Possible Sessions issue.(NOT A BUG)

menoutdoors · December 26th, 2005, 03:39 PM

Hello,

I am having a interesting problem with my gallery install that I was hoping to get a little direction on in regards to solving it.

The problem I am experiencing is, whenever I directly link to a subcategory within our galleries I get a dns/ server error. This error page is the standard "The page cannot be displayed"

To see this error you can go to

http://gallery.menoutdoors.com/galle...ry.php?cat=501

Originally I thought this was some sort of routing issue with our server and the dns servers. I contacted my host and completly changed dns servers, physical server boxs and networks. After the server changes our problems seemed to be initially resolved. After addinga few galleries and testing out how my linking within the site was working it appeared as though all was resolved. However, once I added all of our gallieries these errors reappeared.

To sum it up, I had no issues at all with 20 categories. I am having issues with 300 categories.

Now, if you go to http://gallery.menoutdoors.com/gallery/ the site works fine. However if you go to http://gallery.menoutdoors.com/galle...ry.php?cat=501 first you will get a "The page cannot be displayed" page.

My server provider has advised that this is a php sessions issue. That the php session is only being created by visiting the root of my site for somereason. I am really lost at this point as to how to proceede and was hoping for some ideas.

I would lastly like to add this is with a fresh install of photopost with vb3 integration on with full features.

-Chris

Chuck S · December 27th, 2005, 08:11 AM

I get no issues visiting this link

http://gallery.menoutdoors.com/galle...ry.php?cat=501

Furthermore I doubt your host's hypothesis since you are authenticated on each script to assign permissions which means all cookies are read and processed.

Code:

Content visible to verified customers only.

So the issue to narrow down is what is happening and when. You posted this link and it works now. In fact every link I clicked on your site worked. Usually page can not be found errors HMM could be if you had spider url's set to ON and your server can not translate the url.

menoutdoors · December 27th, 2005, 01:55 PM

hmm I just clicked that link and it still doesnt work on my system.

However if i go to the root of the site first, my entire site works fine for a good 10-15 minutes or so.

I just checked the spider url's and they are off. I will ask a few other people to test the site and see if they can reproduce the error.

In all honesty it is a deceptive error to catch, because you have to view the links in the proper order. If you view the root first the error will dissapear for a period of time. (untill the session expires)

Chuck S · December 27th, 2005, 04:54 PM

Well the link works for me fine as you have posted it.

menoutdoors · December 29th, 2005, 03:49 PM

Chuck,

First I want to thank you for looking at this. My testers have helped me isolate and actually reproduce this error.

Here is what we have determined.

The error is consistant on internet explorer if (and only if) you are logged into the site.

If you are not logged in , there is no error.

If you are using a mozilla browser it appears as though the page just never loads.

If you are logged in however, and view the root of gallery.menoutdoors.com first there is no error.

The error occurs for users logged in, using internet explorer, while following a direct link into the gallery.

If you would like to test it I have created a beta login

login: beta1
pass: beta1

you can login at forums.menoutdoors.com
then just click the link at the top that says "fish postings".

Thanks
Chris

Chuck S · December 29th, 2005, 04:22 PM

Actually logged into your site I have no issue accessing your gallery from either the hunting or fishing links using the login provided.

If you type in the address in the url window as well the gallery loads. Tried many things and it works for me. will try again later.

I can only hypothesis here maybe an issue with whatever javascript your using for those buttons? Basically only thing I can think of that it could be. Your gallery and forum both appear to be functioning fine. Therefore any issues with links would most likely lie within the header coding itself and possibly incompatibility maybe with some users who are using older IE versions.

menoutdoors · December 30th, 2005, 04:33 PM

Hello again Chuck,

I was thinking that it may be within those buttons also as well. The only problem is for the people that can reproduce the error the links will not load no matter what... be it using a link from our forums, a bookmark from their favorite, or even typing it in manually.

It's a deceptive problem because I have been able to reliably reproduce it on multiple systems yet some people we can not reproduce it what so ever on.

Personally I am using IE 6.0.2900.2180.xpsp_sp2_gdr.050301-1519

The java script theory does make sense to me although, I would think if it was a general javascript error we would be experiencing it no matter if we were logged in or out. With that in mind im leaning more towards a isse with the cookies... maybe timing out during a read? I don't know though because the site works fine if you hit the root. (gallery.menoutdoors.com/gallery/index.php) While for some users - only while logged in- any variables added to that url will end up in error.

Chuck S · December 30th, 2005, 05:45 PM

I dont know it seems to work for me whereever I access it from. I would think as a result it is the java on those buttons. cookies seem just fine as I am logged into the gallery if I log into the forums

menoutdoors · December 30th, 2005, 11:29 PM

Just a update...

I just disabled vb header integration and it works fine. Although I dont have headers or stylesheets at the moment but on my system at least the bug resolved instantly. I am sending my testers through it again to see what they find.

I think you were right that its somewhere within the header and this would narrow it down for me. Ill probably go to just a blank header within vbulletin to eliminate the possibility of any strange js caused by preloaders etc, then work from there.

Chuck S · December 31st, 2005, 07:56 AM

Yep just redesign the current header without that fancy java buttons and see what happens

Crow · January 2nd, 2006, 11:48 PM

Anyone know who makes the skin that hes using on his site?

http://forums.menoutdoors.com/forums/

menoutdoors · January 3rd, 2006, 08:14 AM

@Crow,
It is a commercially purchased (branding free) version of a skin called blue life from vbdesigns.de. We have modified it abit from the original skin to get the colors closer in line with what we were looking for.

Chuck, I believe I have isloated the problem to globals.php from vb3.5. I have recoded how it handles my custom templates there and things seem to be working again for the people that were effected to begin with.

Chuck S · January 3rd, 2006, 08:42 AM

The java calls on the buttons right

Crow · January 3rd, 2006, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by menoutdoors

@Crow,
It is a commercially purchased (branding free) version of a skin called blue life from vbdesigns.de. We have modified it abit from the original skin to get the colors closer in line with what we were looking for.

Thank you very much.. Sorry to post on your thread!

menoutdoors · January 6th, 2006, 01:18 PM

Well, im not so sure it was the java.

I think the problem was with modifactions I made to the two software packages. The system worked for most users, but for some it killed the site.

I based the changes off a multiple header mod I saw somewhere on this site.
Basically, I added the headers I needed to use with photopost based software to my globals.php of vb3.5.

Code:

Content visible to verified customers only.

Then I added a if else statement to header-inc.php of photopost. Which would call the appropriate header based upong cat number. It looked like this.

Code:

Content visible to verified customers only.

Now, this worked for most of my users like I said. However, I just couldnt live with the fact that for some of my users the site would go completely black once we hit the galleries.

So I've reverted all the changes and im working on getting the gallery portion of the site working without vbulletin header/css integration while keeping the visual aspect the same. Setting it up as a external css and recoding the tags as needed (on the stylesheet) then using specific headers per gallery.

Chuck S · January 6th, 2006, 01:19 PM

ah there you go you had hacked things

that will do it