New Noob Newbie

By megmaltese on 22 Jan 2009 at 09:03 UTC

Hi there, as you can imagine from the title it's my first time with Drupal.

But not only, it's also my first time with Apache, MySQL, PHP.
Luckily, it's not my first time on a PC. I am working with computers since 30 years. I coded but mostly I work on graphics. I also produced a couple of websites in the past times.

But now I decided to learn to make webapps.
I managed to install successfully XAMPP on my computer (not without some trouble...) and now I must install Drupal.

As the servers are all already installed, what should I do now?

I was reading this page and got immediately confused: http://drupal.org/requirements
I haven't installed MS IIS, I don't even know what it is.
Or maybe it is installed and I don't know it.

So, should I proceed with installation and don't take care of this MS IIS thing or better install it before proceeding with Drupal?

Thank you for help!

Comments

IIS

styro commented 22 January 2009 at 09:14

No you don't need IIS. Apache comes as part of XAMPP.

They are both do the same thing (web servers), you generally only use one web server, and Apache is the recommended option.

--
Anton

OK, and now?

megmaltese commented 22 January 2009 at 10:25

Thank you very much Anton, so I proceed with the Drupal installation :)

OK, as I said, I'm really noob and I don't know what to do now.
I moved the folder drupal-5.15 to the folder www which will be used for publishing (until I'll work on it, later on it will be moved on the host of course).
But of course now if I go to localhost it presents the XAMPP system page.
Should I find this default page in the config file and change it to Drupal page?
Or is it better to just add a link to the XAMPP page?

1- delete all files on xampp

LiquidWeb commented 22 January 2009 at 10:31

1- delete all files on xampp page
2- Copy contents of "drupal 6" archive to that folder (why would you chose drupal 5 while there is a new stable version)
3- start xammp
4- go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin
5- create a new database
6- go to http://localhost and start installing (during installation your user will be root and password is either null or root)

No, wait...

megmaltese commented 22 January 2009 at 10:39

OMG are you sure I must delete all files in the XAMPP page??? :O
And you may not believe it but actually I don't know which is the default XAMPP www directory :|
I would point this dir to D:www instead and copy Drupal in there, how to do it?

I chose Drupal 5 because one my friend suggested to use Drupal and he's experienced with that version and he is not using Drupal anymore because he practically stopped developing websites.
And because I don't need the ultimate version with all that cool stuff and such... and for Drupal 5 there is plenty of 3rd party of stuff ready.

Thank you for so fast help!!!

First of all I would

LiquidWeb commented 22 January 2009 at 10:42

First of all I would definitely recommend drupal 6 since it is easier to use it. and I mean "C:\Server\www" folder by default directory and it is safe to delete all files and folders under that directory.

Uhm

megmaltese commented 22 January 2009 at 10:56

Wait.
I installed XAMPP in D:xampp.
Everything is there now, and I wish it stays there. There is all the SOFTWARE of XAMPP, Apache, MySQL and PHP software is all there, I guess I can't delete that dir.

Actually I don't know where to is the config file to edit that has the address where to send the client when it calls localhost.
Where do I set it?

When I know this, I can move Drupal into D:www without any harm, right?

About the version, ok, it's easier, but does it have all the 3rd party stuff that v.5 has?

Than you you should empty

LiquidWeb commented 22 January 2009 at 11:10

Than you you should empty d:\xampp\www\ directory. http:\\localhost always redirect to 127.0.0.1 with port 80 if you have started xampp that adress wil serve files located in d:\xampp\www directory. v6 has all necessary modules if you are a beginner which seems you are you won't use any modules yet. Because core modules will seem complicated enough :)

OK for Drupal 6 but:

megmaltese commented 22 January 2009 at 11:16

OK so I'm downloading Drupal 6 :)
But there is no www dir inside D:xampp...
There is webdav and webalizer and many other dirs but I didn't manage to find the index.html that show when I connect to localhost... this is driving me crazy.

index.html is not needed it

LiquidWeb commented 22 January 2009 at 11:24

index.html is not needed it can be index.php or any other file but your root directory is there it may be named as htdocs or public_html sorry but I don't know xampp file structure.

OK there is a htdocs

megmaltese commented 22 January 2009 at 11:41

OK there is a htdocs dir.

Sorry if I stress on this but I don't like to have my main www dir in D:xampp/htdocs :D I would like it to be D:www.

You probably know where is the redirect line in the Apache config, right? :D

Moreover, I just found that the default dir where it is pointing is: D:\xampp\htdocs\xampp
I really don't want that :|

delete all files under

LiquidWeb commented 22 January 2009 at 11:48

delete all files under D:\xampp\htdocs\ you really don't need them and instead of trying to understand apache configuration just create a link to D:\xampp\htdocs\ directory on your desktop with a nice icon ;)

and if you really want to configure server root directory find httpd.conf and change "ServerRoot" value to desired directory

No, plz

megmaltese commented 22 January 2009 at 12:09

Sorry but you don't understand.

The default dir to which apache is pointing the page to serve is: D:\xampp\htdocs\xampp.
I don't want to put Drupal things under this dir erasing all the xampp stuff, it really is a bad hack IMHO.

What I'd like to do is to have maybe another dir named drupal in there, with its stuff.
And then create the website in D:www.

