Can't link inside my own site

[Evelyna]

Hi guys:

I am about to explode ...  I've been at this all night.

I installed a simplemachines forum in a domain name under my hosting account at Godaddy.  It has been working great.  I love the boards.  One of the people asked me if we could have little page explaining the board, and maybe some links to other sites.

Great thought I, I've let my html and css skills get rusty for a while so I coded a little home page with a link to the site.  I put all the files associated with the forum inside a folder called forum.  Then I put the index.html and css file inside the original folder.  So now inside the folder people used to come to instead of going right away to the forum, they go to the new little web page.  It works.  The link to the forum folder however won't work (period)  I have gotten warnings and fatal errors.  I even took all the smf files out of the folder and put them back.  Now when someone points their browser at the site, they get the forum right away again.

I talked to two people at Godaddy and they are convinces it is my code.  I checked and double checked my code.  I compared it to a friends link to their smf forum on their own site and it says the same thing.

Do you guys have any suggestions ... I am about to say okay, I can't have a page, smf needs a dedicated domain name to work.  I feel somehow though, other people link to forum sites, why can't I?

Thanks guys.

[NanoSector]

Posting your code here might help. Maybe also a link to your home page.

[Evelyna]

Okay.


I put the smf in a folder called forum.  Both the index.html and the folder forum were in the same place.  I therefore didn't have to tell it to go anywhere but to stay in the same folder as the index.html.  So my code was <a href="forum/" target="_blank">The Forum</a>.

The name of the domain is godsloveandgraceforum.org.  I have put everything back though so the sm forum will come up if you go there.

Do you think the software has to be installed into a folder before it will work from that folder?

I tried one little fix, but it only half worked.  I renamed the index.php.  I called it forum.php and then placed my index.html into the same folder.  When I clicked on the link it worked, but it would only display the front page of the forum.  When I tried to login I was given a 404.  I suspect that the login procedure needs to look for the file index.php, which I renamed so it couldn't find it.  Oh well, what you won't try at one in the morning.

Thanks guys.

[Evelyna]

Oh, there is one more thing.

If you go to godsloveandgraceforum.org/web you can see the webpage I was trying to put up as the first page you would visit.  When I hover over the Forum button, and see the little box in the bottom left hand corner of the screen there is always more to the link.  It never really shows what I put in the link on the index.html page.

[Chalky]

The link code appears to be just fine.  When you moved all the forum files into a folder, did you use repair_settings.php?  What is repair_settings.php?

[kat]

Oddness. When I click on the "Forum" button/link, I get this:

Not Found

The requested URL /GODSLOVEANDGRACEFORUM/web/forum.css/ was not found on this server.

forum.css?!?!?

Uppercase?!?!?

No ".org"?!?!?



But, you'll be pleased to know that http://godsloveandgraceforum.org is working just hoopily. Apart from the top banner running off the right, there. So, it looks like the forum's not in a "Forum" directory, at all. You might want to upgrade to v2.0.5, sometime soon, too.

So, you just have the code for the link wrong, somewhere.

[Kindred]

If you moved the forum after it had alreayd been installed, then you need to change a whole bunch of settings for directory and url...    that's what repair_settings.php does...   if you did not run repair_settings or manually change your directory and url settings, then that would explain all the errors.

[Evelyna]

I didn't use the repair settings file.  Thanks for the link.  I was reading the instructions and I think that at least alludes to the problem.  I was thinking last night that I could install a new copy in the forum folder, but I fear I may loose all the posts that the folks have put on it so far.  That would be a shame.

Just to confirm what I plan on doing.  I will move all the files in the new 'forum' directory, then download and put the file repair_settings.php into the directory and run it.  Then I will delete that file and the links will there-after be to the new directory.

Did I get this right.

Sorry to be so slow guys, it's just I don't want these people to be put out by my loosing their posts.

I think what I'll do is copy and paste the files, thereby at least keeping a copy in the original folder.  I'll rename index.php for now and put the new idex.html in it with the link.  If I mismanage it, this way at least I still have a copy?  Or will the repair-settings.php file forever change the settings?

I guess I could run it on the original folder files if it doesn't work.

Thanks guys.

[mashby]

What might be of use to you if you want a "home" page that isn't your index of boards, you could consider adding one of the portals. It will take on the look/feel of your forum site rather easily. And will allow you to keep SMF/home page happy. Just depends on whether you have other needs for the domain. If you're only wanting to run SMF on it...go with one of the portals. I've been happy with SimplePortal.

[Evelyna]

I'm afraid I don't know.  I only wanted to have a little forum ensconced in it's own little directory so people could have a place to discuss things.  The notion of a website was suggested later.

