To build a website you will need both a domain name and web hosting account.

Web hosting and domain hosting are two different services. For the full operation of the site, you need both of them, ordered and paid separately.

The main task of a domain is to direct site visitors to the IP address of the server where the site is hosted. When you enter a domain name in the browser address bar, the browser uses the DNS system to convert the domain name into the IP address of the server, after which it uses the received IP address directly to the server - sends a request and receives a response to it. The response to the request may be site pages, images, or other data.

The domain is also responsible for mail servers to accept incoming email, and can be used for other purposes, such as confirming ownership of a domain or a website.

If you want to cover different audiences, geographical locations and niches by launching different domains, then you need to use Multi domain service.

Firstly, we need the following:

Alternatively, you can link the domain yourself by changing the DNS (domain nameservers) to the following:

The main purpose of hosting is to store site data and provide tools for the operation of its internal logic (launching scripts, interacting with the database, etc.). A certain amount of disk space is allocated on the hosting server, where you can place site scripts, its content, templates, plugins and other data. The hosting server receives requests from site visitors and returns the necessary information to them.

If there are several sites on a hosting at once, each of them will have its own virtual host with its own settings and a separate directory for files, as well as SSL certificate, configured redirects, etc.

Secondly, I'll create a hosting account on our server for you and our techs will install your software! 😀

If you wish to host on another server, please share server access with us:

We recommend using cPanel for hosting management for several important reasons.

Thus, using cPanel is a preferred option that simplifies the installation process and ensures a smoother start with your online dating service.

Web hosting services let you make your dating website accessible from all over the

planet.
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Using our hosting saves you a lot of time, as it already has everything for the DatingPro script.

When you purchase any of the licenses, you get the first month of hosting for free.

Renewal price would be $12 per month. You can find more on our Marketplace.

Below, we'll talk a little bit of a more «geeky» technical stuff. And if you want to make

sure everything can be installed right away and without any delay, but you don't want to

dwell on it, just skip to the next page and copy-paste the example letter to your provider

We're confident you can run our script on most of the servers, but if you want to be

sure, here are the system requirements

Sample Email for asking your host if they support these features:

Reliable hosting providers: Godaddy; 1and1; Hostgator; Bluehost

Important note 1: If you are using nginx server, make sure the following directives are turned on:

In the product templates are saved in twig format and broken down by site modules. In fact, 1 template = 1 page, not counting the header and footer.

You can unload a list of these files and see the number. The twig engine is used to generate the pages. The product itself is built according to MVC architecture, all templates are divided by modules and stored in folders views.

For optimal system performance, it is recommended to use the latest versions of the following web browsers:

Our mobile apps are written in Kotlin (Android) and Swift 5 (IOS).

If you plan to have a WebRTC video chat added to your website (RocketChat, PG Video Chat, Janus, etc.), you will need a VPS, a virtual private server. Consider solutions by GoDaddy, Hetzner or DigitalOcean. The most basic configuration will do.

Make sure you pick the server location in the position central to most of your site’s members for better and faster connection.

If you plan to import a database of profiles from your previous website, calculate the size of all files. To avoid reaching a limit on the disc space or allowed number of files, consider going for a virtual private server (VPS) as well. See, for example, GoDaddy, Hetzner or DigitalOcean. The required space will be your database size plus a minimum of 20GB for the website to work properly.

With VPS, you will be able to expand easily as your database grows.

Check out our structured guide to Dating Pro apps for Android and iOS devices! It's a great way to get familiar with our features.

Installation service is provided for free to all customers who purchased a license. Contact us in live chat or by email sales@datingpro.com to request installation.
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If you decide to install the site yourself, please review the installation instructions in the Getting Started section of the Dating Pro Academy.

1. Download the ZIP archive with the software files from the link that we’ve sent you. Upload the archive to your server and decompress it there. Mind the available server space.

Alternatively, you can unpack the archive on your local computer and upload the files to the server. Any FTP client will do.

Note 1: Make sure to use Binary transfer mode during upload.

Note 2: If you decide to upload the decompressed archive, check for hidden files and folders. They all need to go to your server.

2. Create an empty MySQL database and add a user to this database. Database user should have full rights because the script will use this user’s parameters to populate the database with tables and data.

​Note: We recommend making a backup copy of your website database at least once a month, to be on the safe side.

3. Set 0777 permissions to following directories:

/application/views/flatty/sets/*
/application/views/gentelella/sets/*
/temp/*
/uploads/*

* means recurse into subdirectories and apply to directories

Note: You will also be prompted to change file permissions to files /application/config/install.php, /config.php along the way. Click ‘Refresh’ when you are done to update the info.

4. Go to http://www.yourdomain.com/ (where www.yourdomain.com is your domain name connected to the server). You will be taken to the installation page.
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5. Read the license agreement and click ‘I agree’ if you agree.

6. Indicate your FTP access details (host, user and password) and click ‘Next’ to continue.

7. The next step is to indicate database access details. Click ‘Next’ to continue.

8. Next comes language's installation. You can select default language here. At least one language version is required.

9. The system will start the installation. You will be asked to indicate your order number. If you are not sure about it, contact us in the chat or email. Please also read this manual on where to find the order key for your dating site.

