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Sun, Jul 31, 2011 7:02 pm

Removal of SMF Links Directory Lite Package

I deleted the SMF Links Directory Lite 1.0 mod from a Simple Machines Forum (SMF) forum. When I went through the uninstall process, there were two failures for the ./Sources/ManagePermissions.php file.

For the first failure, the uninstall process was looking for the following:


	$groupLevels['global']['standard'] = array_merge($groupLevels['global']['restrict'], array(
		'links_manage',
		'links_view',
		'links_add',
		'edit_links',
		'delete_links',
		'links_auto_approve',
		'links_comment',
		'links_view_comments',

It would replace that code with the following:

$groupLevels['global']['standard'] = array_merge($groupLevels['global']['restrict'], array(

Since intervening code had been placed after the first line, I manually removed the lines that would have been removed. The code that was there was as follows:


$groupLevels['global']['standard'] = array_merge($groupLevels['global']['restrict'], array(
                'reason_edit',

                'links_manage',
                'links_view',
                'links_add',
                'edit_links',
                'delete_links',
                'links_auto_approve',
                'links_comment',
                'links_view_comments',

For the next test that failed, the uninstall process was looking for the following code:


$context['non_guest_permissions'] = array(
		'links_manage',
		'links_auto_approve',
		'edit_links',
		'delete_links',

It was to be replaced with the following:

$context['non_guest_permissions'] = array(

What was actully there was the following:


$context['non_guest_permissions'] = array(
                // SMFPacks Shoutbox -->
                'shoutbox_post',
                'shoutbox_edit',
                'shoutbox_delete',
                'shoutbox_prune',
                'shoutbox_ban',
                // <-- SMFPacks Shoutbox
                'reason_edit',

                'links_manage',
                'links_auto_approve',
                'edit_links',
                'delete_links',

                'httpBL_free_pass',
                'delete_replies',
                'karma_edit',

I removed the "links" lines manually.

For the third test on the file, which succeeded, the uninstall process was looking for the following code:


	$permissionList = array(
		'membergroup' => array(		
			'links_manage' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
			'links_view' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
			'links_add' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
			'edit_links' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
			'delete_links' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
			'links_auto_approve' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
			'links_comment' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
			'links_view_comments' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),

It would be replaced with the following:


	$permissionList = array(
		'membergroup' => array(

What was actually in the file was the following:


        $permissionList = array(
                'membergroup' => array(
                        'links_manage' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
                        'links_view' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
                        'links_add' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
                        'edit_links' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
                        'delete_links' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
                        'links_auto_approve' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
                        'links_comment' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),
                        'links_view_comments' => array(false, 'links', 'links'),

                        'view_contact' => array(false, 'general', 'view_basic_info'),

I clicked on Uninstall Now to uninstall the mod. After doing so, I checked the area of the code which was to have a successful removal of the mod's code. I saw the following:


        $permissionList = array(
                'membergroup' => array(
                        'view_contact' => array(false, 'general', 'view_basic_info'),
                        'smftrader_feedback' => array(false, 'smftrader', 'smftrader'),

After uninstalling the SMF Links Directory Lite mod, I installed the SMF Links package. I had to remove some tables manually from the forum database that had been placed there by the installation of SMF Links Directory Lite, remove the SMF Links package and reinstall it as explained at SMF Links Package for SMF Forum to get the new links package working.

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Sun, Jul 31, 2011 2:37 pm

Moving an SMF Forum From One Domain to Another

I needed to move a Simple Machines Forum forum from one domain to another. I've detailed the steps I took here.

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Sun, Jul 31, 2011 2:34 pm

Configuration Steps to Take After Installing SMF Forum

These are some steps I commonly take after installing a Simple Machines Forum (SMF) forum.
  1. Configure the forum for "search engine friendly URLs" by clicking on Admin, Features and Options, Configuration, and then checking the box next to "Search engine friendly URLs", which is supported on Apache and Lighthttpd webservers, and then clicking on Save to save the settings.

