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AdminPro User Guide
Setting Preferences
AdminPro provides for two ways for you to customize some of its functions and aesthetics: User Preferences and Session Preferences.
Changing a User Preferences is to change a defaut for how AdminPro will appear or function, while changing a Session Preference overrides the User Preferences during a period of usage only. Session Preferences are not "stored" nor "saved" and, upon invoking AdminPro for a new session, its preferences will be restored to the default settings defined in the User Preferences.
Setting User Preferences (changing the defaults)
Users may customize some of the functions and aesthetics in AdminPro by opening the "adminpro.txt" document (using any text editor) and changing the default settings in the section identified as User Preferences.
For most users, AdminPro will perform optimally with the User Preferences remaining as downloaded. However, some server environments will necessitate changes for some users.
Below is a list of the AdminPro User Preferences, whether it is a "toggle" ("0" or "1") or if a "value" is valid, and an explanation of what is controlled by that User Preference.
Mode (toggle)
0 is for the "default" mode.
1 is for the "administrator" mode.
This Preference left in "default" mode will allow AdminPro to perform in a way familiar to users of the old AdminFTP tool – allowing navigation only to the domain root. This is considered a "safer" setting as it limits the user's access to directories and paths on the server that they may not be authorized to access.
AdminPro in "default" mode, however, may not correctly report the directories and files in the current path due to the use of symbolic links (aliases), CGIWrap or other "masking" technologies that will prevent AdminPro from being able to perform any of its functions. Users hosting their domain on a Mac OS X Server will also have difficulty running AdminPro in "default" mode.
Simply "toggle" the value in this Preference from 0 to 1, save, then re-upload the file to your server. AdminPro will then function in "administrator" mode allowing you to perform any of its tasks.
Access-Restriction Security (two steps)
$ipaddress.="12.34.567.01\n"; Step 1 (value)
$secure=0; Step 2 (toggle)
AdminPro provides built-in security that can restrict its use to only users from one (or more) defined IP Addresses. AdminPro will also qualify a range of IP Addresses as described below.
Step 1: Provide your static IP Address.
This is the set of numbers permanently assigned to your desktop computer from which you have traditionally edited and uploaded files to your server.
An IP Address is a set of four numbers divided by three periods (called "dots" for some reason), such as: 12.34.567.01
The IP Address is assigned to you by your LAN administrator or, perhaps, by your Internet Service Provider (ISP). If you're not sure what your IP Address is, you simply upload the "adminpro.txt" document, and invoke AdminPro in your web browser – your current IP Address is reported in the very top-left portion of the AdminPro interface.
By the way, your current IP Address is:
38.103.63.17
If your IP Address is randomly assigned to you when you connect to the Internet, you will not be able to use this Preference and you should not change any of the values here. Reference the Security section in the table of contents (right) for other suggestions, ideas and methods for controlling who is authorized to use AdminPro.
AdminPro permits the inclusion of an unlimited quantity of IP Address that, when security is toggled on, will then test as valid. Simply duplicate one of the existing $ipaddress variable lines then modify that duplicate with the number set. Be sure you don't remove the \n at the end of each of those definitions.
Using AdminPro's ability to match "partial" IP Addresses may be helpful to users in a company or department in which all but the last set of numbers, for example, is the same. For example: 12.34.567.01 through 12.34.567.99 could be truncated in AdminPro's $ipaddress variable as $ipaddress.="12.34.567\n" rather than entering all 98 possible valid user IP Addresses in that range.
Step 2: Only after you've set one or more IP Addresses do you proceed to next step, which is to toggle the value in Step 2 from 0 to 1 as: $secure=1; Then save the "adminpro.txt" document and re-upload to your server.
Show Hidden Files (toggle)
0 is to not display hidden files.
1 is to display hidden files.
There are sometimes files, such as .htaccess files, that web developers must modify. However, most FTP clients do not display files that begin with a period (dot) often referred to, therefore, as hidden files.
AdminPro's Show Hidden Files Preference permits advanced CGI programmers and site administrators to view, open, edit, save and delete so-called "hidden" files by simply toggling this value from 0 to 1. Save the "adminpro.txt" document and re-upload to your server.
Allow Directory Deletion with Contents (toggle)
0 prevents directories with items from being deleted.
1 allows directories with items to be deleted.
When this Preference is left in its default value (0), users must "enter" a directory, remove any items, then exit before being permitted to remove that directory. 0 is considered a safer setting.
When this value is toggled to 1, users will be permitted to permanently remove directories whether or not they contain items (files or other directories).
Note: Directory removal may still fail on Unix/Linux if there are symbolic links to that directory. Save the "adminpro.txt" document and re-upload to your server.