10. Fill out the administrator details. It will be your future login and password to authorize on the site, plus your name and email that will be used for correspondence with site members.

You will be able to edit this information at any later point. If you lose the password, you will be able to restore it: how to restore the administrator password.

11. Add SMTP server details.

12. Choose countries and regions.

13. Sit back and enjoy while the script completes the installation.

14. Finally, you will be asked to set up a cron file.

Make sure to indicate the correct path to PHP. On our test server, it is
​/usr/bin/php

Contact your server administrator to find out the path on your server.

Click ‘Finish’. Your dating site is installed and ready to be configured.

Please take a look at the Pre-launch checklist. It contains the information that you need to know before your site goes live.

Important note: If you are using nginx server, make sure the following directives are turned on:

It means that the script files are encoded. Install ionCube PHP Loader v4.0.12 or above on your server.

Switch on the error display in file config.php in the site root directory:

Replace

define(“DISPLAY_ERRORS”, false);

with

define(“DISPLAY_ERRORS”, true);

Next, analyze the error message.

OR​

In file /application/config/config.php find URI PROTOCOL and in line

$config[‘uri_protocol’] = ‘AUTO’;

try replacing ‘AUTO’ with one of the other options: PATH_INFO, QUERY_STRING, REQUEST_URI, ORIG_PATH_INFO.

Check if the host is available. The error may also have to do with the mistyped db name, db user, and password.

RewriteRule ^(.*)$ index.php?/$1? [L,QSA]

$config[‘uri_protocol’] = ‘REQUEST_URI’;

Installing a software product on a local server may be a good temporary solution if you have not yet acquired a hosting account, or if you plan to customize your site before going live, or just don’t have an internet connection that is reliable enough.

To install and run a PHP/MySQL script (such as PG Dating Pro) on your local computer, you need to set up a PHP development environment first. Install and configure the Web server, the PHP engine, and the MySQL database server separately, or you can use one of the ready AMP packages, AMP standing for Apache, MySQL, and PHP.

Provided that you use Windows OS, you may get interested in one of the following AMP packages: XAMPP, or WampServer.

This video gives an instruction on how to install XAMPP: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xdvVKywGlc0
​
This is a tutorial on how to install WampServer:
​https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QAQsXDi1mBw
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After you are done installing the local server, proceed by downloading the product files as a ZIP archive to your computer and unpacking them into the destination folder (usually it is ‘www’). Then you will be able to start the product installation in your browser following the regular instructions.

Let us know if you have any questions, we’ll be glad to assist.

This is an instruction on how to install modules (add-ons) on your dating website.

1. You will have received a personal link from our Customer Service team to download the add-on files.

2. Download the archive with the files and unpack it.

3. Upload the contents of the archive on your FTP server, into the root directory of the site.

Overwrite the files and directories if prompted to.

4. Go to the administration panel of your site > Modules > Modules management (/admin/start/mod_login/).

You will find the login and password for this section in file /application/config/install.php on your server, lines 4 and 5:
​$config[“install_login”] = “login”;
$config[“install_password”] = “password”;

5. Once inside, go to ‘Enable modules’ section (/admin/install/enable_modules) and click ‘Install’ to install the corresponding add-on.
​
​

6. Click ‘Finish’, and you are done.
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Tips

a) Installed add-ons are listed in section ‘Installed modules’ (/admin/install/modules).

b) You can disable any add-on by deleting it from the list. You will be able to enable it again at any later time.

c) Please note that you will not be able to delete a module that other modules depend upon. Read more on that in the article Modules : Modules management.

​

Installation of a ready module/add-on is free of charge.

If you would like to create a new module, according to the specification you provide, extra costs will apply.

Please contact sales@datingpro.com to receive a free estimate.

This is the list of things to check before launching your dating website and making it available for new members and visitors.

1. Adapt for yourself: copyright, terms of use, privacy policy, about us, safety tips.

2. Upload new site logo and favicon:

To edit the site logotype:

3. Check SEO meta-tags (title, keywords, description) and other settings.

Once you authorize in admin panel, go to System > SEO settings > choose Global settings > User mode (admin/seo/default_edit/user) and SEO advanced settings (site.com/admin/seo_advanced/index/).

4. Edit site texts including welcome message on the main page.

Go to System > Languages > Pages (site.com/admin/languages/pages/) > select ‘start (User and Admin index pages)’ or use the Search box to find the text string you are about to change.

5. Change default administrator’s login and password to yours.

Go to Administrators > edit administrator (site.com/admin/ausers/edit/1).

6. Create a mailbox or several mailboxes with your site domain on your hosting control panel.

7. Change FROM email address for the email notifications that site members will receive. In the admin panel, go to System > Mail alerts > Settings (site.com/admin/notifications/settings/).

8. Sign up as a site member and check the welcome messages (you may want to edit the texts as well).

9. Go to Customers > Settings (site.com/admin/users/settings/) and mark ‘approve users’ as a paid service if you want to make registration cost a fee.

