Support Home | Knowledge Base Home | Submit Article | Search Articles | Browse Articles  The phpBB Glossary™  Description: The phpBB Glossary™ contains some of the more common terms used here Author: Techie-Micheal Date: Wed Apr 02, 2003 1:40 pm Type: Info Keywords: glossary, dictionary, definitions, terms, help Category: Information and notices A ACP [Admin Control Panel] The ACP allows you to control all aspects of your phpBB from the names of the categories and forums to banning and unbanning of users. See also: User's guide :: 3.0.0 Administration Announcement A type of topic which always appears at the top when viewing a forum, regardless of page number. Announcements are often used for topics which are meant to catch the user's attention, such as rules. To post a topic as an announcement, select Announcement in the Post topic as radio boxes in the posting form. Note that permissions must allow you to post announcements for the radio box to be visible. See also: User's guide :: 4.4.2 Announcements, Sticky Apache A widely used (about 60% of websites use Apache as their server) open source HTTP server, which works on many modern operating systems, including Windows and UNIX. See also: Apache.org ASCII [American Standard Code for Information Interchange] A common way of encoding data to transfer it to a different computer. This is often found as a mode in an FTP clients to upload files. All of phpBB's files, expect the images should be uploaded in ASCII mode (.php, .inc, .sql, .cfg, .htm and .tpl files). See also: Binary, FTP Avatar Small pictures that display under the username on each post when viewing a topic. Avatars can be changed in your profile and settings (such as allow/disallow uploading) edited from the configuration section of the administration panel. See also: Guide to avatars B Binary Another common way of encoding data to transfer it to a different computer. This is often found as a mode in an FTP clients to upload files. All of phpBB's images (found in the images/ and templates/subSilver/images/ directories) should be uploaded in binary mode. See also: ASCII, FTP Board A board is the conglomeration (mix) of forums/fora and categories. See also: Forum C Cache A way of storing recently accessed data, to speed up other requests for it. By default, phpBB's templates are not cached, but this can be changed by using the caching system in the conrib/ directory (check the README file for details). Chmod [Change mode] A method of changing the permissions of a file on a UNIX server. Files in phpBB should be chmodded 644, directories should be chmodded to 755 and avatar upload directories and templates cache directories (if you are using it) chmodded to 777. See also: Chmod Cookie A small piece of data put onto the user's computer. Cookies are used with phpBB to store logon information (used for automatic logons). If you are recieving problems with logging in/out then chances are the problem is cookie-related. The first thing to try is clearing your cookies (tools-->internet options-->delete cookies with IE 6), and then correcting your cookie settings in the configuration section of the administration panel. Cookie domain should usually be blank, or be your fora's domain (and then must contain 2 dots). Cookie path should usually be set to /, or if you are running multiple boards at the same domain then it should be set to the board's path. If phpBB is unable to obtain cookie information then a session id is appended to the URL (e.g. index.php?sid=999). This session id preserves the user's session without use of a cookie. See also: Session D Database A collection of data, stored in a structred manner (with different tables and row and coluns, etc.). Databases provide a fast and flexible way of storing data, instead of the other commonly used data storage system of flat files where data is stored in a file. phpBB supports a number of database systems (MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL, MS Access), and uses the database to store information such as user details, posts, categories. Data stored in a database can usually be backuped and restored easily. See also: Install requirements, Transfer hosts/backup and restore database, SQL, ODBC, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL, MS Access Database server When installing, there is a field called DSN/Database host. This is to specify the location of you database's server. For non ODBC database servers, you should usually enter localhost here. See also: Entering the required data, Database, PostgreSQL, MS SQL, MS SQL, DSN DBAL [Database Abstraction Layer] Allows for a variety of database engines to be used within a single program without adding excessive overhead due to unneeded statements and commands. See also: Microsoft :: HAL DSN [Data Source Name] A DSN