Add ons not staying clicked

CJR

We've been trying to install a few extensions in my Vanilla forum [current build], but they wont stay clicked after we upload them. We click them, then either go to another page or log out, but when we log back in, they are unclicked. We've tried to get them to work using Opera and Firefox, and using 2 different computers. Nothing is working. The ones we're trying to get to work are the Members List, Reserve Names, and Vanillacons. Another question: how do you rebuild the Vanillacons? It says to do this in the instructions, but doesn't tell you how to do this or where to go to do this. I hope this isn't something that is really obvious. I'll feel even more stupid than I do right now. Look forward to any help anyone can give me. CJ

jacmoe

Check that the newly uploaded files have the right permissions, like 755 (read write execute). You normally do this in your ftp program. Otherwise the php scripts will not be run. :)

CJR

Thank you, jacmoe. I'm a newbie at making my own forum, so will hand this info over to hubby to do. He can write/edit code, but I am afraid to touch them. I will let you know if it works or not. CJ

CJR

I set read/write/execute to all of the files in the directory tree, and it still wont save the extensions as clicked. I click the circle, move to another page or even refresh the page, and they unclick. Any other suggestions? We've been fighting this for 4 days now, and are about to give up. CJ

fmimoso

Try this:
1 -> FTP to your local computer the "conf/extensions.php" file
2 -> Open it and delete everything in it
3 -> Insert this code:

<?php
// Make sure this file was not accessed directly and prevent register_globals configuration array attack
if (!defined('IN_VANILLA')) exit();		
// Enabled Extensions
?>

4 -> Save and upload it to the server (make sure you save it in UNIX format)
5 -> Change the file permissions to 777
6 -> Go to settings and enable the wanted extensions, one by one, returning everytime to enable the next one (click the extensions link in the side panel) - that way you'll know if the problem relies on one or more extensions

Dinoboff

Do you use Firebug?

In Firebug, you should open the console tab (enable it if you use Firebug 1.2+). Next time you tick/un-tick an extension if will tell you what was the ajax response to the request (I add to click on a load the button to read the response). If everything is fine the response is the name of the extension.

My guess is that you need to to re-upload the content of js/, ajax/ and themes/. If you are using a custom theme, "/themes/{YourTheme}/settings_extensions.php" (if it exists) might need to be updated.

CJR

@# fmimoso: thanks for the suggestion. We will try this. @# Dinoboff: I don't know what Firebug is, but I'll search for it, and will also try your suggestions. My main browser is Firefox, and the FTP program we're using for this is FileZilla. Since I've never tried to have my own forum before, I'm staying [so far] with the basics, and the style/theme is the default one that comes with Vanilla. I want these few add ons to work before I venture into changing that. I've printed both of your suggestions and we'll try them this evening. Keep your fingers crossed. :-) CJ

CJR

Well, bad news. Hubby downloaded Firebug [neat program, btw; thanks for the heads up on that!], and he followed all the suggestions you nice folks have posted. Nothing has changed. The programs still aren't showing up as 'installed' [for example, no tab for the Members List], and when we move to another page then go back to the extensions list, all of them are again unchecked. We even uninstalled Firefox then reinstalled it, thinking there might be something wrong with the browser, but it hasn't made any difference. I made sure he read through all the documentation on this site so he'd know how to install the add ons and extensions, and he said he didn't read anything he hadn't already tried. He's frustrated, and I've about given up. He said to wait a few days to see if anyone has any more suggestions we can try, before I delete Vanilla and use the web space for a craft web site. I've already wasted nearly a month trying to get this forum set up. The last 5 days have just been fighting with getting these things installed. If anyone has any more suggestions we can try, please post them. Thanks so much for all the help. CJ

Dinoboff

First, re-upload the content of js/, ajax/ and themes/ if you haven't done it yet.
Then empty your browser cache or do a hard-refresh (ctrl+F5).
Then enable an extension and check what is happening with the firebug console. (You can give the url of your forum and I can check that for you)

jacmoe

Please check that you've set file permissions for all subfolders and files - you need to do that recursively - preferably using your favorite FTP program. Hmm.. Could it be that the Vanilla plugin list file is read-only? That could be the issue. Vanilla needs to update it. If it can't, that could explain why the addons are not checked active when you revisit the extension settings page.

jacmoe

The file I am referring to is Vanilla/conf/extensions.php.

