News from the engine room
CMS from Scratch NOW OPEN SOURCE
You don't have to pay for CMS from Scratch any more. Now, just nip along to Google Code and you can download the source scripts, totally unencrypted and free to use. As long as you respect the copyright of the creator and the terms of the license (GPL), you can use CMS from Scratch freely on all your smaller web projects.
Ben Hunt - January 4th 2008
Downloads now Up!
CMS from Scratch now available again!
This new, and working, download includes a new FCKeditor and covers a number of minor bug fixes. We're very grateful to our demo users for helping release CMS from Scratch into the wild, so many thanks to the users that promptly reported the problems with the last package posted; and our apologies to the many of you that need to download this new version.
You can go directly to the Downloads from here
David Rüder - Dec 4th 2007
Extend functionality with PHP includes
Put the power of PHP into your CMS from Scratch (CFS) installation!
Previously you could only insert PHP scripts into your CMS pages, but now you can create compact PHP includes allowing you to reuse code easily and simplify the creation of quizzes, polls, and other essential widgets.
It’s quick too. Simply create a new text include, and when prompted for the filename, be sure to append the phpx extension to your chosen name (e.g build_menu.phpx). The CMS will ask you to confirm the file extension change, and then you can start writing your php directly into the edit window.
This new feature lets you create individual pages that share php script includes, ideal for querying databases, form to mail gateways, and access control systems.
Note that the individual includes are processed separately. Each include is executed as a standalone script, and the output is then collected and substituted for the matching include tag in your page.
This means you can’t daisy chain phpx includes and have the variables within pass between the scripts. Of course you can use the standard include(‘file.phpx’) command within your php instead. Think of phpx includes as self contained modules written in php, that output a block of html into your page.
David Rüder - November 5th 2007
Custom Tab Feature
If you’ve ever wanted to include your own ‘back-end’ controls for a client, to let them manage mailing lists, or access control, then you’ll be pleased to hear that now you can.
CMS from Scratch now lets you embed your own PHP application interfaces within the CMS back-end.
Just create a new file, and call it extra-tabs.php. Save it in the /cms directory, and link the tab to your custom script using this simple function:
addCustomTab(name_string, filename);
e.g.
addCustomTab(‘Mail Manager’, ‘mail.php’);
To hide an extra tab from the client login view, simply preface its name with the letter x as explained here in the section on x-prefixing files and directories.
David Rüder - November 5th 2007
Keep your design pages and includes safe.
Stop the client accidentally editing crucial includes and files!
In CMS from Scratch, masking off files from the client account view is as simple as prefixing their filenames with the letter
You may also use the x prefix for a folder to conceal the folder and all its contents, no need to rename the files within.
David Rüder - November 5th 2007