Installation Guide - Author App

1. Prerequisites

Before installing Author App, ensure your server meets these requirements:

PHP: Version 7.4 or higher (8.0+ recommended)
MySQL: Version 5.7 or higher (8.0+ recommended)
Apache/Nginx: Web server with mod_rewrite enabled
PHP Extensions: mysqli, mbstring, json, openssl, curl
Composer: For dependency management
SSL Certificate: Required for production (free via Let's Encrypt)

💡 Note: Author App is built on CodeIgniter 4 framework and follows all CI4 requirements.

2. Installing Author App

1 Upload Files

Upload the Author App files to your server root directory (e.g., public_html, www, or httpdocs).

2 Set Permissions

Set proper permissions for writable directories:

chmod -R 755 writable/
chmod -R 755 public/

3 Install Dependencies

Run Composer to install dependencies:

composer install --no-dev --optimize-autoloader

4 Run Installation Wizard

Visit your domain in a browser. You'll be automatically redirected to the installation wizard:

https://yourdomain.com/

Follow the on-screen instructions to:

Create database connection
Set up admin account
Configure application settings

⚠️ Security: After installation, delete or move the /install directory to prevent unauthorized access.

3. Initial Configuration

3.1 Login to Admin Panel

After installation, access the admin panel:

https://yourdomain.com/admin

Use the admin credentials you created during installation.

3.2 Add Your Envato Personal Token

1 Generate Envato Token

Go to https://build.envato.com/create-token/

Create a token with these permissions:

View and search Envato sites
View your sales and purchase data
Verify purchases

2 Add Token to Author App

In the admin panel:

Go to Settings → API Configuration
Paste your Envato Personal Token
Click Save Settings
Test the connection using the "Test Token" button

💡 Security: Your Envato token is encrypted in the database using AES-256-CBC encryption for maximum security.

4. Adding Your Products

1 Navigate to Products

In the admin panel, go to Products → Add New Product

2 Fill Product Details

Product Name: Your product's name (e.g., "Turnstile - CI4 Admin Template")
Product Slug: URL-friendly identifier (e.g., "turnstile")
Product ID: Your Envato Item ID (found in your CodeCanyon URL)
Current Version: Latest version number (e.g., "1.0.0")
Description: Brief description of your product

3 Save Product

Click Save to add the product to your Author App.

                    📝 Example: If your CodeCanyon URL is codecanyon.net/item/turnstile/12345678, your Product ID is 12345678
                

5. Integrating with Your Application

Follow these steps to connect your Envato product with Author App for license management and automatic updates.

5.1 Create Installation Helper File

Create a file called author_app_helper.php in your product's installation directory:

<?php
/**
 * Author App Integration Helper
 * Handles license registration and update checking
 */

if (!function_exists('getAuthorAppUrl')) {
    /**
     * Get Author App URL based on environment
     * 
     * @return string Author App base URL
     */
    function getAuthorAppUrl() {
        // Production URL - Replace with your actual domain
        $productionUrl = 'https://licenses.yourdomain.com';
        
        // Development URL
        $developmentUrl = 'http://localhost/taskew-author-app';
        
        // Detect environment
        $host = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] ?? '';
        
        if (strpos($host, 'localhost') !== false || 
            strpos($host, '127.0.0.1') !== false ||
            strpos($host, '.local') !== false) {
            return $developmentUrl;
        }
        
        return $productionUrl;
    }
}

if (!function_exists('registerLicense')) {
    /**
     * Register license with Author App
     * 
     * @param string $purchaseCode Envato purchase code
     * @param string $productSlug Product slug from Author App
     * @param string $domain Customer's domain
     * @param string $email Customer's email
     * @return array Response from Author App
     */
    function registerLicense($purchaseCode, $productSlug, $domain, $email) {
        $authorAppUrl = getAuthorAppUrl();
        $endpoint = $authorAppUrl . '/api/v1/license/register';
        
        $data = [
            'purchase_code' => $purchaseCode,
            'product_slug' => $productSlug,
            'domain' => $domain,
            'email' => $email
        ];
        
