licence allows you to setup and do most things but has limits on how many categories, articles and products can be added.

If you have purchsed a licence you can replace the trial licence file in the CMS root folder with your own licence file to unlock the CMS.

An Ioncube loader must already be installed on your server/hosting to read the licence file and use the CMS. Most hosting setups have an Ioncube loader already installed and running but you can also download and install the appropriate loader for free from https://www.ioncube.com/loaders.php

There is a CMS Install Utility available that can be used to check for a loader and if the CMS will run on your hosting. This can be downloaded from https://www.xt-cms.com/download/

Admin Login

At this point installation is complete and you should be abe to login to the admin area. Point your browser to the CMS admin page eg. http://www.mydomain.com/cms/admin/ - If you see a login form congratulations the installation has been successful and you can login using the default username and password admin

Once logged into the admin area go to the Configuration page and set the Website Settings for your website.

Editing sys/config.php

The main config file contains important configuration settings and software defaults that may or may not need to be changed for your setup.

sys/config.php

Main index.php

In the CMS root directory you will find the main index.php file which allows the CMS to output the website's front-end. Typically the main index.php file should be placed in your website's root directory to allow the CMS to serve pages for the entire website including the home page.

If you only want the CMS to run a sub-section of your website you can leave the main index.php in the CMS root directory and rename the CMS folder to whatever is appropriate eg. "shop", "blog" etc. This method is good if you want to retain your existing website exactly as-is but use the CMS to add a blog or shop section.

If you do move the main index.php file make sure to edit the code within so that it is pointing correctly to scripts/cms_front.php. Also make sure to rename or remove any existing index.htm or index.html files which will usually override an index.php file.

Troubleshooting

Q: I get a blank screen when trying to access the admin page
A: Check that the cms.licence file is present in the CMS root directory. Check that you are using the correct version of the CMS for your PHP version.

Q: I get an error message something like..
Error: cms root directory does not exist
A: Try setting the cms_root_dir and cms_root_url manually in sys/config.php

Q: I get a php error message something like..
PHP Warning: require(somefilepath/somefile.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in somefilepath/cms/scripts/main.php
A: Try setting the cms_root_dir and cms_root_url manually in sys/config.php

Q: I can see the admin page but when I try to login it says page not found.
A: Try setting the cms_root_url manually in sys/config.php

Q: I can see the admin page but I get a blank screen when trying view the front-end of the website.
A: Check that the main index.php file is in the correct location and is pointing to scripts/cms_front.php as mentioned above. Check that the URL in your browser corresponds with the location of the main index.php file.