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Grasping at straws now – should WPMU & BP be in same DB or different?


  • gazouteast
    Participant

    @gazouteast

    I’ve tried 3 different installs of WPMU 2.8.4a and BP 1.1.2 (sub-domain set up in site root install) on three different hosting services on three different continents (UK, US, & Singapore) all with MySQL 5.x, PHP 5.x, and 128 – 256 MB RAM available.

    For each install, fresh downloads of WPMU & BP were made, therefore reducing the possibility of corrupted code being transferred from server to server, unless the code in the WPMU/BP servers that deliver to SE Asia is already corrupted?

    The only plugins active at any time were (in WPMU) Akismet and Default Blog Settings … and BuddyPress of course. No BuddyPress plugins were activated at any time.

    On all three servers, I got exactly the same problem with the Groups avatar upload / cropping tool that I reported as a bug in trac (which someone appears to have deleted) and which I’ve tried to resolve for over a week now here in the BP forums, and in the WPMU forums. THe only useful pointer I’ve discovered came in fact from the osCommerce forums and related to the javascript used to resize images in the avatar cropper – even though it was referring to an entirely different sitescript and tool, although the usage was similar.

    So here we go again, and for the lord knows how manyth time, let me describe the behaviour –

    1 – first time access to the Creat Groups sub-routine (i.e. first ever group created on a site with new install) on the Group avatar page, the Back, Upload, Skip buttons appear.

    2 – attempting to upload an avatar (all attempts – first time, second time, exit and return and try again, go to admin and edit group avatar etc) the cropper tool fails to grab the image and displays only a black 88px x 16px background “bar” in the avatar viewer.

    3 – At step 2 above, after the very first upload attempt for the site, the Back & Skip buttons on the avatar upload page disappear (this means the avatar cannot be skipped and jump to send invites, nor go back to try and reload the page fresh for another attempt within the create group loop.)

    After each attempt that reaches step 2, there is a report from BP that the image failed to upload, but the image is in the correct directory/folder on the server, with the correct filename etc and can be viewed using the cpanel image viewer from file manager.

    There is NO server log error spawned from the avatar uploader/cropper – ergo – it is the javascript that is incomplete, or pointing to the incorrect file location, or cannot follow the complete path to the file (exactly who decided to place a period in the folder name blogs.dir – and why – I’m sure that’s at least a piece of the problem). It is possible to cause the uploader/cropper to spawn a server error log by not “browsing” to acquire an image, then clicking save – the “no image selected, unable to save” type message does record to the server error log, proving that bit of the code to server interface is working.

    Let me clarify step 3 – the Back and Skip buttons only ever appear ONE time, which is the very first time the Group Avatar page is accessed on any one site install. After that, they never appear again – poof! gone! disappeared into the ether! – their code does not even appear in page source (using mouse – right click – view source) nor does it reveal in code or css when viewing with firebug.

    It is as if the Back and Skip buttons have been programmed as a one-time only “display then destroy” piece of code – a bit like toilet tissue?

    So, the “grasping at straws” question –

    The only thing I have not yet tried is to put WPMU & BP into their own databases – does BP require that it is installed into a different database to WPMU? All the documentation (and default install) puts it in the WPMU database with unique “bp_” prefixes.

    Everything above tested and displayed in Firefox 3.5.3 and IE 6.5 on WinXP & Win2000 workstations, and on Win2000 Server box (in both server and workstation mode) with hosting on Linux/CentOS shared hosting services at THREE different hosting companies on three different continents …. although I haven’t tried a southern hemisphere hosting company yet – maybe the upside down “down under” positioning will give a different result? LOL

    The issue / bugs above are still not resolved

    – I did report them in the bug tracker, but someone deleted the report.

    – I have reported them several times in BP forums and DJPaul keeps telling me to start my own thread, OK – here it is

    – Looking through the BP forums, this issue (avatar cropper) is going the same way as the basic “WP flash uploader failing to complete crunching and upload” bug over on WP.org – and that has hundreds if not 1000’s of threads open for it (since WP 2.5.x).

    Help appreciated

    Gaz

Viewing 25 replies - 1 through 25 (of 30 total)

  • Xevo
    Participant

    @xevo

    As far as I know, you HAVE to put them in the same database or it won’t work. I’d also leave the standard prefix, since you never know if a plugin or wpmu/buddypress might go haywire because you didn’t leave the standard prefix.


    gazouteast
    Participant

    @gazouteast

    Xevo – thanks – you beat me to the typo correction – I reversed the database position when typing the question – I’ve now fixed it and written what I actually meant to say, rather than the opposite of it – LOL – coffee NEEDED urgently.


