My Address Book v1

Before you do anything else you need to make sure you have a database ready to use with My Address Book v1. Some web space providers allow you to make lots of databases, in which case you should make a new one (probably called "myaddressbook") and make sure your username has all permissions on it. If your web space provider only gives you one database, that is fine. In either case, remember the database name and your username and password to access it, as well as the host name, which might be "localhost" or could be a URL like "mysql.sourceforge.net".

If you have shell access on the computer you are installing on, you can use the SQL script "createdb.sql" in the folder "db" to make a new database and user (alter the script to give the username and password you want). The Makefile target createdb might be useful for this.

So, by the end of this section you should know your database host, name, username and password.

Download the file from the sourceforge page, and save it somewhere on your computer. If you're on Windows you will probably want the .zip file - other people will probably prefer the .tar.gz file. Unzip the file by double-clicking or using your zip program.

Find your database host, database name, username and password, and modify the file "config.php" in the "src" directory to show the correct details. The lines you should change are $global_mysql_host, $global_mysql_database, $global_mysql_user and $global_mysql_password.

You might also want to change $global_site_name to give a more personalised name to your site - this will appear at the top of each page.

If your web space provider only gives you one MySQL database, you will probably want to change the names of the tables so that they don't clash with any other tables in your database. You can do this by altering the five $global_XXX_table lines. Probably the best thing to do is add something like "myaddressbook_" to the beginning of each table name.

Now you need to upload or copy the My Address Book v1 files to your web server. You probably want to create a separate directory in your web space (maybe called "myaddressbook"), and then you should use an FTP program (such as Filezilla) to upload everything in the "src" directory into the myaddressbook directory on the web server.

At this stage, if you want to make your address book private (highly recommended), you should password protect the directory containing it. The way to do this varies depending on your web host: in some systems it can be done through a web control panel, and sometimes you need to create your own .htaccess and .htpasswd files.

To make your database ready to use, you should run the install script. The way to do this is to point your web browser at this location: http://your.web.server/your/web/space/do_install.php. Obviously, you should replace "your.web.server" with the name of the web server that displays your web space (e.g. "members.lycos.co.uk"), and "your/web/space" with the directory that contains your the addressbook files (e.g. "joe_bloggs/myaddressbook"). If all has gone well, you will get a little message in your browser saying it has worked, and giving you a link to start using My Address Book v1.

If you're upgrading from one of the previous versions, you need to run the ./upgrade.php script and select your version. This will basically upgrade your database to the latest version. Using the old version of My Address Book v1 with the new database is possible, but not recommended.

Finally, you should delete the file "do_install.php" from your web space using your FTP program. This will prevent you from wiping out your data accidentally.

Congratulations, you are now ready to go! If you had problems, see the section called “Troubleshooting”.

To add some people to your address book, click on "Add person" in the menu at the top, and enter their details. When you press return or click "Add person" they will be added, and the screen will be blanked so you can enter another new person. If you want to look at the person you've added, click on their name in the grey bar right at the bottom of the screen. If you want to see the current list of people, click on "Address list" in the menu at the top.

To see all the addresses in your address book, click on "Address list" in the menu at the top. If you only want to see some of the people in your address book, you can filter what you see by typing something into the "First name" or "Last name" box, or choosing a category from the "Category" drop-down. For example, if you want to see everyone whose first name begins with "An", just type "An" into the "First name" box, and press RETURN. To show everyone again, click "Show all".

To see the full details for a person, and to alter them, click on their name.

To print this list, use your browser's "Print" function (probably on the "File" menu). If it's a decent browser, it should print the list in a nice format without menus etc. (using a special printing CSS style sheet).

To edit or view all the details of a particular person, click their name on the "Address list" screen. This will take you to a screen where you can alter the person's name, date of birth, category and Christmas card list status under "Details" (don't forget to click "Save changed details" when you've done it!), and alter other details further down the screen.

To add a new mobile number, type it into the lowest box under "Mobile numbers", and click "Add new number" to the right. To alter a mobile number, change its entry in the box and click "Save" on the right (don't forget to do this before you move on!). To delete a number, click "Delete" on its right. If you have entered more than one mobile number, you can make one of the lower numbers the main one (which means it gets shown on the main address list) by clicking "Main" on its right.

Email addresses work exactly like mobile numbers, and addresses work very similarly, except there are several boxes to fill in for an address.

To delete a person, click their name on the "Address list" screen, scroll to the bottom, and click "Delete this person". There is no undo for this function, so be careful!

Putting people into categories is useful to allow you to do easy filtering on the "Address list" screen. To make new categories, click on "Categories" in the menu at the top, type the category into the box at the bottom of the list under "Change categories" and click "Add new category". To modify the wording of a category, change it in the box, and click on "Save" (don't forget to do this before you move on!). To delete a category, click "Delete" on its right.

The "Categories" screen also gives you a quick way to put everyone into categories, under "Categorise contacts". Go down the list, choosing a category for everyone, and then click "Save changes" to save.

Click on "Christmas" to manage your Christmas card list. Tick the boxes to the right of a person's name to say whether you sent them a card and/or you received one from them. Don't forget to click "Save changes" when you're done. It may be helpful to use the filters at the top of this screen, which work in the same way as described in "Viewing the whole list".

The "Reset sent cards" and "Reset received cards" buttons reset all the entries in the corresponding columns to be unticked.