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Fri, Jul 15, 2011 9:31 pm

SMF Links Directory Mod Bug

After installing the package SMF Links Directory Lite version 1.0, which was last modified on July 4, 2011, by Nibogo on two Simple Machines Forum (SMF) forums for a family member, she reported that links entered using the mod were not working. When I checked what was happening, I found that when she entered URLs that contained upper-case letters, all of the upper-case letters would be converted to lower-case, whichh wouldn't pose a problem if the URLs pointed to a website on a Windows server, but would pose a problem if the webserver is a Unix, Linkx, or Apple OS X system, since the case of letters is important on those systems, i.e., A.html is not the same as a.html on those systems.

I informed the developer, but since he didn't indicate he would correct the problem in the package posted on the SMF website, I commented out the line in Sources/LinksAdd.php, which was performing the conversion to lower-case. The code is in the following section.


// Check all the data
$context['name'] = htmlspecialchars($_REQUEST['name'], ENT_QUOTES);
$context['url'] = htmlspecialchars($_REQUEST['url'], ENT_QUOTES);
$context['url'] = strtolower($context['url']);

The strtolower($context['url']) is the line that performs the conversion. I commented it out by putting // at the beginning of the line.

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Sun, Jul 10, 2011 10:30 pm

Changing Smileys from Post form to Popup

To change smileys on a Simple Machines Forum (SMF) from "Post form" to "Popup", you can take the following steps:
  1. Click on Admin.
  2. Select Forum.
  3. Select Smileys and Message Icons.
  4. Select Edit Smileys.

You will then see a table of smileys with the smiley itself in the far-left column followed by columns titled "Code", "Filename", "Location", "Tooltip or description", and "Modify".

You can change the location from "Post form" to "Popup" by clicking on Modify and then changing the location. There are three options for location: Post form, Popup, and Hidden.

In the database there is a table, smf_smileys, if you used the default prefix of "smf" for tables created within the database. It has the following fields, i.e., columns:

id_smiley
code
filename
description
smiley_row
smiley_order
hidden

The hidden field is where information is stored about whether the value of location is post form, popup, or hidden. If the value is "Post form", then a 0 is stored in the field. If it is "Hidden" then a 1 is stored in the field. If it is "Popup", then a 2 is stored in the Hidden field for that particular' smiley's entry in the smiley table.

TextNumber
Post form0
Hidden1
Popup2

If you can directly access the tables in the database from a command prompt, e.g., by running mysql at a command prompt, or can issue Structured Query Language (SQL) statements through software such as phpMyAdmin, you can update the value for a range of smileys simultaneously. E.g. if I wanted to update those smileys with smiley_id between 768 and 778 to change the location from "post form" to "Popup", which is represented by a "2" in the Hidden field of the table, I could change the value using the SQL statement below, assuming the database itself is called "myforum":

UPDATE myforum.smf_smileys SET hidden = '2' WHERE smf_smileys.id_smiley BETWEEN 768 AND 778;

References:

  1. MySQL BETWEEN Clause
    TutorialsPoint.COM

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Thu, Jul 07, 2011 10:34 pm

Tiny Portal Install Fail for Subs.php

When I attempted to install TinyPortal 1.104 (listed as 1.0 RC2 on SMF site, but shows 1.104 when installed) on an SMF 2.0 forum, the installation process indicated Test failed for ./Sources/Subs.php . When I checked the test that failed, I found it was looking for 'calendar' => array(. I found that text in the file, so I used a hexadecimal editor to examine the ./Sources/Subs.php file and compared it against the code for which the installation process was looking.

Inside the TinyPortal1_RC2.zip file is a package-info.xml file that indicates what file will be used for installing the mod on various versions of the SMF forum. For SMF 2.0 SMF\tinyportal200.mod provides the instructions for installing the mod. That file can be found by extracting the contents of the zip file or it can be found in Packages/temp/SMF2 after you click on Install Mod.

When I examined that file with the hexadecimal editor, Freeware Hex Editor XVI32, I found there were three tab characters (hexadecimal 09) occuring before 'calendar' => array(. But when I examined ./Sources/Subs.php with a hexadecimal editor, I found there was only one tab character present in that file. I inserted two additional tab characters and was then able to install TinyPortal without any of the installation tests failing.

