MyClientBase User Guide
http://www.myclientbase.com
Updated August 23rd, 2010
Table of Contents
Summary....................................................................................................................................................2
How to Install.............................................................................................................................................3
How to Upgrade.........................................................................................................................................4
How to Log In............................................................................................................................................5
The Dashboard...........................................................................................................................................5
Client Management....................................................................................................................................5
Viewing Clients.....................................................................................................................................5
Adding Clients.......................................................................................................................................5
Contacts.................................................................................................................................................5
Invoice Management..................................................................................................................................6
Viewing Invoices...................................................................................................................................6
Creating an Invoice...............................................................................................................................6
Applying Taxes......................................................................................................................................6
Invoice Payments..................................................................................................................................7
Invoice Summary Report.......................................................................................................................7
Searching Invoices................................................................................................................................7
Tax Rate Management................................................................................................................................8
Viewing Tax Rates.................................................................................................................................8
Creating Tax Rates................................................................................................................................8
User Accounts............................................................................................................................................8
Viewing User Accounts.........................................................................................................................8
Creating User Accounts.........................................................................................................................8
System Settings..........................................................................................................................................9
Application Settings..............................................................................................................................9
Currency Settings..................................................................................................................................9
Tax Identification Settings.....................................................................................................................9
Dashboard Settings..............................................................................................................................10
Email Settings......................................................................................................................................10
PDF Plugins..............................................................................................................................................11
domPDF...............................................................................................................................................11
mPDF...................................................................................................................................................11
Language Translations.............................................................................................................................12
License Information.................................................................................................................................13
Credits......................................................................................................................................................13
Page 1 of 13
Summary
MyClientBase is a free and open source web-based application which allows simple management of
invoices and clients. It is written in PHP using the fantastic CodeIgniter (http://www.codeigniter.com)
framework. MyClientBase is intended to provide a simple, intuitive and straight to the point interface
without complicating matters by introducing all sorts of ridiculous features.
The project is and has always been actively developed by a single developer, but it is always open to
the suggestions of the community and it implements reasonably suggested features and enhancements
that the community provides.
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How to Install
1. Download MyClientBase
Visit http://www.myclientbase.com and download the latest version.
2. Unpack and copy the files to your web server
Copy the files into the folder which will store the application. For example, if MyClientBase
will be accessed at http://www.your-server.com/invoices/, then copy the files to the invoices
folder on the web server.
3. Set Folder Permissions
Set the following folders to be writable:
• /system/myclientbase/plugins/dompdf/lib/fonts/
• /system/myclientbase/modules_core/invoices/views/invoice_templates/
• /uploads/
4. Create an Empty Database
This is typically done through a MySQL management utility such as MySQL Administrator or
phpMyAdmin.
5. Configure the Database
Open /system/myclientbase/config/database.php and adjust the following variables:
• $db['default']['hostname'] = 'your_db_hostname';
• $db['default']['username'] = 'your_db_username';
• $db['default']['password'] = 'your_db_password';
• $db['default']['database'] = 'your_db_name';
6. Complete the Install
Visit index.php/setup. If MyClientBase was installed to http://www.your-server.com/invoices/,
then visit the following address in your browser to complete the installation: http://www.your-
server.com/invoices/index.php/setup/. The Setup Utility will determine if this is an upgrade or a
new installation and will guide you appropriately.
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How to Upgrade
1. Download MyClientBase
Visit http://www.myclientbase.com and download the latest version.
2. Unpack and copy the files to your web server
It is recommended to delete the files previously copied to the web server before copying the
new files, although it is not necessarily required. The configuration variables
system/myclientbase/config/database.php will need to be set back up should they be
overwritten.
3. File Permissions
Make sure the following folders are writeable:
• /system/myclientbase/plugins/dompdf/lib/fonts
• /system/myclientbase/modules_core/invoices/views/invoice_templates
• /uploads
4. Complete the Upgrade
Visit index.php/setup. The Setup Utility will determine if this is an upgrade or a new installation
and will guide you appropriately.
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How to Log In
Using a web browser, navigate to the URL at which MyClientBase was installed. This URL will
determine whether or not a session is active and will redirect to the appropriate location.
The Dashboard
Menu Item: Dashboard
The Dashboard will be displayed upon first logging in to MyClientBase. The Dashboard contains a
recent list of open and closed invoices, and may contain other dashboard widgets from custom
modules. A horizontal menu bar will appear near the top of the window each time a user logs in. This
menu bar allows for navigation throughout MyClientBase.
Client Management
Menu Item: Clients
A Clients menu item exists which contains menu subitems for adding clients and viewing clients.
Viewing Clients
Menu Item: Clients / View Clients
Viewing clients allows for a quick overview of the clients in the database, along with current
balances and action links (view / edit delete).
Adding Clients
Menu Item: Clients / Add Client
Clients must exist in the database before an invoice can be created. Clients are entered by using
a simple form which collects the client's information. A client must exist before attempting to
create an invoice for that client.
Contacts
Since a client might be a company instead of an individual person, specific contacts can be
added to each client to store more detailed information.
