Thread

I moved 2 EE websites to a new provider. The first website works fine. I did the exact same process with the second website but I have the following issues:

- The Control Panel cant read its css files so it doesnt look very pretty, normally once I updated the Server and URL paths (I use Deeploy Helper for that) this is fixed, but not in this case

- I use the option “save file as template” but the website shows some really old templates not the current onces from the template folder (both in the Templates section as well as on the page itself). If I update the Templates from the CP, only the Database is updated not the template file. Server path and permission is correct.

- in the new entry / edit sheets, if I click on “upload file” and go to file brower I get “Error No files available in directory.”

Been searching for the problem for hours now, maybe you can give me another idea where to look for. The server paths are definitely correct.
The only difference between the working and the non-working website:
- The domain for the working website is already pointed to the new server
- The domain for the non-working website is still at the old server, but I have a testing URL at the new server (same problem) and now I point the Domain to the new server via the hosts file (windows)

Tilo, two thoughts off top of head, since you seem confident the path setup is entered correctly. Well, three:

- have you cleared all EE caches on the problem server, using the Control Panel Clear Caches?

- you should be able to use view source on your browser to see where the Control Panel is trying to pick up its CSS from, now in error. That may give a good clue on the first problem.

- the template storing and file issues really sound like internal server path issues, rather than URL. I really would be sure your server paths in EE are the ones you should be using. On a hosted server, for example, the paths can be quite arcane.

I think we’ve all been places like this, and on a week-end - best fortune, and surely it will come.

Regards,
Clive

Hi Clive,

thanks for the input.
Cleared the caches, no difference.
The CSS information in the CP templates seems to be written inline (in my case that area is blank) so there is no path to a CSS file, unfortunately.
It does look like like server path issue, however, on the new hosting service (using Rackpace Cloud Site), it is clearly stated in their Control Panel and it is working fine on the other installation. The path has to be correct.
Mysterious.

Ok, trying to make some good sense of this.

You’re right, I forgot we aren’t talking about EE 2.0, and the CSS as well as JavaScript is in-line with the HTML in EE 1.x CP templates, save for the jquery which is not used in most places, and arrives from the Google repository anyway.

But then, you did say in the first message, didn’t you, that the CP pages show unformatted? That makes things a mystery for sure, so far. I will let you know if I think of anything, or someone else will have an idea.

Let’s consider the can’t-write template changes to files problem. There, it sounds like it could be directory permissions vs. the ownership PHP run under on the new server - your old permissions may not work.

You could permit all the file templates directories 777 as the EE documentation recommends, and check later if you should to do less for security. I can get away with 705 on mine.

Message off so you can try this.

Regards,
Clive

Tilo, I may have a way to see about the Control Panel CSS formatting issue also.

I’ve just been reading the 1.6.8 code, and it is certainly possible that you can have the CP coming up with ‘blank’ as you were saying in the CSS area.

Without going into details, the CSS stylesheet is read from site files by the EE code itself - then merged with the rest of the CP output.

To work, the following file has to exist and be accessible:

http://your.site.com/themes/cp_themes/default/default.css. The /default/default.css part could also be /classic/classic.css, if you had made that setting for the ‘Classic’ Cp style.

You can try to load that file in a web browser, and see if you get it, for a quick check.

Actually, though, I believe the code is looking for this file default.css directly on disk at the server, based on the site root filesystem directory.

So I suspect again that the problem may be site permissions vs. the user and group that PHP is running under on the new server. I would go 777 for all directories on the path to these CSS files for the CP, and 666 for the files themselves, to see if that fixes the problem.

By the way, in the note above where I mentioned settings for the file-based templates, should mention that the template files themselves also need to be 777 to be sure they are writeable, in your check there—you’ve probably thought of it anyway.

Ok, Tilo, let’s see what you find. It’s getting late here, so may not be around much longer. I kind of think we’re on the right track now, but let’s see.

Best,
Clive

Clive,
I already played around with the permissions, that was not it. The user and group might be something to look into (need to get in touch with Rackspace how to check this). For this I site uploaded one part with dreamweaver and the rest with another FTP, maybe something got mixed up in this process (for the first site that works, I only used dreamweaver).

About the css file, the correct URL is: http://yoursite.com/themes/cp_styles/default/default.css
I get a 404 - not found - at the moment, so I will go on from here.
Will let you know what I find out. Thanks already for the input. Good Night.
Tilo

Tilo, sounds good. Also, I enjoyed a look at your website (that is up).

Regards,
Clive

Clive, actually the correct URL was http://yoursite.com/themes/cp_themes/default/default.css and it was working fine. So that lead to check the paths for the 100th time and sure enough I find a tiny blank space in it (very easy to overlook). Very embarassing and relieving at the same time.
That solved the main problems for now. There are still some hiccups that need to be solved in the template though (some pictures don’t show up).
Also, if when click on “update” after change a template in the CP, I get a white blank page (but the change is accepted).
But the main headache of the weekend (spoiled by a single blank space) is gone 😉

Tilo

Tilo, wonderful. That’s the kind of thing it always is.

I imagine you’ll find something similar as far as the remaining problems. That half-Dreamweaver, half-FTP uploading sounds like it had room for missed files etc.. It may be wise to just re-upload everything. I’ve had really good luck for quite a while with Filezilla, which is fast, accurate, and free, if that’s useful to hear.

FileZilla makes it easy to force over-write, to be sure you clean up any problem files. You’ll get a dialog with options for this, when it first encounters a similar file on the destination.

Hoping you are getting a chance to relax this Sunday. I corrected that path on my post above in case anyone else uses it for troubleshooting - thanks for that.

Regards,
Clive

Hi Tilo,

Glad to see that Clive (thanks Clive) was able to help out. What exactly is not working now?

Cheers

Greg

Hi Greg,
after saving a template in the control panel I get a blank white page but the change is written in the database.
Tilo

Tilo,

I use the option “save file as template” but the website shows some really old templates not the current onces from the template folder (both in the Templates section as well as on the page itself). If I update the Templates from the CP, only the Database is updated not the template file. Server path and permission is correct.

This is I believe because it cant read your template files as you have not updated your Basepath to Template File Directory under Template Preferences

CP Home ›  Templates ›  Template Preferences

Tilo,

I use the option “save file as template” but the website shows some really old templates not the current onces from the template folder (both in the Templates section as well as on the page itself). If I update the Templates from the CP, only the Database is updated not the template file. Server path and permission is correct.

This is I believe because it cant read your template files as you have not updated your Basepath to Template File Directory under Template Preferences

CP Home ›  Templates ›  Template Preferences

yup, that was the problem….

Do you have anything outstanding or was that everything?

The only issue is the blank page I receive when I update an entry or template in the control page.