Joomla 1.5 RC2 Wrapper issue fixed in nightly builds

Joomla 1.5 RC2 Wrapper breadcrumbs now working after installing nightly build

I had posted earlier about having messed up links above 'wrapper' IFRAME page content after installing Joomla 1.5 RC2 over Joomla 1.5 RC1.

I had posted on the Joomla forum but no one knew of a fix, and another person said that he had the same issue.

I finally decided to see if it was fixed. I downloaded the latest nightly build from Joomla and copied it into my Joomla install. The fix took. Wrapper pages are showing up correctly.

If you notice that your breadcrumbs are broken in Wrapper after installing Joomla 1.5 RC2, just install (copy & upload) the nightly build over it and that should resolve the issue for you.

Joomla 1.5 RC2 bug: Wrapper breadcrumbs path to file above content is broken in Wrapper

Joomla 1.5 RC2 bug: Wrapper breadcrumbs path to file above content is broken in Wrapper

On my main site, I had installed Joomla! 1.5 RC1 which I later upgraded to the new RC2.

Above the content of IFRAMEd content using the Joomla 'wrapper' to include external pages, I used to see the path from 'home' to my file. Now I see funny code. including the html <span>.

This error only seems to appear in external pages included using Joomla's wrapper.

I have posted in the forum and I'll update this site with the fix. Until then I suggest not upgrading if you use IFRAMES in Joomla 1.5.

Joomla 1.5 RC2 from Joomla 1.5 RC1 Upgrade

How to upgrade from 1.5 RC1 to 1.5 RC2

1. Download RC2 from the link .

I downloaded the zip version.

2. Copy the contents to your Joomla folder overwriting earlier versions.

The extracted files took 10.3 megabytes of space on my hard drive.

3. Upload the joomla folder to the server via FTP.

I use Dreamweaver's FTP function to manage my sites, but any program that can upload a folder or directory is fine.

Since this takes a long time. It is good to prepare supper or watch a movie or something so you don't stare at the clock.

4. Log in to your Joomla 1.5 RC2 site and click on the administration menu item then system info under the help menu to verify the version.

It will say

'Joomla! Version: Joomla! 1.5.0 Production/Stable [ Endeleo ] 1-September-2007 15:00 GMT' (Obviously with a different date and time)

Joomla 1.5 RC2 is available

Joomla 1.5 RC2 (Beta/Release Candidate 2) is available for download from Joomla!

The new version of Joomla 1.5, called RC2 has been available for download since Saturday the first of September.

Here is the information posted on the Joomla.org site. Please note that if you are using RC1 you should upgrade due to security risks.

Joomla! 1.5 RC2 [codename: Endeleo] is now available for download. What better way to celebrate our 2nd Birthday! We chose Endeleo as the codename for this release candidate as it is Swahili for 'development, growth, progress ... improvement'. Highly appropriate we feel.

It is roughly five weeks after the RC1 release and we have made major improvements in certain areas of the 1.5 codebase. Time to share another RC with the community. Some improvements and areas of changes are listed below:

* Router refactoring solving a range of bugs
* Media Manager refactoring, moving this to MVC standards
* Updated scripts (version); mootools, tinyMCE, Xstandard
* Core template improvements
* Template language installer support
* ... and of course a lot more
Note: due to the Router refactoring there will be known issues with SEF url's.

Important, you need to upgrade! In the current RC1 we found three security issues, one SQL injection, one XSS, and a few full path disclosure vulnerabilities. Those security issues are solved in the new release.

Where we go from here: as you might have read on a recent blog, we will have at least one more Release Candidate (RC3) and hope to move to a Stable release from there on.

Packages

For the 1.5 RC2 Release only full packages are available for download. As usual, the packages are provided in three compression formats (zip, tar, bzip2). The download link for this release:
http://joomlacode.org/gf/project/joomla/frs/?action=FrsReleaseBrowse&frs_package_id=2812

Upgrade instructions

Upgrading from any version of Joomla! 1.5 to 1.5.RC2 simply involves overwriting your current sites files, with the files in the proper Patch Package that applies to your site. Note; during Beta and
RC development, some files could be removed from the Core Code. Using the above method for upgrading might leave some deprecated files in place. This could be solved by performing a fresh
install once the Stable release is available and exporting/importing your database. Between Beta and the RC2 some small database changes have been made. Check the /installation/sql/mysql folder for the diff.sql file. Run that with any database tool such as phpMyAdmin to get your database updated.

