Messed something up, website gone!

HELP! I was downloading mod files for the "Like" button and couldn't make it work right. So I went in my cpanel files to delete what I had downloaded to get it back to normal. Well, evidently I deleted something I shouldn't have because now all I can see on my website (and my language settings in my dashboard) is this, in the top right hand corner of a blank page:

????%???? @€???????????????????????E%???????

What in the world have I done now!!?? HELP!!

thank you!!

You need to give a more detailed explanation of exactly what you did.

Have you a back up of your site ? a file transfer  program like filezilla ? if so just upload the dolphin download from here http://www.boonex.com/dolphin/download/ and upload the modules to the modules folder on your server ..

Okay, this is gonna be a long one! I have been trying to install a Facebook style Like button Mod to replace the voting stars.  I asked the LIKE button mod creator  where I needed to download the files and he told me to download them as so:

Hi Ricky,

The files to be uploaded are structured (in the mod package) in the correct place to upload them. This is common for many web administrating mods so you don\'t need to explain where they go because the folder structure tells you. So in our case, the files that need to be uploaded will go to:

/templates/base/scripts/BxBaseVotingView.php

and

/templates/base/images/icons/like.png

Hope that helps.

So I did this (now mind you, I have been playing with this for days trying to get it right and I had put them in "/public_html/templates/tmpl_dt_nightlife_purple" since I bought my template) so I was trying them in different files, because one of the things in the instructions to install was to change the name of the file "BxBaseVotingView.php" to "BxBaseVotingView.php_before_like".  then to change the script in ".css/common.css" per the instructions. Well, I have two files named BxVotingView.php, one in "/public_html/templates/base/scripts" and one in "/public_html/templates/tmpl_dt_nightlife_purple/scripts", as well as two .css files in both of these-which is why I was trying the mod files in different places to see which one worked. I was getting close (I thought) because below each member photo in my website I it was showing "0_Likes" and "_Like", but the thumb up icon was not showing and the two scripts were overlapping one another. So basically, when I followed the above instructions to the letter, is when everything went away. When I put the files in /templates/base/scripts/BxVotingView.php (which I noticed wasn't even a real file, but a .php file page with just script in it) it created this really weird file, page or whatever the freak it was; a "pagenstein!". That's when everything screwed up. So I deleted it. I went back into my files and changed everything back the way it was originally (common.css, etc) The result: website gone. I KNEW I shouldn't have messed with this as much as I am NOT experienced at this!

Seems like you might have lost a file or you have a corrupt file somewhere.  First,  If you put all files back to the way they were,  clear cache and cache_public in FTP (Not the  .htaccess  file ) and see if your site is back.

I might also help if you said which mod this was.  You don't mention uploading any module files, or installing a module.  If the only thing you did was replace templates/base/scripts/BxBaseVotingView.php and change some css, I really don't understand why restoring them to the original versions, and clearing the /cache directory shouldn't restore things to normal.

Your website is not gone.

You have probably deleted or corrupted a script of the template.

You have two options.

Open your error_log and paste it here.

Enable display_errors in your php.ini, and the error will be visible on your screen.

Let me know

I would just start by replacing the BxBaseVotingView.php file with the default one from Dolphin and see what happens.

Or.... you could just let Yobi Wan Kenobi guide you.

Use the force!

ahahahahahahahahahahahah. Sure i will try to help u with this

Oh my God, thank you, thank you, thank you!!! Website back!! I did what skyforum suggested first, (since it was the easiest LOL) and it worked! I even have the star voting thingy back!! Thank you all for your responses!! I ain't touchin' the friggin' thing again!!! Ricky

Wait...... which one?  Did you replace the file.... or use the force?

I used the force to make him ignore everyone else and use what I knew would work.... It takes a long time to become proficient in that art. Just ask my father, ....

Replaced the file....I think the force was absolutely with me in spirit tho!! :)

Well he did say it did what he sugested first.

Using the force was the second suggestion.

As i was reading this i got confused.

You say the names of the scripts were the same in base and your custom template.

Here i think you were seeing things.

The one in base should be named. BxBaseVotingView.php

And the one in the custom template should be named BxTemplVotingView.php

There is a slight difference in the names.

The second thing that confused me was the replacement of the file.

Did the instructions actually say to replace the file?

If so, than that could be a problem as you don't replace files unless they were written for the EXACT same version of dolphin you are running.

Here are the instructions, to me (evidently) they're as clear as mud! 

============================== INSTALLATION ==============================

Change Stars Rating to Like Button

Mod version: 1.0

Dolphin compatibility: 7.0.X

Released: 10/25/2010

Author: micliz

This mod may NOT be redistrubuted under any circumstances by anyone other than micliz or authorized individuales or third parties.

