Cannot apply themes

Bilge

I can preview all themes perfectly fine but cannot apply any of them permanently. I can write other settings and enable/disable addons. It's just themes that cannot be applied in 2.0.18.10. What could cause this?

peregrine

do you get an error?

have you checked permissions on theme folder and compared to plugin folder permissions? as well as ownership on the two folders. If the themes folder doesn't match the same permissions as the plugin folder (which does work) then change permisions accordingly.

if you are trying to change to a tpl theme. and you get an error, it is because your
cache/Smarty/compile folder has the wrong permissions.

id theme manage box checked in permissions?

Bilge

There is no visible error. Permissions are the same for themes and plugins. The cache folder, and all its subfolders, are world-writable.

hgtonight

Welcome to the community!

Try setting the theme manually in your /conf/config.php file. Change the line that starts with $Configuration['Garden']['Theme'] to $Configuration['Garden']['Theme'] ='ThemeName';

Bilge

This works, but the line was not already in the config, I had to add it. I still cannot change the theme via the dashboard even though all other settings can be changed there. I'm not marking this as answered until I can change the theme via the dashboard as is intended.

whu606

@Bilge

Which theme are you trying to apply?

I've just downloaded and installed 2.0.18.10 on a test server, downloaded a theme Tamara, and it enables fine from the Dashboard, so there is something wrong with your setup, rather than the software.

Bilge

This problem affects all themes. The software comes with two. They can be previewed but not applied. The same is true for custom themes.

whu606

@Bilge

I can apply both the Embed and the Mobile themes that come with the download, plus a downloaded theme.

Something has clearly gone wrong with your install.

It would probably be best for you to download and upload a fresh copy and reinstall.

Your issue can't easily be resolved, as it is an issue with your install, not a fault with the software.

hgtonight

Mind sharing your server info?

OS, php versions, any modifications, etc. would all be helpful.

Shadowdare

First, what are the permissions of the /conf/ directory and /conf/config.php file?

Second, do you have PHP APC installed?

Third, when you click the apply button for a theme, does the page reload itself? If the web browser does not reload itself and stays on the same instance of the page, would you please open the web inspector/developer console of your web browser to see if any JavaScript errors come up when you click on an apply button?

Bilge

@hgtonight said:
Mind sharing your server info?

OS, php versions, any modifications, etc. would all be helpful.

Ubuntu 12.04.4 LTS
PHP 5.5.8
Apache/2.4.6

<VirtualHost *>
        ServerName example.com
        DocumentRoot /var/www/example.com/foo

        <Location /bar/>
                RewriteEngine On
                RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-d
                RewriteCond %{REQUEST_FILENAME} !-f
                RewriteRule /bar(/.*) /bar/index.php?p=$1 [QSA,L]
        </Location>
</VirtualHost>

Bilge

@Shadowdare said:
First, what are the permissions of the /conf/ directory and /conf/config.php file?

777 on both.

Second, do you have PHP APC installed?

No, I use PHP 5.5 with Zend OPCache enabled.

Third, when you click the apply button for a theme, does the page reload itself?

Yes, but it looks identical to before.

peregrine

Although it may prove to do nothing, can you follow these steps. even if you modify config.php in the earlier steps to get to defaults and then download the core again.

http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/comment/199091/#Comment_199091

Bilge

Already tried all of those steps.

In case it means anything to anyone, after I tried to redeploy to a new folder to no avail, I reverted back to my original installation and was able to change the theme using the interface once. That means I let the installer do its thing to the database and it worked one time only. Then it got stuck again and I had to change it using the config again. This has nothing to do with permission on the config since the application can write all other settings to it. Despite claims that your software is perfect I would be inclined to start looking there at this point.

peregrine

you could try a different server host or make a local installation on your home pc, and see if you run into the same problems.

or you can make a duplicate test installation with 2.1b2 and see how that works out for you. purely as a test.

http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/24793/yet-another-vanilla-upgrade-and-duplication-tutorial

or this

http://vanillaforums.org/discussion/21303/how-to-duplicate-your-forum-or-move-it-to-another-directory

http://vanillaforums.org/addon/vanilla-core-2.1b2