This can be done by either uncompressing the Patch Package and then using an FTP client to transfer these files to your server and overwriting existing file. If you find errors after the process,
ensure that all files were properly transferred. There have been verified reports of some FTP clients not properly transferring files across to a server - without notifying the user of such a problem. One
possible cause is that under certain circumstances the webserver locks the files it is using, and the ftp-server can't update those files. One possibility is to take the site shortly offline during the FTP
transfer.

If your Web Provider gives you access to your site via some sort of Web Admin panel like CPanel or Plesk, you can use the syetems file manager to upload the Patch Package file to your server and
then extracting the package file and overwriting all the files on your server.

More information can be found on the Forums and if at any stage you are unsure, then search the forums for posts on the subject. Most will be found in the Upgrading forum .

Conversion / Migration

With the new 1.5 version it is not that easy anymore to convert for example a Mambo site to Joomla!, especially to 1.5. You will need to perform a migration which is described here:
http://www.joomla.org/component/option,com_jd-wp/Itemid,105/p,401/

Backing up

Before undertaking an Upgrade or Conversion, it is extremely important that you backup your site's Database and if possible, also you site's files. While we try to ensure that an Upgrade or Conversion process is relatively straightforward, we cannot garuantee that this will always be the case for every user. So it is imperative that users take protective measures in case they face problems after the Upgrade or Conversion.

We hope you enjoy Endeleo and as always, we look forward to your feedback.

Amazon.com Astore ads are now working

 Amazon.com's Astore banner ads now display Astore products

Amazon.com Astore ads seem to work now.  I had mentioned in  a previous post that a defect of Amazon.com's Astore was that the astore ads didn't work.  I tested the ads yesterday on several of my websites and they appear to be working. I don't understand the criteria used for selecting which products show. I do get the impression that it might just be taking products from the first category in the Astore related to the website.

One thing that is nice,now that it is working, is that the colors used match the Astore, so if you make your Astore colors match your website, the Astore ads will also match.

Adding Amazon Astore ads to your website is the same as using google ads (without a plugin).  You select your ad size, colors, etc on the Amazon website then you copy and paste the javascript code into your site code.

If you are using WordPress for your website, paste the code into your template files. Javascript doesn't work in pages or posts made via the editor nor does it work with text widgets. Just don't forget to copy the ad code when you change themes.   If you know of a WordPress plugin for Astore ads, please let us know via the comments.

How to install Joomla 1.5 on your webserver

Step-by-step instructions for installing Joomla 1.5 RC & nightly build.

These instructions assume that you:

• have basic computer skills


• know how to use FTP


• have access to your webhosting account

Download Joomla 1.5

1. Download Joomla 1.5 from Joomla.org

Extract the download to your computer's website directory

2. Open the file and extract the contents to the directory or folder on your system where you'll keep your website backup. If you want to install it in a special folder on your site do so. It isn't recommendable to install it in the same folder as another web program, so if you have already installed WordPress or another program in your public-html directory then put Joomla in another directory like /joomla or /yoursitestopic.

Upload Joomla 1.5 via FTP to the web server

3. Upload everything to your webhost's server's FTP account. I use Dreamweaver for normal HTML coding and it has FTP included so I use that but any program that lets you upload a folder or directory is fine.

Some webhosting companies let you upload .zip files for later extraction online but many do not. That is why I don't tell you to upload the compressed file. If your host lets you do so then extract the file online to save time.

Take a break

4. While your Joomla files are uploading, watch something on TV, play a video game, call your mom, or whatever.

Go to your uploaded directory on the server

5. Once the files have finished uploading and they DID all upload, go in your favorite webbrowser, mine is Firefox, to http://yourdomain.com/yourjoomladirectory

Substitute the domain that you have registered and the folder you put the Joomla contents in.

If you installed Joomla in the public_html or main web directory on your server then just go to: http://yourdomain.com

again substituting your actual domain.

Verify that the Joomla! page appears

6. If you typed the address correctly then you'll see a page with "Joomla! Installation version 1.5" in the header.

Choose your installation Language

7. First you have to choose your installation language. En-GB for British English is selected. You could select a different language in the list and click the 'next' button. The next button is to the right of the language list.

