TYPO3
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[edit] Hardware
We will need to have a system with a modern CPU running at at least 1 GHz, and at least 256 MB of RAM (although more is recommended). Since we are working (locally) on our own machines, we will also need a keyboard, a mouse, and a screen.
[edit] Software
We will need a web server application such as Apache or IIS, a database such as MySQL (there are many different databases supported by TYPO3's Database Abstraction Layer, but MySQL is natively supported and is the most stable), and PHP version 4 or above.
Also, there are some other optional software applications that are recommended:
ImageMagick (or GraphicsMagick) and GDLib / FreeType, to utilize TYPO3's image manipulation capabilities, and the zlib compression library.
[edit] Installing a Development Platform
Depending on the operating system we are using, there are different processes for installing a development platform on our machine. We can either run an Installer package that will install Apache, MySQL, and PHP, along with TYPO3 (there are installers available for Microsoft Windows, Mac OSX, and Linux), or we can install each of these components separately.
Note: The software included in the installer packages may be out of date. You should periodically check for updates to Apache, PHP, and MySQL to see if there have been further releases that fix any known bugs or security problems.
[edit] The Windows Installer Package
The Windows installer will install everything that we need to get started. Firstly, we need to download a copy from the TYPO3 website, http://typo3.org/download/installers/. The Version Target OS column shows the operating system for each installer. The installer we want is TYPO3 Winstaller as, at the time of writing, this installer had the most recent version of TYPO3 and web server software.
Once the file has downloaded, we can double-click on it to initiate the installation process. It is recommended to close all other (open) applications before doing so.
The first stage is just to provide an overview of the installation. After we have read it, we can click on Next.
The following screen requires us to accept the GNU (General Public License). This is a license under which the included software programs are released. It must be agreed to, for TYPO3 to be installed. Once we have read and accepted the agreement, we can click on I Agree.
Now that we have accepted the agreement, we can choose the components that we wish to install. We are going to install TYPO3 4.0.1 (as this includes TYPO3 and all of the other required components). The other two options are just shortcuts and we can choose not to install them if we wish.
The next stage is to choose the location where TYPO3 is to be installed. The default location is C:\Program Files\TYPO3_4.0.1. If we are happy with this location, we can click on Next.
Finally, we can select the folder within the Start menu (on the desktop) where we want TYPO3 to be available. The default is TYPO3 4.0.1. If we are happy with this, we can just click on Install; otherwise, we can change this and then click on Install.
The installer will begin the process of actually installing TYPO3 and the other components needed to run a local web server. This process may take several minutes. Once the installation is complete, there is an option to Run Typo3Winstaller and Show read me file (once the installer closes).
Note: Some programs or processes on your computer may be running on port 80. If this is the case, the TYPO3 Winstaller program will fail when trying to start Apache. For instance, some Internet telephony programs such as Skype, default to using port 80. You should completely close all such programs when starting the installation, even if they are not visibly running.
The Typo3Starter program that is launched once the installation is complete. This allows us to start and stop our TYPO3 installation, halting both Apache and MySQL, thus allowing us to switch between the three preinstalled TYPO3 packages: Dummy, Quickstart, and Testsite. The Quickstart and Testsite packages contain demo sites. Later, you may find it useful to try some of these out and see the workings of a pre-built TYPO3 site. The package that we are going to be using is the Dummy package. This is because it provides us with a totally blank front end.
Once we click on the Start TYPO3 button, Apache and MySQL will start and our browser will open a default web page, shown in the following screenshot. This page can also be accessed via http://localhost/.
This default page offers us an overview of the access information for our newly installed TYPO3 and phpMyAdmin (which is a web-based interface for editing our MySQL database).
Note: If when trying to access TYPO3 you get a blank screen and an error message when accessing phpMyAdmin, this may be a case of files remaining from a previous web server setup. To correct this error you will need to edit the php.ini file (often installed in C:\Windows or C:\Program Files\TYPO3_4.0.2\Apache\bin by the Windows installer package) and modify the extension_dir line to point to the location of your PHP extension folder. Refer to the PHP manual for details.
[edit] Manually Installing TYPO3
For those of us with Apache, MySQL, and PHP already installed (or manually installed) we need to manually install TYPO3.
Note: Depending on the system, there are different processes for installing Apache, PHP, and MySQL manually. With some operating systems, some of these components are automatically installed.
With Linux / Unix-based operating systems, there are often a number of commands available that (when entered in the terminal) will install these applications for us and set them up to work together. It is easiest, however, to use the relevant installer for our particular operating system from the TYPO3 website.
In order to install TYPO3 manually, we need to download two packages from the TYPO3 website, http://typo3.org/download/packages/, TYPO3 Source and TYPO3 Dummy. We need the source package to provide an actual site, and the dummy package has the required files for an empty site (for us to build upon).
Once we have downloaded the two packages, we need to extract the contents of both the files into the same folder (typo3site) so as to merge their contents. We can extract the files (using any particular ZIP-handling program such as WinZip or PowerArchiver or a built-in application) and then move the folder to a location that our local web server can handle. For example: c:/htdocs/typo3site.
