Don Parris walks you through the process of setting the core applications of phphGroupware.

We have walked through a basic phpGroupware installation and configured the general system. Now let's configure the core applications, the Calendar, Address Book, InfoLog, Notes, Bookmarks, File Manager and Projects. Most of the core applications are fairly simple to configure. Just head for the Administration page.

Each module has its own Global Categories setting, but they all work the same. Clicking the link takes you to a listing of available categories. You can click Add to create new categories. Clicking Done brings you back to the main Administration page. So we shouldn't have to cover every instance of this setting, right?

The Calendar asks whether to load the holiday files dynamically. You can choose to load them from the localhost or from the phpGroupware site. Just click Save to save the settings. In Custom Fields & Sorting, you can select which fields will be visible in lists, and prioritize the sorting of the fields. You can add custom fields as well. Holiday Management only allows you to add new holidays. As it turns out, phpGroupware seems to only allow adding individual holidays. It doesn't allow you to add an additional file containing all the holidays for other countries.

To Add a new holiday, simply click Add, enter the country code (US, DE, BR, etc.), and the name of the holiday (in the title box). Then enter the date. Be aware that you should only enter the year if the holiday is a one-time holiday. Otherwise, leave the year field blank. Then set the occurance (i.e., the 3rd Tue in June). Check the Observance Rule box if the holiday is usually observed after the weekend (Labor Day and Memorial Day).

You can even submit your 'patched' holiday file to phpGroupware.org. Don't actually do this unless you have changed your holidays though. Clicking submit seems to actually submit your 'patch'. Likewise, downloading will attempt to download the holiday file for your country. Click on the Administration icon to return to the main admin page.

Let's configure our Address Book now. There really should be no need to use the Site Configuration link - you should have already chosen between SQL and LDAP during the installation process. Apparently , you should not need to use the Address Book (Contacts) application if you are using LDAP. However, if you are using LDAP, you may need to enter the appropriate settings for your LDAP host, context, root DN, and and root password. Most folks will want to ensure that "SQL" is selected as the storage/retrieval engine.

Next, you can Edit the Custom fields, by clicking that link, and then either editing the available fields, or adding a new one. The Communication Types Manager lets you add new communications methods - Skype, for example (or Mind Reading). The edit box is right above the list; simply enter the new type and click Add. The same goes for the Communications Descriptions Manager, but now you can state whether this is the contact's home or work Skype #.

Finally, the Location Manager lets you set locations, such as school, playground or the Interplanetary Beam Up Point. Bet you can't guess what the Notes Types Manager is, or how it works! Dang it! You guessed it! It lets you edit the types of notes, and works exactly like all the other Contacts-related managers.

The InfoLog's Site Configuration is most useful where you run phpGroupware on your own servers, and need to specify the appropriate paths, based on your OS environment. Again, you can create and edit custom fields and record types for the InfoLog. And the CSV-Import section lets you import your to-do list. Sorry, but I haven't actually tried this yet.

The Bookmarks' Site Configuration section simply lets you edit the outgoing e-mail messages people will see when one of your users sends out their bookmarks. In File Manager, you only need to set the quota limits for user files. This only sets the various levels, in Megabytes. You will have to set which users get which level in your user configuration section.

Moving onto Projects, the Site Configuration section allows you to turn on ACL's for invoicing. This is probably most effective when you don't want that junior programmer invoicing your clients $300/hour for a half-completed job. The Administration link lets you set who can administer the Projects. Well, not everyone can be an administrator, since that would mean too many chiefs and not enough indians. Accountancy let's you set the project bookkeepers.

Let's wind down by configuring FelaMiMail. It's only good for IMAP, so enter your IMAP server address (mail.yourdomain.com), along with the server type. I just used IMAP, as opposed to the Encrypted Only or Authenticated options. Then you need to know whether you have the Courier, UWash or Cyrus type server (I used Courier). Set the Login type and the name of your Organization. You also need to determine whether to let users define their own accounts. If you run your own server, that's probably not necessary. However, in shared-hosting situations, you will most likely want to do this.

Next, enter your SMTP server and port settings (smtp.yourdomain.com, 25), along with whether the server is expecting authentication. No enter your Sieve settings. Click Submit, and you're done. See there? It's just all in a day's work. We'll come back and wrap up the remaining apps a little later. But you should be able to get your organization up and running at a basic level now. Well? Don't just stand there! Don't you have a groupware server to configure or some projects to manage?

Anyway, we'll see you next time around!