Blog/CMS system for Flash/PHP/MySQL

[blixt]

I put together a little system to try to make it easy for more people with Flash based websites to have a blog integrated into their site.

It also doubles up as a very basic CMS system, so you can create a Flash based site around the system that you can easily maintain using an admin interface.
No fancy stuff yet....but if you just need to have some text, links and images on a few pages that should be easily updated it will do the job.

Some features:
Admin interface for easy adding of text, images and links and moderation of user comments.
Included state management enabling deeplinking, bookmarking and use of back/forward buttons in the browser.
Accordion style display of posts by subject and post by month as well as multiple categories of external links.
Generates RSS 2.0 feeds.
User comments with gravatar support.
Can be set to resize with the browser window or be used in fixed size.
User can resize text using ctrl mouse scroll or +/- buttons.

You'll need to have PHP/MySQL on the server to install the system.

I will add a script to output HTML to the system soon, which will be indexable by search engines with results leading to the correct page in your flash movie
Also planned is options to include a slideshow and mp3 player.

So it could be worth a look if you like to start blogging with flash, just need a dynamic text field that you can easily update using your browser or like to build a simple flash site with dynamic content and don't want to have to code the whole admin bit for yourself.

Download it at: http://www.blixtsystems.com/index.html#page=download&ss=pid&pid=6

Support questions is preferably posted at the link above as well to benefit other users.

Enjoy.

[smoothhabitat]

Looks nice!

[Joppe]

looks very nice! :thumb:
Too bad it uses mysql =/
i dont have mysql support on my server

[G]

saw this on your site:) I'm guessing your using AMF then??? or are you not??? looks pretty sweet :)

very kind of you to let it up for free :) I'm sure many will thank you :)

[blixt]

Thx for the feedback.

@joppe
I figured it was best to use MySQL and figured that most people that have php would have it anyway.
It could of course be adapted to use php with XML instead.
Using a database is convenient, but it also puts more strain on the server so it could been a better idea to just use XML....well see, maybe I'll adopt it sometime if there seem to be more people that like that solution.

@G
I was considering if I should use AMFPHP, but I thought that the advantages of doing that would be outwieghed by the added complexity for users to have to set up the remoting.

[sumtan]

this is awsome.. just what i am looking for.. thanks

[blixt]

I must point out that after I have tried out the system on a project it was a few things that really needed fixing.
It's work under progress and still need a bit of time to be solid and flexible before I would call it awsome :)
But I figured it's nice to get a really early version out there to get feedback on what people like to be able to do with a system like this and maybe suggestions how to improve the code and packaging.
So if you have any features you like to request or issues with the current version, please speak up :)

I have already sorted out a lot of issues and is addressing some more before I release a new and much improved version.
For more info on issues with the current version and updates underway, visit http://www.blixtsystems.com/index.html#ss=pid&page=blog&pid=12

[sumtan]

instead the pages slides-in, can it be fade-in? and a calendar would be nice.

[blixt]

The blog system does not have any transitions built in now, those are part of the blixtsystems site and not implemented on the blog page.
But implementing possibility to add transitions and adding a calendar is both things I have been considering and will most likely add in the future.

[G]

Thx for the feedback.
@G
I was considering if I should use AMFPHP, but I thought that the advantages of doing that would be outwieghed by the added complexity for users to have to set up the remoting.

My thoughts entirely :) its pretty sweet and theres another you chould check out made by ghostwire.....www.ghostwire.com

Yeh I have not come across a host who will install any of these packages on their server.....kind of annoying :(

The long way is the best way like you say :)

[FlashPlaya]

YES!!!!!

I have been looking for something like this forever! Thanks so much for sharing this with us blixt!!:thumb2: I have one prob though.. I have it all set up right with phpmyadmin and the db, but I am still getting There was an error trying to connect to the database. check it out here: http://www.dyaddesigns.com/testing/cmsTest/cmsTest.htm

but the admin is workin? http://www.dyaddesigns.com/testing/cmsTest/admin/blixtBlogAdmin.swf

Is there something in the blixtBlog.fla i need to add? The flash file is given me the error" **Error** Symbol=BlixtBlog, layer=Actions, frame=1:Line 52: The class 'blixt.BlixtBlog' could not be loaded."


thanks again!!!

