Omnistar Affiliate Software has the ability to setup web site replication. Web Site replication will allow you to put web site files in a folder and then when a new user signs up, a new directory is automatically created and the files and folders in a special folder in the affiliate software are automatically moved to a special folder for just that user. Therefore, the user can have a website to advertise that is identical to your site.
To setup web site replication you should do the following steps:
1. In the configuration file affiliate/lib/etools.php there is a variable:
$enable_replicate = 0;
You should set this variable to be:
$enable_replicate = 1;
2. There is a folder:
affiliate/replicate
In this folder there is a file called index.php
This is the template file that you should use to create the first page of your replicated site. You can modify this file, but it is important to add all your modification under the line:
<!--UPDATE HEADER AFTER THIS LINE. DO NOT EDIT ANYTHING BEFORE THIS LINE UNLESS YOU KNOW WHAT YOU ARE DOING -->
Because it is important is to make sure when users go to this page, the program starts tracking the affiliate user. The line of code that enables this functionality is:
<script language="JavaScript" type="text/javascript" src="%server_name2%/setcook
ie.php?mid=%id%"></script>
So this line of code has to be in the index.php file and when you modify this index page, you should try to add all your modifications in the right area.
You can have as many files and folders in the affiliate/replicate folder. The files and folders you put in this folder will get copied to a new area once the affiliate user signs up. The new area the files will get copied to is:
at http://www.Yourdomain.com/affiliate/sites/$affiliate_id/
The $affiliate_id represents the affiliate id for that affiliate user.
If you would like the files to be copied to another location then in
affiliate/lib/etools2.php there is a variable:
$replication_user_url='/$PATH/affiliate/sites/';
$PATH above is the path to where you installed the affiliate software. This will be different for every installation.
You can change this to point to any location in the /affiliate/ folder.
IMPORTANT: The location has to be within the /affiliate/ folder
3. In the configuration file affiliate/lib/etools2.php there is a variable:
$replication_user_url='/$PATH/affiliate/sites/';
$PATH above is the path to where you installed the affiliate software. This will be different for every installation.
It is important to make sure the server has read / write access to this location. This is usually achieved by running the Linux command:
chmod 777 affiliate/sites/
If you are running a Windows server you should ask your hosting company how to make the directory affiliates/sites read and writable.
4. That's it. The important next step is to test. To test when you need to do once you have followed all the steps above, is to go to the affiliate user page:
http://www.Yourdomain.com/affiliate/user/main.php
Note: Replace Yourdomain.com with your actual domain name.
and click on the Sign Up link and sign up a real test user.
Once you sign up as a user. The software should automatically move the files and folders that where in:
/replicate/ folder
and create a new site:
http://www.Yourdomain.com/affiliate/sites/$affiliate_id/
The affiliate user will be given this link when they login and the affiliate user should use this link to advertise your affiliate program.