Installing the hwdVideoShare Component
From HwdMediaShare Documentation
This article explains how to install the core hwdVideoShare component into Joomla 1.5 and Joomla 1.0.
Contents |
Installing the Component into Joomla 1.5
The Joomla 1.5 Installation Tool
The core component should install automatically in Joomla 1.5 under the Extension Manager tool. To install a new component you need to log into your administration panel and click on the Install/Uninstall option under the Extensions menu option.
From this screen you can browse your local computer for the hwdVideoShare installation file then click Upload File & Install. During the installation the progress of the installation tasks will be outputted to the screen. This can be useful if you need to debug this process. There might be errors during the installation which will mean you need to manually perform various tasks on your server. We have documentation that will help you with this, but if you need any more clarification you can contact us directly.
Checking the Component Settings
After you have successfully installed the component you should check the Server Settings page, which is located under the hwdVideoShare component menu. Check that the server paths to FFMPEG, FLVTOOL2 and MENCODER are correct.
If these are incorrect, or are not installed on your server the component will not fully work. You need to replace the default values with the correct paths. Read our documentation on finding the correct paths for these packages.
Create a Menu Link to the Component
To create a main menu link to the hwdVideoShare component you should select the Main Menu from the drop down Menu list in the administrator panel. (Note: You can create a menu link from whichever menu you want). Click on the New button to create a new menu link and on the next page click on the hwdVideoShare component.
You should now be able to give the menu link a new name. When you have finished click on the Save button to save your new menu link.
Uploading Videos
Users upload videos through the frontend of the website. There are three different upload methods available in hwdVideoShare. These are an Advanced Perl Upload Method, and Advanced Flash Upload Method and a Basic PHP Upload Method. You can select which method is used in the General Settings of hwdVideoShare. We have separate documentation dedicated for debugging the upload process. If you are having problems you should read this documentation.
Video Conversion
If a video file is uploaded to your website by one of your users it needs to be converted to a special video format (FLV) by software on your server. Therefore, after videos are uploaded they will appear in the administrator section of hwdVideoShare marked as Queued For Video Conversion. They will not appear on the frontend of your website until they have been successfully converted. The administrator of hwdVideoShare now has a built in video converter which can be used to convert videos.
It can take a few attempts to get the converter setup and running successfully. We highly recommend you test a number of different formats to ensure that MENCODER and FFMPEG have been setup correctly and hwdVideoShare is converting videos as expected. To help you setup the converter you will need to switch on the debugger and browse the output of conversion attempts.
We have dedicated documentation for debugging this conversion process. Many people have a few problems when getting this set up so don't get disheartened straight away! If you can't find solutions in this documentation then search and post in our forums.
Third Party Videos
You can use hwdVideoShare to add videos from YouTube, GoogleVideo and many other popular video sharing websites. Our standard hwdVideoShare component comes with the YouTube and GoogleVideo plugin already installed. If you want to accept videos from more third party websites you can install more plugins through the Plugin Management System. You can download the plugins for extra third party video websites in the download section of the Highwood Design website.
We have documentation that explains our third party plugin system in more detail. If somebody adds a video from a third party website, the video does not need to get converted using MENCODER. It is streamed directly from the external website.
What's next?
After you have successfully uploaded & converted videos, and added third party videos you can start to explore the other features of hwdVideoShare. You can use the template plugins to change the appearance of the component. We also have language plugins available to translate the component into the native language of your website.
If you can not find documentation on a particular subject please contact us and we will be more than happy to prepare an article in response to your query.
Installing the Component into Joomla 1.0
The Joomla 1.0 Installation Tool
The core component should install automatically in Joomla 1.0 under the Install New Component tool. To install a new component you need to log into your administration panel and click on the Components button under the Installers menu option.
From this screen you can browse your local computer for the hwdVideoShare installation file then click Upload File & Install. During the installation the progress of the installation tasks will be outputted to the screen. This can be useful if you need to debug this process. There might be errors during the installation which will mean you need to manually perform various tasks on your server. We have documentation that will help you with this, but if you need any more clarification you can contact us directly.
Checking the Component Settings
After you have successfully installed the component you should check the Server Settings page, which is located under the hwdVideoShare component menu. Check that the server paths to FFMPEG, FLVTOOL2 and MENCODER are correct.
If these are incorrect, or not installed on your server the component will not fully work. You need to replace the default values with the correct paths. Read our documentation on finding the correct paths to these files.
Create a Menu Link to the Component
To create a main menu link to the hwdVideoShare component you should select the Main Menu from the drop down Menu list in the administrator panel. (Note: You can create a menu link from whichever menu you want). Click on the New button to create a new menu link and on the next page click on the hwdVideoShare component.
You should now be able to give the menu link a new name. When you have finished click on the Save button to save your new menu link.
Uploading Videos
Users upload videos through the frontend of the website. There are three different upload methods available in hwdVideoShare. These are an Advanced Perl Upload Method, and Advanced Flash Upload Method and a Basic PHP Upload Method. You can select which method is used in the General Settings of hwdVideoShare. We have separate documentation dedicated for debugging the upload process. If you are having problems you should read this documentation.
Video Conversion
If a video file is uploaded to your website by one of your users it needs to be converted to a special video format (FLV) by software on your server. Therefore, after videos are uploaded they will appear in the administrator section of hwdVideoShare marked as Queued For Video Conversion. They will not appear on the frontend of your website until they have been successfully converted. The administrator of hwdVideoShare now has a built in video converter which can be used to convert videos.
It can take a few attempts to get the converter setup and running successfully. We highly recommend you test a number of different formats to ensure that MENCODER and FFMPEG have been setup correctly and hwdVideoShare is converting videos as expected. To help you setup the converter you will need to switch on the debugger and browse the output of conversion attempts.
We have dedicated documentation for debugging this conversion process. Many people have a few problems when getting this set up so don't get disheartened straight away! If you can't find solutions in this documentation then search and post in our forums.
Third Party Videos
You can use hwdVideoShare to add videos from YouTube, GoogleVideo and many other popular video sharing websites. Our standard hwdVideoShare component comes with the YouTube and GoogleVideo plugin already installed. If you want to accept videos from more third party websites you can install more plugins through the Plugin Management System. You can download the plugins for extra third party video websites in the download section of the Highwood Design website.
We have documentation that explains our third party plugin system in more detail. If somebody adds a video from a third party website, the video does not need to get converted using MENCODER. It is streamed directly from the external website.
What's next?
After you have successfully uploaded & converted videos, and added third party videos you can start to explore the other features of hwdVideoShare. You can use the template plugins to change the appearance of the component. We also have language plugins available to translate the component into the native language of your website.
If you can not find documentation on a particular subject please contact us and we will be more than happy to prepare an article in response to your query.
