Deploying a Feedback-Enabled WebHelp System
System Requirements
The feedback-enabled WebHelp system of Oxygen XML Developer requires a standard server deployment. You can request this from your server admin and it needs the following system components:
- A Web server (such as Apache Web Server)
- A MySQL or MariaDB database server
- A database admin tool (such as phpMyAdmin)
- PHP Version 5.1.6 or later
Oxygen XML WebHelp system supports most of the recent versions of the following browsers: Chrome, Firefox, Edge, Internet Explorer, Safari, Opera.
Create WebHelp with Feedback Database
The WebHelp with Feedback system needs a database to store user details and the actual feedback, and a user added to it with all privileges. After this is created, you should have the following information:
- Database name
- Username
- Password
Exactly how you create the database and user depends on your web host and your particular needs.
For example, the following procedure uses phpMyAdmin to create a MySQL database for the feedback system and a MySQL user with privileges for that database. The feedback system uses these credentials to connect to the database.
Using phpMyAdmin to create a database:
- Access the phpMyAdmin instance running on your server.
- Click Databases (in the right frame) and then create a database. You can give it any name you want (for example comments).
- Create a user with connection privileges for this database.
- Under localhost, in the right frame, click Privileges and then at the bottom of the page click the reload the privileges link.
Deploying the WebHelp with Feedback Output
If you have a web server configured with PHP and MySQL, you can deploy the WebHelp with Feedback output by following these steps:
- Connect to your server using an FTP client.
- Locate the home directory (from now on, referred to as DOCUMENT_ROOT) of your server.
- Copy the transformation output folder into the
DOCUMENT_ROOTfolder. - Rename it to something relevant (for example,
myProductWebHelp). - Open the output folder (for example,
http://[YOUR_SERVER]/myProductWebHelp/). You are redirected to the installation wizard. Proceed with the installation as follows:- Verify that the prerequisites are met.
- Press Start Installation.
- Configure the Deployment Settings section. Default values
are provided, but you should adjust them as needed.
Tip
You can change some of the options later. The installation creates aconfig.phpfile in[OXYGEN_WEBHELP_INSTALL_DIR]/feedback/resources/php/config/config.phpwhere all your configuration options are stored. - Configure the MySql Database Connection Settings section.
Use the information (database name, username, password) from the Create WebHelp with Feedback Database section to fill-in the
appropriate text boxes.
Warning
Checking the Create new database structure option will overwrite any existing data in the selected database, if it already exists. Therefore, it is useful the first time you install the WebHelp with Feedback system, but you do not want to select this option on subsequent deployments. - If you are using a domain (such as OpenLDAP or Active Directory) to manage users in your organization, check the Enable LDAP Autehntication option. This will allow you to configure the LDAP server, which will provide information and credentials for users who will access the WebHelp system. Also, this will allow you to choose which of the domain users will have administrator privileges.
- If the Create new database structure option is checked, the
Create WebHelp Administrator Account section becomes
available. Here you can set the administrator account data. The administrator is
able to moderate new posts and manage WebHelp users.
The same database can be used to store comments for multiple WebHelp with Feedback deployments. If a topic is available in multiple deployments and there are comments associated with it, you can choose to display the comments in all deployments that share the database. To do this, enable the Display comments from other products option. In the Display comments from section, a list with the deployments sharing the same database is displayed. Select the deployments allowed to share common feedback.
Note
You can restrict the displayed comments of a product depending on its version. If you have two products that use the same database and you restrict one of them to display comments starting from a certain version, the comments of the other product are also displayed from the specified version onwards. - Press Next Step.
- Remove the installation folder from your web server.
Important
When you publish subsequent iterations of your WebHelp with Feedback system, you will not upload the/installfolder in the output, as you only need it uploaded the first time you create the installation. On subsequent uploads, you will just upload the other output files. - In your Web browser, go to your WebHelp with Feedback system main page.
Testing Your WebHelp with Feedback System
To test your system, create a user and post a comment. Check to see if the notification emails are delivered to your email inbox.
Documentation Product ID and Version
When you run a WebHelp with Feedback transformation scenario, by default you are prompted for a documentation product ID and version number. This is needed when multiple WebHelp systems are deployed on the same server. Think of your WebHelp output as a product. If you have three different WebHelp outputs, you have three different products (each with their own unique documentation product ID). This identifier is included in a configuration file so that comments are tied to a particular output (product ID and version number).