# Installation Step 1 - Getting Started ** Please be sure to visit the System Requirements page on the SnippetMaster website for current requirements. If you get stuck with any part of installation process and need some help, please be sure to contact me and I will do my best to assist you. SnippetMaster is a great program and I want everyone to be able to use it! ### There are two ways to install or upgrade SnippetMaster: The Auto-Installer (Recommended) This is the easiest and fastest way to install or upgrade to the latest version of SnippetMaster. Using the Auto-Installer to install or upgrade SnippetMaster will literally take only 1 minute... and there is no need to unzip anything, worry about Zend/Ioncube encoders being installed on your server, binary/ascii ftp mode, changing file permissions, or anything else! The Manual Install Method (Also know as "The Hard Way") ### The Auto-Installer The Auto-Installer is very simple and makes the installation and upgrading of SnippetMaster quick and easy. Download the Auto-Installer file. Upload it into the desired SnippetMaster program folder on your web server. Run it with your web browser. Yes, it's really that simple! Here are the steps explained in detail: 1. Download the Auto-Installer file. Visit the download area and download the latest autoinstaller.php file to your computer. 2. Log into web server and find your website root. Use any FTP program to log on to your website account and navigate into the folder where your website homepage and files are located. (This is known as your "website root" folder.) Here are some examples of different "paths" to the website root folder: /home/username/public_html/ /home/.sites/3/site123/web/ /home/virtual/site123/fst/var/www/ /home/content/u/s/r/username/html/ (The path to your own "website root" might be different because it depends on what kind of "control panel" you're using for your web hosting.) More information on FTP 3. Create a new program folder. Use your FTP program to create a new folder to hold the SnippetMaster program files. I recommend you call the new folder "snippetmaster". Here are some examples of what the "path" to the new folder might look like: /home/username/public_html/snippetmaster/ /home/.sites/3/site123/web/snippetmaster/ /home/virtual/site123/fst/var/www/snippetmaster/ /home/content/u/s/r/username/html/snippetmaster/ 4. Upload the Auto-Installer. Using your FTP program, upload the autoinstaller.php file that you saved in step #1 into the SnippetMaster program folder you just created. 5. Run the Auto-Installer. Go to the autoinstaller.php file with your web browser, like this: http://www.yourdomain.com/snippetmaster/autoinstaller.php If you did everything correctly the Auto-Installer program will start automatically and you can now follow the instructions you see in your browser. If you experience any errors or problems using the Auto-Installer, please be sure to read the error message carefully. Most problems can be fixed fairly easily, but if you need a hand with anything.. please feel free to contact me for assistance. ### The Manual Install Method If you are using this method, it is because you like to do things the hard way.. or the Auto-Installer did not work for you. 1. Download the program. You will need to download the version of SnippetMaster that corresponds with the type of encoding system that works for your server. If you are not sure what is the difference betwen the Zend and Ioncube file types, then here is a page to explain more about the Zend -vs- Ioncube decision, including a handy automatic testing utility. 2. Unzip files. Unzip (uncompress) the file you downloaded from the SnippetMaster website. (When unzipping the files, be sure to preserve the internal directory/folder structure.) More information on Unzipping files 3. Log into web server and find your web root . Use any FTP program to log into your website account. (ie: Log into the web server where your website files are located.) Now navigate into your "web root" folder. If you aren't sure where your web root is located, just navigate into the folder where your website homepage and website files are located. Here are some examples of different "paths" to the web root folder: /home/username/public_html/ /home/.sites/3/site123/web/ /home/virtual/site123/fst/var/www/ /home/content/u/s/r/username/html/ red = path to web root (The path to your own web root might be different because it depends on what kind of "control panel" you're using for your web hosting.) More information on FTP 4. Create program folder. Use your FTP program to create a new folder inside your web root to hold the SnippetMaster program files. I recommend you call the new folder "snippetmaster". Continuing with the example from step 3, here are some examples of what the "path" to the new folder might look like: /home/username/public_html/snippetmaster/ /home/.sites/3/site123/web/snippetmaster/ /home/virtual/site123/fst/var/www/snippetmaster/ /home/content/u/s/r/username/html/snippetmaster/ red = path to web root green = path to account root (used later) (The path to your own snippetmaster folder might be different because it depends on what kind of "control panel" you're using for your web hosting.) 