Where do I find this, where do I find that ......

Probably half the questions in this forum involve where to find something.  A few simple tools will allow you to answer most of your own questions.

1. Firefox + Firebug extension.   Turn OFF all caching in your Dolphin admin section, else Firebug will be useless.  There are plenty of video tutorials on YouTube on how to use Firebug.  Firebug will help you find where to change a page elements CSS, and also help you locate specific html code.  Particularly useful html code to search for, will be html element ids or class names.  If you need to find which one of Dolphin's 5000 files contains a specific piece of html code, it's not that difficult, but it begins with Firebug.  Firebug will tell you directly, which css file contains the css rule for a page element.  Firebug will also show you the html code that makes up the various page elements, but it won't tell you in which one of Dolphin's files to find it.  Firebug just tells you what to look for.

2. Keep an unzipped copy of Dolphin on your computer for the purpose of finding things.

3. Download and install Agent Ransack.  Agent Ransack is an excellent free file search utility, that you can use to search Dolphin's source files for the html code that Firebug found for you.  For instance, if you want to find the file that contains the code that makes up the profile thumbnail at the top of any page, Firebug will find this code for you: <img class="thumbnail_image_file bx-def-shadow bx-def-round-corners"

Right click on the folder that contains the Dolphin source files on your computer, then select Agent Ransack.  Agent Ransack will start and be pointed to this folder.  Enter thumbnail_image_file bx-def-shadow bx-def-round-corners as the search term then start the search.

After a short time, Agent Ransack will tell you that this code exists in these two files:

/templates/base/thumbnail_single.html

/templates/base/thumbnail_couple.html

Then, you can just right click on the file name in Agent Ransack's search results, and select 'Edit with Notepad ++' to view or change the file.  What?  You don't have Notepad ++ ?  Why not?  It's free.  Google it.

Oh.... here's the code in thumbnail_single.html

<div class="thumbnail_block __classes_add__" style="float:__sys_thb_float__;">

    <div class="thumbnail_image" onmouseover="javascript:startUserInfoTimer( __iProfId__, $(this).find('.sys-online-offline:first') )" onmouseout="javascript:stopUserInfoTimer(__iProfId__)">
        <a href="__usr_profile_url__" title="__usr_thumb_title0__">
            <img src="<bx_image_url:spacer.gif />" style="background-image:url(__usr_thumb_url0__);" class="thumbnail_image_file bx-def-shadow bx-def-round-corners" />
            <i class="sys-online-offline sys-icon __sys_status_icon__" title="__sys_status_title__"></i>
        </a>
    </div>   

<bx_if:profileLink>
    <div class="thumb_username">
        <a class="bx-def-font-large" href="__usr_profile_url__">__user_title__</a>
        <br />
        <i class="bx-def-font-small bx-def-font-grayed">__user_info__</i>
    </div>
</bx_if:profileLink>

    <div class="clear_both"></div>

</div>

That code highlighted in red, is a Dolphin template key.  You'll find them all over the place.  This particular template key is replaced with the logged in user's profile thumbnail when the template is parsed.

Total time to find this code with the aforementioned tools: About two minutes.  Time to find the same code by asking where to find it in these forums: Maybe a few minutes if you're lucky.... maybe a few days if you're not so lucky... maybe never

Yes, that is about the gist of it.  I use PSpad instead of notepad++; have used notepad++ in the past but PSpad is pretty much my editor of choice and I have tried a few.  One thing you can do with PSpad is "search and replace" in files.  If you leave off the replace text it will simply return a list of files and under each file will be the line(s) with the bit of code that the search text was located.  Double click on the line containing the search text and it will open the file and take you directly to that section of the file; that feature is very handy.

I may take a look at Agent Ransack; but PSpad does both for me in one package.  The only drawback is that PSpad is windows only

I wasn't aware that PSpad could be used to search entire directories and all sub directories for text strings, regular expressions, etc.

Just tried out Agent Ransack. It does make it easier to find files. 

Thanks for the info.

i'm still learning, so there's no point in me offering help to anyone else, but....if i'm here, and i see something i'm capable of answering...think that's a nice thing to do (for those getting started)(being of service to others). assume the ppl that are here, have been here awhile, and are tired of helping (for the most part)....with the "little" things. place kinda has that vibe. also assume, with the newest version....ppl are busy dealing w/ much larger (serious) issues.

thanks for the advice though. i use chrome, and dev tools (the same way you explained above), but the agent thing should be a great help, cuz dev tools doesn't show the originating folder (hierarchy)...so it becomes a hunting game in my file manager. sometimes a hell of a lot longer then 2 min! i don't come here seeking help, unless i'm at a total loss. i've been using chromes "find" tool, to search for code in individual files, and the search option in my file manager, but both fall a bit short in different ways. 

i don't know anything about coding, but it would be super-sweet, if i could login into dev tools (firebug), edit from there, and save it!!!!!!!!! that would save the most time. guess there's a reason that's not made available?!? 

Yes, you can point it to the top of the directory and it will scan through all the subdirectories; searching each file.  Or if you want to start lower down, just point it to a subdirectory and it will only scan that subdirectory and any subdirectories in that subdirectory.  Or, if you don't want it to scan subdirectories, you can tell it not to.  Plus, if you need to change a string that may be in hundreds of files, just put in the replacement string; you can have it go at it automatically or prompt for each replacement.  It is nice tool and I wish they had a Linux version.  You can even install a spell checker and it has "awareness" (forgot the term) for many different file formats.  One thing I like about it for working with HTML is that I can see if I forgot to close a tag that may have several others nested in it.  For example, <div><div><div></div></div> If you click on the <div> that does not have a closing tag it will highlight it in red.  And for the ones that does, it will show you where the closing tag is located so you can see that you have the structure correct or not.

Then I would caution you about making changes to the code.  You will be surprised how leaving out something as simple as a semi-colon can crash your site leaving you in the dark about what has happened.  Dolphin is a complex application to be learning code on.  I advise you to get a book on PHP and MySQL and start learning a bit before jumping into editing Dolphin files.  I am no expert by far but I do know the basics of the structure of PHP and MySQL and you should learn them first.

Houston & Geek, you guys effin ROCK.  This is the SPIRIT that goes along way, especially for noobs like Kim & I.  Thanks you guys very much, seriously, as you prob have NO IDEA how valuable this info is and your willingness to share a few tips that will make experiencing dolphin that much better.