[blixt]

Have you copied the classes/blixt folder into your classpath?
You dont really need to touch the blixtBlog.fla and can just use the mxp file to install it as a component.

The admin seems to indeed be working, apart from that there is no styles loaded what i see.
That makes me wonder if your folder structure is correct since the admin should read the blogStyles.css from one directory down.
blixtBlogAdmin.php, blixtBlogAdmin.swf and config.php all need to be located in a directory called "admin" located one level above the rest of your files.

[FlashPlaya]

Yeah, I tried to copy the classes/blixt/ did not do anything.. still getting the "**Error** Symbol=BlixtBlog, layer=Actions, frame=1:Line 52: The class 'blixt.BlixtBlog' could not be loaded."

As far as the folder structure. I just uploaded the way the you have it in your download. The blogStyles.css is in the example folder. You can see the structure here:http://www.dyaddesigns.com/testing/cmsTest/

thanks a ton for helping me out with all this!! :thumb2:

[blixt]

Can you tell me the full path to where you have BlixtBlog.as?
It must be that it's not found in the flash classpath.

The only folder you need on the server is one called "admin".
So basically copy all the files except the .fla from the examples folder directly to your "cmstest" folder.
The rest of the folders you can delete, they don't need to be present on the server.

The installation instructions very much need a clarification on this point, my aplogies.

[FlashPlaya]

Hey Blixt,

I have it all working now.. fixed the classpath. The last thing that I can't seem to figure out is the way the dang css is not loading?

http://www.dyaddesigns.com/testing/cmsTest/blixtBlog.html

so werid cause it's working on my machine.. I thought is might be a path problem but still no dice..

thanks bro!!

[blixt]

I hard coded the name of the CSS file in the component, and it has to be "blogStyles.css".

If you like to like to use another file, or load different styles globally or separatly for each instance you have to create and populate a new TextField.StyleSheet declared as global.
Then you enter the name of that in the "styleObj" property in the component inspector in the instance you like to use it for.

I didn't put in code to embed fonts in the version thats up now, but that functionality is added already and I will post the updated version very soon.
But for now it will handle the CSS as HTML, ie not much control over choice of fonts.

[FlashPlaya]

Thanks blixt..

It is killing me.. I know have it right.. cause when I test on my machine it blogStyles.css loads fine.. But then when I put on my server it does not work anymore.. So frustrating.. Cause I know the path is right. I don't know what I am doing wrong..

Thanks..

[blixt]

Ahh...yes...sorry, I do see that you have blogStyles.css on your server now.
When i open the css in the browser I see some strange signs in the very start of the file.
It says:
Ôªøp{
instead of just:
p{

Look in your text editor and see if it shows up there and you can get rid of it.

[FlashPlaya]

YOU THE MAN!!! thanks for all your help with this blixt!!!

[blixt]

NP....just keep in mind that the version you are using is quite many problems with.
I just sorted out the last few really obvious ones and will do some more testing before I package it....hopfully tommorrow if I don't come across any more major issues.
So check back here and I will make a post when it's ready to download.

[FlashPlaya]

Thanks so much for all your help, can't wait for the new verison.. I will take a look later..

you da man!! :thumb2:

[sumtan]

looking forward for the updated version

[blixt]

Ok....I posted the new version on the site.
Not very thoroughly tested yet, but I fixed a lot both major and minor problems from the previous version.
I also added font embedding support, more configuration options and a guestbook mode.
Also the install package has been laid out more logically.

Same link as before (http://www.blixtsystems.com/index.html#page=download&pid=6&ss=pid)

[FlashPlaya]

Cool... Thanks for sharing this with all of us!!!:thumb2:


one thing.. how do you change the fonts that you want to embed? Thanks!

[Joppe]

It looks very very cool.. I want an xml version =( Too bad i cant write one of my own.. :lol:

[blixt]

Cool... Thanks for sharing this with all of us!!!:thumb2:


one thing.. how do you change the fonts that you want to embed? Thanks!
To choose the fonts you want embedded you just enter the name of the font in the css stylesheet.
Then you have to make sure you include the fonts in the fla before publishing.
There is some brief instructions in the readme.txt.
I will write a more thorough explantion the steps you need to take and post on the site.

