AMS 2.41 is now out as well. Might be worth updating to that. I can do that on teh backups you send me though if you like.

My response from my host on this matter has yet to arrive...In the meantime, ???

I'm still having good luck with the Stories module---no problems whatsoever. Why does this news module work and the rest do not?

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Probably suggest we set up a test site for you on my own server where we'll have 100% control of the environment, and go from there. I'll need you to send me a full copy of all your XOOPS files and your XOOPS DB. You can PM me the details if you wish.

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That's the million dollar question isn't it. If we knew what it was about your particular environment that was causing so much grief, then fixing it would only be a matter of course. I'll see if I can take a look at the stories module.

Just to put some closure on this topic, Cavan and I have been able to fully resolve his AMS issues without doing anything drastic such as switching hosts. Cavan was kind enough to send me a copy of his XOOPS site and XOOPS database which I then setup on my own server.From there it became apparent what the problem was fairly quickly.

Cavan's website has a highly customised theme which does not use any blocks from the system, modules or custom blocks at all. Instead he choose to create his own buttons to create static links to all the functions on his site. The first mistake Cavan made was that he used absolute hard coded URL's in the paths to his buttons in his theme instead of using the <{$xoops_url}> smarty tag which would have been automatically replaced with the URL specified in his mainfile.php when being parsed through XOOPS smarty engine. The second mistake was that the XOOPS_URL value set in his mainfile.php was different to the URL specified in the hard coded paths used to link his buttons to his different website functions.

The effect this had was that users where being constantly logged out as they would log into the URL specified in mainfile.php, but when they clicked on the buttons they would be taken to the hard coded URL which was different, even though both URL's pointed to the same physical files. This also gave the impression that any module using the POST method for data entry (such as the News & AMS modules and many others) was broken as the referer information being sent by the client browser was incorrect due to the mismatch between the hard coded paths and the URL specified in mainfile.php.

Anyway, all is well now and Cavan is all setup on AMS 2.41. Using absolute hardcoded paths is never a good idea, but is a mistake that is easily overlooked when developing your site, I've done it myself without realising with one of the themes I released a while back. Rule of thumb is that if you are unsure of what smarty tags to use, then try and use relative paths as opposed to absolute paths if you can, and you *should* be ok.

Yes, brash just explained the problem better than I could have done. This is one post I forgot to follow-up.

He's absolutely correct: Two seemingly small mistakes created a huge functionality issue with our site. We should have been live two months ago as we informed our users we would be, but because I was simply unfamiliar with Smarty tags and their use in XOOPS vs. hardcoding static links in .html pages, I totally screwed-up the site without even realizing it. Sure, I'm a newbie with XOOPS and even a rank amateur with PHP and MySQL, but not knowing a thing about the use of Smarty really had a negative impact on our site's development. My advice here is to click on the links to your right under "Powered By" if you're unfamilair with the nature of XOOPS and what "makes it tick". You will learn more than you imagined.

In conclusion, allow me to point out that I am 100% sure that it's experiences like mine that lead new XOOPS users to hair-pulling frustration and even leaving XOOPS for other solutions to their needs (I know, I almost left as well); but thanks to the perseverance of the XOOPS Core Team members and the many well-learned XOOPS users who stand by XOOPS and all it has to offer, my faith in XOOPS as a sound and reliable CMS is wholly restored. XOOPS should be known or marketed as a Content Managment Solution rather than simply Content Management Software.

So, bravo to brash, carnuke, mithrandir and the many others who helped get our site running smoothly out of the box. My hat is off to all of you.

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I can't tell you how happy I am that you have survived this and remained a XOOPS'er

Your problem left me stomped because I simply could not see the solution and I am so happy you and Brash succeeded in getting it up and running.

I hope your stay with XOOPS will be long and joyful.

glad you managed to solve this issue, it had many stumped as to what the problem was, myself included. usually a path problem in mainfile.php is easily seen, in your case tho it was definitely not that obvious.

i'm glad you persivered with XOOPS and stayed with the project, not many people are willing to persivere this much anymore and would have changed to another cms long ago.

good luck with your site, and i hope your trust in XOOPS will continue to grow..

Silly me, I forgot to thank m0nty for helping us out as well...

Go raibh maith agat!

(thank you in Gaelic)