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Problem on upgrade from 1.8.4 to current (2.8.8): pages don't have styling or im...
Hi all,
I admin a site for a church where I used to live. Great folks. The site had been running Perch 1.2 happily but with the EOL for Perch 1 and my schedule not permitting any real work on it until this weekend, I've upgraded today.
But there is an issue. The content appears, but there is no styling or images. Just text.
What I did: following the instructions for upgrading from Perch 1 to Perch 2, I first upgraded to Perch 1.8.4. That process worked well, with no errors. I verified the site was functional.
I followed the instructions for upgrading to Perch 2.8.8 and got no errors. The upgrade app copied over all the content and the site's structure is present (the architecture of the pages and their relationships, links, etc). There's just no styling or images. I tried republishing, but without effect.
Any clues appreciated!
--dan
My Perch diagnostics:
PERCH INFORMATION
Perch: 2.8.8
Production mode: Production (100)
Installed apps: content (2.8.8), assets (2.8.8), categories (2.8.8), perch_upgrade (1.6)
DB driver: PDO
DB tables: perch2_categories, perch2_category_counts, perch2_category_sets, perch2_content_index, perch2_content_items, perch2_content_regions, perch2_navigation, perch2_navigation_pages, perch2_page_templates, perch2_pages, perch2_resource_log, perch2_resource_tags, perch2_resources, perch2_resources_to_tags, perch2_settings, perch2_user_privileges, perch2_user_role_privileges, perch2_user_roles, perch2_users, perch_contentItems, perch_settings, perch_users
Users: 1
App runtimes:
<?php
$apps_list = array(
'content',
'categories',
);
Editor plug-ins: markitup
H1: b8ece11a973db33f58a87dfa3a3d308b
L1: f87d45d5b28c608de6323bbe5e75e96a
headerColour: #ffffff
content_singlePageEdit: 1
helpURL:
siteURL: /
hideBranding: 0
content_collapseList: 1
lang: en-gb
update_2.8.8: done
latest_version: 2.8.8
on_sale_version: 2.8.8
headerLinkColour: #000000
logoPath: /perch/resources/UUCNC_window.jpg
linkColour: #333333
editorMayDeleteRegions: 0
latestUpdate: 1.8.4
PERCH_DEVELOPMENT: 10
PERCH_STAGING: 50
PERCH_PRODUCTION: 100
PERCH_DB_USERNAME: dbo295615203
PERCH_DB_SERVER: db2010.perfora.net
PERCH_DB_DATABASE: db295615203
PERCH_DB_PREFIX: perch2_
PERCH_TZ: America/New_York
PERCH_EMAIL_FROM: dan@danstocker.com
PERCH_EMAIL_FROM_NAME: Dan Stocker
PERCH_LOGINPATH: /perch
PERCH_PATH: /homepages/35/d156814736/htdocs/uucnc/perch
PERCH_CORE: /homepages/35/d156814736/htdocs/uucnc/perch/core
PERCH_RESFILEPATH: /homepages/35/d156814736/htdocs/uucnc/perch/resources
PERCH_RESPATH: /perch/resources
PERCH_HTML5: 1
PERCH_RUNWAY:
PERCH_ERROR_MODE: DIE
PERCH_DATE_LONG: %d %B %Y
PERCH_DATE_SHORT: %d %b %Y
PERCH_TIME_SHORT: %H:%M
PERCH_TIME_LONG: %H:%M:%S
PERCH_DEBUG:
PERCH_PREVIEW_ARG: preview
PERCH_TEMPLATE_PATH: /homepages/35/d156814736/htdocs/uucnc/perch/templates
PERCH_DEFAULT_DOC: index.php
PERCH_DEFAULT_EXT: .php
PERCH_PRODUCTION_MODE: 100
PERCH_RWD:
PERCH_HTML_ENTITIES:
PERCH_SSL:
PERCH_STRIPSLASHES:
PERCH_PROGRESSIVE_FLUSH: 1
PERCH_AUTH_PLUGIN:
PERCH_DB_CHARSET: utf8
PERCH_DB_PORT:
PERCH_DB_SOCKET:
Are these images ones uploaded through Perch or just other assets? Perch doesn't manage your CSS unless you are using Feathers, which doesn't appear to be the case. So is the CS file actually there and at the location you expect?
