Where modx 'should' be installed

I am new to MODx. I am checking it out with XAMPP on a WinXP PC.
I have read a few of the beginer tutorials.
I am fairly web (JavaScript/PHP) savvy, But I am missing some MODx (or CMS) fundamentals.

But I dont see :
Where (within the site directory structure) MODx ’should’ be installed.
What are the impacts of where it is located.

I installed MODx Revolution. (BTW: has no sample site files)
It’s files ended up in /xampp/htdocs/modx-2.0.0-beta/
It appears that modx only handles to HTTP requests into & beyond the ’/modx-2.0.0-beta/’ folder. Propably due to the fact that it’s ’index.php’ is in that folder.

As installed (in it’s own modx folder), Can I with modx maintain a site who’s entered point is at http://siteURL/ ?
or say localhost/myTestsite (physically at: /xampp/htdocs/myTestsite next to not under the modx folder) ?
Or do I need to relocate the MODx install files & subdirs to the site entry point ?

I perfer the answers for both 1.0 & 2.0.
Ron

There are a minimum of "shoulds" with MODx.

You can install it wherever you like. If you had installed it in htdocs, it would work fine and respond to http://localhost. On a remote site, the equivalent would usually be /public_html.

You could rename your modx-2.0.0-beta directory and MODx could then be accessed by http://localhost/whatever_you_name_it. You’d need to edit the config file, clear the MODx cache and your browser cache/cookies, and reset the paths in some system settings. Since its a new install, it may be easier to just empty the DB, delete the files, and just do a new install.

If the files are in the public_html directory at a remote site, http://yoursite.com will get you there.

Hope this makes sense.

Thank you very much for your response, BobRay.

Do I correctly take it then that these are the answers to these questions ?

NO : As installed (in it’s own modx folder), Can I with modx maintain a site who’s entered point is at http://siteURL/ ?
NO : or say localhost/myTestsite (physically at: /xampp/htdocs/myTestsite next to not under the modx folder) ?
YES : Or do I need to relocate the MODx install files & subdirs to the site entry point ?

Quote from: BobRay at Sep 29, 2009, 11:58 PM

There are a minimum of "shoulds" with MODx.

You can install it wherever you like. If you had installed it in htdocs, it would work fine and respond to http://localhost. On a remote site, the equivalent would usually be /public_html.

You could rename your modx-2.0.0-beta directory and MODx could then be accessed by http://localhost/whatever_you_name_it. You’d need to edit the config file, clear the MODx cache and your browser cache/cookies, and reset the paths in some system settings. Since its a new install, it may be easier to just empty the DB, delete the files, and just do a new install.

If the files are in the public_html directory at a remote site, http://yoursite.com will get you there.

Hope this makes sense.

I’m sorry, but where in the documentation does it say for users to alter the config file? Is there
anything to alter in the .htacess files too?

Quote from: RonDeSC at Oct 01, 2009, 05:16 PM

Thank you very much for your response, BobRay.

Do I correctly take it then that these are the answers to these questions ?

NO : As installed (in it’s own modx folder), Can I with modx maintain a site who’s entered point is at http://siteURL/ ?
NO : or say localhost/myTestsite (physically at: /xampp/htdocs/myTestsite next to not under the modx folder) ?
YES : Or do I need to relocate the MODx install files & subdirs to the site entry point ?

As I understand your questions:

#1 is a YES if you’re willing to create the appropriate rewrite rules in .htaccess.
#2 You’d access the site with localhost/myTestSite or (with the appropriate rewrite rules) localhost so YES again.
#3 No, but you might want to.

Here’s what I’d suggest: If you’re absolutely sure that this site will be the only site at that domain, ever, move the files to the domain root (localhost/ or /public_html). Then the site URL will be localhost or domain.com. Otherwise, leave the files where they are and access the site with domain_name/site_name or use rewrite rules in .htaccess to make the URL anything you want (not my area of expertise, BTW).

Quote from: sarah123 at Oct 01, 2009, 06:24 PM

I’m sorry, but where in the documentation does it say for users to alter the config file? Is there
anything to alter in the .htacess files too?

There’s no need to alter the config file unless, like the OP, you regret where you installed MODx.

.htaccess may need to be modified to implement Friendly URLs or, again, if you want to change the site URL for some reason. Some people also put anti-hacker stuff in there as well. Otherwise, you don’t need the file at all.