Do you have any information on how to use a portal?

[Evelyna]

Oh, by the way guys.  What ever happens ... whether this works or not, I would like you all to know how much I appreciate you taking the time to help.  You've all been very generous with your knowledge.

Thank you

[Chalky]

Installing a portal means you don't have to move the forum at all, you can leave it in the root.  If you're new to Portals I would suggest Simple Portal for its ease of use.  You could try some of the others too as it's all subject to personal preference.  The portal installs through Package Manager like any other mod.  You can see an example of Simple Portal as a front page on my Aspie Bubble site (link in sig).  I've kept mine very simple and unimaginative, but if you know some html you could make it as elaborate as you wish 

This may be redundant since you've already been saving copies of your forum and moving it around, but please make sure you have a backup before you install any mods 

[kat]

I fear I may loose all the posts that the folks have put on it so far.  That would be a shame.

Worry not. If you wanted to, you could destroy your forum, totally. If you then, reinstalled everything from scratch, your posts, members, &c. will be OK, coz they're in the database and you're not touching that.

[Evelyna]

Thanks!!

and thanks for that comforting new K@.

I've gone through the motions and got to the repair.settings.php page.  I have a question.  It recommends I change the value of server to local host.  Would that be a good idea.

Thanks for the advise on the portals guys.  I'm tempted.  My worry is that maybe in the future someone will want to add something to this again.

[kat]

localhost's quite normal.

That just means "The machine that this stuff's installed on".

[Evelyna]

localhost's quite normal.

That just means "The machine that this stuff's installed on".

thank you for saying it in a way I can get it.  LOL.   

I still think I will do a little reading about the portal thingie later though.

Well, I'm off to try telling the server where the new forum it; If I break the internet sorry guys.

[Chalky]

Though localhost might well be wrong.  If it's wrong though it will complain and then you can put back what was there before 

The other funky thing about portals is that they let you add extra pages very easily, which could be useful for implementing your members' future suggestions 

[Evelyna]

That might be a way to go.

Well, I did it, but when I clicked on the link form the new front page it says (in the new window) "Connection Problems
Sorry, SMF was unable to connect to the database. This may be caused by the server being busy. Please try again later. "

Could that just be because it is moving things, or is the link wrong?

Maybe portals is the way to go.  Maybe I could put the upgraded version in the new folder.  K@ said I should probably upgrade soon.  I've kept all the files in the original folder in the domain folder.  I just renamed index.php and put in index. html to bring up the new front page ... is that a problem?

[Evelyna]

Hey Guys:

I reset the name of the host to the original numbers and now it works.  It seems to work fine except the avatars people had in place are gone.  Except for the administrator's.  I am fine with asking people to reload their avatars:  that doesn't seem like it would be too much to ask.

It works, but thanks for the advise on portals. 

Thanks again guys.

[Kindred]

you need to check the directory and url of the avatars (and the attachments) in the settings.

those things should be listed lower down on the repair_settings screen...

[Evelyna]

I reset everything but it's the avatars people uploaded themselves that appear to be missing.  I left instructions on how to upload them on the front page (although that may just be me being over protective since they would have had to upload them the first time, but then again better more than less information:  as a rule!).

You guys have been great thanks.  I've checked out the portal thingie, it really is worth looking at.  Chalk Cat your aspie bubble is great, thanks for sharing it.

I have five domain names, so there may not be a problem right now, but I'm intrigued so I might just experiment with it.

[kat]

Have a look at Avatars>Settings. Check the paths, there.

The "Avatars directory" is often something weird, like /home/sitename/public_html/avatars

[Evelyna]

All the paths point to the directory avatars.  Everyone except one person has already uploaded a new one.  The one left looks like a valid one but the picture doesn't come up next to his name (only the white x in a black box).  I can't open the files though so I can't see what the pictures are.  They are stored in the attachment directory.

Can I look at them with a picture viewer?  So far nothing will open them.  I tried to look at mine, but it had no extension.  I name it .png, but it would have none of that.

So, at least some of the avatar files came with, they just can't be opened?

[Kindred]

hmmm....

http://godsloveandgraceforum.org/forum/index.php?topic=18.0
currently shows the avatars to me... for Jeff and VineBranch
http://godsloveandgraceforum.org/forum/index.php?topic=8.15
for Jeff and VineBranch and Randy

[Evelyna]

Yes, those guys redid their avatars after the move.  There was one guy who hasn't been there since the move and his avatar is listed, but not showing:  LongShadows.

thanks for checking.