Pre-install Check

8. The next page is the Pre-installation check. The Pre-installation check checks your PHP and Mysql settings.

This depends on your webhosting company and the server software that they installed. If your system fails a check then you'll need to let your hosting company know and see if they can change the software or if they can help you modify your php.ini. I have been using Bluehost and by default my system passed the Pre-installation check.

You know you are ok if all the settings are in green, so click on 'next'.

License Agreement

9. This next screen has the License agreement. You can read it and click on 'next'.

Database page

10. This screen has fields for the Mysql database. You need to create a database for use with Joomla. If you haven't already just open a new window or tab in your webbrowser, login to your webhosting account, and create a database and user. Write down all this information so you can enter it into the Joomla window that is still open.

• In the hostname field type: localhost


• In the username field type the username for the database as you setup via your webhost.


• In the password field type you username's password for the database that you setup.


• In the database name field type the name of the database.

Click on 'next'

Joomla! FTP

11. This page asks for you to configure Joomla 1.5 with FTP. Use the same settings that you used to upload the Joomla files to your server OR create a new account with your webhost and enter it instead.

Click on 'autofind ftp path' and it will test your FTP settings and enter the actual directory path from your account root.

Click on 'next'

Main Configuration

12. This page is called 'Main Configuration'

Enter the name of your site.

Enter the e-mail address that you will use.

Enter your administrator username and password (and write it down in a txt file or on a sheet of paper).

If you have a new install keep the dot in the 'install the default sample data'.

If you are upgrading, use the option to load the migration script and add the required information.

click on 'next'

Finish

13. You are now on the 'finish' page. This means that Joomla 1.5 is installed. Wasn't that easy?

Delete your Joomla installation directory

14. Using your FTP program or your webhost's control panel or file manager, delete the installation directory inside your Joomla directory. You could also rename it but you should delete it for security reasons.

Log in to your account as administrator for further configuration

15. Log in as administrator so you can configure it to your heart's content.

warning: If you enable the 'wrapper' module you must add a URL to its URL field or the system won't open in Internet Explorer and you'll get an error message in Firefox saying that the URL is not valid.

As long as the site's URL is entered OR the wrapper module is disabled you won't have a problem.

Joomla 1.5 Problem isolated: The URL is not valid and cannot be loaded or http:///

If you remember from earlier posts I had started with HTML many years ago, I've updated my HTML knowledge but now I'm learning PHP and Javascript and I'm looking for a way to integrate or at least harmoniously have Wordpress and a CMS on my sites. Wordpress is powerful, and easy to use however it isn't Javascript or external PHP friendly. It also doesn't work with Iframes so that work around isn't available. I have made the comment in the Wordpress website how an integrated IFRAME option for pages would work around many problems and I have my fingers crossed. ;-)

I had tried Drupal but due to several issues including confusing options, overall bad administrative design, and posts that got cut off half way through, I have decided to drop Drupal until I feel like torturing myself.

I had stopped my adventure with CMSs, Content Management Systems, after installing Joomla 1.5 and getting the following error in Firefox:

The URL is not valid and cannot be loaded

I had posted the error in the Joomla forum hoping for an answer and I started working on other projects. I finally realized this morning that I still didn't have a solution so I reposted the error.

I quickly got a reply from a forum moderator to try a nightly install version. I deleted Joomla from the server, downloaded the nightly 1.5 version and uploaded it all into a new folder, /business.

I checked it and I didn't get the error. I was so happy I went into configuring the installation. Joomla has a very nice graphic menu system so I am able to check those settings quickly.

I marked SEO friendly URLs, Modrewrite, and I enabled a few modules that were preinstalled but by default deactivated. I tried again to log in and guess what?

Firefox gave me: The URL is not valid and cannot be loaded

When you get this message you can later click on OK and change settings. IE doesn't let you do anything.

and Internet Explorer gave me http:/// with a white page.

I went back to the admin options and tried changing the normal settings and I disabled all but the Wrapper module.

I got the error again and then I realized I hadn't tried disabling the Wrapper module as it was by default. I did so and the error went away. I went back into the wrapper module and I saw that there is a field in the right 'parameter' column called URL:

The URL field was blank. I don't know what it is supposed to do but I added the URL for my Joomla install. I reactivated the wrapper module and I don't get the error anymore.