• Registered: 2014-08-22
  • Posts: 14

Topic: Absolute Newbie, took over site using CN, no idea how to use it

A few months ago I took over a website that it turns out is using CuteNews, although when I asked the previous Webmaster if he use a CMS, he said no. (I gathered that he was in a very big hurry to transfer the site quickly, as he was moving overseas very shortly).  Since then, he has been in Ukraine, where his schedule and the political unrest and war have made him unavailable to provide help so far.

My problem is, I don't even know where to begin to start CutNews. I can see that the main English page calls "show_news.php" and I see the CuteNews readme.html file in the news directory, but I have no idea how to invoke the admin program and maintain the articles. Once I can get that far, I can read all the documentation and forum topics to get up to speed, but, like I said, right now I don't even know where to begin. My host uses cPanel, and I can look at all files that way, but not knowing anything about CN file structure, I don't know where to look to get started.

The site seems to be operating okay, and the source code of the index pages shows the last article the old webmaster added, which doesn't show up in the index2.php file for that page, so that's how I know CuteNews is functioning. 

I hesitate to share any site info publicly, as until I'm sure I have a secure login, I'm afraid I might be vulnerable to someone who knows CuteNews being able to reset the login info.

Please help me get started, as I need to start updating this site ASAP.  It is for a world class athlete who has a world championship competition coming up, so I can't let it get too far out of date.

Thanks for any help. Let me know if more info is necessary to answer my question.
JB

  • Registered: 2014-08-22
  • Posts: 14

Re: Absolute Newbie, took over site using CN, no idea how to use it

The site seems to be operating okay, and the source code of the index pages shows the last article the old webmaster added, which doesn't show up in the index2.php file for that page, so that's how I know CuteNews is functioning. 

I hesitate to share any site info publicly, as until I'm sure I have a secure login, I'm afraid I might be vulnerable to someone who knows CuteNews being able to reset the login info.

Please help me get started, as I need to start updating this site ASAP.  It is for a world class athlete who has a world championship competition coming up, so I can't let it get too far out of date.


I should explain, when I say "source code" I mean the "view source" in Firefox developer tools, which shows the result of all the PHP calls etc., which shows article text which is not in the actual index2.php file; this is how I conclude that CuteNews is functioning to call up the articles from wherever.  But that's all I know, I have no idea how to start the admin panel or where to look for the individual article files.

I also should mention I looked through several pages of the help topics and didn't see anything close to this kind of basic problem, but I confess I didn't look at every single topic.

If there is a thread or a FAQ or something that will get me up to speed, I am happy to work it out on my own if I can. But I've already wasted hours trying to figure out something that looks like a place to start, and I'm no further along.  Any guidance is most appreciated. This is an important assignment for me.  Thanks for any help at all.

  • Registered: 2005-08-16
  • Posts: 1,861

Re: Absolute Newbie, took over site using CN, no idea how to use it

You need to log in to your cutenews by going to the cutenews folder index.php file.
This may help:
https://cutephp.com/forum/index.php?showtop...st&p=119733
You need the login details  from the previous webmaster.

4 Reply by gymeb10 (edited by 2014-09-02 04:51:06)

  • Registered: 2014-08-22
  • Posts: 14

Re: Absolute Newbie, took over site using CN, no idea how to use it

You need to log in to your cutenews by going to the cutenews folder index.php file.
This may help:
https://cutephp.com/forum/index.php?showtop...st&p=119733
You need the login details  from the previous webmaster.


Thanks, Damoor, that's exactly the info I needed. Now I've got a new problem.

Okay, got in contact with the previous webmaster, got login info. Logged in successfully, poked around a little, saw that the version was old (1.X from some time in 2012) and was told an update with important security updates was needed.

I hit the update button and tried updating the version, and after several minutes got an error message. Now CN won't even launch ay all, I get a "not found" when I navigate to the news directory with my browser, whether its to the "news/index.php" or just to the directory "news/" .  I can see the files in cPanel and some were updated, but I need some advice on how to get it working again and update the version. The "index.php" indicates it was just now updated, so the file does exist, but my browser gives me "not found".

I'm more than willing to read and follow existing instructions in help or a thread on what to do, but I've already lost so much time, if someone who knows what this problem probably is and where is the info on how to get it fixed, I would very much appreciate being pointed to the right source(s) without having to search through a bunch of help topics and threads for the right solution to my particular problem. 

Thank you very much for your help.

  • Registered: 2012-01-17
  • Posts: 773

Re: Absolute Newbie, took over site using CN, no idea how to use it

Thanks, Damoor, that's exactly the info I needed. Now I've got a new problem.

Okay, got in contact with the previous webmaster, got login info. Logged in successfully, poked around a little, saw that the version was old (1.X from some time in 2012) and was told an update with important security updates was needed.

I hit the update button and tried updating the version, and after several minutes got an error message. Now CN won't even launch ay all, I get a "not found" when I navigate to the news directory with my browser, whether its to the "news/index.php" or just to the directory "news/" .  I can see the files in cPanel and some were updated, but I need some advice on how to get it working again and update the version. The "index.php" indicates it was just now updated, so the file does exist, but my browser gives me "not found".

I'm more than willing to read and follow existing instructions in help or a thread on what to do, but I've already lost so much time, if someone who knows what this problem probably is and where is the info on how to get it fixed, I would very much appreciate being pointed to the right source(s) without having to search through a bunch of help topics and threads for the right solution to my particular problem. 

Thank you very much for your help.

If you have another FTP access to the server where you have CuteNews installed, then you can upgrade to version 2.0.2.
You need to backup the old version, then install the new CuteNews version alongside with the old one. Then you need to perform migration of news from the old version to the new one. Do not migrate the configuration as it is likely to be corrupted.

Best regards,
CN Support team
  • Registered: 2014-08-22
  • Posts: 14

Re: Absolute Newbie, took over site using CN, no idea how to use it

If you have another FTP access to the server where you have CuteNews installed, then you can upgrade to version 2.0.2.
You need to backup the old version, then install the new CuteNews version alongside with the old one. Then you need to perform migration of news from the old version to the new one. Do not migrate the configuration as it is likely to be corrupted.


Thanks, I'll give that a try.  Won't be until tomorrow evening, so if I have any other problems or questions I won't be posting until then.

I am assuming instructions for migrating news after new version is installed are included with the new version? If not, please let me know where detailed instructions on that would be found.

Thanks again.

  • Registered: 2014-08-22
  • Posts: 14

Re: Absolute Newbie, took over site using CN, no idea how to use it

Got it!!

I had a little trouble with the migration, as the instructions (being written by somebody who is obviously not a native English speaker) are not clear, but after a little trial and error got the new version and the site's main navigation page to point to the same place.

Thanks for your help, I think I am okay. If I have more problems, I'll likely start a new thread.

THANKS!!!!!