Bug in Latest Events Module (JEvents 3.2.19)

Tahnk you very much for reporting nigelss!! By the way, which menuitem is configured in the module configuration? Is it a JEvents menu item type?

Hello,

Did you save the JEvents Config after installing it yet?

Thanks
Tony

Thank you very much for reporting nigelss!! By the way, which menuitem is configured in the module configuration? Is it a JEvents menu item type?

If you mean the "target menu item" setting in the module configuration, I set it to the menu item which brings up the public JEvents calendar.

Please see my answer to Tony below for some additional information.

Did you save the JEvents Config after installing it yet?

Yes, I did that straight away so I was on default settings. I was in a hurry to get something - anything! - up in the new environment.

Since posting the original message, I realised that by using the ical export/import method to get the events into the new system I had actually lost information I didn't want to lose, e.g. original creation times of the events. Although the ical import kept the event date/times as one would expect, the creation times were all set to the time of the import.

I decided to upgrade the old Joomla 1.5 system to JEvents 2.2.9, clear out and reinstall the latest JEvents on the new system, and then let SP Upgrade's extension transfer do the work so I could keep all the original info. H-u-g-e- mistake! Although the Joomla 1.5 upgrade to 2.2.9 went fine and all appeared well, it was quite beyond SP Upgrade to get the stuff across into the freshly reinstalled JEvents on the new system. The JEvents categories weren't transfered and the table vanished from the database. I sorted that out, and finally after several attempts it looked like everything was across but no. Unable to display any events in the front end. It turned out to be because table jev_defaults had mysteriously lost the language and catid columns. I used phpmyadmin to put them back, based on another installation I have, and then, finally, I could display events in the front end. Unfortunately, SP Upgrade has managed to fail to set the 'created by' column in table jevents_vevent so they all have a value of 0 which is displayed as 'Anonymous'. Most annoying because the old v2.2.9 database has all the correct data for that column, so why wasn't it transferred?

Anyway, the bottom line is that after all that messing around I'm still seeing the same error I originally reported.

As regards the horrible upgrade experience, I know you have a script, and I have used it before, but if you look for other posts by me you'll see we had a conversation where I reported a number of problems I had with it. That's why I thought it was a no-brainer to upgrade the old system to 2.2.9 and then use SP Upgrade to transfer to a fresh install on the new system. Wrong! I can see me completely uninstalling JEvents from the new system yet again, reinstalling it anew and trying the script after all.

Hello,

I'm sorry you feel that way but we keep as close to the Joomla! standards as possible and this requires us to use the categories table. We provide the script for the migration which is quite simple as you know. It's always best to check exactly what you are doing and that it works as expected prior to just thinking it will work. Unfortunately SP Upgrade doesn't work with us, but does do the majority of Joomla! tasks well.

Many thanks
Tony

I'm sorry you feel that way but we keep as close to the Joomla! standards as possible and this requires us to use the categories table. We provide the script for the migration which is quite simple as you know. It's always best to check exactly what you are doing and that it works as expected prior to just thinking it will work. Unfortunately SP Upgrade doesn't work with us, but does do the majority of Joomla! tasks well.

Hold the bus! I wasn't having a dig at JEvents. I'm working on a local development setup, not a live site. I never expect things to work as expected. I have worked in software development for over thirty years and know better than that. It's a nice surprise when they do!

What I'm doing at present is testing out the upgrade methods for the various (and thankfully very few) third party extensions used on the website. SP Upgrade does the core stuff very well. Once I have a proven strategy, I will take a new copy of the current site, migrate it to Joomla 3.4.3, test locally, if all well upload to a test location on the server for more tests, and only then, and after backing everything up, will I switch the site over. Absolutely no question here of just thinking anything will work.

Best wishes,
Mr. Sceptical

Admittedly off-topic, but for what it's worth...

I just tried using the upgradejevents script to update from 2.2.9 to 3.2.19. The 3.2.19 was a fresh install after uninstalling JEvents. I had to manually delete the tables for some reason.