        $ch = curl_init($endpoint);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($data));
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
            'Content-Type: application/json',
            'Accept: application/json'
        ]);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 30);
        
        $response = curl_exec($ch);
        $httpCode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
        curl_close($ch);
        
        if ($httpCode === 200 && $response) {
            return json_decode($response, true);
        }
        
        return [
            'status' => 'error',
            'message' => 'Failed to connect to license server'
        ];
    }
}

if (!function_exists('checkForUpdates')) {
    /**
     * Check for product updates
     * 
     * @param string $licenseKey License key from registration
     * @param string $productSlug Product slug
     * @param string $currentVersion Current installed version
     * @return array Update information
     */
    function checkForUpdates($licenseKey, $productSlug, $currentVersion) {
        $authorAppUrl = getAuthorAppUrl();
        $endpoint = $authorAppUrl . '/api/v1/product/check-update';
        
        $data = [
            'license_key' => $licenseKey,
            'product_slug' => $productSlug,
            'current_version' => $currentVersion
        ];
        
        $ch = curl_init($endpoint);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($data));
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
            'Content-Type: application/json',
            'Accept: application/json'
        ]);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 30);
        
        $response = curl_exec($ch);
        $httpCode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
        curl_close($ch);
        
        if ($httpCode === 200 && $response) {
            return json_decode($response, true);
        }
        
        return [
            'update_available' => false,
            'message' => 'Failed to check for updates'
        ];
    }
}

if (!function_exists('downloadUpdate')) {
    /**
     * Download update package
     * 
     * @param string $licenseKey License key
     * @param string $productSlug Product slug
     * @param string $version Version to download
     * @param string $savePath Path to save the update file
     * @return bool Success status
     */
    function downloadUpdate($licenseKey, $productSlug, $version, $savePath) {
        $authorAppUrl = getAuthorAppUrl();
        $endpoint = $authorAppUrl . '/api/v1/product/download-update';
        
        $data = [
            'license_key' => $licenseKey,
            'product_slug' => $productSlug,
            'version' => $version
        ];
        
        $ch = curl_init($endpoint);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POST, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_POSTFIELDS, json_encode($data));
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_RETURNTRANSFER, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_HTTPHEADER, [
            'Content-Type: application/json',
            'Accept: application/json'
        ]);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_SSL_VERIFYPEER, true);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_TIMEOUT, 300);
        curl_setopt($ch, CURLOPT_FOLLOWLOCATION, true);
        
        $response = curl_exec($ch);
        $httpCode = curl_getinfo($ch, CURLINFO_HTTP_CODE);
        curl_close($ch);
        
        if ($httpCode === 200 && $response) {
            return file_put_contents($savePath, $response) !== false;
        }
        
        return false;
    }
}
?>

5.2 Integrate During Installation

In your product's installation script (e.g., do_install.php), add:

<?php
require_once 'author_app_helper.php';

// After successful database installation and configuration...

// Register with Author App
$purchaseCode = $_POST['purchase_code']; // From installation form
$email = $_POST['email']; // From installation form
$domain = $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'];

$result = registerLicense(
    $purchaseCode,
    'your-product-slug', // Replace with your product slug
    $domain,
    $email
);

if ($result['status'] === 'success') {
    // Save license key to your config file or database
    $licenseKey = $result['data']['license_key'];
    
    // Example: Save to config file
    $config = [
        'license_key' => $licenseKey,
        'registered_domain' => $domain,
        'license_status' => 'active'
    ];
    
    file_put_contents(
        'config/license.php',
        '<?php return ' . var_export($config, true) . ';'
    );
    
    echo "License registered successfully!";
} else {
    echo "License registration failed: " . $result['message'];
}
?>

5.3 Add Update Checker to Admin Panel

Create an update checker in your admin panel (e.g., admin/updates.php):

<?php
require_once '../author_app_helper.php';

// Load license configuration
$licenseConfig = require 'config/license.php';
$licenseKey = $licenseConfig['license_key'];

// Define current version
define('CURRENT_VERSION', '1.0.0');

