@ Drup

Yes, I was afraid of that.   Dhrup, you already know everything, have exactly the right interests and abilities for those docs.  If there was someone exactly like you who just needed the Elgg info you have, then those docs would be ideal.   But for the rest of us?   I dunno, but I feel more in line with jededitor, who seems to grasp that there is something missing.  By the way, now that I have seen Eduspaces.net (which took a bit of doing) I have a more specific point to make.  Why, when you first install Elgg, doesn't it look a lot like Eduspaces?  Then the adminstrator could make all the fine hacks and tweaks that jededitor can tell us about, with a nice working system.  Preferably with a "save changes" button, a "restore from saved changes" and a "restore to defaults" button.  This me in my analyst mode, something I would have suggested upfront if I had been here, but surely it could be done now.   Then the amount of "idiot's" documentation needed would be much less.

            dpw

@dpw,

Firstly, I never thought you complained, rather I could see that you are frustrated with some issues. This is something we both have in common as I too am frustrated with a few issues. And I know that you'll eventually get your project done because you are taking the time to analyse things.. That's all it takes.

Now, I know you directed the above comment to Dhrup, but I hope you don't mind me giving some input on that.. and by no means am I claiming to be an expert, because I am not. When you look at the 'plugin/theme' integration and management system in Elgg, you'll find that the 'save changes' and 'restore' features do in fact exist. Once you enable a plugin, it is deployed, once you disable it, the default alternative is restored. This is a little different to the traditional 'modify' and restore functions which commonly affect the same file (ie, modify file.php, then, restore the same file.php). Despite this, the outcome is the same. My take on the benefits of using the elgg method are:

1. It allows flexibility in design (modify different plugins independently so that you are able to use themes and features unique to each portion of you SN.
2. It preserves the integrity of the core code which remains untouched (unless of course you are a hack freak like myself and some others.. and if you do hack, keep a log as many of those hacks will vanish when you upgrade).
3. Build you SN in blocks without cluttering your core code. That way, your code remains relatively short and controllable.
4. And of course, and perhaps most importantly, retain the open source nature which allows contributors to go in and submit themes, plugins and all other kind of applications without having to tamper with the core.

Thank you all very much, this has helped me a lot.  I see that I will have to learn a lot more about plugins.  I am glad to see that Dhrup and Jededitor have just started groups or topics about plugins -- perhaps a bit too developer-oriented for me, but I will follow along and see what they say.   What has made the greatest difference to my understanding of Elgg is getting into a good active site -- Eduspaces, one that answered my original question about where there might be a fully operational site.  (By the way they have no registration button -- I only got in through the kindness of Tami, who agreed to invite me).    Anyway, I greatly enjoy the site, which does what I wanted -- it lets you find people on the basis of interests, and does other things I hoped for too.   I wonder how they did it?  I don't know enough to emulate them yet, but I am getting very optimistic now.  Thanks again to all of you.

@ Drup

Yes, I was afraid of that.   Dhrup, you already know everything, have exactly the right interests and abilities for those docs.  If there was someone exactly like you who just needed the Elgg info you have, then those docs would be ideal.   But for the rest of us?   I dunno, but I feel more in line with jededitor, who seems to grasp that there is something missing.  By the way, now that I have seen Eduspaces.net (which took a bit of doing) I have a more specific point to make.  Why, when you first install Elgg, doesn't it look a lot like Eduspaces?  Then the adminstrator could make all the fine hacks and tweaks that jededitor can tell us about, with a nice working system.  Preferably with a "save changes" button, a "restore from saved changes" and a "restore to defaults" button.  This me in my analyst mode, something I would have suggested upfront if I had been here, but surely it could be done now.   Then the amount of "idiot's" documentation needed would be much less.

            dpw

@dpw,

Firstly, I never thought you complained, rather I could see that you are frustrated with some issues. This is something we both have in common as I too am frustrated with a few issues. And I know that you'll eventually get your project done because you are taking the time to analyse things.. That's all it takes.

Now, I know you directed the above comment to Dhrup, but I hope you don't mind me giving some input on that.. and by no means am I claiming to be an expert, because I am not. When you look at the 'plugin/theme' integration and management system in Elgg, you'll find that the 'save changes' and 'restore' features do in fact exist. Once you enable a plugin, it is deployed, once you disable it, the default alternative is restored. This is a little different to the traditional 'modify' and restore functions which commonly affect the same file (ie, modify file.php, then, restore the same file.php). Despite this, the outcome is the same. My take on the benefits of using the elgg method are:

1. It allows flexibility in design (modify different plugins independently so that you are able to use themes and features unique to each portion of you SN.
2. It preserves the integrity of the core code which remains untouched (unless of course you are a hack freak like myself and some others.. and if you do hack, keep a log as many of those hacks will vanish when you upgrade).
3. Build you SN in blocks without cluttering your core code. That way, your code remains relatively short and controllable.
4. And of course, and perhaps most importantly, retain the open source nature which allows contributors to go in and submit themes, plugins and all other kind of applications without having to tamper with the core.