    Xevo
    Participant

    @xevo

    Your avatar problem is probably because of the file itself. What kinda file do you upload? If it’s some kinda rare file like .raw then it’s obvious it wouldn’t work. If you could, also place the specs of the image, like if it’s cmyk/rgb, how many bits, the size of the image and wether its transparent or not.

    Right now Buddypress has to be in the same database as wpmu, I heard they might make it possible to put into another database later in development.

    And while your at it, could you make me some coffee too? Haven’t slept for 22 hours.. :)


    John James Jacoby
    Keymaster

    @johnjamesjacoby

    @gazouteast

    Do you have a link to your install that I can join and try to diagnose? I know that there have been issues with the cropping tool, but the current tool is one that now comes included with WordPress and is being used as part of the media editing update coming in WordPress 2.9.


    gazouteast
    Participant

    @gazouteast

    JJJ – will PM you now with the URL for the deadlined install – once you’ve joined, let me know your ID and I’ll also set an FTP and MySQL account for you and supply the backend (cpanel) details for you

    Soon as I’ve PM’d you, I’ll pop back and post the image info that Xevo has asked for – need to fire up a graphics package and extract the data first.

    Gaz


    gazouteast
    Participant

    @gazouteast

    JJJ – tried to PM you three times now

    “There was an error sending that message, please try again”

    Have you blocked personal messages? Or is there something here that I’m missing?

    Gaz


    gazouteast
    Participant

    @gazouteast

    @Xevo

    First image tried =

    24-bit 72-dpi jpg 150×150 pixels, 6330 bytes size on disk, RGB

    Second image tried =

    24-bit 72-dpi jpg 60×60 pixels 2458 bytes size on disk RGB

    Third image tried =

    24-bit 72-dpi jpg 114×150 pixels 5373 bytes size on disk RGB

    Fourth image tried =

    24-bit 72-dpi jpg 300×225 pixels 5102 bytes size on disk RGB

    Haven’t tried it with gif’s yet, and none of the files tried has transparency. jpg compression ranges from 10% to 50% to achieve the file size on disk (I like small file sizes for faster page loads).

    Gaz


    Xevo
    Participant

    @xevo

    Thats the standard, so that should’ve worked. Which means it’s not the images after all.

    I’ll start trying it out on my own install and see what happens.

    Edit: Tried it and worked fine with standard settings, I’ll try tweaking settings and see if it changes.


    gazouteast
    Participant

    @gazouteast

    Thanks Xevo – just had a nosy at the groups here on BuddyPress and noticed all of them are using the generated avatars – wonders if that’s due to buddypress.org actually having the same problem, or if it’s because no-one bothered trying the custom avatar upload?

    Edit to add – have joined 3 groups here on buddypress.org – the group avatars do not display in my profile groups list (just display a small 60×60 ? grey box with text link for “Group Avatar” in it.

    Also sent friend request to JJJ in case that’s what is needed to send PM – my profile friends list shows no friendship accepted and pending shows no request sent, despite the screen showing confirmation at the time of requesting – will try it again

    Another edit to add – the friendship thing with JJJ has straightened itself out (server lag?) but still cannot PM him – same error as stated above.


    John James Jacoby
    Keymaster

    @johnjamesjacoby

    PM’s to me have been weird for a few days now. Maybe DM me on twitter @johnjamesjacoby if that works?


    gazouteast
    Participant

    @gazouteast

    @JJJ – tweet sent, please confirm receipt but don’t publish URL – site is not yet public


    John James Jacoby
    Keymaster

    @johnjamesjacoby

    Working on this… You can delete the tweet if you want now.


    gazouteast
    Participant

    @gazouteast

    Tweet deleted – many thanks for taking the time on this – let me know if you need FTP or SQL access


    John James Jacoby
    Keymaster

    @johnjamesjacoby

    Looks like registration is disabled on your site. Do you have a guest username and PW I can use?


    gazouteast
    Participant

    @gazouteast

    Aargh .. and Duhhh Stoopid me – forgot to enable it for you – deep apologies – I’ve reset it to allow user and blog creation / registration – I’ll knock it out again when you’re done.

    Goes to find suitable knobbly wall to bang head upon.


    John James Jacoby
    Keymaster

    @johnjamesjacoby

    Just registered on your site as “guest”

    When I attempt to create a group. The “previous” and “next” buttons are always there. You’re correct to assume part of the problem is with the avatar cropping tool, because the issue isn’t with groups, it’s with user avatars too.

    Your bug in the trac wasn’t deleted because I responded to it a few hours ago also, but saw the post here and figured it would be the easiest way to find you…

    Are you able to upload images to your WordPress blog?

    I haven’t seen an issue like this before, so this looks like a configuration issue of some kind. I know you’ve said you’ve tried this on a bunch of hosts, but something isn’t jiving on your installs.

