advice on database driven site...

[kargrafx]

I am not 100% sure where to post this, but since it is all (or, mostly) database driven, I figure MySQL is a good forum.

I want to build a small community website, or rather a collection of websites. I plan to have about a dozen members to start, eventually up to a hundred or more.

The main page will have a few banners, info on joining, and links to community features like a chat room and message board. It also has a search member sites portion that lets you pick from features (like birthday, zodiac sign, age, last name, hobbys, location, etc.) and display a list of the members that match most or all of your criterea.

Say it is "www.mysite.com", each member has a site name "john.mysite.com" or "mary.mysite.com". If I have to go with "mysite.com/john" I can, but I would prefer subdomains to directories for several reasons.

Their information is stored in a database, or perhaps several, to make the above search/sort easy. When you type in or click a link to one of the subdomains, it is a basic template site (1 page) with the info from the database - a simple user profile.

They will also each have their own image gallery on a second page (say something like "john.mysite.com/gallery/"), which they can add to or change at any time (only the user whose site it is; mary can't edit john's gallery, but john can).

So - what would be the best way to have new members just enter data into a form and have it populate the database; and then automatically have their membername.mysite.com generated with a dynamic site, based on their info in the database?

I was thinking of a CMS - like PHPnuke or Mambo, but I am not sure either of those would handle such a thing. I'm just wanting as much of this automated as opssible, so I have to do as little maintenance as I can get away with.

Thanks!

[raf]

"I would prefer subdomains to directories for several reasons" --> which are those reasons?

[kargrafx]

Well, for one (and the biggest) is the naming scheme. It sounds better as "john.mysite.com" (even moreso with the real domain I am using) than "www.mysite.com/john"

Also, as part of that same line, I and my potential members want these mini-sites to feel like their own website, with their own domain. So it seems like John has a site at "john.mysite.com" instead of just getting a direcotory on "www.mysite.com"

Those two are the biggest and most important. The other reasons are few, and matter not nearly as much.

[kargrafx]

Well it has been a week, I figure that is long enough past for a good old fashioned bump...

I am considering making this a request for (paid) assistance - if I do so should I have a moderator move this to that forum, or is it not considered bad manners to cross-post in such a situation?

thanks!

[raf]

i don't realy understand why you post it here --> seems to me you want to know how to automatically set up subdomains.

basically, what you are describing is a hosting service with a few standard webpages and pottentially hundreds of subdomains. without giving us any information about what sort of hostingaccount you have yourself, you're not likely to get any usefull response.

[kargrafx]

the subdomains issue is a side issue, or was meant to be. If it has to be directory driven, such as www.mysite.com/john/ then I will take that approach. I did mention that in both posts; while I would prefer subdomains it is not the absolute requirement.

My question was how to set up the rest;

A member joins and fills out a profile. The profile is stored in a databse.

Now, a server-side program (index.php, I would assume; which would be automatically generated for every subdomain or every directory) will analyze the address it is at (i.e. directory ../john/ or subdomain john.xxx ) and automatically generate a page (or two or 3) based on the database.

That way, neither I nor my menbers ever actually make the profile pages - they are generated from the database, based on the current page's address.

Then, the main page (www.mysite.com) would feature a search engine. The users, or just guests to the site, can use this engine to search on any combination of fields in the user profiles. Say someone wants to search the members for all red haired men who live in Canada and are between the ages of 21 and 30. Whatever - doesn't matter, they can just search on any or all fields in the profile. Then, they get a dynamically built list of links to all matching profiles.

Also, each member will have an image gallery of some kind. I am vaguely familiar with coppermine, so could use that as an example of what I want (though it probably has more features than I know of)...

Each profile page (which was automatically generated) will have a link to the gallery for that user. Say the profile is at www.mysite.com/john (since subdomains seems to be causing an issue) - then www.mysite.com/john/gallery would be his image gallery. He should be able to control the images in his own gallery (as an admin), everyone else just gets to view it. Just a simple gallery that allows the member to upload pictures; I don't need multiple albums or galleries or anything, just 1 gallery, 1 album.

The key thing I am looking for is automation. When a member signs up, they fill out a profile, and their page (or pages) is done. It automatically makes the directory (or subdomain if possible) and the template website is there, drawing data from a central database. They get an automatically generated email with the admin info for their gallery, which they can use or not (though even if empty, I figure the link would be hard coded into every profile page, just for simplicity's sake).

If the profile page(s) can be CSS driven with 2 or 3 (or more) color schemes and styles, that would be a huge bonus, but far from a requirement.

It is a sort of hosting service, I suppose; but very limited - it only hosts one specific page (though possibly with 2 or 3 or more CSS layouts), for multiple users.

As to my hosting account - I have access to install anything else I want on my server, but currently it is running;

Red Hat Linux
Perl 5.8.1
PHP 4.3.11
Shared 128 bit SSL
SSI/.shtml
MySQL
PHPMyAdmin
Cpanel 10
Scripta v3.0 (with many programs I can install through scripta)
Fantastico Deluxe (likewise, many programs I can install through fantastico)
Zend / cURL / cURL SSL / ZLib (no idea - never touched any of these)

So - now can anyone help me out? I'm sorry I was not clear before.


edit - it automatically made the abuve url's into links. I am not affiliated with www.mysite.com; that is just a generic url I pulled ot of my [erm, mind ;)] for an example. I am not sure what my site will be named when it is done - for now I have test sites up on my servers, and once I get everything working I will pursue going live.