Getting started with VConsole is a relatively easy thing to do once you know how it all works. The first thing that you should do is obviously read this documentation and go over as much of it as possible. There are lots good information in the documentation that will help you get started developing your application quickly. Although, we recommend reading the documentation in its entirety, here is a simple list of tasks that will help you get started.

NOTE: Developing applications in VConsole requires that you are fluent in PHP, MySQL, HTML, Javascript, and general website development and updating. Other technologies that may also be useful (depending on what type of application you intend to build) are knowledge of XML, encryption / decryption technologies, image manipulation and optimization, SSL secure communication, Flash Action script, AJAX, and CSS. (This is not intended to be a full list of required knowledge as the application that you want to build may require knowledge of other technologies)

1. Download and install the software. (see VConsole Installation for more information)
    
2. If you use Dreamweaver® (which we recommend doing because it makes development so much easier), you should download and install the VConsole Developers Toolkit for Dreamweaver which is a simple Dreamweaver Extension. You can download the toolkit here. This toolkit extends Dreamweaver® by adding code coloring for VConsole PHP functions, PHP code hints, and several GUI interfaces that basically create your application for you. This toolkit is designed to minimize the need to reference PHP code examples in this documentation as it pretty much creates all the code for you complete with all the required parameters. If you don't use Dreamweaver® then you will have to manually code php files for VConsole. You can simply use the reference code in this publication to code your application.
    
3. The next thing that you want to do is get familiar with the interface and the folder / file structure of VConsole. Login to the interface and play around with the built in modules. Then look at the VConsole folder / file structure to get familiar with it. Here is a list of some of the most important folders / files.
   • vconsole/modules/  -  This folder contains all the modules for the vconsole. This is where you will be saving most of your files. Each module is located in its own folder and can have various files depending on what type of module it is.
   • vconsole/functions/  -  This folder contains all function libraries. A function library is simply a folder that contains several function files. Each function file should contain a function that can be used in your module, action, and other php files.
   • vconsole/FusionCharts/  -  This folder should contain Fusion Charts. (You must purchase a reporting license in order to use Fusion Charts in your VConsole installation). Please visit the Fusion Charts website for more information.
   • vconsole/images/  -  This folder contains miscellaneous images.
   • vconsole/imagevalidation/  -  This folder contains image files that are responsible for generating the image code that is required when you login to the application.
   • vconsole/install/  -  This folder contains files that are responsible for walking you through the installation process.
   • vconsole/javascript/  -  This folder contains all the global javascript files that the application requires in order to function.
   • vconsole/lic.php  -  This is your license file. If this file is deleted or invalid, your software won't work. You can get a trial license file here or you can purchase a full license file here.
   • vconsole/liveupdate.php  -  This file is responsible for updating your software via the live update service.
   • vconsole/phpmailer/  -  This folder contains all the files necessary to send email. (Although PHP can send email using the mail function, VConsole can send mail using an SMTP server and is much more flexible as you can even send attachments)
   • vconsole/pop3-class/  -  This folder contains all the files necessary to retrieve email via PHP (using the pop3 protocol)
   • vconsole/public.pem  -  This is the VConsole public key. This key is used to encrypt files and send them to VSource. The live update service uses this file to validate that updates are coming from VSource and nobody else.
   • vconsole/showimages.php  -  This file is used to give you a list of what images are available to the getimage() function.
   • vconsole/skins/  -  This folder contains all the look / feel files for vconsole. All your images, buttons, css files, templates, etc.. should be placed here.
   • vconsole/tmp/  -  This folder is used to store temporary files. This is also the folder used to store file uploads when a user uploads files to VConsole using the Wizard manager or Properties manager functions.
      
4. Now, you should make sure that you can access the MySQL database. While there are several utilities that allow you to access the MySQL database, two of the more common utilities are: phpMyAdmin and Navicat. (I personally use Navicat, but the choice is yours) As a developer, you will need access to create new tables, update tables, insert records, delete records, alter tables, etc.... In this publication, we may tell you to update records, insert records, create tables, or even execute an SQL query. You will need to know how to do all this before continuing. The MySQL database is where all your data should be stored. If you are building an invoice management utility, then all your invoices should be stored in a MySQL table with one record per invoice. In reality, you will probably want to create several tables (and possibly views) that may even link to each other. If you have never worked with MySQL before or if you have never worked with any relational database before, then you will want to learn about MySQL before continuing. MySQL database management is required in order to build your application. You may want to do an internet search for "Getting Started With MySQL"
    
5. The next thing that you will want to do is to create your first module. See the documentation here for information on how to do that. You can also check out our Tutorials & Examples section of this publication. Once you have created your first module, you can simply continue creating modules until your application is complete. Creating modules consists of several steps (depending on what type of module you want to create).
   1. Create a record in the vc_modules table for the module. Every module must have a record in this table in order to be recognized by VConsole.
   2. Create your module folder and all the supporting php files (This is relatively simple if you use the VConsole Developers Toolkit for Dreamweaver as it creates all the files for you. All you have to do is modify them to meet your needs.)
   3. Enter any module actions in the vc_modules-actions table. These actions are used to assign permissions to your modules so that you can restrict what users can / can't do. (See Managing Permissions for more information on permissions.)