“FAQ Manager” by “Jordie Bodlay” v1.0
“Getting Started with FAQ Manager”
Created: 5th July 2011
By: Jordie Bodlay
Email: jordie@jordie.org
Thank you for purchasing FAQ Manager. If you have any questions that are beyond the scope of this help file, please feel free to email via my user page contact form here. Thanks so much!
Table of Contents
Introduction - top
This getting started guide is intended to help you with getting familiar with the control panel and usage of FAQ Manager. If you have not yet installed FAQ Manager, you can view the installation guide here.
FAQ Manager is a PHP script designed to allow you to quickly add and manage a collection of frequently asked questions which can be displayed on your website.
Categories - top
Categories define the structure of the FAQ. All questions must be placed into a category. Categories can be general topics or themes used to group similar questions together. Categories can be nested, that is, you can have sub-categories, sub-sub-categories and so on. This allows you to define generalised topic areas and get more specific with each level of categories. A "Parent Category", which is terminology used in the application, is a category that sits a level above the current category in question.
Adding Categories - top
To add your first (or a new) category to FAQ Manager, simply click on the "Add a new category" button at the top of the FAQ Manager.
Immediately a dialog box will open up. In this box are 2 options, "Category Name" and "Parent Category". Enter in a name for your category. If this is your first category, you will not be able to select a parent category. If you have previously added categories, you can select a parent category if you wish this new category to be a sub-category of another.
When you're finished, click the "Save Category" button and your new category should appear on the left category list, with a success message appearing above.
Editing Categories - top
To edit your category (change its name or parent category), click on the category name on the category list on the left of the control panel.
After the category has been clicked, it will become the currently viewed category. If it has any questions, they will show up in the question list on the right. Now that the category is selected, at the top right of the questions list you can click on the 'Edit Category' button.
This window is now identical to the window displayed when adding a category, except any changes made here will be applied to the current selected category and not add a new category. Click "Save Category" to save your changes. You can escape from this window without saving any changes by clicking the X in the top right of the dialog box.
Note: All sub-categories (aka child categories) are moved with any changes to the parent category for your current category.
Deleting Categories - top
To delete a category, hover over its name on the category list on the left of the control panel.
You will see an X appear on the right side of its name box. When you hover over the X, it will turn a dark grey color. Click on this X to delete the category.
Before the category is deleted, you are asked to confirm this action, as deleting the category will also delete all questions in the category and delete all sub-categories (and their respective questions). Once you delete this category, this is no way to get it back. So to confirm the deletion, click OK on the confirmation window and the category will be deleted.
Sorting Categories - top
There are two methods to changing the position of a category. The first is simply by editing the category, as explained above, and changing the 'Parent Category'.
The second way is a little quicker. When viewing the control panel, hover over the icon next to the name of the category you wish to move and your cursor should change to an arrow cross, as shown here:
To move the category, click and hold, and then drag the category to the position you would like it to be in. You can move it within its own level, or to other sub-category levels. You will notice that all its sub-categories are carried with it. Let go of the mouse button to save the category's new position. You do not need to click any further save button, the position is saved automatically.
In the image example above and below, we have dragged the category "Another Category" from being a base-level category to a sub-category position below "Yet Another Category".
Questions - top
Adding Questions - top
To add your first (or a new) question to FAQ Manager, simply click on the "Add a new question" button at the top of the FAQ Manager.
Immediately a dialog box will open up. In this box are 3 options, "Category", "Question" and "Answer". All questions must be contained in a category, so select which category you wish this question to be apart of. Then enter in the question itself, followed by its answer in the field below. You can enter HTML into the answer field, but new lines will already be automatically converted to HTML <br> tags.
When you're finished, click the "Save Question" button and your new question will appear in the list on the right if the category you added it to was already selected. If not, click the category it was contained in on the left list and your question will then appear in the list.
Viewing Questions - top
Questions are displayed in the control panel based on their category. To view a list of questions in a category, simply locate the category in the list on the left and click on its name. The questions for that category will then be loaded into a list on the right, where you can edit, delete or re-order them.
Editing Questions - top
To edit a question, locate it by navigating to its category using the category list on the left. When the question is displayed on the right, you can edit it by clicking on the "Edit" button to its right.
Immediately a dialog box will open up. This window is identical to the window displayed when adding a category, except any changes made here will be applied to the question rather than adding a new question. Click "Save Question" once you've modified the question. You can escape from this window without saving any changes by clicking the X in the top right of the dialog box.
Deleting Questions - top
To delete a question, hover over it when it's displayed in the list of questions. You will see an X appear on the right side of its name box.
When you hover over the X, it will turn a dark grey color. Click on this X to delete the question.
Before the question is deleted, you are asked to confirm this action. Click OK on the confirmation window and the question will be deleted. Once a question is deleted, it can not be retrieved again.
Sorting Questions - top
To modify the display order of questions, you can simply drag and drop the questions in the list.
When viewing the control panel, click a category to display its questions. Then hover over a question in the list on the right. You will notice the cursor has changed to an arrow-cross (or equivalent on your operating system), as shown here:
To move the question, click and hold, then drag the question to the position you would like it to be in. Let go of the mouse button to save the question's new position. You do not need to click any further save button, the position is saved automatically (a success message will appear at the top of the control panel).
In the image example above and below, we have dragged a question from first position to third.
Editing the Control Panel Login - top
When you first installed FAQ Manager, you selected a username and password. If you wish to change this username and password, you can do this from the control panel by clicking the 'User Options' link in the top right of the control panel.
A dialog window will then appear and give you the option to change your username and/or password.
If you only want to change your username, then do NOT fill in any password field. If you wish to change your password, you must enter your current password, then your new password and then the new password a second time to confirm you typed it correctly.
Click "Save Changes", then the next time you login you'll need to use the new username and/or password.
Viewing the FAQ - top
Once you have some categories and questions added, you may want to see your FAQ! The FAQ can be viewed in 3 ways, so to see each one, click on the "View FAQ" link in the top right of the control panel.
In the window that opens, there are 3 sections. The first bit links you directly to the pages where you can see your FAQ in one of the 3 display modes; Accordion, Single Page, or Multipage. The second section gives you the exact URLs to those pages in text so you can copy and paste them as needed. The third section gives you the PHP code you can use to include the FAQ into any other PHP script.
When viewing the FAQ in accordion or single page mode, you can append ?categoryid=X to view one category (and it's children), where X is the category ID number. To get the ID number of a category, hover over it's name in the control panel with your mouse and a box will appear with the ID number. For example, if you find the ID number is 6, you can use:
http://www.example.com/faq/faq_accordion.php?categoryid=6
If you require any help at all, please feel free to email via my user page contact form here
Jordie Bodlay