FatFree CRM installtion.

[Raygo]

Hi all:

FatFree CRM looks great with a clean and easy to use interface.

I am completely new to Ruby on Rails and need some help with the
installation. I already installed Ruby on Rails using the Bitnamy's
Rubystack ver. 1.6 under windows XP. I downloaded FatFree CRM and
uncompressed the files.

Where should I specifically put the Fat Free CRM files?
Once that step is accomplished how do I proceed with the installation?
The brief installation in the download section talks about using the
rake command. Is that done under the DOS command prompt?

Thanks,

Ray

[Michael Dvorkin]

Hi, Ray!

A good start would be to google on how to install Ruby, Rails, Rake,
SQLite or MySQL, etc. on Windows XP.

> Where should I specifically put the Fat Free CRM files?

In a separate directory of your choice.

> Once that step is accomplished how do I proceed with the installation?

Please follow installation instructions from README.TXT file.

> The brief installation in the download section talks about using the
> rake command. Is that done under the DOS command prompt?

Yes.

Michael
http://www.fatfreecrm.com

[Raygo]

Hi Michael:

Thank you for your fast response and also for making this product
free.

The Bitnami install takes care of everything, i.e., installs Apache,
MySQL, Ruby, Rails. Git, etc. I chose this as you don't have to
install everything separately. Do you recommend to install all the
components individually?

I am also confused with the databases. The installation document
refers to a demo database that is included in the application. On the
other side the Ruby on Rails creates three databases on installation:
development, production and test. How do you reconcile this?

I wish there was a more detailed installation document, something like
FatFree Installation Guide for dummies, lol. I guess it is my lack of
knowledge with Ruby and Rails.

I am not a programmer so I hope I am not asking silly questions.

Thanks,

Ray

[Jonharibo]

Hi Guys,

I'm struggling to get the db set up too.
I've found the create files in the db>migrate directory however I
don't know how to use these to build the tables.

Thanks in advance.

Jon

[Shimon Amit]

I'm struggling to get the db set up too.
I've found the create files in the db>migrate directory however I
don't know how to use these to build the tables.

Respective to the Readme file (found here http://github.com/michaeldv/fat_free_crm, or in your downloaded app), which steps have you already completed successfully?

The migration files contain the commands for the system to setup your database automatically using the "rake crm:setup" command. But make sure you execute that only after you've installed your database server and configured it in the config/database.yml file.

 

Shimon

[Shimon Amit]

Hi,

I have installed FFC successfully on my machine and maybe I can help your questions.

 

The Bitnami install takes care of everything, i.e., installs Apache,
MySQL, Ruby, Rails. Git, etc. I chose this as you don't have to
install everything separately. Do you recommend to install all the
components individually?

Bitnami provides you with the infrastructure (MySQL, Ruby, Rails, Git), but not the Fat Free CRM application itself. (Unlike other popular open source apps like Redmine, which has a stack of its own.) It is a good stack, but you will have to read through their instructions on how to set up a rails application within their environment.

 

I am also confused with the databases. The installation document
refers to a demo database that is included in the application. On the
other side the Ruby on Rails creates three databases on installation:
development, production and test. How do you reconcile this?

Rails provides an easy deployment scheme for different environments. Development is for programmers working on the application itself (what Michael likely uses while programming FFC), test for QA'ing it, and production for real world installations. You should be using production if you are not tinkering with code.

If you want to load the demo data, you use the "rake crm:demo:load" command after you've set up the database. Once you're done evaluating the demo you can wipe out your database and start over.

 

I wish there was a more detailed installation document, something like
FatFree Installation Guide for dummies, lol. I guess it is my lack of
knowledge with Ruby and Rails.

I believe a full stack of infrastructure + the Fat Free CRM app installation, akin to what Bitnami created for Redmine (another popular Rails app), would be suitable in your case. Maybe they'll do the same with FFC... who knows. In the meantime, if you are determined, you can read through the Rails or Bitnami documentation on installing and setting up rails applications.

 

Shimon