WTF?!

What The Forms, that is. Forms are loading and submitting super slow for Anonymous users. This doesn't happen if the user is logged in. This has been going on for about 1 week. I didn't make any changes to the forms or anything related to forms. Sigh.

UPDATE: Recaptcha was malfunctioning. I disabled it and am using the math equations in captcha instead.

Outcome

So I started posting my troubleshooting steps and frustrations on Twitter and a Drupal friend of mine, Mark Jarrell, stepped in to help.

We got it narrowed down to the new themes and he had me look for preprocess code involving vid/tid in the template.php files.

Sure enough, there was some code that Acquia gave me last year in the template.php files. I removed the code and it solved the problem. Thanks Mark!

Troubleshooting Vid/Tid Issue

1. We know that the pages work using the default theme.

We know that the pages are pulling the tid instead of the vid when assigned to the new theme via themekey.

We know the vid argument is assigned via a Page View in the recommended websites view.


2. We know that the pages work using the default theme.

We know that the pages are pulling the vid:tid instead of just the tid when assigned to the new theme via themekey.

We know the tid argument is assigned via a Page View in the recommended websites view.

Troubleshooting Steps.

1. Make sure the problems show up (or don't show up) on other themes.
2. Make a new View with the offending blocks and see if the problem persists.
3. Check Drupal.org to see if there are any other issues like this.

Note to Self

I think the following is true:

To use different themes (ThemeKey) in the same View you need to have the tpl.phps in both theme folders (ie: pikespeak and teens). Clear as mud?

Try emptying cache.

Back from the Dead

It's been 6 months since I've written. We're in the midst of migrating the Teen Zone into Drupal. We've had some issues which I didn't document. I can't even remember what they are now, so I'm sure that will come back to bite me in the arse.

I'll do better, I promise!

One issue we seem to be having is with ThemeKey when we create a new theme (copy existing, change photo image) and assign it to pages. Those pages utilizing Views with Taxonomy Term as the title are showing the Vocabulary Term and then the Taxonomy Term as the title. Confusing? Yes it is.

We're working to isolate the problem, but suffice it to say, the chump is stumped.

After some theme troubleshooting, we've narrowed it down to a faulty View construction. Why this doesn't error on our default theme is still a mystery.

Adding MIME Types in IIS

Our Server Admin took another job so I'm tasked with web server adminstration until someone new can be hired.

I ran into a strange issue today. I tried to link to a .dotx document and got a "Page Cannot be Found" error. The same thing happened when I linked to a .docx, but not when I linked to a .doc. I Googled the problem and came back with this:

http://forums.whirlpool.net.au/archive/876480

Here's a listing of MIME types for future reference:

http://www.webdeveloper.com/forum/showthread.php?t=162526

To solve this I went into IIS Manager on the web server and clicked on the HTTP Headers tab and clicked the Mime Type button and added the new types.

Presto!

Teen Zone Project

The next big project is for me to move the Teen Zone into Drupal. I'm not sure exactly what Kaitlin wants but I know it will take a different theme than the rest of ppld.org.

Cheryl found a module called ThemeKey that lets you assign themes to different taxonomy terms, content types, node ids, and much more. Very cool!

Now I just need to draw up a plan...

Adjusti-Search Issues

12:30-ish p.m. Adjusti-Search module starts calling up a random page when a search is executed. The result is an error page. This happens intermittently and I have not been able to isolate the cause yet.

Steps taken and outcome:
1. Run cron - no change
2. Empty cache - page called changes but is still incorrect
3. Disable Adjusti-Search module - no change?
4. Empty cache and/or run cron - website stops calling style sheet
5. Renable Adjusti-Search module and run cron - no change
6. Empty cache - style sheet works but Adjusti-Search still malfunctions.

The chump is stumped.

1:30 p.m. - It's working again. I think it just randomly grabbed the correct URL from the table. It think the Adjusti-Search table may have some corrupt records in it.

Plan: Backup the database and run Update.php when Sharon comes back. Also check the table for corrupt records when Sharon comes back. May consider uninstalling and reinstalling module.

10-20-2010 3:30 p.m.: Ran Update.php, no change.

10-28-2010 1:40 p.m.: Disabled block until yesterday. Still experiencing the same problem.

11/1/2010 3 p.m.: Disabled CSS and Javascript optimizing in "Performance". Adjusti-Search would call temporary css and js files, so I disabled the optimization feature to see if it helps. So far Adjusti-Search is working again. Fingers are crossed.

11/2/2010: It's malfunctioning again.

11/3/2010 10 a.m.: Uninstalled and Reinstalled module on a test server and it worked for awhile. However, around 1 p.m. it started malfunctioning again. Contacted Connor.

11/3/2010 2:30 p.m.: Enabled PPLD Search module (Adjusti-Search prototype) and got the same error. Enabled default Drupal search and it works fine.

