» INSTALLATION:
Please read the following installation instructions carefully:

» REQUIREMENTS:
• A server running PHP v4.3 or higher. Some of the syntax will NOT work on earlier versions. • A MySQL database to hold the script tables. • GD2 Graphic Library support enabled for captcha display. The script auto checks your configuration when you load the installer.

» SETUP (AUTO INSTALL):
1 => Create a database to hold the script tables. If you are unsure of this procedure contact your web hosting company. 2 => Open up the 'inc/db_connection.inc.php' file in a text editor and edit it to point to the database you just created. DO NOT comment out the prefix function. If you don`t need to change it leave it as it is. You MUST also specify a cookie name and a secret key. DO NOT use the defaults!!
3 => Open up the 'admin/inc/password.inc.php' file in a text editor and set a username and password.
4 => Upload all the files/folders into a directory on your web server. Example: /events/
5 => Access the 'install/index.php' file in your browser and follow the set up instructions to complete installation.
6 => If the setup was successful log in to your admin area (see script usage below) and select 'Settings' from the top menu. Update the settings to your own preferences.
7 => Thats it, all done. For script usage, see below.

Admin Login: http://www.yoursite.com/events/admin/ Calendar Interface: http://www.yoursite.com/events/

SECURITY NOTE: For extra security you should rename your 'admin' folder to something unique!!

» SETUP (MANUAL):
1 => Firstly, if the auto install method failed, access your database using your MySQL admin program. PHPMYADMIN?. Click on the database you created for this script and delete any tables that have been created by this script. If you only have 1 database, be careful not to delete any other important tables.
2 => IMPORTANT!: The .sql file in the script has the prefix of 'me_' before the table names. If you have specified a different prefix in the connection file then you need to change the prefix for the table names in the 'docs/schematic/tables.sql' file BEFORE you run it.
3 => When you are ready browse for and run the 'docs/schematic/tables.sql' file to set up the script tables.
4 => Log in to your admin area and select 'Settings' from the top menu. Update the settings to your own preferences.
5 => Thats it, all done. For script usage see below.

Admin Login: http://www.yoursite.com/events/admin/ Calendar Interface: http://www.yoursite.com/events/

SECURITY NOTE: For extra security you should rename your 'admin' folder to something unique!!

» SCRIPT USAGE:
Script usage for Maian Events should be pretty self explanatory in the admin area. Once you have updated your settings, click 'Events' from the top menu and use the links that appear to manage your system. When adding new events, specify different options where applicable.

» PICTURES:
Maian Events contains a basic method to add pictures for events. You need to specify the full url to your thumbnails and full size images. Only the 'Image' field is required. If this is incomplete the image will NOT be added. If you create a pictures folder inside your events directory, you can use a relative path. ie: thumb/pic1.jpg
Each event can have 4 pictures attached. Images should be uploaded via an FTP client. Ideal size for full size images is 640x480px. Thumbnail sizes are specified in the stylesheet in the folder of the theme you are using as are the attributes for the images displayed per row.
For more information, see the 'pics/readme.txt' file.

» COMMENTS:
Comments can be enabled on a per event basis if you wish visitors to be able to comment on events. In your settings you can also enable the option to approve comments before they appear in the calendar. You can batch approve/reject comments and edit entries before approval in your admin area.

» ARCHIVING:
A new feature in v2.0 is the ability to archive events. You have the option of archiving events with visitor comments, or just the event on its own. You can also specify that events auto delete after the finish date. Note that the contact option is automatically disabled for archived events. To re-activate an event, update the event with new dates in your admin area.

» TEMPLATES:
Maian Events is a template system. To edit the script templates you need a text editor. Notepad will be fine., but a better, colour coded text editor is recommended. It is important that the data between <?php ?> tags remains in place or else the template may fail.
Advanced users will know which variables are not so important.
The '.tpl' files in the 'themes/*theme/tpl_files/' folder use data between braces which is parsed by the system. Theses files keep the HTML out of the main processing files. For more information see the 'themes/*theme/README.txt' file for more info.
The e-mail templates (themes/email/) also use braces. ie: {NAME} Again, be careful when editing not to remove these variables. All site paths are automatically parsed by the system, so no need to manually update paths in the e-mail templates.

» CAPTCHA CODE:
All the settings, images and fonts for the captcha are in the 'captcha' directory.

» CASCADING STYLESHEETS:
v2.0+ has all style control elements/colours in the stylesheets. Maian Events has the following stylesheets for the calendar interface:

themes/*theme/stylesheet.css (Main Control) themes/*theme/ie_hacks.css (IE Hacks - May not appear for all themes) themes/*theme/greybox/gb_styles.css (For Greybox pop up windows) themes/*theme/rss_style.css (RSS Styling)

Note that if you can`t find a colour, what you are seeing on screen may be a background image. The RSS stylesheet may not be applicable for all browsers.

» LANGUAGE:
All the script language is in the 'lang/english.php' language file.

» SEARCH ENGINE FRIENDLY URLS:
Maian Events supports search engine friendly urls via mod_rewrite. To enable this function, rename the 'htaccess_COPY.txt' file to '.htaccess' and enable the option in your settings. Your server must support this feature. If it doesn`t you`ll see an internal server error.

» CLOSING NOTES:
Hopefully this installation guide has helped you get the script up and running. Check out the F.A.Q page for some solutions to common problems. If you require any help at all, please post on the support forums. Thank you.