Vanilla 2021.009 no categories found

kwinkidink

after update to Vanilla 2021.009 all user levels except Admin show "No Categories Found". I've checked roles and permissions and all seem set correctly. All user levels should be able to see categories but they do not show for any level but Admin. Any suggestions where to fix this?

R_J

You can mark a category so that you need to set up additional permissions for it: "This category has custom permissions"

Are you sure this is unchecked, too? Or if it is checked, that there are custom permissions for this category?

If this has worked before the update, I'd say it is umlikely that this is directly connected with the Category permissions. Instead I would take a look at the role definitions and see if all of them have a default role mapped.

kwinkidink

It was all working before the update. I had created some custom roles and changed the names of the default roles. I have gone through those role settings and they all should view categories. Only Admin can see them.

kwinkidink

Okay, something is changed with permissions. I created a TestAdmin account and selected all boxes in permissions, set default role as Admin, switched one of my users to that and it still shows "No Categories Found". The original Admin user is the only one that can see all categories. All other user, including new ones, are unable to see categories.

B4ALLB4U

@kwinkidink ! I am also facing the same issue! Dear Team Members Please give your suggestions to resolve this issue.

R_J

Can you please

• tell from which version you have updated
• ensure that you have run /utility/update and /utility/structure
• provide a dump of the GDN_Category table

B4ALLB4U

Hello Sir!

• I have updated to the latest version of Version 2021.009
• I have run both update and structure utility

But still, we are facing the same issue!

B4ALLB4U

@R_J Sir Ji! In which format do you want our dump file of the GDN_Category table?

B4ALLB4U

@R_J Master! Here is our SQL GDN_Category table dump file. Your waiting for your valuable support.

GDN_Category.zip

zenoshrdlu

I have the same issue and have made NO CHANGES in the last few months. The problem is clearly the result of an automatic Vanilla update.

R_J

That format was exactly what I needed, but I cannot see anything suspicious in there. Here are the tables GDN_Permission, GDN_Role and GDN_UserRole from my test installation. They should be similar in your installation. YOu can compare them and try if you can spot anything exceptional.

vanilla.sql.txt

In adminer, an alternative to phpMyAdmin, the GDN_Permission table is visualized like this:

The columns on the right (there quite a lot of them) need also be filled with 0, 1 or 2.

SInce I do not have a clue, I will not be able to help. I might be able to support if you grant me access to your server. I would need to have access to the database since I assume that's where the problem can be found. If you trust me, you can send me the required credentials via PM

@zenoshrdlu Vanilla doesn't have a self updating feature

zenoshrdlu

I guess the update was automatically done by my ISP. Our site (https://kapforum.org/discussion/) definitely changed to using 2021.009 on May 7th.

The "No discussions found" message also appears if I log out as admin. If I log back in the site appears normal.

Kaspar

Suggestions:

Install a test setup with softacolus - issue present there?

Disable auto-update.

Always test new version on a test setup before going live.

Change PhP to a higher version.

Rollback:

https://www.inmotionhosting.com/support/product-guides/softaculous/softaculous-update-rollback/

Installing an earlier version (if available in Softacolus)

https://www.softaculous.com/docs/enduser/install-older-versions-of-scripts/

R_J

Just a quick update: I took a quick look at the database before going to bed in a few minutes, but I haven't seen anything suspicious. I'm not sure but an error like that might have come up in the past, but I'm not able to find a discussion on that topic.

I'll take a look at that topic again tomorrow.

zenoshrdlu

I have fixed my problem by re-installing 3.x from the softaculous backup (which was taken just before it installed 2021.009. I’ll go back to 2021.009 if the problem gets fixed.

R_J

I have found the problem, but do not have a comfortable way to fix it. The problem is that there need to be one row for each role in the GDN_Permission table where

1. column RoleID must match a role
2. column JunctionTable, JunctionColumn, JunctionID must be null
3. column 'Vanilla.Discussions.View' must be 1
4. columns 'Garden.Activity.View', 'Garden.Profiles.View' should also be 1, but that is certainly up to you

I try to write an SQL for it.

Kaspar

https://open.vanillaforums.com/discussion/comment/263065#Comment_263065

Good to hear.

Still, please test on a second install with a new db (takes 1-2 minutes in Softacolus assuming your hosting plan includes several sites).

if that works, clone your live database and connect that to the 2nd install - if a fresh install works, then we know to look at other causes in your forum setup/theme/plugins.

If a fresh install does not work - we can ofc not know whether it is a .009 only issue or a combination with hosting config.

At least we will know whether or not for the one half.

You would also get some experience - so you can test a new version before you take it to your live forum.

I would normally make a fresh install - take a quick look around that - to spot glarring issues.

Then I would clone my live setup and database and then update that - then test on that. (you can ofc go straight to cloning live forum and setup, updated and testing).

• login with a regular member profile with rights for a test-category
• test posting a category, post a comment, edit, quote a post, link / image embed
• test like / reactions, QnA, voting, signature and what else plugin function you may have
• login on an mod/admin profile, check move/delete etc.

While cloning your forum and database may take some time - the testing can be done in ~15minutes.

R_J

This one is tested and working, it will set the default value for all roles which are viewing activities, viewing profiles and viewing discussions:

UPDATE GDN_Permission
SET `Vanilla.Discussions.View` = 1
   , `Garden.Activity.View` = 1
   , `Garden.Profiles.View` = 1
WHERE JunctionID IS NULL
AND JunctionTable IS NULL
AND JunctionColumn IS NULL
AND RoleID IN (
   SELECT RoleID
   FROM GDN_Role
)

Users permissions are also cached in the GDN_User table. Therefore it is needed to reset that cache. Wiping the column will force a renewal when the user visits the forum the next time:

UPDATE `GDN_User` SET Permissions = ''

B4ALLB4U

Hi, @R_J  thanks, I have tested with my login credentials. Yes, now everything is working fine. I am so happy to work with you.

Once again thanks for your valuable support.

@R_J

kwinkidink

The site you visited today is still having issues @R_J even after clearing cache. Once you change the permissions, it truncates the categories.

R_J

Okay, so if @B4ALLB4U and @kwinkidink report of problems, it is in fact only one page that is involved. Good to know that. Don't get me wrong: it's not really meant as criticism, although I think it's not that useful if every user of a forum reports the same issue. But it helps me in the way that I think about a problem: do we have a general problem or might this be a special case in the sense of special software problems, old import issues, some old plugin going berserk - whatever.

I saw that in your case the Vanilla.Discussions.View permission for the guest role has been 0 again. Have you changed anything?

And since I already mentioned that: when I had taken a look at your forum I saw numerous plugins enabled that doesn't seem to be used at all. Some of them quite old. You should only have those plugins enabled that you are using.