    Can you try the updated version of WordPressMU (2.8.5.2) and see if the problem continues?


    gazouteast
    Participant

    @gazouteast

    Hi JJJ – just had a mosey around the site back end – your avatar image shows in the WPMU users list, but not on the BP user list (e.g. if I go to “make friends” your user name is there, but not your avatar, same if I go to the members list from the main menu buttons below the buddy bar. Similarly, on the BP themed home page, your avatar doesn’t reveal in the site-wide activity in the recent activity (middle) column.

    Will run the WPMU upgrade shortly – was waiting for you to finish trying before I did that.

    Posts in WPMU blogging have a similar issue with images – example – using the site default blog, an image uploads fine but doesn’t display in media manager or in the post preview (both edit page and save-draft-&-preview.

    I still keep coming back to that path name ” /blogs.dir/ ” I am convinced (without rational reason) that the period in that name is the issue. If upgrading to 2.8.5.1 doesn’t fix it, I’ll have a go at changing that folder name to a standard name type and see if that assists, then post back here.

    It’ll be a couple of hours thouggh as I have some offline urgent jobs that are long overdue.

    Many thanks for investigating

    Gaz


    John James Jacoby
    Keymaster

    @johnjamesjacoby

    The reason my avatar appears in WPMU is because it’s picking up my Gravatar in those places.

    If WPMU is also having an issue with uploads, then I reckon this is probably not a BuddyPress issue (yet.) :)


    gazouteast
    Participant

    @gazouteast

    Have upgraded WPMU to 2.8.5.2

    First thing I noticed – no BuddyPress menu in the site Dashboard at wp-admin

    Second thing I noticed =

    Fatal error: Call to undefined function bp_page_title() in /home/serveruser/public_html/wp-content/themes/bp-sn-parent/header.php on line 9 (white screen of death on home page)


    John James Jacoby
    Keymaster

    @johnjamesjacoby

    Sounds like you need to activate BuddyPress to me. ;)


    gazouteast
    Participant

    @gazouteast

    Them errors was when it was activated. I’ve since deactivated it, then went for a siesta to cogitate on this.

    I’m starting to think I need to wipe the install and database, and start again from scratch – if a full new install continues to give the same errors then I might just give up on it altogether, and ditch BP for a year or so to allow it to “mature” while I build the blog-only WPMU sites I have on the drawing board.

    I appreciate your help and everything, but such a “little thing” as avatars have lost me a week of site development already, and if BP is going to go rogue on me and kill the site each time I upgrade WPMU (knowing they issue uprades every time the wind changes) then I can’t risk trying to build any sites around it.

    Another issue surfaced during the WPMU upgrade in that this server failed to complete the auto-upgrade (even though single-blog WP installs on the same server do upgrade using it) and I need to dig into why that happens with WPMU – see if it repeats with a test install of 2.8.4a – and if so, then, that’s another red card for the MU projects list. The failure was that it simply downloaded and unpacked the upgrade, then did nothing else, but the browser status bar reported a “Done” status from the upgrade script and nothing else. Below the actions list (where I’d usually expect a statement and link that all was well), nothing appeared.

    I also need to test this on the other hosting services, because if all went to plan, I’d be launching a site a week using WPMU and BP – but that’s starting to look non-viable now due to the high maintenance-commit they seem to need.

    Leave this one pending for now, and I’ll get back to you on it in a day or two after further testing.

    Many thanks for your effort so far

    Gaz

    p.s. – the upgrade to WPMU ended up being done manually due to the auto-upgrader issue – all plugins (including BP) were deactivated for the upgrade.


    Jeff Sayre
    Participant

    @jeffsayre

    @gazouteast

    Okay, I’ll add a few thoughts and ask a question or two here as well–in no particular order of importance.

    • When describing the avatar-uploading behavior in point 2 of your your OP, you state that:

      the cropper tool fails to grab the image and displays only a black 88px x 16px background “bar” in the avatar viewer.

      That behavior can indicate one or more issues. Here are a couple.

      First, it could mean that one of the dimensions of your image file is too small. By default, BuddyPress sets the small avatar at 50 by 50 and the large avatar at 150 by 150. So, if your source image is smaller than 150 on at least one of its dimensions, you could have issues with creating the large avatar. If it is smaller than 50 on at least one of its dimensions, you could have issues with creating the small and large avatar. You will see black for any missing pixels, meaning that the cropper has to add pixels to bring the image size p to the minimum required dimensions

      Second, it may be that your server is running too old of a version of the GD image library.

