Hi,
firstly, no, I don't think you've made a bad choice in choosing XOOPS. Stick with it, it just keeps on getting better
If you haven't read it already, I'd recommend you take a look at this:
Starting A XOOPS Site. That should help you with some of the terminology and give you a good understanding of what XOOPS is all about.
Next, Protector. It's actually a lot easier than it sounds. I'll presume that you are using the latest XOOPS (2.3.1) for the rest of this:
When you installed XOOPS on your server, did you notice the recommendation to rename and/or move the two folders (directories) 'xoops_data' and 'xoops_lib' out of the publicly viewable area of your server? What you were doing was creating a trust path. A place which XOOPS can pass data through, out of view of prying eyes. Processes flow through this 'trust path' before returning to the publicly accessible areas of your site (a gross simplification, but it serves it's purpose here). It makes hacking your site a whole lot more difficult. I control my server through CPanel, and can see the areas hierarchically above the directory 'public_html'. Some hosts don't give you this level of access I've heard. Anyway, I rename and place 'xoops_data' and 'xoops_lib' at the same level as public_html. That's the trust path.
If you did this at installation, the 'installation wizard' should have asked you to direct it to these two directories. If you didn't do that, you might be advised to do it now, before we go any further.
*Guys, if I've missed something out or given wrong advice, please correct me right here and now. I've only recently got to grips with protector myself.We're going to do a re-initialization of your xoops.
- Using your ftp application of choice, move and rename those two folders.
- Now navigate down into public_html, and locate the file mainfile.php and mainfile.dist.php
- trash them
- Having done that, you need to go back to your downloaded XOOPS archive and re-read the 'install.html' in the 'docs' folder. Pay attention to the part where it discusses Protector and note that there is a special version of mainfile.dist.php called "mainfile.dist.php.protector" in the 'extras' folder. This file needs re-naming (as mainfile.dist.php) and both it and the regular mainfile.php should be uploaded to your server.
- Upload the 'install' directory again (you should have deleted it after your initial install).
- check that you have given 777 permissions to everything listed in the readme
- check that you've got all your database info handy.
- You can now run through this re-install by entering "http://yoursite.com" into your browser
If all has gone well, the protector module should be visible in admin > system > modules and you are now able to proceed.
Crip
Never let a man who does not believe something can be done, talk to a man that is doing it.