!!!!!! IMPORTANT !!!!!!!

Always backup your files and database before installing any mod.

I do not take responsibility for sites that are already modified and attempt to apply this mod. If your site is modified you must fit these instructions to meet your needs. I am happy to do custom installations.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Professional installation is NOT available at this time. Nor is support for this mod. Sorry for the inconvenience.

==========================================================================

==========================================================================

NOTE: You will be editing base template files which means this will work with most new templates unless the new template overrides the affected common.css styles and BxBaseVotingView.php file. If you upgrade to a newer version of Dolphin after installing this mod, this mod may or may not work.

--STEP 1--

Find the file /templates/base/scripts/BxBaseVotingView.php

Rename the file to: BxBaseVotingView.php_before_like

Now upload the included template files to your dolphin root.

--STEP 2--

Edit the file templates/base/css/common.css

Find the rating css code that should look something like this section:

/* * * * Rating * * * */

.boxContent .votes_small {

float:right;

width:40%;

}

.votes_big, .votes_small {

}

.votes_big {

margin-left: auto;

margin-right: auto;

margin-top: 10px;

margin-bottom: 10px;

width: 200px;

}

.votes_gray_big, .votes_gray_small {

position:relative; /*need for 470*/

float:left;

}

.votes_gray_big {

height:16px;

background-image:url(../images/vote_star_gray_32.png)

}

.votes_gray_small {

height:15px;

background-image:url(../images/vote_star_gray_16.png)

}

.votes_active_big, .votes_active_small {

position:absolute;

top:0;

left:0;

z-index:1;

}

.votes_active_big {

height:16px;

background-image:url(../images/vote_star_active_32.png);

}

.votes_active_small {

height:15px;

background-image:url(../images/vote_star_active_16.png);

}

.votes_buttons {

position:absolute;

top:0;

left:0;

z-index:2;

}

.votes_button_big, .votes_button_small {

margin:0;

padding:0;

border:none;

}

.votes_button_big {

width:18px;

height:16px;

}

.votes_button_small {

width:11px;

height:15px;

}

.votes_big b, .votes_small b {

color:#333333;

font-weight:bold;

display:block;

float:left;

}

.votes_big b {

font-size:12px;

line-height:18px;

margin-left:10px;

}

.votes_small b {

font-size:13px;

line-height:11px;

margin-left:6px;

}

.actionsBlock .votes_small {

float:left;

width:90px;

}

/* * * *  * * * */

Replace the entire section with:

/* * * * Rating * * * */

.boxContent .votes_small {

float:right;

width:40%;

}

.votes_big, .votes_small {

}

.votes_big {

margin-left: auto;

margin-right: auto;

margin-top: 10px;

margin-bottom: 10px;

width: 200px;

}

.votes_gray_big, .votes_gray_small {

position:relative; /*need for 470*/

float:left;

}

.votes_gray_big {

background-color:#E4F4EA;

background-repeat:no-repeat;

border:1px solid #82D1A6;

height:26px;

padding:0 4px;

margin-bottom: 10px;

}

div.votes_gray_big:hover {

border:1px solid #49AA75;

cursor: pointer;

}

div.votes_gray_big a, div.votes_gray_big a:hover, div.votes_gray_big a:link {

color:#009245;

text-decoration: none;

}

.votes_gray_small {

height:15px;

background-image:url(../images/vote_star_gray_16.png)

display:none;

}

.votes_active_big, .votes_active_small {

position:absolute;

top:0;

left:0;

z-index:1;

}

.votes_active_big {

height:16px;

/*background-image:url(../images/vote_star_active_32.png); */

}

.votes_active_small {

height:15px;

background-image:url(../images/vote_star_active_16.png);

display:none;

}

.votes_buttons {

height: 26px;

top:0;

left:0;

z-index:2;

background-image:url(../images/icons/like.png);

background-repeat: no-repeat;

background-position: left 3px;

}

.votes_button_big, .votes_button_small {

margin:0;

padding:0;

border:none;

}

.votes_button_big {

width:18px;

height:21px;

padding-right: 2px;

}

.votes_button_small {

width:11px;

height:15px;

}

.votes_big b, .votes_small b {

color:#333333;

font-weight:bold;

display:block;

float:left;

}

.votes_big b {

font-size:12px;

line-height:18px;

margin-left:10px;

}

.votes_small b {

font-size:13px;

line-height:11px;

margin-left:6px;

}

.actionsBlock .votes_small {

float:left;

width:90px;

}

.sys_file_search_header {

height: 15px !important;

}

.like_count {

padding-top: 4px;

float:left;

font-weight: bold;

color: #009245;

}

.votes_big b, .votes_small b {

color: #009245 !important;

}

.picRate .like_count {

padding-top: 8px;