References:

  1. Installing TinyPortal 1.0 RC2 on SMF 2.0
    MoonPoint Support

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Fri, Jun 24, 2011 9:45 pm

Editing Settings.php to take SMF forum out of maintenance mode

When I logged into a Simple Machines Forum (SMF) forum, I saw the message below:

Maintenance Mode

Okay faithful users...we're attempting to restore an older backup of the database...news will be posted once we're back!

I needed to take it out of maintenance mode, but at Settings.php file, I saw the following:

$maintenance



Sets whether the Forum is in maintenance mode or not.
Value    Description
0    Maintainance mode off. The Forum can be used normally.
1    Maintainance mode on. Only administrators can use the Forum as usual. Other users get a 'this Forum is in maintenance mode' message. The database may still be accessed for user authentication (so as to tell if the Member is an administrator.)
2    Maintainance mode on, full force. Freezes the forum. No one can access it, not even administrators. This setting will leave the database untouched (as far as the SMF Forum is concerned) but cannot be set from the administration center. This setting is used by SMF's upgrade tool to ensure an undisturbed upgrade.

I looked at the Settings.php file in the dorum directory for SMF and saw the following:

########## Maintenance ##########
# Note: If $maintenance is set to 2, the forum will be unusable!  Change it to 
0 to fix it.
$maintenance = 2;               # Set to 1 to enable Maintenance Mode, 2 to 
make the forum untouchable. (you'll have to make it 0 again manually!)

When I changed the value for maintenance from 2 to 0, I was able to access the forum again.

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Tue, Jun 21, 2011 11:32 pm

Installing TinyPortal 1.0 RC2 on SMF 2.0

When I attempted to install TinyPortal 1.0 RC2 on an SMF 2.0 Gold forum, the installation process showed one of the six installation tests for ./Sources/Subs.php failing. The one that failed was the following:

Code: (Find)

'calendar' => array(

Code: (Add Before)

'tpadmin' => array(
'title' => 'TinyPortal',
'href' => $scripturl . '?action=tpadmin',
'show' => TPcheckAdminAreas(),
'sub_buttons' => array(
),
),
'calendar' => array(

When I edited ./Sources/Subs.php, I saw the searched for code was in the file. When I used a hexadecimal editor to examine the file, I saw the following in Sources/Subs.php:


)  ,  LF TAB '  c  a  l  e  n  d  a  r  '     =  >     a  r  r  a  y  (  LF LF TAB TAB TAB TAB  '
29 2C 0A 09  27 63 61 6C 65 6E 64 61 72 27 20 3D 3E 20 61 72 72 61 79	28 0A 0A 09  09  09  09   27

Note: hex 09 represents the "tab" character

I looked at the package-info.xml file that was inside the zip file for installing TinyPortal, I found that the installation process uses the SMF2/tinyportal200.mod file to determine what files to change during the installation. Note: when you start the installation process with the SMF Package Manager, when you get to the point where the installation process tells you whether installation tests have failed or succeeded, you can find the extracted files from the zip file you are installing in Packages/temp. The temp directory and its files will be deleted after the installion is completed.

That file instructs the installation process to look for the following:

00000FB0   3C 73 65 61  72 63 68 20  66 6F 72 3E  0D 0A 09 09  <search for>....
00000FC0   09 27 63 61  6C 65 6E 64  61 72 27 20  3D 3E 20 61  .'calendar' => a
00000FD0   72 72 61 79  28 0D 0A 3C  2F 73 65 61  72 63 68 20  rray(..</search

I.e., the installation process looks for a CR, LF, then 3 tab characters then 'calendar' => array(. After the "(", the installation process looks for a carriage return (CR), represented by hex 0D, character followed by a new line, aka line feed (LF) character represented by hexadecimal 0A - see ASCII Table and Description. represented by hexadecimal 0A.

The system on which I was installing TinyPortal was a Linux system. Linux, Mac OS X, and Microsoft Windows systems use different conventions for marking the end of a line - see OS X Line Endings for a discussion of the differences.

