Classifieds Installed But Admin Can't Login?

[websissy]

Okay after a 3 hour struggle to figure out how to install the classifieds in an environment where both vbPortal3.0.5 and vBulletin3.0.8 are both installed, configured and running already, I finally managed to get a successful classifieds install... I did not realize at first that the "integration" for classifieds could NOT include integrating with both the portal and the forums.

In the end, I opted to integrate with the forums because I WANT to be able to share the Forums user database, permissions, etc. Later, I'll tackle how to make the classifieds intergrate with the portal more thoroughly. I selected maxiumum vb3 integration and provided everything needed to make it work as closely together as possible. The install script seemed happy and so was I.

But now that it's done, there seems to be NO vb3 integration at all other than the headers and footers. I cannot login as the admin user from my forums it refuses to recognize me or the other admin either.

Can someone tell me please why I cannot get in as the already register vB3 forums admin user? Do I need to register TWICE?

Thanks?

[Chuck S]

Okay two things here.

On install did you enter the proper Vblicense number when asked not customer number?

Did you enter the vbulletin cookie prefix when asked on install?

If either of these two things are wrong your vb login will not be recognized.

[websissy]

Originally Posted by omegatron

Okay two things here.

On install did you enter the proper Vblicense number when asked not customer number?

Did you enter the vbulletin cookie prefix when asked on install?

If either of these two things are wrong your vb login will not be recognized.

Dear Omegatron:

Thanks very much for your reply. I appreciate your support efforts. My answers to your questions appear below. Please note that my written complaint that follows my answers to your questions is not aimed at you personally, sir. I'm a software pro myself. So, I understand and appreciate exactly what you do. Please pass those remarks along to the product manager for the classifieds product. I'm sure he or she is the one who should read them. At least they should give him something to think about!

Do explain to him that I started this install at 9:00 Wednesday morning. My first step was to install ImageMagick. That went very well and took less than hours. Then I moved on to installing your classifieds. I carefully read and followed all the instructions several times and have thus far installed your product at least 4 or 5 times. I've honestly lost count. It's now 1:30 a.m. on Thursday morning and I'm just catching up with your message that says installation #4 is still AFU. Frankly at this point I'm tired and grumpy and very upset to still be screwing around trying to get past step 1. I'm on a deadline here (you guys do know about deadlines, right?) and did not have a day to waste on this installation! So, if I sound angry and frustrated, that's because I AM!

Now to answer your questions, Omegatron...

I entered the vbulletin license number and not the customer number exactly as it appears in vBulletin. I copied it from index.php in the forums directory as instructed. I'm curious though... What the heck does the entry of the LICENSE number have to do with whether your classifieds can correctly talk to the vbulletin database ANYWAY? And if it has such a HUGE and obvious effect on the installation then why don't the installation instructions ever mention that?

I did NOT enter any cookie prefix in the classifieds install because I had NO idea where to find that parameter in vBulletin configuration section. I did look for it; but could not find it. And neither the installation script nor the published instructions provided ANY guidance on where to find it in the confusing layrinth that is vBulletin's config screens. Can you tell me where it IS please, Omegatron?

Also, at the risk of repeating myself, I must ask, what does entry of the cookie prefix has to do with whether the classifieds can talk correctly to the vbulletin database or not? And if it's so darned important, why don't the install script or instructions ever explain how it's used or what impact getting it wrong it could have?

Frankly, I found the install instructions and the install script for your classifieds woefully inadequate when it came to providing meaningful guidance or clarifications on how to fill out the fields in the installation script correctly. For example in one case the install script refers to 'server path to "the forums" directory' and in another spot two lines lower it wants the URL of "Your forums". How is the new installing user supposed to KNOW your script has a "forums" directory of its own? I'm assuming of course, that that's the response you're looking for in the "path to the forums directory" question.

In the first case I originally put the server path to MY forums directory and in the other I provided the url of MY forums. Later, I realized (based on analyzing the script errors I got and the programs that aborted as a result of my incorrect guesses at the right answers) that the first question actually wanted the address to the pp-classifieds forums directory NOT the vbforums directory.

