Is there really a Getting Started Guide?

[selingj]

I have read through the Getting Started section.  If there is really a set of installation instructions.. I'm blind.. but then I'm old too.  Is there such a document or is it what I see is what I get?

[tfs]

If you promise not to laugh, I'll post the one I had been writing.  It's not finished, but I'll be glad to answer any other questions you may have.




============CUT============

Installing SimpleDesk 2.0 (Unfinished - work in progress)

About:
FAQ with Installation notes for version 2.0 of SimpleDesk.  May not be accurate for versions prior to or later than 2.0.

Prerequisites:
SimpleDesk 2.0 requires Simple Machines Forum (SMF) version 2.0 (final) OR version 2.01 to be installed and functioning properly before you can install SimpleDesk.  SimpleDesk does not work with the SMF 1.x branch and there are no plans to make it backward compatible.

Backup And Download:
SimpleDesk recommends that you backup your forum files as well as the SQL database before attempting to install SimpleDesk.

Download the SimpleDesk installer at this link...

http://www.simpledesk.net/download/

There are two packages, a .ZIP and a .TAR.GZ.  They are both the exact same package, and are just compressed using different compression programs.  Either one will work with most forums.

Error Messages:
When you install or uninstall SimpleDesk do not proceed if you receive errors!  Ignoring error messages can render your forum unusable!  The most common cause of errors is that SimpleDesk is experiencing a conflict with another modification that you have installed before or after SimpleDesk.  Each of these cases must be resolved individually.

The most common thing to do in the case where you receive errors is to try uninstalling one of your other mods and then try again to install/uninstall SimpleDesk.  If that doesn't work try uninstalling another mod and repeating the process until SimpleDesk installs/uninstalls successfully.  Don't make your problems worse by ignoring errors that your other mods may give when you attempt to uninstall them.  Nearly all mods will coexist, but sometimes they need to be installed and/or uninstalled in a certain order to work together.

If that's not working then ask for help in our SimpleDesk Support board.  You could also seek advice at the Simple Machines Forum support site, however your first avenue of support should always be here at the SimpleDesk Support board.  If temporarily uninstalling other mods doesn't solve your problem, or other issues such as a customized theme prevent you from installing without errors, then you may need to edit portions of your installation by hand.

A Note Of Caution For Upgrading Beta Versions Of SimpleDesk:
If you have participated in the SimpleDesk beta program, or for any other reason you have installed a SimpleDesk plugin, such as "FrontPage" or "Email On Ticket Updates," you should make sure to fully uninstall those plugins before you proceed with installing SimpleDesk 2.0.  As an additional precaution, if you have FTP access to your forum, you could delete the following folders if they exist after you have uninstalled SimpleDesk 1.0 Beta.

/Sources/sd_plugins_source/
/Sources/sd_source/
/Themes/default/sd_plugins_template/
/Themes/default/sd_template/

This will insure that your new SimpleDesk 2.0 installation will not conflict with a previous installation.  Additional discussion can be found HERE in the SimpleDesk Project Tracker.

Upgrading An Existing Installation:
If you already have SimpleDesk installed, you must uninstall that before you install SimpleDesk again.  When you uninstall SimpleDesk, you won't lose any ticket data as long as you do not check the "Remove all data associated with this modification" checkbox at the uninstall screen.

Checking this option will result in the following database tables being dropped, and a complete reset of the help desk data.  You will lose the help desk tickets and all associated data, logs and permissions.

"smf_helpdesk_depts"
"smf_helpdesk_preferences"
"smf_helpdesk_role_permissions"
"smf_helpdesk_dept_roles"
"smf_helpdesk_cannedreplies_cats"
"smf_helpdesk_tickets"
"smf_helpdesk_notify_override"
"smf_helpdesk_cannedreplies_depts"
"smf_helpdesk_role_groups"
"smf_helpdesk_cannedreplies"
"smf_helpdesk_log_action"
"smf_helpdesk_roles"
"smf_helpdesk_ticket_replies"
"smf_helpdesk_log_read"
"smf_helpdesk_attachments"
"smf_helpdesk_custom_fields_values"
"smf_helpdesk_custom_fields"
"smf_helpdesk_relationships"
"smf_helpdesk_custom_fields_depts"

Special "permissions" note for users upgrading from SimpleDesk 1.0: Permissions created for SimpleDesk 1.0 ARE NOT carried over to SimpleDesk 2.0.  You will need to recreate all of your permissions after you install SD 2.0.

Installation:
Upload the package through your SMF package manager under "Admin/Packages/Download Packages."  After the installation you must "activate" SimpleDesk before you'll see anything different.  You can click on "Redirect Now" or wait a few seconds and the installer will send you to "Admin/Configuration/Core Features," where you can activate "Helpdesk."  Remember to click on "Save."

Setting Up Permissions:
After you've activated SimpleDesk you, as an administrator, will see a new "HelpDesk" menu on your forum.  But your users still won't see anything because you have yet to grant them permission.  In order to grant your users permission to access and utilize your HelpDesk you must first create Roles. Roles are similar to SMF's membergroups and all permissions are granted via roles.

SimpleDesk has three pre-defined template "roles" already there for you.  Their purpose is to give you a head start in creating your help desk permissions.  There's one each for help desk administrators, staff and users.  These "template" roles can not be deleted or edited, nor can they be applied directly to your users.  They're there so that you can "clone" them, creating a new role that you will apply to your users.

When creating a new role, be sure to clone the template that fits the new role you wish to create.  For users, make sure to clone the Helpdesk Users template.  For staff, the Helpdesk Staff template, and for admins, the Helpdesk Administrators template.  You can tell which template was used to originally generate a given role by the small glyph picture to the left of the role names in the list of roles.  Regular users have a dark haired man with a light blue shirt, staff has a dark haired man with a dark blue shirt, and admins have a white haired man with a dark blue shirt.

Once a role is created, it can be edited or even cloned itself to create another new role, but you must remember that there are invisible and inherent properties of a role depending upon the original template that was used to create it.  You must use the Users template to create your user roles, and any user roles you clone from those roles.  Do not clone your user role and think you can make it into a staff or admin role by simply changing its permissions.

Configuring SimpleDesk:
Yadda yadda and more yadda goes here...

Now you're ready to enjoy SimpleDesk!  Happy computing, and best of luck from the SimpleDesk Team!

[selingj]

Thanks.. No I won't laugh.. been there done that.. documentation is the part that isn't any fun.  I have put on mysql, php, but cant get the others working due to an error trying to launch any php script.  Error indicates that "This application has failed to start because OCI.DLL was not round.  that is the Oracle integration if i'm not mistaken. do you have a list of the prereq's.. I have apache, php, SM... and My Sql.. are there any others?

[tfs]

I think you'd have better luck over at http://www.simplemachines.org since it sounds like you haven't gotten SMF up and running yet.  I'm just a beta tester here, not a dev.  I think you need someone who knows more about servers than myself.

[JanEnEm]

Hi,
It is indeed one of the first items to look for when implementing a new product.
My suggestion is to set up a wiki like the SMF guys have done.
Having a good set of documentation is for sure helping to improve SD's popularity around the globe!