A.	Login to your ColdFusion administrator and go to the mappings section.
B.	Check to see if a mapping called "FuseTalkForums" exists, if it doesn't create it.
C.	Ensure that the path is properly constructed using the example below. The FuseTalk installation has several directories, some of which are "com", "forum", "globaladmin", and "install". The mapping needs to point to the directory which FuseTalk had been extracted in. If my directory structure is c:\inetpub\wwwroot\fusetalk\com, c:\inetpub\wwwroot\fusetalk\forum etc my mapping should be c:\inetpub\wwwroot\fusetalk

1.	Create a template called "fusetalkapitest.cfm" on your web server using your favorite ColdFusion editor.
2.	Copy the following code in the template. <cfset ftobj = CreateObject("component", "FuseTalkForums.com.fusetalkapi")> <cfset FTVAR_FORUMID = 1> <cfset FTVAR_GROUPNAME = "My First Group"> <cfset FTVAR_SECURITYDESC = "1,9,10"> <cfset ftresult = ftobj.AddGroup(FTVAR_GROUPNAME, FTVAR_FORUMID, FTVAR_SECURITYDESC)> <cfoutput>Group #FTVAR_GROUPNAME# has been added</cfoutput>
3.	Save the template.
4.	Open a web browser and execute the template you've just created (http://www.mywebserver.com/fusetalkapitest.cfm).
5.	From your web browser login as an administrator to Forum ID 1 or FuseTalk (http://www.mywebserver/com/fusetalk/forum/index.cfm?forumid=1).
6.	Enter the administration section by clicking on the admin link from the top menu.
7.	Enter the group section by clicking on the groups link on the left menu.
8.	There should be a group called "My First Group" (without the quotes).
9.	Click on the update icon and the following options should be checked: Delete Topic, View Profile, Archive Topic.

Congratulations, you've just used the FuseTalk API to create your first group. The following is an explanation of what the code means.

This tells ColdFusion to create an object called ftobj which will contain the FuseTalk API.

<cfset ftobj = CreateObject("component", "FuseTalkForums.com.fusetalkapi")>

This initializes the FTVAR_FORUMID variable to the forum which is tagged to ID number 1.

<cfset FTVAR_FORUMID = 1>

This initializes the name of the group.

<cfset FTVAR_GROUPNAME = "My First Group">

This initializes the security context of the group, more on FuseTalk security below.

<cfset FTVAR_SECURITYDESC = "1,9,10">

This calls the function AddGroup from the FuseTalk API passing it the group name, forum id, and security context. This function will perform the necessary tasks to create the group.

<cfset ftresult = ftobj.AddGroup(FTVAR_GROUPNAME, FTVAR_FORUMID, FTVAR_SECURITYDESC)>

Each group within FuseTalk can have its own set of security permissions and each group can then be tagged to a category. Users who are in the group will then gain the selected security privileges when they enter the category. To see a full list of all the security permissions, login to a forum with a user that has administrative privileges and enter the group section under the administration module. Then update the "moderators" group. Each setting besides the checkbox is a distinct security option available to the group.

While adding a group you can specify which security permission the group will have. This is done by passing a comma-delimited list of the security ID's in the last parameter of the AddGroup function. In our example we set a variable called FTVAR_SECURITYDESC and assigned it the following values "1,9,10".

1:	Delete Topic
9:	View Profile
10:	Archive Topic

A complete list of the security descriptors is available at the end of this article.