    • In your post just above this one, you talk about using the auto-upgrade feature for WPMU. I never use the auto-upgrade feature when upgrading WPMU or BuddyPress. It is simple and quick enough to manually upgrade them and it gives you more control and assurance that it is done right.
    • You mentioned that you do not have any additional BuddyPress plugins installed and activated but that you do have a couple of WPMU plugins activated. When trying to figure out issues with your setup, you need to distill your environment down to the lowest, common denominator. That means deactivating all plugins except BuddyPress and using the default BP theme. So, although you only have the Akismet and Default Blog Settings plugins activated, I would suggest deactivating them when trying to figure out what is going wrong.
    • Are you on a shared or dedicated server? Talk with your hosting firm to see if there is some javascript-based application that the hosting firm has running on your server that could be interfering with the basic JS operations in WPMU. For instance, a MooTools-based application that has a conflict with the jQuery framework used by WPMU. Although this is a very slight possibility since you’ve indicated this behavior has happened on three different hosts.


    gazouteast
    Participant

    @gazouteast

    Hi Jeff – key comment in this reply is the last line ;-)

    So, if your source image is smaller than 150 on at least one of its dimensions, you could have issues with creating the large avatar. If it is smaller than 50 on at least one of its dimensions, you could have issues with creating the small and large avatar

    So what happened to css basics?

    e.g.

    maximum-width; 150px

    note the use of maximum-width as opposed to width – or is that not available in javascript ? (genuine query as I don’t know js coding at all) – also, note the dimensions I gave in reply to Xevo way back up the thread.

    it may be that your server is running too old of a version of the GD image library

    possible, though highly unlikely with this particular host – I’ll check with them though.

    never use the auto-upgrade feature when upgrading WPMU or BuddyPress. It is simple and quick enough to manually upgrade them and it gives you more control and assurance that it is done right.

    Side topic response, but – I’m 2,000 miles from the closest of my servers (Singapore) and 8,000 from the main one where the install is running a deadline, and 12,000 from the US hosts that I also use heavily. It is NEVER quick to manually download the package, extract it and upload it from here – assuming the locals can keep the electric on for more than an hour at a time, and the internet connected for two consecutive minutes – that’s why the auto-upgrader was such a godsend when it arrived in 2.5 Having said that, I’ve noticed some very consistent differences on it with UK and US hosts – both the auto upgrader and the plugins/theme direct download to site and upgrades, work flawlessly on US hosts and never ask for FTP login. On UK hosts, they all always ask for FTP user login from wp-admin, and greater than 50% of the time they fail to complete all expected on-screen steps. I’ve also noticed that UK hosts tend to override the timeout preventions built into WP, which US hosts do not do. ….. don’t get me started on the pricing differences either – LOL

    Are you on a shared or dedicated server? Talk with your hosting firm to see if there is some javascript-based application that the hosting firm has running on your server that could be interfering with the basic JS operations in WPMU

    It’s a shared server, but a reseller account – half way step between shared and VPS as in limited main accounts per server but with dedicated RAM per reseller account and so on.

    The background js / mootools question is a good one that I’ll fire at them.

    On the UK install, I’ve tried every possible config right down to the barest of bones – even to the point of deleting (not just deactivating) all plugins and themes and dropping all tables created by any plugins – still problems persisted.

    It got to the point a couple of hours ago that I finally had enough and made liberal use of the Ctrl+A and Del keys

    Pffzzzzzt – zap – gone – empty domain space. I’ll be nuking the database in a minute or two as well, then uploading from scratch and starting again in the morning (1:00am+ here now) after letting the dust in my head settle after spending the whole weekend scouring the WPMU and BP forums trying to resolve this.

    I’ll also be starting with a WPMU install that has no periods in its directory and folder names – i.e. NO ” blogs.dir ” style of names – I am convinced that is a major source of some problems related to images, just as I am convinced that the user blog folder tree goes way to deep for Google search bots to follow it all the way to the bottom – and that’s gonna hurt SEO.

    As I said up a bit, I’ve nuked the install (and the test installs) and will make a fresh start tomorrow … to mis-quote a famous movie line –

    “I love the sight of deletion in the evenings” ~ Major Lee Pistoff, in aPressolypse Now

    LOL

    Gaz


    gazouteast
    Participant

    @gazouteast

    Genuine pause for thought – why does buddypress use a javascript image cropper to bring avatars down to size?

    Why not use a simple auto-thumbnailer (there are many as plugins to standalone WP) and use css to control the sizes where they’re needed? Even WP has an autothumbnailer built into the media library – that’s why it creates 3 images on server for each one image you upload (which really bugs me – I KNOW what size I want to upload, I’ve already resized it locally BEFORE upload – quit re-inventing the wheel.)

    Beddy-bies time for me, sleep needed, I’m getting way too cranky

    Night all

    Gaz


    Xevo
    Participant

    @xevo

    A javascript image cropper is more user friendly, because users can make the decision themselves of what part of the image they want to use instead of letting a script just take the middle of an image or letting it resize it.

Viewing 25 replies - 1 through 25 (of 30 total)
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