Thank you all very much, this has helped me a lot.  I see that I will have to learn a lot more about plugins.  I am glad to see that Dhrup and Jededitor have just started groups or topics about plugins -- perhaps a bit too developer-oriented for me, but I will follow along and see what they say.   What has made the greatest difference to my understanding of Elgg is getting into a good active site -- Eduspaces, one that answered my original question about where there might be a fully operational site.  (By the way they have no registration button -- I only got in through the kindness of Tami, who agreed to invite me).    Anyway, I greatly enjoy the site, which does what I wanted -- it lets you find people on the basis of interests, and does other things I hoped for too.   I wonder how they did it?  I don't know enough to emulate them yet, but I am getting very optimistic now.  Thanks again to all of you.

@ Drup

Yes, I was afraid of that.   Dhrup, you already know everything, have exactly the right interests and abilities for those docs.  If there was someone exactly like you who just needed the Elgg info you have, then those docs would be ideal.   But for the rest of us?   I dunno, but I feel more in line with jededitor, who seems to grasp that there is something missing.  By the way, now that I have seen Eduspaces.net (which took a bit of doing) I have a more specific point to make.  Why, when you first install Elgg, doesn't it look a lot like Eduspaces?  Then the adminstrator could make all the fine hacks and tweaks that jededitor can tell us about, with a nice working system.  Preferably with a "save changes" button, a "restore from saved changes" and a "restore to defaults" button.  This me in my analyst mode, something I would have suggested upfront if I had been here, but surely it could be done now.   Then the amount of "idiot's" documentation needed would be much less.

            dpw

@dpw,

Firstly, I never thought you complained, rather I could see that you are frustrated with some issues. This is something we both have in common as I too am frustrated with a few issues. And I know that you'll eventually get your project done because you are taking the time to analyse things.. That's all it takes.

Now, I know you directed the above comment to Dhrup, but I hope you don't mind me giving some input on that.. and by no means am I claiming to be an expert, because I am not. When you look at the 'plugin/theme' integration and management system in Elgg, you'll find that the 'save changes' and 'restore' features do in fact exist. Once you enable a plugin, it is deployed, once you disable it, the default alternative is restored. This is a little different to the traditional 'modify' and restore functions which commonly affect the same file (ie, modify file.php, then, restore the same file.php). Despite this, the outcome is the same. My take on the benefits of using the elgg method are:

1. It allows flexibility in design (modify different plugins independently so that you are able to use themes and features unique to each portion of you SN.
2. It preserves the integrity of the core code which remains untouched (unless of course you are a hack freak like myself and some others.. and if you do hack, keep a log as many of those hacks will vanish when you upgrade).
3. Build you SN in blocks without cluttering your core code. That way, your code remains relatively short and controllable.
4. And of course, and perhaps most importantly, retain the open source nature which allows contributors to go in and submit themes, plugins and all other kind of applications without having to tamper with the core.

Thank you all very much, this has helped me a lot.  I see that I will have to learn a lot more about plugins.  I am glad to see that Dhrup and Jededitor have just started groups or topics about plugins -- perhaps a bit too developer-oriented for me, but I will follow along and see what they say.   What has made the greatest difference to my understanding of Elgg is getting into a good active site -- Eduspaces, one that answered my original question about where there might be a fully operational site.  (By the way they have no registration button -- I only got in through the kindness of Tami, who agreed to invite me).    Anyway, I greatly enjoy the site, which does what I wanted -- it lets you find people on the basis of interests, and does other things I hoped for too.   I wonder how they did it?  I don't know enough to emulate them yet, but I am getting very optimistic now.  Thanks again to all of you.

@ Drup

Yes, I was afraid of that.   Dhrup, you already know everything, have exactly the right interests and abilities for those docs.  If there was someone exactly like you who just needed the Elgg info you have, then those docs would be ideal.   But for the rest of us?   I dunno, but I feel more in line with jededitor, who seems to grasp that there is something missing.  By the way, now that I have seen Eduspaces.net (which took a bit of doing) I have a more specific point to make.  Why, when you first install Elgg, doesn't it look a lot like Eduspaces?  Then the adminstrator could make all the fine hacks and tweaks that jededitor can tell us about, with a nice working system.  Preferably with a "save changes" button, a "restore from saved changes" and a "restore to defaults" button.  This me in my analyst mode, something I would have suggested upfront if I had been here, but surely it could be done now.   Then the amount of "idiot's" documentation needed would be much less.

            dpw

@dpw,

Firstly, I never thought you complained, rather I could see that you are frustrated with some issues. This is something we both have in common as I too am frustrated with a few issues. And I know that you'll eventually get your project done because you are taking the time to analyse things.. That's all it takes.

