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GoodNews Front-End Implementation Last update: 2019-10-03 10:58:13

This is the documentation for the implementation of GoodNews into your websites. GoodNews comes with a bunch of ready to use Snippets, Chunks, Templates and Resources.

GoodNews front-end implementation is very easy, but nevertheless you should have basic knowledge of MODX and how to use Resources, Snippets and Chunks.
If you would like to change preinstalled Templates, Chunks and Resources you should do so by making a copy of the desired element - as all preinstalled elements will be overwritten if you install an updated version of GoodNews.

Setting up the required Cron-Job

For automatized mail sending you need to setup a Cron-Job which triggers the following .php script once every minute:

* * * * * php {full qualified path to your assets directory}/assets/components/goodnews/cron.php

or

* * * * * /usr/bin/wget -q -O /tmp/goodnews-cron.out http://yoururl.com/assets/components/goodnews/cron.php

Optional: To increase security, it is strongly recommended to setup your Cron-Job to submit the additional command line parameter sid. As sid value you need to choose a random (long, password-like) string which will be used by GoodNews to identify the Cron-Job.

* * * * * php {full qualified path to your assets directory}/assets/components/goodnews/cron.php sid=[your cron security key]

or

* * * * * /usr/bin/wget -q -O /tmp/goodnews-cron.out http://yoururl.com/assets/components/goodnews/cron.php?sid=[your cron security key]

If you setup the Cron-Job with the additional sid parameter, you also need to "inform" GoodNews. Please enter the sid value in the Cron Security Key field in GoodNews System Settings (please have a look at the screenshot below):

Screenshot: GoodNews Management Interface - Settings - System
Screenshot: GoodNews Management Interface - Settings - System

From this time on, the cron.php script can only be executed by your Cron-Job!

In some hosting plans and server environments, cron jobs are not available, prohibited or limited. But thankfully there are many web-based cron-job providers available with free or payed cron services. A special recommendation goes to cron-job.org which allows execution up to 60x an hour - completely free!
And here you can find another collection of web-based cron-job providers www.cronjobservices.com.