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Pro Links Page
Introduction
The script is designed to be installed via FTP to a remote
server running PERL 5 or higher. Designed for easy setup and
configuration, This free for all links is capable of powerful
filtering that can prevent undesirable links being added to
your site.
The archive contains 10 files.
index.cgi - The perl script.
affa.cfg - The configuration file.
header.htm - The header is attached to the top of the link
list.
footer.htm - The footer is attached to the bottom of the link
list.
db.txt - An empty file used to store the links.
email.txt - A template to change to modify the email autoresponse.
manual.txt - The instruction manual for AFFA.
The last 3 files are not required to make the script work
and should not be uploaded to your website.
The script can be loaded in your web browser in one of 2 ways.
The first is calling the index.cgi file directly. For example:
http://www.yourdomain.com/links/index.cgi
In which case, do not supply a target file in the affa.cfg
file.
Or you can load a page created by AFFA, like this:
http://www.yourdomain.com/directory/links.htm (we have installed
it to run via index.cgi)
Customizing AFFA
AFFA automatically generates an HTML file by first pre-pending
a header HTML file, then formatting and laying-out the database
file of links and finally by appending a footer HTML file.
Sample header and footer HTML files are supplied with this
distribution.
The main things you may wish to change are the Administrator
email and the TextReject field, which lists words that the
script will not accept in a posting.
You will probably want to change the header.htm and footer.htm
files to add your company details, advertising and some links.
Just be careful not to alter the working parts of the page.
It is best to make a spare copy of the original file before
altering it.
You can use AFFA as-is straight away (you should put your
email address in the Administrator field in the affa.cfg file
however), or customize nearly every aspect of its operation.
AFFA is configured through a configuration file (`AFFA.cfg')
that you can edit with a text editor. The file itself contains
comments (any line starting with a `#') that describe each
of the options. In summary, the following configuration options
are available:
- The location (path) of any of the files; in particular,
- TargetFile - the HTML file to create
- HeaderFile - the HTML header to
pre-pend to target file
- FooterFile - the HTML footer to
append to target file
- DatabaseFile - the database file
of links
- LogFile - the log file for postings
- Administrator - the e-mail address
to send notifications to.
- CategoryTemplate - the template used
for displaying each of the categories.
- LinkTemplate - the template used for
displaying each of the links.
- TextReject - a list of keywords which,
if contained in the posting, should cause a rejection.
- TextRejectMessage - the message to
display when a TextReject occurs.
- CaseTransform - whether to automatically
drop second and subsequent letters in a word to lower-case
to prevent `shouting' (all caps)
- CaseReject - the number of words posted
in all-caps to cause a rejection.
- CaseRejectMessage - the message to
display when a CaseReject occurs.
- DuplicateURLReject - whether to reject
duplicate URLs (based on path, not just on filename).
- DuplicateURLRejectMessage - the message
to display when a DuplicateURLReject occurs.
- MaximumCount - the maximum number of
links to hold; oldest links are moved where necessary.
- MaximumSize - the maximum size of the
database file (in Kb); oldest links are moved where necessary.
- DomainReject - which domains to reject
postings for.
- DomainRejectMessage - the message to
display when a DomainReject occurs.
- Lifespan - the maximum lifespan (in
days) of a posting, before it is automatically removed.
- TestURL - whether to automatically
testing URLs during posting, to ensure that it is valid.
- TestURLTimeout - how long to wait before
deciding that a URL is invalid during testing.
- TestURLMessage - the message to display
if a URL is tested false.
- SortOrder - whether to display new
postings at the end, at the start or in alphabetical order.
- SubstituteList - how to alter the posting
before it gets tested or posted.
- Categories - which categories to permit
and to display, and in which order.
- CategoryRejectMessage - message to
display if an unknown category is posted.
- CategoryParam - the name of the supplied
category parameter for posting.
- TitleParam - the name of the supplied
title parameter for posting.
- UrlParam - the name of the supplied
URL parameter for posting.
- DescriptionParam - the name of the
supplied description parameter for posting.
- MaxTitleLen - the maximum length of
title (longer than this will be truncated).
- MaxDescriptionLen - the maximum length
of description (longer than this will be truncated).
- RejectIfTooLong - reject postings where
the title or description exceed MaxTitleLen and MaxDescriptionLen
respectively, rather than merely truncating.
- MaxURLLen - maximum allowed length
for the URL.
- RejectIfTooLongMessage - message to
display if a rejection occurs based on length of URL,
title or description.
- MinTitleLen - the minimum length of
title allowed.
- MinDescriptionLen - the minimum length
of description allowed.
- MinURLLen - the minimum length of URL
allowed.
- RejectIfTooShortMessage - message to
display if a rejection occurs based on length of URL,
title or description.
- AcceptMessage - message to display
when a posting is accepted.
- URLPrefixAccept - URL prefixes (such
as http:// or ftp://) to accept.
- Delimiter - the character(s) to split
lists of items in the config file.
Troubleshooting
System Errors
- System Error 1
- AFFA was unable to open the database file for updating;
this is almost always caused by incorrect permission settings
on the database file.
- System Error 2
- You have enabled automatic URL-testing, however AFFA
could not find the necessary library (PERL library Socket.pm)
to achieve this. Check your PERL installation, or disable
automatic URL-testing.
- System Error 3
- You have configured an invalid substitution in the config
file (SubstituteList).
Please check the substitution format carefully.
- System Error 4
- AFFA was unable to open the target HTML file for updating;
this is almost always caused by incorrect permission settings
on the target HTML file file.
- System Error 5
- AFFA was unable to open the log file for updating; this
is almost always caused by incorrect permission settings
on the log file.
- System Error 6
- The config file could not
be opened for reading. The config file should be named
`AFFA.cfg' in the same directory as AFFA, unless otherwise
in the header of AFFA (edit the script to modify).
- System Error 7
- The config file contains
an error at the line given. Check for syntax errors and
typos.
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