So the TinyPortal developers appear to be expecting the software to be installed on a Windows system or did their development on a Windows system. Thus the presence of the CRL LF in the SMF2/tinyportal200.mod . But, the code actually present in the Subs.php file was what one normally finds for line endings on a Linux system, i.e., a LF character, though actually two LF characters, one after the other in this case.

Looking at previously installed packages on the system, I saw that one, Tagging System for Topics 2.4.2 had modified Subs.php. I could see by going to the webpage for the module on the SMF site and clicking on the Parse button with 2.0 selected for Manual Install Instructions for SMF that code near the 'calendar' => array line had been modified.

Find: [Select]
'calendar' => array(

Replace With: [Select]

			'tags' => array(				                                
                                'title' => $txt['smftags_menu'],
                                'href' => $scripturl . '?action=tags',
                                'show' => true,
                                'sub_buttons' => array(	
                                ),
                        ),
       	'calendar' => array(

I thought I might uninstall it to see whether TinyPortal would install without error, but when I tried uninstalling it, I saw errors for other files for the uninstall tests. I saw errors for the following files:

./Sources/ManagePermissions.php
./Sources/Display.php
./Sources/Admin.php

The installation of other packages must have modified code the uninstall process for Tagging System For Topics was expecting to find. So I didn't uninstall it.

Instead, I dealt with the problem by editing Subs.php with the Freeware Hex Editor XVI32. I transferred the file to a Windows system and edited it there adding the extra tabs and making the file match what the installation process expected using XVI32, then transferred the file back to the Linux system. When I then retried the install, I didn't see any error messages.

References:

  1. TinyPortal
    SMF Customization - Simple Marchines
  2. TinyPortal Support - Developer's site
  3. ASCII Table and Description
  4. OS X Line Endings
    Date: March 2, 2010
    MoonPoint Support

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Sun, Jun 19, 2011 1:59 pm

Installing Enhanced About Page 0.01 on an SMF 2.0 Forum

When I attempted to install version 0.01 of the Enhanced About Page package on a Simple Machines Forum (SMF) with SMF 2.0 Gold installed, I had to first configure the SMF Package Manager to emulate SMF 2.0 RC5, since that is the last version for which the installation file, package-info.xml, expects. When you select Browse Packages, you will find an Advanced link at the bottom of the page. If you click on that link you can put SMF 2.0 RC5 in the Emulate Version field. Click on Apply to use the new value. After the package is installed, you can click on the Revert link underneath Emulate Version to set the version back to the actual installed version of SMF. Click on Apply again.

But I also encountered another problem while installing the Enhanced About Page module. The install process couldn't find the code it was looking for in the index.php file for the forum.

Code: (Find)

'who' => array('Who.php', 'Who'),

Code: (Replace)

'who' => array('Who.php', 'Who'),
'about' => array('EnhancedAboutPage.php','EnhancedAboutPage'),

The install process was indicating it couldn't find the code it was looking for, 'who' => array('Who.php', 'Who'),. If it found that code, it would add the following on a line beneath it:

'about' => array('EnhancedAboutPage.php','EnhancedAboutPage'),

When I looked at the code in index.php, I found 'who' => array('Who.php', 'Who'), in the file. I had to examine index.php and install2.xml with a hexadecimal editor to discern the cause of the problem, which was due to two tab characters appearing at the end of the relevant line in the index.php file that the installation procedure for Enhanced About Page was not expecting.

Within a zip file for a package, there is an package-info.xml file that tells the SMF install process what versions of SMF are supported by the package and which install files to use for particular versions of the forum software. In this case package-info.xml had a line indicating that install2.xml is to be used for installing Enhanced About Page on an SMF 2.0 forum.

