Client Works Documentation

This documentation should guide you through setting up and using Client Works. For more help, feel free to email me at hagdesigns (at) gmail.com

Setting Up

There are 2 main steps before you can start using Client Works. This section covers admin account creation, and configuration settings.

Configuration Settings

Database information, PayPal settings, and other important global settings are stored in one easy to edit file named "config.php". This can be found in the root Client Works directory. Open the file in a text editor. All of the options are commented so it should be fairly straight forward. You need to make sure that you database settings and PayPal email address are correct or else you will have some major issues. Don't worry, if your database information is incorrect you will find out during the next step.

Creating the Admin Account and Installing DB Structure

It's now time to create you administrator account so you can start keeping track of your clients. You should now upload your Client Works directory to your webserver using an FTP program. Point your browser to where you uploaded it. Ex. mywebsite.com/cworks. You will be autodirected to the admin account creation page. At the bottom of the page you will be able to check if your database configuration settings were correct. If there is no error you can enter a username and password and click "Create Account and Install Database". Your database tables will now be added and your admin account created.

This is VERY important! You need to delete the "install.php" and "addadmin.php" files before you can continue as they pose a large security risk if left on your server. Anyone would be able to create an admin account if they weren't deleted.

If all goes well, your admin account is created and your database settings work. Good job!

Admin Dashboard

This section will walk you through the process of adding new clients. While it is very easy to use, I will go over some of the key points.

The homepage allows you to view a list of your current clients. You can click the "details" link by each client to view and edit thier information. The "Add Client" button allows you to add a new client to the database.

Add Client

This page allows you to add a new client. Username, password, full name are self explanatory. However, service is the service that you are providing them, ex. web design, print design, etc. Status is the current project status, ex. pending, in progress, etc. PayPal price is the dollar amound that you are charging them. This is used for creating the PayPal payment form. Do not add the currency symbol, ex. 45. This should also be the total project price. Payments will be calculated automatically based on this. Finally, notes are anything that you would like your client to know.

Click the "Add Client" button and you will be taken to their client info page where you can update their client info.

Client Details

Here you can edit all of the information regarding your client. To change the password, just type in a new password into the password field. If not, just leave the field blank. When you are done making the required changes, go ahead and click "Save Changes". If for some reason you need to remove the client, just click the "Remove Client" button and that client will be removed from the database.

Files

Client Works provides a very easy way to send files to your clients without having to deal with cumbersome email attachments. Simply give the file a title, description, and choose the file to upload. Be aware, Client Works needs a folder to upload to and only accepts certain file types, so be sure to configure this in the config.php file.

If the file you are trying to upload is an image file, it will be displayed inline on the file-info page on the frontend. The client can quickly look over a design concept and post a comment with their thoughts. If the file is a zip file for the project files, they will be given a download link.

The Frontend

The frontend is where your client is able to view their account details and make their payment.

Discussion

This new feature allows for super convenient communication between client and designer. It is a single threaded comment thread where you can discuss the client's project. Just enter your comment in the textbox and away you go.

Client Files

After uploading a file through the admin dashboard, clients will be able to view them here. Images will be displayed inline with the page while zip files will have a convenient download button. If the client has a question or thought about the file they can easily comment on it, just like in the discussion tab.

Make Payment

The make payment page is an extremely easy way for your client to pay you for all of your hard work. They will be prompted with the amount to be paid and a button which will take them to PayPal's secure site for the transaction. After the client has successfully made payment, they will be returned to your site. Client Works will automatically record the payment in the user's payment history and notify you by email. If all payments have been made, the PayPal button will be disabled and the client will be notified that they have completed their payments.

Advanced Information

This section outlines a few more advanced features that include editing actual Client Works code. So, make sure that you are comfortable editing HTML and PHP code.

Custom Styling

While Client Works already has a simple, yet effective interface, many of you will want to integrate it into your own design. This is very easy, however, you will need to be able to write HTML code. I expect most of you to be web designers and you should have no problem integrating your code into mine. For those that aren't, I will give you a quick overview.

The easiest way to change the look is by editing the default CSS file named "default.css". Next is to edit the two main layout files, index2.php and index.php in the admin folder.

All of the code within the #wrap div is necessary code for Client Works operation, however, everything else widthin the body tags can be changed.