The eZ publish CMS can handle multiple sites. To create a new site, we have to modify the initialization files and set up the site access files and directories. In this tutorial we will modify the existing "Plain" site. The elements and default files which were generated during the standard installation will be reused.

1. Renaming the siteaccess directories
A site has two interfaces: an user and an administration interface. Inside eZ publish, these are called "plain" and "plain_admin". The "settings/siteaccess/" directory contains subdirectories for sites that eZ publish may be configured to run. Navigate to this directory and rename "plain" to "tscm" and "plain_admin" to "tscm_admin".

Make sure that the user running the web server has write access to the "settings/siteaccess/tscm" directory and the files that reside inside it.

2. Modifying the siteaccess files
eZ publish comes with a lot of configuration files, all residing in the "settings" directory. The ".ini" files are the default eZ publish configuration files. You should never change these files. Instead, you should use the override system, which is basically a set of files containing settings that will override the default configuration. In addition to the global override configuration files, each site can have its own set of override files. eZ publish reads the configuration files in the following order:

1. Default configuration files
   (/settings/*)
2. Site specific override files
   (/settings/siteaccess/[sitename]/*
3. Global override files
   (/settings/override/*)

Configuration settings in (1) will be overridden by settings in (2), which again will be overridden by settings in (3). Some of the override files end with an ".append" and some end with the ".append.php" extension. The latter is because of security issues related to sites running in non virtual host mode.

Edit the "settings/siteaccess/tscm/site.ini.append.php" or "settings/siteaccess/tscm/site.ini.append" file. (It is correct that the settings are commented out with the /* and */ marks.)

Modify the "SiteName=Plain" setting by replacing "Plain" with "The Scandinavian Check Mates".

Modify the "SiteDesign=plain" setting to "SiteDesign=tscm". This tells the system to use the "tscm" design when the user/public interface of the TSCM site is accessed.

Modify the "VarDir" setting to equal "var/tscm". This tells the system to use the "var/tscm" directory instead of "var/plain".

Add the following lines above the last line of this file:

[TemplateSettings]

TemplateCache=disabled

Debug=disabled

 

[ContentSettings]

ViewCaching=disabled

 

[DebugSettings]

DebugOutput=enabled

When building a site, it is always a good idea to turn off the cache engines and enable debug output. When the "DebugOutput" is set to "Enabled", eZ publish will print a lot of debug related information right below the actual page that it has rendered. Use this information to solve problems. Debug output may be turned off at any time by replacing "DebugOutput=enabled" to "DebugOutput=disabled". The screenshots within this tutorial will not contain any debug output.

Edit the "settings/siteaccess/tscm_admin/site.ini.append.php" file.

Modify the "SiteName=Plain" setting by replacing "Plain" with "The Scandinavian Check Mates".

The "SiteDesign" setting in this file tells the system to use the default admin interface, which is exactly what we want.

Modify the "VarDir" setting to equal "tscm". This tells the system to use the "var/tscm" directory instead of "var/plain".

3. Modifying "settings/override/site.ini.append.php"
Edit the "settings/override/site.ini.append.php" file and replace the occurrences of "plain" and "plain_admin" with "tscm" and "tscm_admin". You'll probably have to do this four times.

4. Removing the plain var directory
Under "var/", each site has a directory that is used for storage of site specific content files (usually images and binary files), logs and cache files. If the "var/plain" directory exists, rename it to "var/tscm" or just delete it. eZ publish will automatically create a new "var/tscm" directory if it does not exist.

5. Creating a design directory
In the root directory of eZ publish, there is a subdirectory called "design". This directory contains all the design related files that may be used by various sites. Navigate into the design directory and create a subdirectory called "tscm". We will not (re)use any of the files that reside in the "plain" directory; feel free to remove it.

Under the "design/tscm" directory, create the following subdirectories:

Notice that a subdirectory called "templates" is created inside the "override" directory. Also make sure that the user running the web server has write access to the this directory.

In the next section we will test the basics of our TSCM site.