I had similar issues involved in setting up the script for integration with "either" vbulletin OR vbportal but NOT both. Hell I RUN both and I want the classifieds to WORK with both. So, why would you try to "force" me to choose between the two without providing any guidance whatsoever on what the downstream implications of that choice would be? In other words, how the heck was I SUPPOSED to answer that "choose death by hanging or death by firing squad question"? Also, I'm running vbulletin3.0.8 and vbportal 3.0.5 but the install script only refers to vbportal2... I still don't know whether you even support integration to vBportal 3. Do you?

Since, there was almost NO guidance on how to correctly answer those questions when you are running both products, I eventually realized I'd have to choose one integration or the other and not both. So I picked integrating with the forums because THAT's where the member database was and I KNEW I needed that integration to work immediately. And now even the member database integration doesn't freakin work and I've wasted a full day trying to get past step 1 and log into your control panel. The combination of this inadequate script and lousy instructions has forced me to delete the entire app and all of its database tables and reinstall at least 4 times and now I'm looking at a 5th reinstall?!? Grrrrrr.... Excuse me please while I go kick my dog!

If I sound P.O.ed, frankly, I am... VERY! You guys can do much BETTER than this. As a software pro and product manager myself, my advice to you is to ask the guy who wrote your excellent ImageMagick instructions to take a shot at rewriting the install instructions for your classifieds script ASAP. He wrote GREAT instructions that were clear and easy to follow and worked. These instructions on the other hand are simply awful. Heck I could do better than this and I didn't write the product!

I have spent my whole 36 year IT career as a software professional and devoted several of those years writing step-by-step technical instructions and software manuals. I've installed dozens of scripts and products with little or no outside guidance and have rarely had as much trouble installing them as I had with this script today. And now you're telling me my installation is STILL wrong??

Hells bells and little fish hooks!!! Give me just 5 minutes alone in a room with whoever wrote those instructions... pretty please?? I'd like to offer him some career advice.

I can't help but wonder exactly how many times your users have been forced to reinstall this script because of your installation instructions? Jeez, guys! Please have somebody rewrite those instructions and that script! You'd be doing yourselves and your customers a HUGE favor. This wastes a LOT of time and ticks customers off very early in your relationship with them. That's not exactly great for business, you know.

Somebody owes me an apology... a written apology. But please make sure it's NOT the guy who wrote those install instructions. The way I feel now, I'm afraid he'd be happy to move to Botswana and drive a truck for the rest of his life by the time I finished counseling him.

Conclusion: You guys get a big fat "F" on your report card for this one. And if somebody asks me tomorrow whether I'd recommend BUYING this script or not, just what do you think I'm gonna say? Can't you SEE how this adversely affects your sales??? Have I made my point yet?

Best Professional Regards,
Tom Platt
Web Witchcraft Publishing

[Chuck S]

Tom

Sorry for your troubles installing but your issue comes down to cookies I beleive. If you email me a url and admin login I can take a look for you. Your cookie prefix is found in your vb3 config file.

The cookie prefix and vb license number are very important in the vb3 login as seen when setting the password cookie here

$dbpassword = md5(md5($password) . $User['salt']);
$cookiepass = md5($dbpassword . $Globals['vblicense']);
setcookie( "{$Globals['cookieprefix']}password", $cookiepass, time()+2592000,"{$Globals['cookie_path']}", $Globals['domain_path'] );

I will pass along your comments to the developer whom wrote the installation instructions. In his defense though minus ftp upload time I can install the program in like two minutes.

I would welcome constructive criticism on how to better explain a step that is confusing to you on install so please do tell. The majority of users most of whom are not IT inclined like you have no issues installing the program other than normal user error entering the wrong license number or not entering the cookie prefix so I would be personally interested exactly where you get lost on the instructions.

[websissy]

Originally Posted by omegatron

Tom

Sorry for your troubles installing but your issue comes down to cookies I beleive. If you email me a url and admin login I can take a look for you. Your cookie prefix is found in your vb3 config file.

