By swieder on

Hello everyone,

I have a website www.cust-art.com up and running. It has been done with Drupal last October.

I want to implement the meta tags and meta description into the different pages of the site using nodewords-6.x-1.0-rc1 that I found somewhere here but I don't know where to begin to make the connection between the module and my web site.

Where do I start? Do I have to install Drupal onto my computer? I have made a full backup of the website this morning so I could try doing it on my own.

All help and advice appreciated.

Thanks.

Comments

prbass’s picture

prbass commented

The best way to learn is to have a go yourself.

To install this module, you won't really have to get your hands dirty in the code at all, but you will need to have a grasp of the basics.

I'd start by copying your site to a local development server on your computer.

All the cool kids use http://www.apachefriends.org/en/xampp.html because it is so easy to get up and running.

This node describes how to copy your live site to the new local xampp server: http://drupal.org/node/75545

If your site was made in October, it is most likely a 5.x site, so that module won't work - you will need the 5.x version (get it here: http://drupal.org/project/nodewords)

Copy that to your module folder, then go to Admin -> Site Building -> Modules to enable it.

Have a go and see what works for you, before installing it on your live website.

Good luck!

swieder’s picture

swieder commented

Hi

Thanks a lot for your reply but I am completely lost there!

I have installed xampp and services are running fine.

I have a copy of drupal and I have downloaded my web site so it is on my local drive.

I am new to PHP and I dont manage to get a connection to both my remote and local database in the PhPadmin.

I have the right settings from my host but I just can't find a box where to put them!

Thanks for helping, I have been struggling all afternoon without getting any nearer.

Cheers

Well, first thing I have managed to get drupal up and running so thanks I may get there eventually:-)

prbass’s picture

prbass commented

Don't worry, this stuff is confusing when you get started. When people write these guides they always assume a certain level of prior knowledge, I know this can be frustrating.

phpmyadmin is just a user-interface for administering MySQL database servers

You'll need to separately log in to phpmyadmin on your current live website, export a copy of it the drupal database and download it somewhere on your local computer. Phpmyadmin is usually at www.yoursite.com/phpmyadmin (although the address may be slightly different)

Then you'll need to log into phpmyadmin on your local box by pointing your browser at http://localhost/phpmyadmin, create a database drupal_db or whatever, and import the one you just downloaded.

does that make things clearer?

prbass’s picture

prbass commented

This article might help you with the database stuff (although the screen shots are for an old version of phpmyadmin)

http://drupal.org/node/120630

swieder’s picture

swieder commented

Hi prbass,

Thanks for the tip.

I have managed to get the database and to gain acccess to it!

However I have now some strange lines talking about watchdog and unauthorized access although I can now pass the drupal login panel.

Is this something to do with Apache and my .htacess file?

I have followed the steps in "Copy a site to a local XAMPP installation" but it is still not working...

Thanks

prbass’s picture

prbass commented

Copy and paste the error message here and it'll be easier to answer your question... although won't be back on here until tomorrow.

To get help that is more detailed than the general pointers so far you'll have to be a lot more specific - what's working and what's not.

Quickest way to answer your question will be to chuck the error message into google search - that's what what I would do if its not an error I have come across before!

You could also try a clean install of the default drupal on your local server (there are some great handbook pages, should take less than 15mins) if that works okay, you know your server is up and running okay

swieder’s picture

swieder commented

Thanks for your time and advice.

It is much appreciated to know people like you are there in the forum to help!

It looks so daunting a task at the moment!

I think I did a bad install of about everything so the right thing for me is to perform a clean new install.

Newbies mistakes!!

Just a question: Should I have my copied site within drupal folder structure or should it be on a folder of its own?

Also my exported database from my host is larger than 2048 kb so how can I import it with PhPadmin?

Thanks.

prbass’s picture

prbass commented

you are quickly getting into more difficult territory.

You shouldn't have a problem with the local xaamp box - the php.ini settings are at c:\xaamp\php\php.ini - you can edit the lines "upload_max_filesize = " to whatever you need, but the default max limit here is 32mb - should be plenty.

You can worry about uploading it back to your live server later - if you struggle, post a specific request in the forum and someone will help you out

This is what I just did to make this work:

1. Downloaded a copy of all the files in my webroot on live server at /var/www/html to c:\xaamp\htdocs\ (use your ftp client)

2. Exported the database with phpmyadmin

3. In phpmyadmin, created a database with the same name on my local box

4. Imported the SQL dump I just downloaded

5. made settings.php writeable (right click, properties, uncheck read only)

6. edited the $db_url to
$db_url = 'mysql://root:@localhost/yourdatabasenamehere'; (assuming you haven't changed the user/password, you can just use this insecure setting for your local server - it isn't available over the net - of course you should never do this for a production site!)

7. went to http:\\localhost

Presto! I have a working duplicate of my live site.

Actually - I also had to enable mod_rewrite in my httpd.conf (c:\xaamp\apache\conf\httpd.conf)

You need to remove the # to uncomment out this line (this is line 118)
#LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so
change it to:
LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.so

Then restart apache by opening up your Xaamp control panel.

Presto! now I have a working duplicate of my live site!

swieder’s picture

swieder commented

Thanks!

I will try this tonight as I am at work at the moment.

I'll keep you posted.

Cheers

swieder’s picture

swieder commented

Help! I am drowning now!

After 3 more days of frustration I am not any nearer now:-(

Here below is the complete process I am following so hopefully someone might spot the mistake(s) I am doing:

I am working on Windows XP pro and all native windows files are as they originally were.

I have downloaded XAMPP, installed it and it works just fine.

I am starting both Apache and MySQL services, no problems until there.