// Check for updates
$updateInfo = checkForUpdates(
    $licenseKey,
    'your-product-slug', // Replace with your product slug
    CURRENT_VERSION
);

if ($updateInfo['update_available']) {
    $newVersion = $updateInfo['version'];
    $releaseNotes = $updateInfo['release_notes'];
    $publishedDate = $updateInfo['published_at'];
    
    echo '<div class="update-notification">';
    echo '<h3>Update Available: Version ' . $newVersion . '</h3>';
    echo '<p>Published: ' . date('F j, Y', strtotime($publishedDate)) . '</p>';
    echo '<div>' . $releaseNotes . '</div>';
    echo '<button onclick="downloadUpdate(\'' . $newVersion . '\')">Download Update</button>';
    echo '</div>';
} else {
    echo '<p>Your application is up to date!</p>';
}
?>

5.4 Implement Update Download

Create an update handler (e.g., admin/do_update.php):

<?php
require_once '../author_app_helper.php';

// Load license configuration
$licenseConfig = require 'config/license.php';
$licenseKey = $licenseConfig['license_key'];

$version = $_POST['version'] ?? '';

if (empty($version)) {
    die('Version is required');
}

// Create updates directory
$updateDir = 'writable/updates/';
if (!is_dir($updateDir)) {
    mkdir($updateDir, 0755, true);
}

$updateFile = $updateDir . 'update-' . $version . '.zip';

// Download update
$success = downloadUpdate(
    $licenseKey,
    'your-product-slug', // Replace with your product slug
    $version,
    $updateFile
);

if ($success) {
    echo json_encode([
        'status' => 'success',
        'message' => 'Update downloaded successfully',
        'file' => $updateFile
    ]);
    
    // Now you can extract and apply the update
    // This is where you'd add your update extraction logic
    
} else {
    echo json_encode([
        'status' => 'error',
        'message' => 'Failed to download update'
    ]);
}
?>

⚠️ Important: Replace your-product-slug with the actual slug you created in Author App (e.g., "turnstile", "rise-crm", etc.)

6. Uploading Product Updates

1 Prepare Update Package

Create a ZIP file containing your updated product files. Include only the files that need to be updated.

2 Upload via Admin Panel

Go to Products → Select your product
Click Upload Update
Select your ZIP file
Enter the new version number (e.g., "1.1.0")
Add release notes describing the changes
Click Upload

3 Verify Upload

After upload, verify:

The update appears in the product's update history
The file size is correct
The version number is accurate

💡 Tip: Your customers will now be able to check for and download this update through your integrated update system!

7. Testing Your Integration

7.1 Test License Registration

Use a valid Envato purchase code
Install your product on a test domain
Verify the license is registered in Author App admin panel
Check that the license key is saved in your product

7.2 Test Update System

Upload a test update in Author App
Access your product's admin panel
Check for updates
Verify the update notification appears
Download the update
Confirm the ZIP file downloads correctly

                    ✅ Success Checklist:
                    License registration works
Update check returns correct information
Update download completes successfully
Support expiration is enforced
Invalid licenses are rejected

                

8. Troubleshooting

Q: License registration fails

A: Check that:

Your Envato Personal Token is correctly configured
The purchase code is valid and not already used
Your server can make outbound HTTPS requests
The product slug matches exactly

Q: Updates not showing

A: Verify that:

The update was successfully uploaded
The version number is higher than the current version
The customer's support hasn't expired
The license key is correct

Q: Download fails

A: Check:

File permissions on writable/uploads/updates/ directory
The update file exists and is accessible
Server has enough disk space
PHP memory_limit and max_execution_time are adequate

Q: Getting "Connection failed" errors

A: Ensure:

Your Author App domain is accessible
SSL certificate is valid (for production)
Firewall isn't blocking requests
cURL extension is installed and enabled

9. Need Help?

If you encounter any issues during installation or integration:

Check the logs in writable/logs/ directory
Enable debug mode temporarily to see detailed error messages
Review the CodeIgniter 4 documentation
Verify all prerequisites are met

💡 Pro Tip: Keep your Author App and products updated to benefit from the latest features and security improvements.

📚 Installation Guide