Hi Rachel,
Thanks for the response. Yes to both. The only part of the site I've changed is the Perch folder. All site pages are at the same level as the Perch folder (i.e. the Perch folder itself lives among them). One such file is the CSS. That arrangement is untouched.
The images are just the copied resources from the earlier installations, per the upgrade instructions to copy the contents of Perch/resources and Perch/templates (which by the by, should be Perch/templates/content, lest one overwrite part of the 2.8.8 installation, it seems to me).
The impression is that there's just a config needed to get the engine to use the pages that are there.
Or perhaps some modification necessary to let it use the HTML in those files (to also include the CSS)?
perch/templates is correct, and as explained we don't do anything with your CSS files. If the file is there, at the URL it should be, and not loading the most likely thing is it has the wrong permissions on your server.
What happens if you try and directly load the CSS file in your browser?
If you can show me a URL where this is happening I can take a look but this sounds like something other than a Perch issue from your description, so I'm not sure what else to suggest.
I agree that it seems too odd to be a systemic issue, but the site worked fine under 1.8.4 (after upgrade from 1.2) and following the upgrade instructions to 2 (in my case, 2.8.8) generated no errors. In point of fact, it's mostly there, just missing a few (key) elements. :)
The site in question is: UUCNC and you can find the CSS file at uucnc.css
Thanks again for your help!
Got an idea and checked the pages in the admin UI. All the page elements are "NEW" meaning (as I understand it) they aren't defined yet (i.e. don't have their prior value from the working site). Here's a
.
How could that happen?
How can I fix it?
PHP is terminating with an error. Is there anything in the error log?
Can I see your full DIagnostics Report?
Did the server pass the Compatibility Test for Perch 2?
I don't know where the error logs are for my package at 1&1. I'm looking into that. Where did you find that?
I've never heard of the Compatibility Test before. It wasn't in the upgrade instructions.
Here is my detailed Diagnostics Report:
Found the Compatibility Checker and ran it. It reported "PASS: You're all set!"
I have the access logs for my shared hosting package, but not (specifically) error logs. I'll see 200s and 404s in there, but no details. If you let me know where you saw the errors, I'll try digging around that.
In the meantime, the wholesale reset of page elements seems to be the big issue.
I appreciate you having a look see on a Sunday! When you get back, please let me know how I can help troubleshoot or fix.
Thank you! --dan
If you View Source you can see that parts of your page are missing. PHP is erroring on those pages so you need to find your PHP error log, that will be a different file to your access log, you may need to raise a ticket with your host.
I can't do anything more until I can see what PHP error is being thrown.
I'll engage their support, but those parts are "legitimately" blank, because they are "NEW". In other words, the system seems to be doing what it's supposed to, but the system is not configured right.
In the screenshot 5 posts back, all the page elements that are "NEW" had values in the pre-upgrade site.
The question is: how did they all get reset to "NEW" from years-long established values in the pre-upgrade site?
I think that's just a quirk of the upgrade process - if you click through and pick the template the regions should have their content and not be new at all.
Hi Drew,
That's amazing. On a couple levels. Why would these (shared) elements lose their identity? I've managed to recover most of them (since I tend to use Code Block ..) but several are not at all obvious, and some are blank after trying one type and shifting to another.
How should I recover that (absolutely vital) meta data? Digging in the DB backup has given me some clues, but the encoding makes recovery difficult and tedious.
Look, I have respect for what you've built here. I gave you my money after all. But a little warning, amidst all the other useful instructions for upgrading, would have saved me some real trouble. Something along the lines of "Note what template is used for all shared page elements, you'll need to reset them."
If I had a big site, this would be a full-on nightmare.
You shouldn't need to reset them, it's not designed to work that way. This is a situation I've seen in less than 1% of all upgrades, but I have seen it happen. As most Perch 1 sites were very small at it happened vanishingly rarely, it was never an issue we were able to troubleshoot.
Your database should still have all your old Perch 1 tables. If you need a list of the templates, that's easy to come by:
HI Drew,
Thanks for your and Rachel's help. We're back in business. I appreciate your explanation that the quirk was a very rare event. Luckily it was just the common elements shared by all pages that were "lost". It was some work to restore, but nothing onerous. I definitely learned more about your great product in the meantime.
Your support was outstanding and I'm even happier a customer than before (and that's saying something!)
Cheers! --dan
Thanks Dan!