Don Parris discusses how to change user Access and Preferences settings in phpGroupware.

So far, in our series of tutorials on phpGroupware, we have installed the system and worked through most of the administration and configuring applications. We still need to give our users access to, and configure default settings for, each application. First, we'll cover the more important general settings, and then look into the access control settings. I won't be able to cover every possible setting, but definitely the most important ones.

System Settings

You will want to click the Preferences link, which will bring you to a list of the settings for each application, as well as the link to change your password. The Change Your Settings link allows you to configure how the overall system looks and feels. The administrator can determine whether any given setting should be personal (doesn't affect other users), default (users can change), or forced (users cannot change). This is true for the overall system settings, as well as for each application, thus affording administrators extensive control over the system.

Starting with the system settings, set the maximum number of results per page, the template and icon theme to use, and whether the menu bar should show icons, text or both. Then you can choose your timezone, date, time and currency formats, as well as your language. You can choose whether to show the number of current users and your default application. Finally, determine how you would like to select and display accounts, as well as whether to enable the Help messages by default.

Two points to bear in mind above: Most of these settings offer some sort of helpful explanation just below each one. Secondly, you probably want to match the template theme with the icon theme. It's not necessary, but the system definitely looks better that way. Let's move on to the Calendar, shall we?

Application Preferences

Some applications allow information to be displayed in the user's home (welcome) page, via the Show on Main Screen option. I have set my calendar, Open InfoLog items, and favorite comic strip to show in my home page. Every application allows you to set the Access Control Lists (ACLs) for each group and/or individual users. As an example, you might not want to enable just anyone to modify your calendar appointments. Even so, your administrative assistant or partner might need to be able to do so. These apply the same accross all applications, so we will focus on the preferences for a few key applications, and allow you to explore the others on your own.

The settings for the calendar is the same as for most calendars - you will find the calendar application quite flexible. You can choose the default view (day, week, month), whether to receive e-mail updates, as well as the first day of the week, what time your work day starts, and intervals (15 or 30-minutes, hours) to be displayed. The cool thing is that you can customize all of the notification messages the system sends out, and there is an example of how the default message is setup, so you follow that to create something more suitable to your situation.

In the Address Book preferences, you can select which fields you want to see in your address book list, and which category (if any), you prefer to start with. The field-selection boxes do not seem to show which fields you have selected, so if you are changing the fields, you need to know what modifications to make before you get to this point. It's important to realize that phpGroupware treats people and organizations separately. The smart thing about this is that people frequently represent multiple organizations or change companies, and you don't have to change everything in the record, just the organization the person is affiliate with.

The InfoLog lets you set whether to display items in the home page, as well as whether to display subs and links/attachments. Remember, the administrator can set default and/or forced preferences for all users in the InfoLog and other applications. The Projects application has no settings to change. The File Manager simply allows you to set which file attributes are displayed in listings. The FudForum preferences allow users to set their forum user profiles.

In the FelaMiMail preferences, users can set their e-mail account preferences. Remember that the server information should have been entered during the system administration configuration process we discussed earlier. The Headlines preferences simply enable users to display headlines from the websites they choose to view. Unfortunately, Drupal's rss.xml feed hasn't been picked up by phpGroupware - at least my installation chokes on the feed.

And that concludes our tour of the key preferences for phpGroupware, ladies and gentlemen. You should now be able to install, configure, and manage your phpGroupware installation at a basic level. And, since the boss is probably waiting, I suggest you get cracking!