[JvdH]

Wow...cool...was thinking of something similar but I'm too swamped to get my idea's into somethng workable. Good work man!

How's the compability with different browsers (win and especially mac?) It seems firefox crashes if I keep resizing the window.

[blixt]

Thats odd....I use mainly FF for testing.
I did rewrite the whole approach to resizing for 0.9.3, and it still surely could do with more testing.
If you have an hints on how to recreate the error that would be very appreciated so I can look in to it.
I would doubt that it's an browser dependant issue, which is quite rare with Flash and there is no JS involved in the resizing.

What does need more tesing and work for browser compatability is the state management system.
It works on IE and FF on windows, but when I tested on Opera it fails, but without causing any problems and deeplinking works fine.

[bhjodokast]

Great work!

Question: The scrolling seems slow for the text. Is this the most optimized way to scroll? I usually scroll 1 line at a time.

[blixt]

On my windows machine it scrolls about two lines at the time, but on linux it seems to be a bit slower for some reason.
What OS and browser are you using?

If you like to alter the scroll speed I put all the listeners for mouse and keys in frame one of the component.
On line 9, edit the value in var step:Number = delta*8;.

[sumtan]

blixt, great job, i finally got it installed, working smooth so far,theres no preloader in the released version, prossible to add a preloader?

[blixt]

It is preloading, but I did not bother to stick in any progress display in the very basic example I provided.
But it would be nice I guess and I will stick one in for next update.

[sumtan]

It is preloading, but I did not bother to stick in any progress display in the very basic example I provided.
But it would be nice I guess and I will stick one in for next update.

thanks bilxt, looking forward to your next release, just curious what will be also included in the next release?

[Voetsjoeba]

I think I'm gonna move this thread over to Best of Kirupa. Just confirm that you've read this so that I can actually move it without people wondering where this thread went.

[blixt]

thanks bilxt, looking forward to your next release, just curious what will be also included in the next release?
I will mainly focus on a few bugs I found for now.
The one new feature I will be adding is a script for generating HTML output.
A blog really should be possible to index for search engines IMO, and the results in the searchengines should direct users with Flash to the correct page.

For the future I'm open for suggestions.
Transitions was mentioned here, which I think is a good idea.
I would also like integrate functionality for displaying images nicely with some kind of slideshow.

I think I'm gonna move this thread over to Best of Kirupa. Just confirm that you've read this so that I can actually move it without people wondering where this thread went.
Cheers....I'm honoured :)

[duayne]

wow.. this is great... thanks for making it free dude.. you rock!!

[Beebs]

OMG....this rocks!

[sonicdoomx]

I've been searching for something like this... Great job!

One problem though, if I set the component resizing to false, the comment window does not appear when people wants to add comments.

[Daimz]

hey this is awsome. but I am having problems setting up my .htpasswd I have used generator to genorate but nothing seems to work can some one please explain how they did it.

[Daimz]

Ok dont worry about that last problem I solved it. I just have one more queastion I have build a wedsite and I really like the way this thing works and I would like to be able to take the data created in the admin sections and import that in to my own dynamic text field with my own scroller. could some one please explain how I could go about doing that? I already have the dynamic text box and scroller set up I just need to know how to access the content stored in the database and import it in to my text box. I dont know anything about php and AS2 so I really want it to be as simple as possible if that is at all possible.
cheers

[JoshuaJonah]

It is possible, however it is far from "simple as possible". Read up on the php and loadvars tutorials.

[Daimz]

what would be the easiest way to acheive what I am wanting?

[Daimz]

Ok I think maby I just need to edit the actual blixtbolg it's self. At the moment this is how it looks http://www.arctosdesign.com/daimz/blixtblog/www/blixtBlog_site.swf but all the content that I type in(in the admin.swf) seems to onlly want to show up in the blog section why is that? allso I figured I can use the component to bring the content into my website but I because my content for some reason only wants to showup in the blog section it doesnt come up in the component box like this http://www.arctosdesign.com/daimz/blixtblog/www/blixtblog_testing.swf says there is no posts in this catagory. how can I configure the blog to show the postings in the "blog"section of the website in the new component content box. dont know if that made alot of sence but I hope you can understand it.
cheers

[blixt]

Sorry for not being around to respond to the questions for a while.
I been very pressed for time and haven't been able to do updates to the system as I was hoping.