The cookie prefix and vb license number are very important in the vb3 login as seen when setting the password cookie here

$dbpassword = md5(md5($password) . $User['salt']);
$cookiepass = md5($dbpassword . $Globals['vblicense']);
setcookie( "{$Globals['cookieprefix']}password", $cookiepass, time()+2592000,"{$Globals['cookie_path']}", $Globals['domain_path'] );

I will pass along your comments to the developer whom wrote the installation instructions. In his defense though minus ftp upload time I can install the program in like two minutes.

I would welcome constructive criticism on how to better explain a step that is confusing to you on install so please do tell. The majority of users most of whom are not IT inclined like you have no issues installing the program other than normal user error entering the wrong license number or not entering the cookie prefix so I would be personally interested exactly where you get lost on the instructions.

Okay, Omegatron... Now let ME begin by offering my OWN apology. As I pointed out in my earlier email, I was very tired and ticked-off last night. As a result, I guess I came off like a jerk and there's no point in that. The truth is Your install instructions worked fine until I got to where I needed to change things around a bit in order to handle the quirks of my current configuration.

The issue I faced was that my install isn't quite your "normal" one in that I'm working on a new version of this client's site which is currently still running from an IP address and not from the ultimate domain name. I knew that going into the install and realized that meant I'd probably need to override several of the install script's default parameters to make it work right. I do intend to move the domain name any day now but I need to make this new site WORK first and get all these apps working properly together. The old domain / site presently works fine and I don't want run the risk of breaking it while I'm still doing setup on the new one. So I've chosen to leave the domain where it is until I'm done with my setup and testing. Therein lies my original dilemma and need to override the default installation parameters.

Now, as to the issues I had with the install script, I've already outlined several of those. So I won't belabor those points here. The problems were mostly with incomplete or unclear explanations and the fact that I probably know TOO much for my own good and was trying to set it up differently than what would be your 'normal' way of doing things. Obvoiusly the lack of a tip on where to find the vB cookie thing proved to cause me major problems. Someone should clear that up on your next revision of the install instructions and the script.

Also, I think it would be VERY helpful for the install instructions to include a brief field-by-field discussion of each of your setup parameters and at least a short explanation of the purpose and use each field as well as the impact of what happens if you get it wrong. The way we use word in our language is rather slippery and the nuances between the choices of words like "the forums" versus "your forums" can lead to much confusion. It would be vastly clearer to say "the pp-classifieds forums directory" and "your vBulletin forums" instead.

On the first install, I also overlooked one of the instructions on setting individual file attributes (*.css and & *.tmpl) in linux simply because it was buried in a text paragraph rather than provided in a nice simple list as the directory attributes are. My suggestion is that you take the attribute settings discussed in that paragraph and break it up into a bulleted list (like the directory attributes are) rather than a long block of text. It'll be more obvious what needs to be done and easier for users to get it right that way.

Also, once my installation was broken and things did not work properly, I found I was completely on my own when it came to how to remove the install and start over. The install instructions provided no guidance there at all and I had installed the darned thing into existing my mySQL forums database. Of course, I had made a backup beforehand as suggested, but really didn't WANT to have to shut down everything else in order to drop the database and restore it. Also, I did a full save and there are other sites using that same mySQL install. So to shut things down and do a db restore would have required taking every other site on the server down at the same time. Clearly that was NOT a desireable solution.

In the end, because you provide no "uninstall" script, I ended up logging in through telnet and using rm -rf in the pp-classifieds directory to eliminate everything that had been uploaded and then subsequently modified by the install script. Then I used FTP to reupload everything. While that ran, I also went into mySQL as the database administrator and individually dropped each table that your script had created. Doing that worked fine... but how many of your users would know HOW to do that? Also, I discovered during the first reinstall that your product fails to name the zipData table with the standard prefix that all the other tables have. So when even though I had indivdually dropped all 22 of your other tables, when I reran the script I still got SQL errors because the zipData table already existed.

Not knowing the impact that having that table present might have had on the install script, that forced me to completely delete everything a SECOND time and reinstall again. Needless to say, if you had provided a delete_tables SQL script for users who experience installation problems and need to reinstall, that would have made this entire process MUCH easier. Indeed, having an "uninstall" script available would have been an absolute godsend!

