The Compfy Folders download comes in form of a zipped ASP.NET web site template that can be directly used after a few configuration steps:

Create Compfy Folders database tables and other objects using the SQL script "create database.sql" located in the "/_compfyfolders/_sql" directory. You can do it conveniently by using Microsoft SQL Server Management Studio. Compfy Folders tables can be located in the ASP.NET services database or placed into a separate database.

Provide a Connection String to your Compfy Folders database in the "DataBaseConnectionString" element of the Compfy_AppSettings.config file located in the  "/_compfyfolders/_config" directory as shown in the following example:

  <DataBaseConnectionString> Server=yourhost.com; Database=yourdb;User ID=youruser; Password=yourpassword; Trusted_Connection=False; </DataBaseConnectionString>

To allow users attach files to posts, create a folder designated for storage of the attached files. Make sure that the "network service" user has read, write, and execute permissions for that folder. Provide virtual path to this folder in the Compfy_AppSettings.config file for example as follows:

<AttachmentStoreFolderPath>/attachments</AttachmentStoreFolderPath>

For using user management embedded into the Compfy Folders User Control and for receiving error reports, provide mail settings in the Web.config of your web site as shown in the following example:

 <system.net>
  <mailSettings>
   <smtp from="yourusername@yourdomain.com">
    <network host="mail.yourdomain.com" password="yourpassword" port="yourproviderssmtpport" userName="yourusername@yourdomain.com" />
   </smtp>
  </mailSettings>
 </system.net>

Set up your database connection string for the ASP.NET services database in the Web.config file. The default settings are:

  <connectionStrings>
      <remove name="LocalSqlServer"/>
      <add name="LocalSqlServer"
       connectionString="Data Source=.\SQLEXPRESS;AttachDbFilename=|DataDirectory|\aspnetdb.mdf;Integrated Security=True;User Instance=True;"
       providerName="System.Data.SqlClient"/>
  </connectionStrings>

This connection string is usually used for development only. You may need to create the default ASP.NET database in the App_Data folder if you want to use it for development.

For error reporting, also provide an email address to send error reports to in the Compfy_AppSettings.config file located in the  "/_compfyfolders/_config" directory:

  <ErrorMessageEmail>youruser@yourdomain.com</ErrorMessageEmail>

Let the Compfy Folders User Control know which ASP.NET role is the administrator role of the Forum. Administrator(s) can set all other permissions on the forum, can edit, lock and unlock user profiles, can edit and delete any of the folders or posts. The administrator role is set in the Compfy_AppSettings.config as follows:

<AdministratorRole>Administrator</AdministratorRole>

 If you have any questions, please post them in the Q&A section and we do our best to answer them. (You would need to create an account and to login in order to post.)