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Invoice Management
Menu Item: Invoices
An Invoices menu item exists which contains menu sub items for creating invoices, viewing invoices
and running reports.
Viewing Invoices
Menu Item: Invoices / View Invoices
Viewing invoices allows for a quick overview of the invoices in the database, along with total
amounts, balances, links to generate a PDF or HTML invoice and action links (edit / delete).
Creating an Invoice
Menu Item: Invoices / Create Invoice
The first step in creating an invoice is to enter the invoice date, which defaults to the current
date, and to choose the client. Pressing the Create Invoice button creates the invoice and allows
the details to be entered. The following tabs are available on the Invoice Edit form:
Tab: Summary
The Summary tab allows basic properties of the invoice to be changed, such as the
invoice date, due date and client. It also shows summarized information regarding the
invoice, such as invoice amount, tax amount, amount paid, and remaining balance.
Tab: Items
The Items tab is where invoice items can be added, edited or deleted.
Tab: Payments
The Payments tab is where invoice payments can be added, edited or deleted. Once the
amount of invoice payments equals the invoice balance, the invoice status will be
considered as closed.
Tab: Taxes
Global invoice tax rates can be configured on the Taxes tab. Multiple tax rates can be
applied and each can be configured to apply itself before or after individual item taxes
are applied.
Tab: Notes
The Notes field on this tab can be used to record notes specific to the invoice being
edited. Tags can also be specified on this tab, which can be used to easily search for
specific groups of invoices. Multiple tags should be separated by commas.
Applying Taxes
There are two ways in which taxes can be applied to an invoice. Global invoice taxes can be
applied on the Taxes tab of the Invoice edit form. These taxes will be applied to all invoice
items which are marked as Taxable. Tax can also be applied to individual invoice items by
selecting the tax rate when editing the invoice item and marking the invoice item as Taxable.
Page 6 of 13
Invoice Payments
Menu Item: Invoices / Payments
Viewing invoice payments allows for a quick overview of the payments in the database, along
with action links (edit / delete). Invoice payments can also be accessed through also be accessed
per invoice while viewing an invoice (Invoices / View Invoices / Edit).
Adding Invoice Payments
There are two different methods for entering invoice payments.
Method 1
Payments / Enter Payment or Payments / View Payments / Add Invoice Payment
A single payment may be applied to a single invoice or to multiple invoices. When
applied to multiple invoices, the payment is distributed evenly across each invoice.
Method 2
Invoices / View Invoices / Edit
This method works best when invoice payments are being entered at the same time as
the invoice is being created. Clicking the Add Invoice Payment button in the Invoice
Payments area allows payment details to be entered for the current invoice.
Invoice Summary Report
Menu Item: Invoices / Invoice Summary Report
Invoice report provide a way to filter invoices based on date, status and client and also includes
summarized information for the specified group of invoices.
Searching Invoices
Menu Item: Invoices / Search
The Invoice Search feature provides a way to quickly filter the list of invoices which is
displayed. Invoices can be searched by date, client, and tags.
Page 7 of 13
Tax Rate Management
Menu Item: System / Tax Rates
Tax rates which can be applied to invoices on a global or per-invoice basis may be maintained here.
Viewing Tax Rates
Menu Item: System / Tax Rates / View Tax Rates
View the existing tax rates in the database along with action links (edit / delete).
Creating Tax Rates
Menu Item: System / Tax Rates / Create Tax Rate
Create customized tax rates which can be applied to invoices.
User Accounts
Menu Item: System / User Accounts
Information which is displayed on invoices, such as name, address, etc, are provided through the user
account area. User accounts have access to log in to the system, so create accounts with caution. Client
accounts should not be set up in the user accounts area (see Client Management).
Viewing User Accounts
Menu Item: System / User Accounts / View User Accounts
Viewing user accounts allows for a quick overview of the user accounts in the system along
with action links (edit / delete).
Creating User Accounts
Menu Item: System / User Accounts / Create User Account
User accounts are entered by using a simple form which collects the user account information.
Create user accounts with caution.
Page 8 of 13
System Settings
Menu Item: System / System Settings
The System Settings area contains a lot of configurable global options for MyClientBase.
Application Settings
Application Version Displays the currently installed version.
Language Change the default language.
Date Format Change the default date format.
Default Tax Rate Set the default invoice tax rate.
Default Open Invoice Status A brand new invoice will default to this status.
Default Closed Invoice Status An invoice with no balance will default to this
status.
Invoices Due After (Days) The number of days from when an invoice is
opened to which it should be defaulted to as due.
Default Invoice Template The default invoice template that is used when an
invoice is generated.
Invoice Logo Upload a personalized logo to display on invoices.
Adjust Invoice ID A numeric value which allows a higher invoice
number to be set.
PDF Plugin The default PDF plugin to use.
Currency Settings
Currency Symbol The currency symbol to display.
Currency Symbol Placement Display the currency symbol before or after the
amount.