Date Display Format (toggle)
0 is to display the date in US format: MO-DA-YEAR
1 is to display the date in UK format: DA-MO-YEAR.
For those who are accustomed to viewing the date in either the US or UK format, encountering it in the "other" format can be confusing if not annoying. This User Preference changes AdminPro's display of directory and file modification dates to the format to which you are most comfortable.
Changing this value does not actually modify the server's modification date for those items, just its display in AdminPro. Save the "adminpro.txt" document and re-upload to your server.
(Session Preference Item – may also be toggled "on the fly")
Local / Server Time Adjustment (integer)
0 means there is no time adjustment between you and the server.
If you're in a different time zone than your server, the modification date and time reported in most FTP clients can be confusing. After all, how can you upload a file to your server and its new modification date is tomorrow?
For example, changing this value from 0 to 3 will add three hours to adjust for the difference in time for a server in California and a web administrator in New York. This feature in AdminPro lets you syncronize the modification date and time display of remote items and the same local versions by changing the 0 value to the number of hours, plus or minus, that you'd otherwise have to calculate in your head in some other FTP software. Save the "adminpro.txt" document and re-upload to your server.
(Session Preference Item – may also be adjusted "on the fly")
Display Manual Path Editing (toggle)
0 is to not display the manual path edit field.
1 is to display the manual path edit field.
Long-time users of AdminPro (and before that, TestMy.CGI), will remember they could navigate throughout their directories not only by clicking on the "path tree" at the top of the Directory Table, but also via a field in the Control Panel just below the Permissions Grid. Toggling this User Preference to 1 will restore the user's ability to use that feature. Save the "adminpro.txt" document and re-upload to your server.
(Session Preference Item – may also be toggled "on the fly")
Set Color Values (values)
$c1="#006600"; head & border colors - default: dark green
$c2="#000000"; text color - default: black
$c3="#E0E0E0"; directory table background color - default: gray
$c3a="#CCCCCC"; directory table alternating background color - default: darker gray
$c4="#E0E0E0"; reporting table background color - default: gray
$c5="#000000"; overall interface background color - default: black
$c6="#7F007F"; Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) mouseover highlight color - default: violet
$c7="#FFFFFF"; Cascading Style Sheet (CSS) mouseover text color - default: white
$face="arial,helvetica,sans-serif"; default font set
Any of the color values in the default palette in the AdminPro interface may be changed according to the taste of the user in the User Preferences. Simply substitute any of the default values for the hex color value of your choice. Save the "adminpro.txt" document and re-upload to your server.
Image File Extensions (value)
$imagefiles='gif|jp*g|png|bmp|ico|pdf|swf|qt|mov';
The list of extensions, each separated by a "pipe" character | affect only the small icon that is displayed in AdminPro's display of files in the current path.
If any file's extension matches one of those defined, the  "image" icon is substituted for the  "edit file" icon. You may add or remove any ext| pair as desired. Save the "adminpro.txt" document and re-upload to your server.
Icon Path (value)
$iconpath='/';
You may optionally define an independent path where you'd like to place the set of AdminPro icons.
This path must be from the domain root and publicly readable. Usually, that would be the /images or /graphics directory or whatever you choose. This value must begin with a slash but has no slash at the end.
Here's how it works: AdminPro will automatically check the path you provide for the set of icons, if defined, or in the same path as the "adminpro.txt" document. If AdminPro cannot find them there, the icons will be read from the CraigRichards.com server.
File Edit Field Dimensions (value)
$tw=85; is the default value for the <TEXTAREA> form field's width dimension (in columns). To make the width of that field smaller, user a lower number. To increase the width of that field, use a larger number.
$th=28; is the default value for the <TEXTAREA> form field's height dimension (in rows). To make the height of that field smaller, user a lower number. To increase the height of that field, use a larger number.
Adjust these values in the User Preferences according to your monitor size and the size of your browser window. Usually, you'll want the width and height values so that field and perhaps the buttons beneath it will comfortably fit in your browser window without scrolling the window horizontally or vertically.
Save the "adminpro.txt" document and re-upload to your server in the same directory as your "adminpro.cgi" application.
Setting Session Preferences (changing preferences "on the fly")
While using AdminPro, you may temporarily override some User Prefences "on the fly."
Edit Path temporarily displays the manual path edit field for navigating up or down the directory tree. Check the "edit path" checkbox and click on the "execute" button in the Control Panel (above the Reporting Table).
Time Display Adjustment may be temporarily changed for the session by changing the "adjust time display" value (plus [+] or minus [-] values are valid) and clicking on the "execute" button in the Control Panel.
Date Format display may be temporarily switched by clicking on the "US" or "UK" radio
button then clicking on the "execute" button in the Control Panel.
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