FOSP Introduction Part 2: Installation and Setup

In this second part of the Fox Open Sports Platform introduction, we will walk through the steps to download and install the library on your web server. The Bonfire library makes installation a breeze so let’s see how we get it setup.

REQUIREMENTS

• A web server running PHP 5.1+, MySQL 5+ with min 200mb disc space (with upwards of 1gB depending on size of your league and its associated HTML report output)
• For League Commissioners and site owners – A copy of OOTP Baseball (v14.5.28 or higher recommended)

INSTALLATION

• Download the latest release of the FOSP.
• As the FOSP is a customized version of Bonfire with the standard FOSP modules included, you can follow the official Bonfire installation Guidelines to install.

LOGGING IN

• From the site home page, login in with your administrative credentials you created during installation.
• Once logged in, click the Admin Dashboard link.
• You will now be on the Dashboard landing page and can browse all the administrative menus.

CUSTOMIZE LEAGUE SETTINGS

• Click the Settings link in the top nav and choose OOTP League Manager.
• Fill out all required fields (Game Version, League ID, HTML Asset and SQL path fields)
• If you set a database prefix during the site installation process, be sure to check the “Use Database Prefix for OOTP data tables” option
• Enter information in any additional fields.
• Click Save.

LOAD SQL DATA

• If you haven’t already done so, export a MySQL Data Dump from your OOTP game (See the OOTP Manual for help with this operation if you unfamiliar with the process). If you set a database prefix during the Bonfire site installation process, be sure to use the same prefix when exporting your database files.
• Using Filezilla (or another FTP client), upload the mysql.sql files to a non-public folder on your web server (at the location specified in your OOTP League Manager Settings).
• Click on the Custom menu and choose OOTP League Manager
• On the OOTP League Manager screen, click Manage SQL Files.
• By default, all SQL files required by the mod to run will be highlighted and selected.
• Scroll to the bottom of the list and click Load all Checked.
• Once complete, all loaded files will display a LOADED message next to the name and a value will appear in the “Last Load Time” column.

CUSTOMIZE SIM SETTINGS

If you plan to display sim information on your homepage, you need simply upload your league file to the server at the location specified in your OOTP league manager settings. Then tell the mod your sim schedule as specified below:

• Go to the OOTP League Manager Screen and click Set Sim Details.
• Update the Sims per week and Sims occur on fields and click Save.
• If you have a league file uploaded matching the name in your settings, you can then browse to the home page to view the automatic sim information.

If you want more precise control over the auto populated sim details displayed on the homepage:

• Return to Set Sim Details
• Uncheck the Use OOTP League details checkbox
• Enter the custom date and event values in the fields.
• Click Save and return to the homepage to see the custom values displayed.

INSTALLING NEW MODULES

By default, the Fox Open Sports Platform includes all the modules you need to run a basic OOTP web site and installs them automatically when you install the Bonfire library. If you wish to add additional modules to the site once it is installed and running,follow the steps below.

• Extract the module files to your hard disk and upload to the sites “bonfire/modules/” folder.
• If necessary, check if the module requires a migration by logging into the dashboard and going to Developer -> Database Tools -> Migrations.
• On the Migrations page, click the appropriate tab. “Core” manages migrations for the Bonfire dashboard itself. Individual module migrations can be selected on the “Modules” tab.
• Select the file matching the number in the “Available” column from the drop down for the first module and click Run Migration.
• Repeat steps 3 and 4 for all modules requiring migration.
• Visit the Settings tab to check if the module contains a settings options for review

ADD A LINK TO THE MAIN NAV BAR

If a module contains a public landing page (this can be confirmed by browsing to “bonfire/modules/[module name]/views” and checking for an index.php file. If it exists, you can add a link to it on the OOTP Home page public nav bar by following these steps:

• Click the Content button in the top nav
• Click Navigation -> Lists.
• Click Create New Navigation.
• Enter a name to display in the nav
• In Path, enter “/” and the module name
• Assure “header_nav” is selected for the group.
• Click Save.

That’s it for part 2. By now, you should have a good idea of what the FOSP is all about and if you followed this lesson, you should have a working copy of the platform on your web server. In the next part of this tutorial series, we will dive more into Bonfire and the structure of its modules system which provides the basis for how mod authors will contribute tools to the platform.

Download the FOSP Today!
Download the latest stable release version from the official FOSP web page. All the documentation you need is available in the installation and setup guide.

Contribute to the development and help the FOSP grow
The FOSP is a 100% free and open source project. The source code is publicly available on GitHub.com. If you want to contribute to the development, simply head over to my official Github page, fork the related projects, hack the code and send pull request with your updates. It’s that simple.

If you’ve built an FOSP module let me know and I’ll add it to the “Built on the FOSP” list.

Want to help test?
Testing assures everything works as expected and that everyone gets the best fantasy experience possible. Simply download and test the site and log issues on the official Github issues pages. Each portion of the site has its own page and issues list so be sure to log the issue in the appropriate module portion of the site.

Donate
While the FOSP is free to download and use, we do very much appreciate any donations made towards its development.