Okay. At this point, I've taken the time to offer my constructive suggestions here. Hopefully that is appropriate penance for having sounded off so loudly last night. I do hope the developer who wrote the script will find these suggestions helpful.

I'm off to install for the 5th time now. Hopefully, armed with more knowledge, things will go much better this time.

Thanks again for your help and patient support, Omegatron. I really DO appreciate that. I know your job is very often a thankless one. Please extend my apologies to the developer and tell him he can stop looking for truck driving jobs in Botswana too. I really don't hate him. And all-in-all I think he did a decent job in doing what is (as I well know) a very hard thing to do. I sincerely hope he finds my suggestions at least helpful.

Best Professional Regards,
Tom Platt
Web Witchcraft Publishing

[Chuck S]

No problems at all Tom!

You have any other issues let me know.

[websissy]

Okay... I got past the cookies issue this time and I'm into the Admin Control panel. Now I've got at least two new problems.

First, I tried to create a set of categories. As soon as I did that, I got the following error message...

Error creating directory /home/www/steppinoutnewmexico/pp-classifieds-242/data3. Check permissions of your data directory.

I checked the data directory. First there IS no data directory named:

pp-classifieds-242/data3

That's exact. I did not leave out a slash there. But it appears the program did. Shouldn't that ACTUALLY be, pp-classifieds-242/data/3? (P.S. I double checked the config-int.php parameters and sure enough the path to the data directory was missing the trailing slash. I have no idea why. Since I did NOT delete it. So I added it and saved it. But the darned thing is STILL failing with the same error message. I even restarted my browser and logged-in again. But the problem is still there. What gives here?)

The directory called data and the two directories underneath it named 1 and 2 respectively all do have 777 permissions. However, the pp-classifieds-242 directory does NOT have 777 permissions They're only 755. I suspect there's a missing trailing slash someplace in the config parameters. Can you tell me where please? I swear, if I have to reinstall this darned thing again, my heads going to start spinning around and I'm gonna start spittin nickels.

Next, when I tried to logout as the secondary admin and login as the primary, I got this error...

Warning: main(./global.php): failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /home/www/steppinoutnewmexico/pp-classifieds-242/header-inc.php on line 61

Fatal error: main(): Failed opening required './global.php' (include_path='') in /home/www/steppinoutnewmexico/pp-classifieds-242/header-inc.php on line 61

The error is being generated by:

http://66.221.218.52/pp-classifieds-...?action=logout


I also double-checked the config-int.php for the value of the vbpath and once AGAIN I had overlooked the fact that the darned install script assumes the forums are installed BELOW the classifieds and I had overlooked the need to change that. I fixed that and these last two (logout) errors went away. However, I'm still having the first set of issues described above.

I swear to Methuselah, this darned thing is gonna turn me into a homicidal maniac yet!

Thanks, Omegatron...

Best Professional Regards,
Tom Platt

[Chuck S]

Tom

The global.php file thing points to the forum path being wrong in the config-int.php file.

As far as the data path that is in Global Options you can place a trailing slash on there.

If the 3 directory does not exist since the category is already inserted you can create it but should be fine after.

[websissy]

Fer cryin out loud, Omegatron, this app stores the config parameters in TWO different places. Somebody should tell the developers that's NOT a good idea. I had fixed it in the config-int.php but hadn't yet discovered that you also store the config parms in the database.

I'm running now. But what a tale of woe this has been. And I'd like to point out that the very same problems I've complained about have turned up for others here too. I did some looking. and Lady reported very similar problems to mine a few days ago.

In the words of a 60's songwriter, in the song "How Many Roads"... "When will they ever learn? When will they ever learn?" Sigh...

Thanks again, Omegatron. I do realize you did the best you could with an installation process that just isn't perfected yet.

Best Professional Regards,
Tom Platt

[Chuck S]

Well the data path in the config-int.php is for the vb3 integration and not the program. That is the difference. The data path is ONLY in one place the admin panel which is in the database