}

.picRate .votes_buttons {

display: none;

}

/* * * *  * * * */

--STEP 3--

Now go to your administration panel, advanced settings > languages settings

Add the following keys

_Like

String = Like

_Likes

String = Likes

--STEP 4--

Now clear your caches from your admin panel index page

--STEP 5.1-- (Optional)

Votes (Now "Likes") are allowed one per week per IP address by default. If you'd like to change this timeframe you can do so in the following file:

inc/classes/BxDolVoting.php

Find:

define( 'BX_PERIOD_PER_VOTE', 7 * 86400 );

Example, to change to one vote per day put:

define( 'BX_PERIOD_PER_VOTE', 1 * 86400 );

__STEP 5.2--

To make the above change take effect you must delete the following cache file:

Note: this file may be named differently so just delete the file containing "vote" in your cache folder.

/cache/sys_objects_vote.inc

--DONE!!!--

For questions please contact me at micahlisonbee@gmail.com, or under micliz on Boonex.

Enjoy!

----------------

Professional installation is NOT available at this time. Nor is support for this mod. Sorry for the inconvenience.

Those are incredibly "Clear" instructions, outside of hte LKey issue (which should be done via an sql injection file) it should be done in under 10 minutes.  This is about a 3 minute mod for most here.  Strongly suggest you install a 2nd copy of D into a subdomain and practice installing modifications in it and making sure they work before moving on to the production site. 

Now upload the included template files to your dolphin root.

Ok. Does this included template folder contain a replacement BxBaseVotingView.php?

My biggest problem was every time I changed the name of the file "BxVotingView.php"  to add the "_before_like" extension, it would make my site AND my Language Setting page in my dashboard go blank. So I couldn't get to my Language Settings to add the two keys.

Deano, yes it does.

Ok. Then what version of dolphin was this mod written for?

As i mentioned, files cannot be replaced if the mod was not specifically written for the version of dolphin you are running.

The instructions just say:

Mod version: 1.0

Dolphin compatibility: 7.0.X

So I gather the X stands for anything over 7.0, am I wrong? I have 7.0.4

Yea. Thats what the X means.

Luckily, 7.0.3-7.0.5 all use the same file.

So most likely it would be OK. It's just not standard procedure for a mod to overwrite dolphin files. If the next version of dolphin happens to have a different version of that file, then the overwrite of that file would be wrong in that case.

Anyhow. as Ropeman suggested. You could setup a test site to perform tests on. That way your not messing with your production site. That allows you to test new mods and get practice installing them.

Ok, thanks so much you guys!!

i think you may have been jumping the gun on the steps, because where it instructs to rename the BxVotingView.php it also further instructs to upload the files provided with the mod, which i could only presume contain a customized BxVotingView.php file, in which case, if you uploaded that file in conjunction with renaming the default file, which in essence makes no sense, as Deano mentions, a mod is not supposed to overwrite or replace existing default files, if they are written correctly and in the recommended construct from the application developers.

alas, you have been provided with solid suggestions here, if you are not familiar with the dolphin woes, which are plentiful at times, specifically when you start hacking or modding the sites files, then by all means, create a test environment, and For Petes Sake, and your Sanity, always backup your site, at minimum the files you are tweaking, and your database, please dont forget to backup your database each and every time you make adjustments on your site.

because of the complexity of dolphin, and the dynamics of the overall of the application, failing to backup your site prior to making changes, could have you roomed with HL in Rusk Texas.

:+)

Hey DD, why don't you give everyone a tutorial on how to back up their DB and to set the back up in place if they need to.  Some of us pay for managed servers and just have to ask for it, but most don't have that benefit and it'd be incredibly helpful.  Could be a great Tips & Tricks post.

You do not need a tutorial to make a backup

If you have Cpanel there is a specific function

If you do not have Cpanel and you have phpMyAdmin just select the DB and click export

It will save a txt file with inside all the DB tables

You will have just to import that when you need.

Simple, no?

yobi,

indeed for somebody familiar with sql dump, and file structure backup, your solution is workable, but what you are missing here, is understanding that not every person who launches a dolphin site has any idea what you are even talking about concerning phpmyadmin | import.

there are in fact more steps to making a backup and securing the backup, there are also tools that can automate such functionality and i think that is what Ropeman was inquiring about, is something that would provide some method of 'how-to' make a backup with cPanel or if not with cPanel. there is also the issue of file size when considering the simple option of using cPanel for backups, specifically when referring to phpmyadmin, as it has a file size limit on both export and import once a site grows to proportions outside that realm, one still needs to have an understanding on how to make a backup either for restoration purposes or for moving from one server solution to another.

yes Ropeman, i will try to find the time to put together a detailed explanation on how one would go about creating and securing a backup of their file structure as well as their database structure and data.