5. Upload files. Use your FTP program to "upload" (transfer) the files and folders that you unzipped in step 1 into the new snippetmaster program folder you just created. If you are using the Ioncube package, then you should make sure your FTP program is set to transfer files in "auto" mode. (So your ftp program will automatically determine if "ascii" or "binary" transfer mode is needed.) If you are using the Zend package, then you must make sure your FTP program is set to transfer the files in BINARY mode. Mac Users: If your FTP program has a setting for "Translate ISO characters" (e.g. Fetch), make sure it's disabled before you upload. After this step is finished, the contents of the snippetmaster folders should be identical between your computer and your website. Note: If you are using the ioncube encoded version and do not need the ioncube loader files, you can save a bit of disk space by deleting any unnecessary files in the /ioncube folder. (ie: If you are uploading to a Windows web server then you can delete the linux loader files. If you are uploading to a linux web server, then you can delete the Windows loader files.) If you have ANY doubt about deleting anything, then don't! 6. Advanced Users - Click this link to see instructions for creating a customized location for your database folder
How to Create Your Database Folder Above The Web Root SnippetMaster uses a text database system to store all its information about program settings, users, etc. By default, this database will be located inside the program folder you created in step 3. For most users, this is perfectly fine and provides an acceptable level of security because the actual database folder is randomly created, encryption is used to store important information, and an htaccess file prevents viewing of the files with a browser. However, if you want to improve the security of your database, I recommend manually creating the database folder in any location of your choice. You are free to create the database folder anywhere you want, but I recommend a folder somewhere above your web root -- perhaps your account root location -- so it is not accessible with a browser. Here are the steps to do this:
1. | Find your account root. Using your FTP program, navigate into your "account root" folder. Your account root folder is usually one folder "higher" then your web root folder. Go back to step 3 and look at the example paths again. The green folders illustrate possible account root locations. Note: If your web hosting account doesn't have any folders higher then your web root folder (ie: you can't navigate any higher then your web root folder with your FTP program), then just skip this step and you can either create the database folder anywhere else, or just accept the default location. Here are some examples of different "paths" to the account root folder. If you compare these with the example paths from step 2 you will see we are now one folder "above" the web root folder. /home/username/ /home/.sites/3/site123/ /home/virtual/site123/fst/var/ /home/content/u/s/r/username/ (The path to your account root is might be different because it depends on what kind of "control panel" you're using for your web hosting.)
2. | Create database folder. Use your FTP program to create the a new folder. I recommend you call the new folder "snippet-db". Following the examples above, here are some different "paths" to the database folder location you just created. /home/username/snippet-db/ /home/.sites/3/site123/snippet-db/ /home/virtual/site123/fst/var/snippet-db/ /home/content/u/s/r/username/snippet-db/ (The path to your account root might be different because it depends on what kind of "control panel" you're using for your web hosting.)
7. Rename db pointer file and set file/folder permissions. This step is necessary so SnippetMaster can later be upgraded without overwriting your database, and so SnippetMaster can properly read and write information to the database. Note: Most FTP programs have the ability to rename files and change file permissions. Usually, if you right-click on the file or folder, you will see an option to "rename" or "chmod". More information on changing file permissions. (If you get stuck with the steps below you should contact your web hosting company and ask them to do them for you.) Advanced users: If you created your own database folder (step 5), you must give it write permissions now. Regular users: (You are using the default database folder location.) Using your FTP program, navigate into the /snippetmaster/ program folder you created in step 3. You should see a folder listed called snippet-db. Change the permissions for this folder so that it is "writable" by the public web server software. (chmod 777) Use your FTP program, make sure you are in the /snippetmaster/ folder and then rename the db.inc.php-original file to db.inc.php. (ie: Remove the ending "-original" part.) Change the permissions for the db.inc.php file so that it is "writable" by the public web server software. (chmod 666 or 777) 7. Congratulations - you are almost done! If you did everything correctly you won't need to fiddle with the web server or FTP any more, because everything else is done with the Install Wizard. <-- Click that link to continue.