is only needed with MS Access databases, or with MS SQL via ODBC. You need to create a DSN before installing phpBB on Access. Usually, you should create a System DSN which points to the location where you have stored an unarchived copy of the ms_access_primer.mdb file (this is contained in the ms_access_primer.zip which can be found in db/schemas/). Whatever you call this DSN will need to be entered into the DSN/Database host field when installing. See also: Installing on MS Access 2000/XP, Database, MS Access, MS SQL, ODBC, Database server F Forum(s)/Fora A forum is one area of your board where the posts are stored. General Chat is one such example of a forum. Forums and fora are both the correct plural form of forum. See also: Board FTP [File Transfer Protocol] A protocol which allows files to be transfered from one computer to another. FTP is used to upload phpBB's files to the server you wish to install it to. FTPing is done with an FTP client, such as smartFTP. See also: Binary, ASCII G Gzip Gzip is a compression method often used in web applications and software such as phpBB to improve speed. Most modern browsers support this on-the-fly algorithm. Gzip is also used to compress an archive of files. See also: Gzip homepage, MacGzip, WinZip (not freeware) I IIS [Internet Information Server] A webserver by Microsoft. It is not free. See also: Apache, Microsoft :: IIS Internationalisation [i18n] The process of making something portable on other locales. In phpBB, this is done by creating separate language packs so the user can specify which language they wish to view the board in. See also: Localisation, Downloads :: Language packs, i18n forum L Localisation [l10n] Adapting something to the requirements of a locale, such as the language. See also: Internationalisation, Downloads :: Language packs, i18n forum M MD5 [Message Digest] MD5 is an algorithm which takes an input of any length, and outputs a message digest of a fixed length (128-bit, 32 characters). MD5 is used in phpBB to turn the users' passwords into a one-way hash, meaning that you cannot reverse an MD5 hash and get a users' passwords. See also: MD5, md5() (PHP function), MD5 (MySQL functions), Internet RFC/STD/FYI/BCP Archives - The MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm Mod [Moderator] A user which has special powers. As their name suggests, moderators are to control what is posted on your fora. Moderators can edit, delete, split, or move topics and individual posts in the forum that they moderate. They do not have access to the administration panel. See also: User's guide :: 5.0 Moderating, Creating forum moderators MOD [MODification] An add-on or alteration, formerly known as a hack. MODs can give extra features, improve security or alter the cosmetic look of fora. See also: phpBB modifications category, Modifications downloads MS Access A commercial database system created by Microsoft. MS Access cannot handle more than a couple of concurrent user's, so if you are expecting more than this then you should look at another databasee system. If using MS Access, phpBB requires version 2000 or XP (via ODBC) to work. See also: Microsoft.com, Database, SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL MS SQL A commercial database system created by Microsoft. If using MS SQL, phpBB requires version 7 or 2000 (via ODBC or directly) to work. See also: Microsoft.com, Database, SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS Access MySQL An open source, and most commonly used database system with phpBB (and PHP in general). PHP and MySQL are called the dynamic duo, as they go hand in hand with each other. MySQL is able to handle enough load for an average fora, and is fast and easy to use. If using MySQL, phpBB requires version 3.22 or upwards to work. See also: MySQL.com, Database, SQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL, MS Access O ODBC [Open DataBase Connectivity] A standard which makes it possible to run SQL on different database systems. When the correct ODBC style of SQL is used, ODBC will then translate it into whatever style it understands and do the query from there. An example of a database system that utilises ODBC is MS Access. See also: PostgreSQL.com, Database, SQL, MS Access, MySQL, MS SQL P PostgreSQL An open source database system (though there is commerical support available). PostgreSQL tends to work best on large sites, but is slower than MySQL on smaller sites. If using PostgreSQL, phpBB requires version 7.0.3 or higher (though preferably 7.1.x or 7.2.x) to work. See also: Microsoft.com, Database, SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL phpMyAdmin An open source database administration tool accessed in a browser. phpMyAdmin has tools which make it easy to execute SQL queries and check databases. See