To activate other paid options that you will use and to set the prices, go to:

10. Set up moderation rules for new members, comments, text messages, and uploads under Moderation > Moderation settings (site.com/admin/moderation/settings/).

Create moderator account(s) under Administrators > Add moderator (site.com/admin/moderators/edit).

11. Activate payment gateways on the site with your merchant accounts.

Go to Orders > Billing systems (site.com/admin/payments/systems/).

12. Activate social widgets (like, share, social sign on):

System > Social networks (site.com/admin/social_networking/services/).

13. Replace links to demo mobile apps to yours both in the admin panel and on the main page of your site. In the admin panel, go to Dating channels > Apps (site.com/admin/mobile/index/).

14. If necessary, create new fields in user profile and in search form (advanced search): System > Field editor > Fields (site.com/admin/field_editor/fields/) and Search forms (site.com/admin/field_editor/forms/).

15. Create and activate RSS feeds for:

16. Edit Terms and Conditions, Privacy policy, About us, and other information pages under System > Info pages (site.com/admin/content/index/).

17. Edit background picture for the main landing page. There are a lot of options here, please contact Customer Service team for more details.

18. Set up and activate the map: System > Geo maps (site.com/admin/geomap/index/).

19. Install countries, regions and cities that you plan to have on your site; check the installed database for completeness.

For installation, go to System > Countries (site.com/admin/countries/index/).

20. See if you require extra language versions for your site.

21. Set up the site currency: Payments > Settings (site.com/admin/payments/settings/).

22. Edit color scheme of your site:

System > Themes > select active user mode theme and click ‘Edit colours' (e.g. site.com/admin/themes/edit_set/3/1).

23. Set up banners under Banner ads (site.com/admin/banners/index/).

Add Google AdSense code with the special add-on.

24. Activate Dating Pro Network connection.

Contact Customer Support team for assistance.

25. Delete or replace demo content with yours.

26. We offer paid Android and iOS apps submission service for Start and PRO licenses, while they are included in the Advanced version.

Prepare to publish mobile apps — send the info described in the article iOS and Android mobile apps requirements to our Customer Support team.

27. Visit Dating Pro Marketplace to add more functionality and to choose unique design for your website.

It depends on the server and its loads. 150 simultaneous requests on an unconfigured server with a couple of cores and 8 GB of RAM.

Message retrieval through backend polling with a one-second timeout.

It's not in the scripts; however, a server can utilize load balancing and replication.

Integration with Firebase.

Backups can be made on the backend server. Hosting plans offer two backup addition services.

Would you like to receive a quote from our developer for assistance with upgrading to the latest version of codeigniter? Contact sales

web:
​https://bitbucket.org/datingpro/pg_dating/issues?status=new&status=open&status=submitted&is_spam=!spam
​
ios:
​https://bitbucket.org/datingpro/datingpro_ios/issues?status=new&status=open&status=submitted&is_spam=!spam
​
android:
​https://bitbucket.org/datingpro/datingpro_android/issues?status=new&status=open&status=submitted&is_spam=!spam​

CodeIgniter is ideal for those who want flexibility, high performance, and control over their project, and are willing to invest in development, especially for large-scale solutions.

WordPress** is better suited for small to medium businesses where quick deployment, ease of use, and access to ready-made solutions are important.

CodeIgniter (PHP Framework)

Pros:

1. **Flexibility and Control**: CodeIgniter offers complete freedom in development, allowing you to create dating solutions from scratch and customize everything to meet your needs.

2. **High Performance**: CodeIgniter is known for being lightweight and fast, which can be crucial for large-scale dating platforms.

3. **Security**: With CodeIgniter, you have full control over the code, making it less vulnerable to common security issues if managed properly.

4. **Great for Large Projects**: If you need a scalable solution, CodeIgniter provides the flexibility to adapt to future changes and the growth of your project.

Cons:

1. **Challenging for Beginners**: CodeIgniter requires solid PHP knowledge and programming skills, making it harder for newcomers.

2. **Fewer Ready-made Solutions**: Unlike WordPress, there are fewer ready-made plugins or themes, so much of the work needs to be developed from scratch.

3. **Longer Implementation Time**: Developing a dating platform on CodeIgniter takes more time and effort compared to WordPress, where many tools are readily available.

WordPress (Content Management System)

Pros:

1. **Ease of Use**: WordPress is easy to set up and configure, especially with the WooCommerce plugin, allowing you to quickly launch a dating site without deep technical knowledge.

2. **Large Number of Plugins and Themes**: There is a vast selection of ready-made solutions, including themes and plugins, which significantly speeds up development.

3. **Community and Support**: A huge community of developers, forums, and documentation is available to help you find solutions or get assistance.

Cons:

1. **Limited Flexibility**: WordPress has structural limitations, and if you plan to heavily customize the site, it can become a challenge.

2. **Performance and Load**: WordPress can be slower, especially with a large number of plugins, if not properly optimized.

3. **Security**: WordPress’s popularity makes it a frequent target for hackers, especially if outdated plugins or themes are used.

4. **Scalability Challenges**: For large projects and complex dating sites, WordPress may become less efficient, requiring more resources to scale.