11/3/2010 3:30 p.m.: Connor replied with the following suggestion:

1. Open the adjustisearch.module file for editing wherever you have it installed on the server.



2. In the code, find the line that says "function
   adjustisearch_block_form($form_state) {" (this line should be around line 137 or so).



3. Add the following line of code right after the line "$form = array();":
   $form['#action'] = url('');



4. Save the file. Clear your Drupal cache. Then try Adjusti-Search again.

11/10/2010 2 p.m.: Adjusti-Search has been working for the past week. Yay Connor!!

Aftermath

Putting out lots of little and not so little fires. The big one right now is the AdjustiSearch module doesn't always work. Sometimes I get "Accessed Denied" and sometimes I get the "Whoops" page and most of the time it works fine. I'm trying to isolate the problem(s) but no real luck yet.

Here's what I have so far:
-The "Whoops" page happens for anonymous users only, across all browsers.
-No cause has been found yet.
-The default search form works fine.
-Emptying cache does not help.
-Disabling and re-enabling the module does not help.
-It happens intermittently and will start working again without rhyme or reason.
-The search returns the following urls, all of which are "Whoops" pages, when it is malfunctioning:
--http://ppld.org/ieupdate.js?adjs_type=1
--http://ppld.org/sites/default/files/css/css_2206d48491af4b609c7ee4d274aece51.css
--http://ppld.org/aboutyourlibrary/services/ElPomar/default.asp

10/14/10 11 a.m.: After much dinking around, including adding code for the ieupdate.js highlighted here: http://www.amarasoftware.com/flash-problem.htm, removing the code when it caused other problems, and emptying cache multiple times it started working again.

10/14/10 1 p.m.: It's down again. And returning misc URLs. Connor thinks it's somehow pulling the URLs from the database.

10/15/2010 3:35 p.m.: Does running cron fix it?

It's Launched!

The lesson for today is:

If all else fails, empty cache.

It seems to mostly be going smoothly, thank God.

Homestretch

We're launching on Monday! I'm running updates and switching links from new.ppld.org to ppld.org on the new site. It's going to get crazy around here!

Wish us luck.

Final Countdown

I met with the server admin and the network admin and we've decided to launch on or around September 13. The server admin is going to put IIS and the current website on the same server as the new website running Apache. That way we hope to be able to run both websites simultaneously using the same domain name.

I also met with the Website Team and developed a marketing plan involving me sending lots of emails to staff, a promo and tutorial video, posters, and web ads.

Optimization

I'm starting the Drupal optimization process and have come across a very handy checklist:

http://www.drupal-check.org/

I also installed the Boost module.

I meet with the server and network admins tomorrow to make a launch plan.

Final Push

I've finished Tax Information and Microfilm Collection (375 records) and am about to enter the homestretch of the redesign process.

I'll be working with the server admin and the network admin to prepare for the launch. I'm hoping to launch on Labor Day weekend. Wish me luck!

Microfilm Collection and Tax Information

While I'm waiting for the network administrator to fix the DMZ/server problem I made our Tax Information page and am working on our Microfilm Collection page.

Speedbump

Recommended Websites are chugging along fine. However, our web server is having issues with our network, specifically the DMZ. We can't launch until this is fixed. It's very frustrating because we are pretty much ready otherwise.

Faceted Catalog Searches

I'm adding/editing faceted Catalog searches in the Subject Guides. Thanks to Summer Greenville for helping construct the searches!

Recommended Websites Update

I've added all the Vocabularies to the Recommended Websites taxonomy terms so the category and subcategory show up on the subcategory pages. Sound confusing? I know, I just can't think of a better way to explain it.

I've also added all the tabbed menus to the Subject Guide subcategories. Yay!

Now we just have to finish the data entry. We have 1600+ entries, but I think there are 4500+ total to be entered. Sigh.

And They're Off!!

Data entry has officially started on Recommended Websites. This is quite a large task and I'm grateful for the awesome librarians helping me out.

I've created all the Taxonomy and Menus for the Subject Guides, I believe, but I'm still assigning tabbed menus to the subcategory pages.

An interesting aside, according to my timeline, as of June 15 we've been working on this website for two years. Make it stop!!

Fun with Recommended Websites

So yesterday I was entering categories from our Web Picks into Drupal's taxonomy and noticed that Vocabularies with heirarchical values don't display child terms in the Taxonomy Navigator module. Seriously folks...

Anyways, that is a deal-breaker for me so we are not using Taxonomy Navigator. Instead we are doing the following:

1. Create Vocabularies for Recommended Websites categories


2. Hand-make menus for categories containing subcategories (there are quite a few of these)


3. Theme the menus if necessary


4. Add the menus to their corresponding pages


5. Add Subject Guide Tabs to corresponding pages


6. Go over all Subject Guides and cross-reference as necessary


7. Configure Recommended Websites View to display page title as "Vocabulary: Term: SubCategory

Oooof.