When I examined the code in install2.xml, I found it was instructing SMF's install process to look for the line above, but telling the process that immediately after the ), at the end of the 'who' => array('Who.php', 'Who'), it should find a linefeed character, i.e., the hexadecimal character 0A (see Ascii Table for a table that shows the hexadecimal codes associated with ASCII characters). But when I examined index.php with a hexadecimal editor, I found that there were two tab characters (hex 09) after the ), at the end of the line. The tab characters were followed by a linefeed (LF) character, i.e., a hexadecimal 0A character.

index.php

(  '  W  h  o  .  p  h  p  '  ,     '  W  h  o  '  )  ,  tab tab LF
28 27 57 68 6F 2E 70 68 70 27 2C 20 27 57 68 6F 27 29 2c 09  09  0A

In the index.php file, I deleted everything after the ), at the end of the line, so that the line terminated immediately after those characters. When I retried the installation for the Enhanced About Page, it then completed successfully with no errors reported for any file.

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

Sun, May 01, 2011 9:20 pm

Off-Topic BBC Tag Installation

I attempted to again install the Off-Topic BBC Tag mod by (Ha)2. I had previously used an update to the mod provided by JD82, as described at Off-Topic BBC Tag 1.1.2 Installation of SMF 2.0 RC5 to eliminate error messages for the installation associated with the core files, but I was still getting an error message related to its installation for the Bean and Grassland Curve Variation themes on the system. Note: see Re: Off-Topic BBC Tag posting by JD82 on April 19, 2010 03:01:32 PM in regards to the update needed for the mod.

The relevant files are as follows:

ThemeFile
Bean./Themes/Bean/css/index.css
Grassland Curve Variation./Themes/greengrass1/css/index.css

It would show one test for each file being successful, but the other one failing. It would find the following code:

/* The "Quote:" and "Code:" header parts... */ .codeheader, .quoteheader { color: #666; font-size: x-small; font-weight: bold; padding: 0 0.3em; }

It wanted to make an "Add After" modification of adding the following:

/* The "Off-topic:" header part... */ .off-topicheader { color: #696969; text-decoration: none; font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; font-size: xx-small; line-height: 1.1em; }

For the other "Add After" modification it wanted to make, it was looking for the following:

/* A quote, perhaps from another post. */ blockquote.bbc_standard_quote, blockquote.bbc_alternate_quote { font-size: x-small; color: #000; line-height: 1.4em; background: url(../images/theme/quote.png) 0.1em 0.1em no-repeat; border-top: 2px solid #99A; border-bottom: 2px solid #99A; padding: 1.1em 1.4em; margin: 0.1em 0 0.3em 0; overflow: auto; }

It wanted to then add the following:

/* Silly users may go off-topic */ .off-topic { color: #444444; background-color: #dadde2; border: 1px dotted #696969; margin: 2px; padding: 2px; font-size: x-small; line-height: 1.2em; }

When I compared the code in the index.css files with what was being sought, I found that the only difference was in the border-top and border-bottom solid color values. The installation process was expecting to find #99A, but other values were actually present for the two themes. I edited the index.css file for each theme to replace the solid color values with the ones that were expected. I then went to the Browse Packages page again and clicked on the Install link for the package. This time, I didn't see any error messages for the themes and installed the package checking the option to install for the two themes as well. After I had installed the package, I put the color values back to what they had been for the themes.

E.g., for the Grassland Curve Variation theme, the relevant section of code was as follows:

/* A quote, perhaps from another post. */
blockquote.bbc_standard_quote, blockquote.bbc_alternate_quote
{
        font-size: x-small;
        color: #000;
        line-height: 1.4em;
        background: url(../images/theme/quote.png) 0.1em 0.1em no-repeat;
        border-top: 2px solid #267F00;
        border-bottom: 2px solid #267F00;
        padding: 1.1em 1.4em;
        margin: 0.1em 0 0.3em 0;
        overflow: auto;
}
ThemeFileActual ColorExpected Color
Bean./Themes/Bean/css/index.css#000#99A
Grassland Curve Variation./Themes/greengrass1/css/index.css#267F00#99A

Note: When you start the installation process and get to the point where you see the error messages for particular files, you can find the changes that will be made by checking package-info.xml. Look in the install for= sections for the relevant entry related to the version of SMF you are using. In this case the file referenced was off-topic_2_0_curve.xml. Then look for search position= sections to see what code the installation process is searching for in various files.

[/network/web/forums/smf] permanent link

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