@Daimz
The system can be used to simply provide a text field that can be administered thru the admin interface, but the way it's implemented is to put it midly very awkvard.
Basically what you need to do is to is in the admin interface make a category name for that page and select the "Individual Page" checkbox.
The in the parameters tab for the instance of the component you enter the same name as you entered as category in the admin interface.
Hope that helps.

[zellers]

Nice, I have been wanting to make an XML powered flash blog, that would easily support images, and their properties (location, size, have the text around the image, instaed of underneath it (wordwrapping?)) But I always hesitate when I go and open up flash. I'm always like. OK, I want a whole blog system that has EVERYTHING integrated into it. I know I can do it.... Where do I start? I'm afraid if I do one thing, I focus too much on that one task, and I don't think about how I'm going to integrate it with somthing that I will make in the future.

[kijakarn]

Wow ,this is a system that I've searched for months ,Thanks to share us ,may the power be with you...:)

[boogooloo1]

Does this still exist? I'm trying to find a CMS solution for Flash :)

[nortago]

It does excist, and I'm pretty sure you can download it off his website still, but there are a few solutions out there if you're looking for cms... then again you could always build your own, which Is what I ended up doing...

[boogooloo1]

G'day mate,

Well, if you could point me in some directions, I'd much appreciate it - been looking for a long time! Most of the people I do sites for simply want to update text, but they'd like the text to be formatted, and they don't use html tags. So all I'm after, really, is a WYSIWYG editor which (a) is online (so they don't have to install anything), (b) can upload, edit and save txt files (which is what I use externally for text sections of the sites), and (c) can add basic tags like bold, italics, etc...

Any ideas?

:)

[boogooloo1]

I might put this somewhere else too, in case most people ignore this section.

[nortago]

Well, there's plenty on the market - fcms, flashblocks etc - but if you're just wanting to update text files - http://www.flashcontentmanager.com looks good... alternatively you could look at http://www.kirupa.com/web/xml/examples/newseditor.htm which is what I started off building into my client sites (just a note, the version on the website doesn't work, but I assure you this does actually work! promise :))
You can then build in your own features such as bold etc...
If you're looking for a hand, get in touch via my blog and I might be able to help you out with something...

Liam

[boogooloo1]

Thanks very much, mate! I'll look into those now, and will probably pop up on your blog at some point :)

[deep23]

Nice, I have been wanting to make an XML powered flash blog, that would easily support images, and their properties (location, size, have the text around the image, instaed of underneath it (wordwrapping?)) But I always hesitate when I go and open up flash. I'm always like. OK, I want a whole blog system that has EVERYTHING integrated into it. I know I can do it.... Where do I start? I'm afraid if I do one thing, I focus too much on that one task, and I don't think about how I'm going to integrate it with somthing that I will make in the future.

[seaniekaye]

Just trying to take this for a test drive. I have uploaded it to my server, edited the config to my sql user / pass / db / hostname, and the sample swf's are all saying
"There was an error trying to connect to the database."

I put a little php sql test connection file on my server and connected successfully with that, so the server info is correct. (I must have checked that i entered it properly in the config file 20 times now.)

The contents of my admin folder :
blixtBlogAdmin.php
blixtBlogAdmin.swf
config.php
(thats the edited config with my sql data and webite url etc)

The blog directory contains:

>Admin (the folder I spelled out above)
>Images (containing only noavatar.jpg)
blixtBlog.html
blixtBlog.php
blixtBlog_site.swf
blogStyles.css
feed.php
flashobject.js
stateNav.js

* * * * * * * * * ** * * *

If I go to blixtBlog_site.swf the movie loads but the content area says
There was an error trying to connect to the database.

If I go to admin (i deleted the .ht files for now as I troubleshoot) I can load that movie too but get the error when I attempt to post.

I know I am set up to connect to mysql because of my test... So I'm out of ideas..ANy help would be most appreciated!