also: phpMyAdmin.net, phpPgadmin, Database, SQL, MySQL PHP [PHP Hypertext Preprocessor] The open source scripting language that phpBB is written in. See also: PHP.net R Rank A rank is a title which appears umder the user's name when viewing a topic, and in viewing a user's profile. Special ranks cannot be gained by postcount (unlike normal ranks where you set a postcount) and are often used to demonstrate who is an administrator or moderator. See also: User's guide :: 3.5.5 Ranks S Session A session is how long you spend on a fora. It is created when you logon, and then deleted when you log off. Session ids are usually stored in a cookie, but if phpBB is unable to obtain cookie information then a session id is appended to the URL (e.g. index.php?sid=999). This session id preserves the user's session without use of a cookie. If sessions were not preserved, then you would find yourself being logged out every time you clicked on a link in the forum. See also: Cookie SMTP [Simple Mail Transfer Protocol] A method of sending e-mail. E-mail from phpBB (used for topic notification, forgotten passwords, etc.) can be done by SMTP if turned on in administration panel-->general admin-->configuration-->email settings. See also: User's guide :: 3.2.2.7 Email settings SQL [Structured Query Language] The language used to perform queries on a database. Queries can do things such as updating, inserting and deleting data in a database. See also: Database, SQL, MySQL, PostgreSQL, MS SQL SSH [Secure Shell] SSH is a way of accessing a server at the command line level. You can run commands such as crontab and mysqldump via SSH. All information transmitted is encrypted. See also: Telnet PuTTY, SSH Subforum A subforum is a forum inside a forum. They are useful for splitting up the contents of a forum into subfora, like how data in a category is split into different fora inside the category. Although subfora are not a feature of phpBB 2.0.x, there is a MOD for it, and it is a feature for the next major release, phpBB 2.2. See also:area51 :: 2.2 development, Subfora MOD for 2.0.x Sticky A type of topic which appears at the top of the first page only when viewing a forum. Sticky topics are often used for topics which are frequently posted, so the user will see the topic instead of posting a similar topic again. To post a topic as a sticky, select Sticky in the Post topic as radio boxes in the posting form. Note that permissions must allow you to post sticky topics for the radio box to be visible. See also: User's guide :: 4.2.3 Sticky topics, Announcement Style A style is the combination of the template code and theme colours which make up the appearance of a forum. More than one style can be installed, and the user can select which one they want to use. See also: User's guide :: 3.4 Styles admin, Styles downloads, Template, Theme T Telnet Telnet is a way of accessing a server at the command line level. You can run commands such as crontab and mysqldump via SSH. Information sent is not encrypted and many hosts that offer shell access are doing away with telnet and moving to SSH. See also: PuTTY, Telnet, SSH Template A template is what controls the layout of a style. Although template files have the extension .tpl, they are made up from mainly HTML, with some variables that phpBB uses (contained in {braces}). .tpl files can be found in the templates/style_name/ (such as subSilver) directory. phpBB 2's templating system ensures that PHP code and HTML code are kept separate, making it easier to edit each one. phpBB 2.2's templating system is based on the popular open source templating engine, Smarty. See also: User's guide :: 3.4 Styles admin, Styles downloads, Smarty templating engine, Style, Theme, KB :: Templates Theme A theme controls the colours used in a style (e.g. background colour, font colours) and the images (e.g. new post icon). For each template, you can have more than one theme. See also: User's guide :: 3.4 Styles admin, Styles downloads, Style, Template U Usergroup Usergroups are a way of grouping users. This makes it easier to set permissions to many people at the same time (e.g. create a moderator group and give it moderating permissions to a certain forum instead of giving lots of individual people moderating perissions separately). A usergroup has a usergroup moderator, who has the ability to add or delete users from the group. Usergroups can be set to hidden, closed or open from administration panel-->group admin-->management-->group status. See also: User's guide :: 4.4 Usergoups, phpBB FAQ :: What are usergroups?, Creating forum moderators Revisions 1107200833 - Fixed userguide links - AdamR Username: Password: News | Features | Demo | Downloads | Support | Community | Styles | Mods | Links | Merchandise | About | Home  © Copyright 2002 The phpBB Group.