Ok the problem in my opinion comes from some upgrade script issue.
Is that fair? Probably not, I know the XOOPS core guys put a lot of effort into making updates and making it as easy as possible for us plebs.
And from what I have read elsewhere the problem seems to be related to what modules might leave behind when we decide to uninstall them, we then do an upgrade to the site and template errors appear.
But I am not sure, so please no one take offence.
Anyway
Steve I have fixed the problem on one of my sites.
However I am now using XOOPS 2.2.3.
Not sure if this is way is too long?
1 Clear the duplicate text fields from you database to get rid of the duplicate weblinks.
2 Backup your database
3 backup a copy of your complete website
4 create a new directory or sub-domain
5 Get a full install version of xoops, I used
Xoops 2.2.3 NOT the update version6 Extract the HTML folder from the XOOPS file you just downloaded
7 From the backup of your site, take your all themes and all modules and place them in their respective folders in the XOOPS html folder from the previous step. (themes are not so important. to be honest)
8 Upload the entire contents of the HTML directory to the directory created in step
4 (Will take a long time if you have a lot of modules)
9 Open the browser to your directory or sub-domain created in step
4 10 This will give you the chance to install a fresh copy of xoops. Work your way through the installation.
MAKE SURE that you choose a different database prefix to that of your current site.
11 As part of the installation of XOOPS 2.2.x you are given the option to install any modules in the modules directory at the time of installing XOOPS on your site Select all modules and install them.(not sure if that is available with the older version of xoops, if not you will need to go to modules admin and install each module you use on your current site in turn)
You will then be told installation is complete, and remember to change the permissions for mainfile.php back to 444 and remove the install directory from your XOOPS installation.
12 Just incase this did not work as I had wanted I took this option to create a clone of the default template set.
13 Now go to your database with something like myphpadmin and backup the following tables seperately:
1_tplfile
1_tplset
1_tplsource
2_tplfile
2_tplset
2_tplsource
Where 1_ is the db prefix for your current working site and 2_ is the db prefix for the new site you have just created14 The details of the sql file will include the db prefix as well, you need to open the following files:
2_tplfile
2_tplset
2_tplsource
And replace all reference from 2_ to 1_ and save as:
1_tplfile
1_tplset
1_tplsource
But in a different location than the location you saved backups from the database, that way you have the originals to fall back on if you need them.
15 Back in to myphpadmin and you want to drop the following tables:
1_tplfile
1_tplset
1_tplsource
Drop one at a time, after the table is dropped you should see a box which will say something like import file with a button called browse next to it, click on this and upload your new versions of the respective files.
My problem eventually became worse than yours in that I could not modify any templates which was a real pain in the ass, and every time I tried to clone the template set I was getting more redundant data in my database and the mylinks module was duplicating link descriptions as well.
The above 15 steps have resolved my problem, my templates now work fine, I can edit them as I wish, I can clone them and I do not get any other problem and I do not get duplicated web links any longer.
HOWEVER I accept that I have probably over complicated things and the size of this post might make it seem harder than it is, but until someone else says otherwise, this seems to be the only thing that fixes my problem.
If your not sure about my instructions, let me know what steps are causing the problem, if your not sure about the table editing I mention from steps 13 to 15, you take the backups and PM me I will give you an email address, I will make changes and email them back to you (don't worry there is nothing in thoses tables that could affect your security etc.
Hope the long post does not scare you off...
Dave