The instructions wanted me to delete some tables which didn't exist in my database (jevents_categories to name one), and didn't mention deleting others which did, so I ended up not deleting any of them.

Running the script gave the same problem I have previously reported about not recognising a database name with a '-' in it so I used the same workaround as before.

The script ran to completion and reported data as being copied across and it was visible in the JEvents admin screens. I couldn't display any events in the front end because, once again, the jev_defaults table was missing the language and catid columns. I added them manually based on info from another database and now the events display ok in the front end with everything preserved - event dates, categories, category colours, event author etc.

So is the script supposed to be fully compatible with JEvents 3.2.19 and Joomla 3.4.3? I'm a bit concerned about having to manually add table columns to jev_defaults. I also note that table jev_categories, which was not present after the clean reinstall, has appeared after running the script.

The bottom line is I don't really know if what I have is "safe" although it looks ok so far.

The original problem (warning about undefined index:layout) still exists.

Best wishes,
Nigel

Hello Nigel,

Great to hear and thank you!

Is it only events you are exporting here? and nothing else?

Why not just do a simple iCal Export / Import? see:
https://www.jevents.net/news/item/simpl ... -new-video

Many thanks
Tony

Hello Nigel,
Is it only events you are exporting here? and nothing else?

Why not just do a simple iCal Export / Import? see:
https://www.jevents.net/news/item/simpl ... -new-video

I used SP Upgrade for the Joomla Core stuff. As previously mentioned in this thread, I initially imported the events via iCal Export / Import. I even mentioned your video! The problem is that doing it that way doesn't retain all the information - e.g. the "created" and "modified" information in the imported events is set to the time of the import and not when the event was originally created / modified. That's why I decided to try SP Upgrade's JEvents option which didn't work as expected, and have now tried using the script again.

Please could you answer the following question:
Is the current jevents upgrade script compatible with Joomla 3.4.3 and JEvents 3.2.19?

Thanks,
Nigel

Hello Nigel,

Right I see. That's not usually a required featured as it retains the event start / end date.

As far as I am aware it is. But we have't tested it specifically on 3.4.x. IF you notice any specific problems do let us know and we will happily check them out for you.

Many thanks
Tony

I'm getting so off-topic here so back to the start!

I solved the mystery of the warning message I posted about in the first place. God bless netbeans/xdebug! Nothing wrong with your software (red face!) - the migrated system's menu item link for jevents/month display seemed to work fine but needed to be refreshed to pick up the new layout option. Mystery message gone!

Re: upgradejevents.php script (latest version) for migrating jevents from Joomla 1.5.26 to 3.4.3:
Doesn't quite work - the script seems to run but events cannot be displayed due to missing columns in table jev_defaults.

I used phpMyAdmin to add the missing columns as follows:

language - type varchar(20), collation utf8_general_ci, null no, default *
catid - type int(11), null no, default 0

after which everything seems to work - full set of event data, all information retained.

Thirdly, I spotted posts in the forums about not being able to run the script because it reports not being able to load the Isis template. I debugged this last year and posted here somewhere that the report is a complete red herring. It's nothing to do with Isis template availability. The fault is caused by the database name having a '-' character in it, e.g. abc-123. An instant workaround is to export the data from the database, import it into another one named without a dash, e.g. abc123, and temporarily tweak Joomla 1.5's configuration.php file to point at it, e.g. abc123. Make sure the database user in configuration.php has access to the database copy. The script should run smoothly - Isis template error gone. Once done, put Joomla 1.5's configuration.php back as it was. Next, add the columns to table jev_defaults as above and all should be well (he said hopefully).

What would be really useful is a definitive statement on the upgradejevents download page stating exactly which versions of Joomla it is compatible with. My experience shows that it doesn't work for J1.5 to J3.x as supplied due to missing table columns. Might save people some time!

Best wishes,
Nigel

Sorry to hear your problems Nigel - there are so few people that haven't moved from Joomla 1.5 that development of the upgrade script has, in essence, stopped.