Now, I know you directed the above comment to Dhrup, but I hope you don't mind me giving some input on that.. and by no means am I claiming to be an expert, because I am not. When you look at the 'plugin/theme' integration and management system in Elgg, you'll find that the 'save changes' and 'restore' features do in fact exist. Once you enable a plugin, it is deployed, once you disable it, the default alternative is restored. This is a little different to the traditional 'modify' and restore functions which commonly affect the same file (ie, modify file.php, then, restore the same file.php). Despite this, the outcome is the same. My take on the benefits of using the elgg method are:

1. It allows flexibility in design (modify different plugins independently so that you are able to use themes and features unique to each portion of you SN.
2. It preserves the integrity of the core code which remains untouched (unless of course you are a hack freak like myself and some others.. and if you do hack, keep a log as many of those hacks will vanish when you upgrade).
3. Build you SN in blocks without cluttering your core code. That way, your code remains relatively short and controllable.
4. And of course, and perhaps most importantly, retain the open source nature which allows contributors to go in and submit themes, plugins and all other kind of applications without having to tamper with the core.

Thank you all very much, this has helped me a lot.  I see that I will have to learn a lot more about plugins.  I am glad to see that Dhrup and Jededitor have just started groups or topics about plugins -- perhaps a bit too developer-oriented for me, but I will follow along and see what they say.   What has made the greatest difference to my understanding of Elgg is getting into a good active site -- Eduspaces, one that answered my original question about where there might be a fully operational site.  (By the way they have no registration button -- I only got in through the kindness of Tami, who agreed to invite me).    Anyway, I greatly enjoy the site, which does what I wanted -- it lets you find people on the basis of interests, and does other things I hoped for too.   I wonder how they did it?  I don't know enough to emulate them yet, but I am getting very optimistic now.  Thanks again to all of you.

@ Drup

Yes, I was afraid of that.   Dhrup, you already know everything, have exactly the right interests and abilities for those docs.  If there was someone exactly like you who just needed the Elgg info you have, then those docs would be ideal.   But for the rest of us?   I dunno, but I feel more in line with jededitor, who seems to grasp that there is something missing.  By the way, now that I have seen Eduspaces.net (which took a bit of doing) I have a more specific point to make.  Why, when you first install Elgg, doesn't it look a lot like Eduspaces?  Then the adminstrator could make all the fine hacks and tweaks that jededitor can tell us about, with a nice working system.  Preferably with a "save changes" button, a "restore from saved changes" and a "restore to defaults" button.  This me in my analyst mode, something I would have suggested upfront if I had been here, but surely it could be done now.   Then the amount of "idiot's" documentation needed would be much less.

            dpw

@dpw,

Firstly, I never thought you complained, rather I could see that you are frustrated with some issues. This is something we both have in common as I too am frustrated with a few issues. And I know that you'll eventually get your project done because you are taking the time to analyse things.. That's all it takes.

Now, I know you directed the above comment to Dhrup, but I hope you don't mind me giving some input on that.. and by no means am I claiming to be an expert, because I am not. When you look at the 'plugin/theme' integration and management system in Elgg, you'll find that the 'save changes' and 'restore' features do in fact exist. Once you enable a plugin, it is deployed, once you disable it, the default alternative is restored. This is a little different to the traditional 'modify' and restore functions which commonly affect the same file (ie, modify file.php, then, restore the same file.php). Despite this, the outcome is the same. My take on the benefits of using the elgg method are:

1. It allows flexibility in design (modify different plugins independently so that you are able to use themes and features unique to each portion of you SN.
2. It preserves the integrity of the core code which remains untouched (unless of course you are a hack freak like myself and some others.. and if you do hack, keep a log as many of those hacks will vanish when you upgrade).
3. Build you SN in blocks without cluttering your core code. That way, your code remains relatively short and controllable.
4. And of course, and perhaps most importantly, retain the open source nature which allows contributors to go in and submit themes, plugins and all other kind of applications without having to tamper with the core.

Thank you all very much, this has helped me a lot.  I see that I will have to learn a lot more about plugins.  I am glad to see that Dhrup and Jededitor have just started groups or topics about plugins -- perhaps a bit too developer-oriented for me, but I will follow along and see what they say.   What has made the greatest difference to my understanding of Elgg is getting into a good active site -- Eduspaces, one that answered my original question about where there might be a fully operational site.  (By the way they have no registration button -- I only got in through the kindness of Tami, who agreed to invite me).    Anyway, I greatly enjoy the site, which does what I wanted -- it lets you find people on the basis of interests, and does other things I hoped for too.   I wonder how they did it?  I don't know enough to emulate them yet, but I am getting very optimistic now.  Thanks again to all of you.