I am dowloading the database from my webhost named drupaldb.sql.

I start PhpMyadmin, I create a local database same name "drupaldb".

I import the downloaded database and that works too.

My webhosting settings are:
local (web applications): Host: localhost | Socket: /tmp/mysql.sock
Remote (MySQL clients): Host: mysql4.host_servername.com | Port: 3306

I create a user with: myusername@localhost:identifiedbymypassword with all privileges on drupaldb.

I do then an SQL query to add ;FLUSH PRIVILEGES; at the end of it.

My live website is at: www.mydomainname.com-mydomainname/www/www.

I do FTP on all the files within the last www folder.

I should mention that the files downloaded from the FTP contain the drupal core.

I put them in C:\xampp\htdocs

I stop Apache service from running.

I edit the settings.php in the C:\xampp\htdocs\sites\default to the following:

$db_url = 'mysql://user:password@localhost/drupaldb';

I uncommente out and edit $base_url = 'http://localhost/drupaldb'

I go to the Apache folder within XAMPP and edit the x-httpd-php file to add the following lines:

Alias /drupaldb "C:\xampp\htdocs/"

AllowOverride FileInfo Limit Options Indexes
Order allow,deny
Allow from all

Then I edit C:\Xampp\apache\conf\httpd.conf and uncomment out the line LoadModule rewrite_module modules/mod_rewrite.

At last I edit C:\xampp\htdocs/.htaccess and I uncomment out the RewriteBase /drupal.

But once I have done all these steps, I go to my browser ( Firefox), type http://localhost/drupaldb and I get the following message:

You have chosen to open which is a: application/x-httpd-php from : http://localhost

What should Firefox do with this file? Open with-- Save to Disc.

And here it ends.

So what I am doing wrong?

It is so frustrating knowing that it surely must be something easy to do and all I want in the end is have a running copy of my live site!

Thanks a lot for helping me out!

Cheers

prbass’s picture

prbass commented

Sorry - I was trying to make things easier for you - my instructions conflicted with the ones in the instructions I gave you because I was assuming you would just use the default xaamp settings and document root.

You don't need to make any changes to $base_url - your copy will appear at http://localhost/ (not http://localhost/drupal or localhost/drupaldb)

your $db_url should be fine (provided of course you've entered the correct username and password)

Go back and comment out the $base_url

Get rid of the changes you made in the apache x-httpd-php file

You need mod_rewrite.so so that is fine.

Point your browser at http://localhost/

Fingers crossed, you should see your website!

swieder’s picture

swieder commented

Thanks prbass,

I really appreciate your help here and the time you've given me already!!!

Now I have reinstalled XAMPP and reimported the database , dumped my site files at xampp/htdocs and I still get the same message with Firefox not knowing what to do with x-httpd_php file.
Weird because I have reinstalled Xampp, clear the Firefox cache and rebooted my machine.

So I am still swimming round.....

prbass’s picture

prbass commented

I assume that your xampp installation was serving php files before you dumped your drupal site into htdocs?

So after a bit of head scratching - I'm pointing the finger of blame at your .htaccess - it has probably been customised for your webhosting environment.

Try replacing your .htaccess in c:\xampp\htdocs\ with the Drupal default one here: http://cvs.drupal.org/viewvc.py/drupal/drupal/.htaccess?revision=1.81.2.4

swieder’s picture

swieder commented

Thanks!

I'll try that as soon as I'll get home.

Thank you so much Peter, Your help is much appreciated.

BTW I know now from our drupal developer that the version used is drupal 4.7.

Does that have any incidence?

Unfortunately he has become incredibly busy with other work commitments so I thought I'd better take the plunge and learn how to maintain the site by myself.

Though just getting off the ground is much harder than expected!!!!

Cheers

swieder’s picture

swieder commented

I switched to Wamp to be sure I was dumping the files in the right location and so I could quickly create several folders to test out with the different .htaccess files:

.htaccess is the one from custart, when loaded the server doesn't know what to do with it and ask for an executable to open it with

default.htaccess is the default drupal htaccess somebody gave me from the forum, when in use I get the following message error:

[01-May-2008 21:17:21] PHP Parse error: syntax error, unexpected $end in C:\wamp\www\test_ www\themes\msatheme\template.php on line 193.

If I create another folder test with hello world it works just fine.

So I thought that the PHP code might be the cause of the problem here and I checked the PHP version of the webserver and it is PHP 5.2 while my site was coded in PhP4 so am I right to suppose that's the reason why the site is not handled?

So all I have to do really should just grab the earlier version of the webserver with PHP4, shouldnt'it?

And hopefully be sorted.....

Again many thanks PrBass for your help, much appreciated!!!

Kind Regards

Stephane

Tiburón’s picture

Tiburón commented

Hi swieder,

dive into the Drupal handbooks for the answers you seek.

Assuming that you have familiarized yourself with Drupal terminology etc. in the Getting Started handbook head over to the Beyond the basics and have a look at the tutorials section where you will find The Drupal Cookbook (for beginners).

The cookbook is a good place to start exploring the different aspects of running a Drupal based site. Your question about adding a new module to your Drupal installation is covered in the cookbook at F. Adding Modules and Themes

You do not have to install Drupal onto your own computer, but it does make it simpler to test new modules and configurations without messing with your live site. I can recommend using XAMPP from ApacheFriends to get Apache, MySQL and PHP onto your computer without much fuss.

Regards,

Christian Larsen

WorldFallz’s picture

WorldFallz commented

+1 to everything already said, but i prefer wampserver.

Also, checkout the Install a Local Web Server on Windows XP video from our friends at lullabot. If you use a mac or linux box, they have similar videos for those OS's as well.

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