The Exponent Menu
Overview
In this area you'll find information about all those settings or screens available from the "Exponent" menu on the menu bar, aka: the Slingbar.
NOTE: The 'Slingbar' menu is only visible when an 'admin' or user with permissions (page 'View' doesn't count) is logged in.
Site Administration Tasks
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About ExponentCMS
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This menu item provides release information about the installed version of Exponent CMS. It is important information when resolving problems, setup issues, or fixing bugs. If you are an 'admin' user, it will also display the PHP version.
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Create or Edit a User Account
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Here you can enter or change information about your user account or user profile. With administrative permissions, you may also assign the user to available user groups. Most information can be changed later on, except for the user name.
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Create or Edit a User Group
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Here you can enter or change information about a user group. Creating user groups makes it easier to manage larger sections of users, especially when it comes to permissions. A user group may be automatically assigned to each new user by making the user group setting Is this a Default Group. You can also redirect users of that group to a specific page when logging in by setting the Login Landing Page. You may also add restrictions (permissions) to the user group using the Group Global Permissions/Restrictions settings.
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Manage Group Memberships
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The Group Membership Manager allows you to select which users are included in that group. It also allows you to select which users may edit group membership.
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Manage Database
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This command opens a database manager for the current site database in a new window. It is a very powerful tool which allows you to view or edit all the Exponent tables and entries. The application requires the user already be logged into the site and only allows access to the current site database. It operates similar to phpMyAdmin and includes in-place editing by a ctrl-click on the field, and other nice features.
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Restore Database
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This command allows you to import archived data to restore the site database. This will overwrite existing tables in the database.
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Backup Database
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This command allows you to export the site database (content) so it can later be used to restore the site.
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Import/Export Data
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This command brings up a display to export or import data (items) from/to existing modules. Unlike the 'Restore Database' command, this command adds (new) items to the existing module. And also unlike 'Backup Database', you may select which items and which modules you wish to export.
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Update Tables
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This command updates the database structure by checking and adding any new features. It is often required after installing an upgrade or a new extension.
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Optimize Database
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This command attempts to remove any overhead in the database and compact it.
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Repair Database
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This command attempts to perform some simple repairs to the Exponent database. It will attempt to resurrect files missing from the 'recycle bin,' re-establish missing modules that should be displayed in the "aggregation' windows, and a few other fixes by checking missing information against other tables.
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Fix Table Name
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This command attempts to rename any of the mixed-case table names which may have inadvertently changed to lower-case on a windows server. The BEST fix is to add a 'lower_case_table_names=2' setting to the [mysqld] section of the mysql ini file.
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Remove Unneeded Table Columns
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This command attempts to update the table definitions like the 'Update Tables' command, however, it will also remove any unneeded columns from tables.
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Remove Unused Tables
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This command removes any database tables marked as obsolete as a result of a site upgrade or extension installation.
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Install Extensions
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This allows you to upload custom modules, themes, plugins, and views or install patches to the website.
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Manage Modules
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In the Module Manager you can change the active/inactive status of modules. There is a separate tab for all the older 1.0 type modules.
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Manage Translations
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This command allows you to select or create a language translation.
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Manage Themes
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The Theme Manager displays all the available themes and allows the administrator to select the current site theme, preview a theme, and configure a theme.
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Turn Mobile View On/Off
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This allows the super administrator to turn on or off a session flag which indicates if this is a mobile device. It comes in handy when designing mobile themes on a pc or forcing mobile mode off for a small device.
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Run Upgrade Scripts
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This command allows you to run 'upgrade' scripts manually. These are the same scripts which are run during an installation upgrade. Each optional or mandatory upgrade script suitable for the current version will be listed with an option to select it to be run. This command is provided to 're'run upgrade scripts without requiring and entire upgrade be performed again.
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Turn Minification On/Off
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This setting can speed up page loading by condensing information about the pages.
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Clear Smarty Cache
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This command is used to delete the web page display cache, which may clear up some display problems after an upgrade or extension installation.
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Clear CSS/Minify Cache
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This command is used to delete the css cache, which may clear up some display problems after an upgrade or extension installation.
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Clear Image Cache
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This command is used to delete the css cache, which may clear up some display problems after an upgrade or extension installation. This clears the cache used by the thumbnail generator and the image editor (Pixidou).
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Clear RSS/Podcast Cache
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This command is used to delete the rss cache, which may clear up some feed publishing problems. RSS caching is not currently turned on.
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Clear All Caches
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This command is used to easily clear all the system caches, both on the server and in memory. While it is basically a one-step command for all the other clear cache commands, it does some additional cache clearing.
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Configure Website
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This displays settings which determine the "look and feel" of the web site. It has it's own help area found here.
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Site Management
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This menu provides commands which help you easily manage various features of your web site such as comments, tags, forms, RSS feeds, and searches.
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User Management
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The User Management menu allows you to manage and work with site user accounts.
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Super-Admin Tools
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This menu is available to Super Administrators and contains many commands which allow you to manipulate the inner workings of the web site.
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