Getting started with FS

[Ivan Kohler]

On Sun, 12 Jul 1998, Mark Constable wrote:

> Hi folks, I hope it's Ok to ask some dumb startup questions.
> Hehe, you can't tell me to go read TFM or look at the list
> archives so I'm safe, I think.
> 
> I've got FS in a working state but now I have to actually use
> the program (enter data) but it appears that starting from
> scratch with no prior base of data is awkward. Some of the
> form fields that are required are also unusable with no
> settings behind them to select an option.. so I can't proceed
> to even set up a new account (to see how FS works).
> 
> Any hints on the form fields for these Admin pages would be
> appreciated... and how to get the right values into the form
> itself (I suspect they come out of mySQL) ?

> What example values should go in these fields ?
> 
> [listing deleted]

I've added some inline documentation on the pages themselves.  Please tell
me if it helps.  Some things (like agents and referrals) I didn't know
what to add; what don't you understand about them?

>  View/Edit locales and tax rates
> 	(Too US-centric to ask)

If you send over (privately, please) your list of Provinces or
State-equivalents, I'll add them in to a menu in fs-setup.  That goes for
anyone, of course.  If anyone knows where a complete list is available,
again please drop me a line.

>  View/Edit POPs
> 	City      
> 	State     
> 	Area Code (example US ph num)
> 	Exchange  ( ditto )
<

Example US area codes and exchanges are three digits.  Since this is
currently only tracked for informational purposes you should be able to
use this anyway.

> -----------------------------------------------------------
> The things I fell over on were;
> 
> o I was unaware of CGI::Base as distinct from CGI.pm
> o Needed a SUID version of perl
> o The .htaccess files are unusable as distributed

These should be added to the documentation.

> o No conf/secrets

Remember fs-current is a development snapshot and the documentation is
possibly inaccurate, as well as incomplete.  Check the TODO for things
that haven't made it to the documentation yet, like conf/secrets.

> o No example entries to start off with
> 
> Any hints appreciated and thanks to Ivan (and probably others)
> for making something like this GPL'd, great stuff :-)
> 
> --markc
> 

Good luck!

-- 
Ivan Kohler <ivan at sisd.com> - finger for PGP key
Silicon Interactive Software Design - http://www.sisd.com/
Open source billing and administration for ISPs - http://www.sisd.com/freeside
20 4,16 * * * saytime # consciousness is the missing symmetry