CJR

@jacmoe: we changed everything to 777 the other day. We did reset everything recursively at that time. I decided to check anyway, and it's set to 777, everything is checked. @dinoboff: I emptied the cache today after reading your suggestion, then logged into my forum as admin and it didn't help. My husband reloaded all the files you suggested the other day, just in case. He again recursively reset them all to 777. I tried enabling just one of the add ons [Members List], and used firebug to see what was going on. I got this message: Firebug needs to POST to the server to get this information for url: It then lists my url, with this behind it: /ajax/switchextension.php?ExtensionKey=MembersList&PostBackKey=0cd2e9284f6dac5037314bd14c62ff5d This second POST can interfere with some sites. If you want to send the POST again, open a new tab in Firefox, use URL 'about:config', set boolean value 'extensions.firebug.allowDoublePost' to true This value is reset every time you restart Firefox This problem will disappear when https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=430155 is shipped. Hubby wont let me do this without him, and he's working late again tonight. I hesitate to post my url cuz I don't want anyone making fun of me. ;-p If I read the firebug message correctly, this may solve the problem, correct? I am hoping he'll be able to do this tonight, but if not, then it'll have to wait till tomorrow. Or the weekend, since he has a lot of long work days. I'll post again when this is tried, and will let you all know what the results are. Thanks again! I really appreciate the suggestions. CJ

CJR

I feel like a broken record. None of these suggestions worked, either. I will give it a rest for the weekend, unless someone comes up with something else to try. If I cant get it to work by next week, it's going to be a craft web site with an odd name. My brain hurts, so I'm off. Thanks to all again. CJ

Dinoboff

When you see:
"This second POST can interfere with some sites. If you want to send the POST again, open a new tab in Firefox, use URL 'about:config', set boolean value 'extensions.firebug.allowDoublePost' to true
This value is reset every time you restart Firefox This problem will disappear when https://bugzilla.mozilla.org/show_bug.cgi?id=430155 is shipped."

You just click the "load response". It should show the extension name (or an error message).

CJR

@dinoboff: We've been doing that since we downloaded the firebug program. Clicking on 'load response' has not been working. My husband did it again last night, and again, it didn't work. We're both very frustrated over this. I thought that maybe reinstalling Firefox might help, but all that did was get me an updated version of Firefox. I went thru the preferences in Firefox to make sure everything that should be enabled was, just to make sure I wasn't somehow keeping this from working by my settings. Changing a few settings that I normally wouldn't allow didn't make any difference, either. We tried enabling the extensions in my forum again after we upgraded Firefox, but that didn't make one bit of difference. My husband has reloaded the js/, ajax/ and themes/ files several times with no change in the outcome. We've done everything suggested by you fine folks, and there has been no change in the outcome at all. I'm at a loss as to what to do now, except to just delete everything. All I'm trying to do is put 3 add ons on to Vanilla to get my forum the way I want it, and my husband is at the point that he'd rather do anything else on his off time than help me with this [which he just confirmed]. I'm willing to try a few more things if anyone can come up with suggestions, but my enthusiasm for having my own forum has dropped considerably. I just don't understand why this is so hard to do. Everything that has been suggested should have worked. And I haven't read of anyone else having the amount of problems we've been having. If there are no more suggestions, or if there are and they don't work, I still want to thank everyone for taking the time to try to help me. It's much appreciated. CJ

Dinoboff

You can install them manually by adding in conf/extensions.php:
<?php // Make sure this file was not accessed directly and prevent register_globals configuration array attack if (!defined('IN_VANILLA')) exit(); // Enabled Extensions include($Configuration['EXTENSIONS_PATH']."{1stExtension'sFolderName}/default.php"); include($Configuration['EXTENSIONS_PATH']."{2ndExtension'sFolderName}/default.php"); include($Configuration['EXTENSIONS_PATH']."{3rdExtension'sFolderName}/default.php"); ?>

CJR

Thanks to everyone who helped me with this. The few extensions I'd added work great now. After my brain rests, I hope to be adding a few more. :-) CJ