[Chalky]

Thanks for your comments about AB 

Just a thought, did you use FileZilla to transfer your avatars and attachments at some point?  If you use FileZilla on its default setting it can corrupt those files, which would explain why you're only able to view avatars added after the move.  See here for more information http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=374178.0

[kat]

You can view the files, if you download them and open them with a program called "Irfanview". It'll even offer to put the correct extension, there, if you wanted to do that.

[Evelyna]

Thanks for your comments about AB 

Just a thought, did you use FileZilla to transfer your avatars and attachments at some point?  If you use FileZilla on its default setting it can corrupt those files, which would explain why you're only able to view avatars added after the move.  See here for more information http://www.simplemachines.org/community/index.php?topic=374178.0

Yes, I use FileZilla for all ftp jobs.  Do you think I should another one then?  But the transfer is complete now, so I guess it would be a waste of time.

[Evelyna]

You can view the files, if you download them and open them with a program called "Irfanview". It'll even offer to put the correct extension, there, if you wanted to do that.

That's a blast from the past.  I remember Iview from years ago.  Thanks.

I think I get your mantra:  backup, backup, backup, and then backup some more.  I think I got it.

[Chalky]

Filezilla is fine to use as long as you uncheck the box in transfer settings to "treat files without extensions as ASCII files".  If this box has been checked all along then your avatars and attachments were probably broken the first time you used FZ to move them.  Do you have an instance of these folders anywhere that wasn't passed through FZ?  If so you can salvage them from there, otherwise I'm afraid they are probably irreversibly corrupted and your members will need to re-upload their avatars.

[kat]

Some say that that Filezilla bug doesn't affect graphic files. But, it sure has, when I've used it.

You can fix it, as Chalky described, or go to the Transfers menu and set Transfer Type to "binary", not "auto", which is the default.

[Evelyna]

You can view the files, if you download them and open them with a program called "Irfanview". It'll even offer to put the correct extension, there, if you wanted to do that.

Not even Iview will view them.  I got an error message from it as well.

[Evelyna]

Filezilla is fine to use as long as you uncheck the box in transfer settings to "treat files without extensions as ASCII files".  If this box has been checked all along then your avatars and attachments were probably broken the first time you used FZ to move them.  Do you have an instance of these folders anywhere that wasn't passed through FZ?  If so you can salvage them from there, otherwise I'm afraid they are probably irreversibly corrupted and your members will need to re-upload their avatars.

I don't unfortunately.  I thought I was protecting the files by putting them through FZ instead of just moving them.  I was afraid I would loose or corrupt the files if I didn't go through and ftp program.  (Insert comment about naïve newbies here)

[Evelyna]

Some say that that Filezilla bug doesn't affect graphic files. But, it sure has, when I've used it.

You can fix it, as Chalky described, or go to the Transfers menu and set Transfer Type to "binary", not "auto", which is the default.

Thank you; I checked binary.  I fear this is a case of closing the barn door after horse has fled however.

Oh well, next time.

[kat]

I really can't understand why the Filezilla guys haven't fixed this. I remember reading, somewhere, that they don't even consider it to BE a bug.

Weird.

[Arantor]

They don't consider it to be a bug. They feel it is appropriate behaviour - apparently SMF's in the wrong for doing what it does.

[kat]

**Blank look**

Surely, this affects all files, for all applications, not just SMF?

I've seen a lot of discussion, about this, on the Filezilla forum, with regard to all sorts of things.

Educate me, here, can you? If "binary" was the default setting, surely ALL files would transfer accurately and consistently, wouldn't they?

[Arantor]

Nope, most applications don't bother to obfuscate filenames the way SMF does.

If binary was the default setting, all files would transfer accurately. Slower, too, due to the way binary mode.

The argument made is that it's a convenience thing for the most part, because most of the time when you're dealing with FTP, most files that are on remote servers that you're actually touching via FTP will actually be text files (it is, for example, long since convention in Linux circles to have packages with README and LICENSE files without any extension, and all uppercase names)

And in that situation you do actually want the end of line shifting from 'whatever the server has' to 'whatever's locally in use', though that's far less of an issue with editors like Notepad++ that can just handle whatever the file is.

I can see their argument for it not being a bug, weaksauce as it is.

[kat]

So, it's one of those "You're buggered, if you do-You're buggered, if you don't" things.

I get it. **Shock! Horror!**

[Arantor]

Well, if SMF were to actually include a default extension that isn't on the standard list of 'should generally be ASCII files', this wouldn't be a problem.

[Kindred]

Suki has submitted a pull request with a fix for this in 2.1

[kat]

Yay!