@Malaga Jack

That gets my vote as the understatement of the week :-)

Click one ***** export db from old server    (phpadmin old server)

Click two ****  import db to new server (phpadmin on new server)

step 3 edit line 6 and seven in the new db in table datalist to give the new paths to your site and data folder

step 4 edit the  site entity  table to point to your elgg install

done your db is now moved and reinstalled. that's it for the db

However there is more to moving the site

e.g. moving the data folder

uploading a new copy of elgg

editing the /engine/setiings.php and

.htaccess

The things that will slow the process down are  your data folder, if you have a lot of content this takes time to move

And you may have to click import a few times on phpadmin if the database is large as it will time out but you can restart it and it will pickup from where it left off

The process is rather easy and painless as I said it's moving the data folder that takes time

I did it on a live site in 30 minutes with 6000 members a

All I can add is what I do.  I got myself an account with domain name on a hosting service, $100 a year, very high bandwidth, no storage limitations at all.  Then I installed a whole bunch of stuff using the Fantastico installer that came with their cPanal, plus many other things, like Elgg, which it didn't have.  Now I just use what works easily and well.  Wordpress and MediaWiki are great.  I have had little luck with the famous Drupal and Joomla, but I see their possibilities.  I see great potential in Elgg and hope I can make something with it, but it is an uphill battle.   By the way, I have bought all the "... for Dummies" books, one for each piece of software I have on my server, and the out-of-date Elgg book, which helped almost as much as it misled.  Despite decades using and writing software I still find this all incredibly hard.   All this is Social Technology, by the way, and I fume and fuss over it on my site, http://www.SocialTechnology.ca/ which laments the failures of all this stuff, while exposing my daydreams of something better. 

           dpw

@ Drup

Yes, I was afraid of that.   Dhrup, you already know everything, have exactly the right interests and abilities for those docs.  If there was someone exactly like you who just needed the Elgg info you have, then those docs would be ideal.   But for the rest of us?   I dunno, but I feel more in line with jededitor, who seems to grasp that there is something missing.  By the way, now that I have seen Eduspaces.net (which took a bit of doing) I have a more specific point to make.  Why, when you first install Elgg, doesn't it look a lot like Eduspaces?  Then the adminstrator could make all the fine hacks and tweaks that jededitor can tell us about, with a nice working system.  Preferably with a "save changes" button, a "restore from saved changes" and a "restore to defaults" button.  This me in my analyst mode, something I would have suggested upfront if I had been here, but surely it could be done now.   Then the amount of "idiot's" documentation needed would be much less.

            dpw

@dpw,

Firstly, I never thought you complained, rather I could see that you are frustrated with some issues. This is something we both have in common as I too am frustrated with a few issues. And I know that you'll eventually get your project done because you are taking the time to analyse things.. That's all it takes.

Now, I know you directed the above comment to Dhrup, but I hope you don't mind me giving some input on that.. and by no means am I claiming to be an expert, because I am not. When you look at the 'plugin/theme' integration and management system in Elgg, you'll find that the 'save changes' and 'restore' features do in fact exist. Once you enable a plugin, it is deployed, once you disable it, the default alternative is restored. This is a little different to the traditional 'modify' and restore functions which commonly affect the same file (ie, modify file.php, then, restore the same file.php). Despite this, the outcome is the same. My take on the benefits of using the elgg method are:

1. It allows flexibility in design (modify different plugins independently so that you are able to use themes and features unique to each portion of you SN.
2. It preserves the integrity of the core code which remains untouched (unless of course you are a hack freak like myself and some others.. and if you do hack, keep a log as many of those hacks will vanish when you upgrade).
3. Build you SN in blocks without cluttering your core code. That way, your code remains relatively short and controllable.
4. And of course, and perhaps most importantly, retain the open source nature which allows contributors to go in and submit themes, plugins and all other kind of applications without having to tamper with the core.

Thank you all very much, this has helped me a lot.  I see that I will have to learn a lot more about plugins.  I am glad to see that Dhrup and Jededitor have just started groups or topics about plugins -- perhaps a bit too developer-oriented for me, but I will follow along and see what they say.   What has made the greatest difference to my understanding of Elgg is getting into a good active site -- Eduspaces, one that answered my original question about where there might be a fully operational site.  (By the way they have no registration button -- I only got in through the kindness of Tami, who agreed to invite me).    Anyway, I greatly enjoy the site, which does what I wanted -- it lets you find people on the basis of interests, and does other things I hoped for too.   I wonder how they did it?  I don't know enough to emulate them yet, but I am getting very optimistic now.  Thanks again to all of you.