Tax Identification Settings
Tax ID Number Label The text label to appear on an invoice, such as “Tax
ID Number”, or “VAT”
Tax ID Number The tax ID number to display on invoices.
Include Tax ID on Invoice Choose whether or not to display the tax ID number
on invoices.
Page 9 of 13
Dashboard Settings
Show Open Invoices Choose whether or not to display a short list of
open invoices on the Dashboard.
Show Pending Invoices Choose whether or not to display a short list of
pending invoices on the Dashboard.
Show Recently Closed Invoices Choose whether or not to display a short list of
closed invoices on the Dashboard.
Email Settings
Protocol Options:
PHP Mail Function
Sendmail
SMTP
Path to Sendmail (Sendmail option only)
SMTP Server Address (SMTP option only)
SMTP Username (SMTP option only)
SMTP Password (SMTP option only)
SMTP Port (SMTP option only)
Security (SMTP option only)
Options:
None
TLS
SSL
SMTP Timeout The SMTP server timeout in seconds.
Page 10 of 13
PDF Plugins
There are two PDF plugins which MyClientBase supports - dompdf and mPDF. MyClientBase comes
shipped with dompdf and works in most cases, but if you have trouble using dompdf with UTF-8
characters, then you'll need to download the mPDF plugin.
domPDF
The domPDF plugin is included as the default PDF generator for MyClientBase because of its
extremely small size and functionality. The biggest downside to domPDF is it won't output
unicode characters. For unicode support, see the mPDF plugin.
mPDF
The mPDF plugin is a larger download, but contains unicode support.
Installing mPDF
1. Download mPDF (http://www.myclientbase.com/download_file/mpdf.zip)
2. Unpack the zip file and upload it to system/myclientbase/plugins/mpdf
3. System -> System Settings -> Change the PDF plugin to mPDF.
Page 11 of 13
Language Translations
Before translating MyClientBase to your own language, check the Language Translation forum
(http://www.myclientbase.com/forums) to see if it's already available.
Step 1: Create the Language Folder
Language folder: system/myclientbase/language/
Create a new folder for your language and copy the contents of the English folder into your new folder.
Step 2: Translate MyClientBase
From your new folder, open mcb_lang.php and provide translations for each of the variables listed.
For example:
$lang['default_tax_rate'] = "Default Tax Rate";
Would become:
$lang['default_tax_rate'] = "The Translated Value";
Step 3: Language Configuration
From your new language folder, open config.php and replace the 'language' and 'charset' values as
appropriate.
Here is a general idea of what to use for the 'charset' value:
• windows-1252/cp-1252 (Western European)
• iso-8859-2 (Central and Eastern Europe: Czech, Hungarian, Polish, Romanian etc.)
• iso-8859-4 (Baltic: Latvian, Lithuanian, Estonian, Greenlandic etc.)
• windows-1251/cp1251 (Cyrillic: Russian, Bulgarian, Byelorussian, Macedonian, Serbian, Ukrainian etc.)
• iso-8859-7 (Greek)
• iso-8859-9 (Turkish)
The charset value is only used by the mPDF plugin to use the proper unicode characters on PDF output.
It is not used by the default dompdf plugin nor is it referenced anywhere else within MyClientBase.
Step 4: CodeIgniter Translations
MyClientBase is written on top of the CodeIgniter PHP framework. CodeIgniter has many different
language variables (not to be confused with MyClientBase language variables), and there are a number
of translations already available here: http://codeigniter.com/wiki/Language_Translation/
Once you have found your language, unpack it into the new language folder you created in step 1.
Step 5: System Settings
Log in to MyClientBase and visit your System Settings area. Choose your new language from the
dropdown and save the settings to apply it. Now you should be using MyClientBase in your own native
language.
Step 6: Contribute!
Please contribute your translation to the community by posting a zip or tar of your language folder to
the Language Translation forum (http://www.myclientbase.com/forums/).
Page 12 of 13
License Information
MyClientBase is free and open source software. It may be copied, modified, distributed, redistributed,
burned, etc, so long as it remains this way and adheres to the licensing information listed below.
Copies of the licenses are included in each download and must be distributed along with any
redistribution of the software.
MyClientBase is licensed under the GNU General Public License:
http://www.gnu.org/licenses/gpl.html
CodeIgniter is licensed under the CodeIgniter License Agreement
http://codeigniter.com/user_guide/license.html
Credits
MyClientBase is a community driven project which will always thrive on the participation of its
members. Although each and every community member is an important piece of the project as a whole,
the following people, organizations and projects have made MyClientBase possible.
Who Why Where
Jesse D. Terry Author and developer of MyClientBase http://www.myclientbase.com
jessedterry@gmail.com
Warren Ramsey Modular Extensions Library http://code.google.com/p/modular-extensions-php5/
William G. Rivera User Interface Design http://www.williamgrivera.com
CodeIgniter The PHP Framework for MCB http://www.codeigniter.com
jQuery The Javascript Library for MCB http://www.jquery.com
PHP Uhhh... do I have to say? http://www.php.net
MySQL Read “Why” for PHP http://www.mysql.com
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