Now that we have our files in a web-accessible directory, we can install TYPO3!
If we try to load the TYPO3 site folder in our web browser now, we will be redirected to the Typo3 1-2-3 installer. So, http://localhost/typo3site/ will take us to http://localhost/typo3site/typo3/install/index.php?mode=123&step=1&password=joh316 (which is the 1-2-3 installer) because TYPO3 has not been installed yet.
The first stage of the installer, stage one, asks for our database parameters. We need to enter our username, password, and the hostname (which is usually localhost) of our database server.
Once we have entered our details, we can click on Continue for stage two of the installation process.
Note: The notice at the bottom of the page is just to remind us that we are using the simple 1-2-3 installer. There is a more advanced installation method, which we can access by clicking on the Click here to disable link. This link will disable the 1-2-3 installer and take us to the more advanced one. This notice is not something we need to worry about.
Stage two is to set up the database itself. We can either Select an existing EMPTY database or enter the name of a new database for the installer to create for us (Create new database). The installer recommends that we create a new database using the installer itself, so that is what we will do. Once we have entered the name we want our new database to be called, we click on Continue; this is shown in the following screenshot:
The final step is to tell the installer which database dump we would like to import.
Because we are running a new install through the dummy package, the only option available to us is Create default database tables; so we just need to click on Import database.
Our TYPO3 installation is now complete! Although the Install Tool recommends that we remove the installation directory, change the MD5 Hash that will provide access to it, or password protect it, we should leave it there for the moment to allow us to further configure our TYPO3 installation (once we have completely configured TYPO3, we can remove it). The third link on the Go page is to Continue to configure Typo3, which utilizes this main install folder. We will cover that next.
[edit] Basic Configuration
We can configure our TYPO3 installation by using the main Install Tool. There is a default password set on this system, and you maybe asked to enter it when accessing the tool. The default password is joh316.
The main Install Tool has ten sections of configuration options. Each of these sections is clearly documented within TYPO3.
For security reasons, we should change the Install Tool password. The option to do this is under section 10: About.
Once we have entered our new password into both boxes and clicked on Set new password, we are presented with a screen that tells us that the configuration file has been updated, asking us to Click to continue.
This password that we have just set is only for the Install Tool. It provides no access to the administration function of TYPO3.
Section 5: All Configuration, lists all of the configuration options available to us. There are a few particular options in here that will be of use to us. At the moment if we were to log in to the TYPO3 back end, our website would be named New TYPO3 Site (this and other system variables can be found under the [SYS]: heading).
We may also wish to change the date format in this section (as different countries format the date and time differently). The format of the date and time is the same as that defined in the PHP manual (see http://uk2.php.net/date for more information on PHP's date formatting). Personally, I prefer to separate the elements in the date with a '/' as opposed to the default separator of '-'.
Once we have made any changes to this, we need to click on Write to localconf.php. We are then asked to Click to continue once the changes have been applied.
Another main area that we may like to configure is TYPO3's image processing capabilities.
Note: TYPO3 can utilize both ImageMagick (or GraphicsMagick) and GD2. Although neither is required for TYPO3 to function correctly, they add some enhancements.
The GD2 image library may need to be enabled within PHP itself. To do this, we need to open PHP's ini file (which may be located in c:\Windows\php.ini) and ensure that there is no semicolon before extension=php_gd2.dll.
For ImageMagick, we will need to know the path to ImageMagick (php.ini is located in C:\Program Files\TYPO3_4.0.2\Apache\bin, only if you accepted the default options when installing via the Windows installer package).
We need to configure the graphics options within the 5: All Configuration option in the Install Tool, then we can test the functions in 4: Image Processing section.
Here, we can enable or disable the image processing capabilities, and also change all of the image processing options. If we have enabled GD within PHP, we can tick the box in here to allow its usage.
GD generally comes with PHP, but needs to be enabled within the php.ini file as explained earlier.
The ImageMagick path is set here too (if we are using a Linux system, this path can be discovered automatically by the Install Tool).
Once we have configured these settings, we can test them in the 4: Image Processing section of the tool. The reference image is the image included normally through HTML. The first image is an image processed by the server. This could involve including a static image, and applying some special effects to it (or resizing it). If the images are being processed correctly, then the two are identical.
[edit] Summary
We have now successfully installed TYPO3! We started with our computer and installed all the components required to install and use TYPO3 on our own systems. We have looked at the bundled installers that TYPO3 provides, and we have looked at changing some of the settings of TYPO3 using the install tool. Also, we have secured the Install Tool by changing the default password to one of our own.
We are ready to log in to the system and explore the features it has to offer, and to start creating our very own website powered by TYPO3!
[edit] Additional References
For instructions on Creating TYPO3 Templates, click here
[edit] Source
The source of this content is Chapter 2: Installing TYPO3 of Building Websites with TYPO3 by Michael Peacock (Packt Publishing, 2007).