Is it possible or not?

Also, maybe Drupal is the best thing around but I would like to have direct access to the SQL db using phpmyadmin.

I will try to find the Apache config stuff alone... thank you anyway for your help up to now ;)

First of all files are

LiquidWeb commented 22 January 2009 at 12:21

First of all files are stored in D:\xampp\htdocs\ directory but another script propably an index.html or index.php redirects it to D:\xampp\htdocs\xampp and those files are for demo puposes they don't have any important function and it is safe to delete all files and directories listed under D:\xampp\htdocs\ after clearing all contents of root directory you can create D:\xampp\htdocs\drupal1 D:\xampp\htdocs\drupal2 directories and install drupal sepperately. And you can use other directories like http://drupal1 http://drupal2 adress to reach any of those folders including something like d:\drupal but you need to edit hosts file apache config file etc. Since you are a beginner I definitely recommend the way I explained above.

And if you look at where phpmyadmin files stored they are not in htdocs folder. So believe me it is safe to delete all files under htdocs.

OK I did as you said

megmaltese commented 23 January 2009 at 08:06

OK I did as you said.
I backupped stuff of htdocs into another folder and now all Drupal content is stored in htdocs.
I am starting to create the system (or whatever it's called :D).
I am at this point:

Database configuration
The following errors must be resolved before you can continue the installation process:

    * Database username field is required.
    * Failed to select your database on your MySQL database server, which means the connection username and password are valid, but there is a problem accessing your data. MySQL reports the following message: Access denied for user ''@'localhost' to database 'grafiche_napoli'.
          o Are you sure you have the correct database name?
          o Are you sure the database exists?
          o Are you sure the username has permission to access the database?

Of course the database doesn't exist yet.
I thought Drupal would create it... how do I create it if I moved all the XAMPP stuff away, now? :|

Unfortunately

LiquidWeb commented 23 January 2009 at 10:01

Unfortunately (luckily from some point of view) drupal does not create database instead you should create one.

go to http://localhost/phpmyadmin and create a new database and use that database to install your user name will be "root" whereas password is either "root" or NULL (I mean space, nothing it is empty or whatever you can describe). I am repeating again all that stuff was for demo purposes and they are completely unnecessary.

Done!

megmaltese commented 23 January 2009 at 10:26

Thanks man, done with the db and now proceeding! :D

Demo you say? OK but I don't want to trash it, it may always come useful! You know how newbies are... :D :D :D

I am glad you finally did it

LiquidWeb commented 23 January 2009 at 10:33

I am glad you finally did it :) There is nothing for you at there they are demo files to show which PHP extensions working. Like image creation Flash creation by pure php code. Those may be useful for somebody but believe me they are not for you.

OK

megmaltese commented 26 January 2009 at 10:56

Now I am reading how to install a new theme (found one that would suit my needs after a change of colours and graphics...) and I think I'll have a couple more questions later.
Thank you for your help :)

Well I'm here again.
I have a quite simple website to make up as a first job to learn how to use drupal, but I need to have fix menu voices in the header and context menu voices in a block on the right.

Putting the website menu in the header is fast and simple, but understanding which is the best way to implement page-contextual menu is another story (talking as a noob, of course).

The website is subdivided in 5 simple sections, which will be displayed in the header:
NEWS - PRODUCTS - ONLINE SERVICES - COMPANY - CONTACTS

I want that each section has in the right a secondary links block that will change depending on the section.

Of course the NEWS section is a blog like (without any need of comments, anyway) and in the right block menu I only want to add voices as "month+year" archive news. This is just to add something in the right section as the news will not be so frequent.

The PRODUCTS section as you can imagine is a bit different from the NEWS but not so much after all. I just want to put in there different boxes with different products and in this case the right menu should only point to the top of each box.
If this is not possible, then I'll make a page for each product and call it throught the right menu voices.

Also ONLINE SERVICES is similar to PRODUCTS and I'll develop it later, when I'll come out of my status of noob.

COMPANY and CONTACTS are simple pages that I can setup after I learn how to set up page contextual menus.

Menu in a block?

megmaltese commented 29 January 2009 at 09:42

Hi there, I'm still here.
I played a bit with the system and found how to set up different page styles and understood how it works mainly.
I created a couple of sections of menus and I would like to display them in blocks that I also created, how to do this?
I mean, I can't see how to get the menu items out of the system and put them on the page in any way!

OK I learned this anyway :D
I think I am now a low level Drupal user!

_

WorldFallz commented 29 January 2009 at 15:54

You're much more likely to get a response if you make individual posts for one specific question. See http://drupal.org/forum-posting for pointers on how to create good posts.

_{===

"Give a man a fish and you feed him for a day. Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime." - Lao Tzu

"God helps those who help themselves." - Ben Franklin

"Search is your best friend." - Worldfallz}

Ye ok

megmaltese commented 30 January 2009 at 08:10

I just preferred to not spam everywhere while I'm still learning the basics, and for respect to the others, before asking, I usually try some time alone to understand how things work ;)

Thanks for suggestion!

_

WorldFallz commented 30 January 2009 at 14:27

That's understandable, but the reality is you're likely to get a much better response rate with a subject that actually describes the problem.