October was a very profitable month for me, best of the year so far. It’s a little mysterious to me why it was so, but I did collect on a few projects I was owed so that helped. Anyhow, here’s a summary of the work I did in October. All client information has been anonymized, of course:
- Upgraded a forum from phpBB 3.0.9 to 3.2.1. The vendor folder was corrupt in my archive, which I think was due to a bad release by the phpBB Group since corrected. I fixed my archive, installed the prosilver_se style and applied the client’s logo. I also installed my digests extension (version 3.2.4) and tested it. In programming the cron job, since HTTPS was used, I added -K option to curl so it didn’t verify the certificate.
- Client upgraded from phpBB 3.1 to 3.2. He had the portal extension installed but the upgrade caused an error rendering the portal page. Updating the extension to 2.2.0-b1 solved the problem although it should be noted there is not an approved version of the portal for phpBB 3.2 at this time.
- Client was having trouble getting version 3.0.7 of my digests extension to mail from a phpBB 3.1.10 instance. I figured out the issues were due to incorrect manual testing procedures. Then wanted me to create a customized version that removed certain items from the digest email. I made changes which also required a change to the mailer program. I also found a digests 3.0.7 French language translation and installed it (since the board is hosted in France) and modified that language file as well as the English version to accommodate the requested changes. I tested it on a 3.1.9 instance on my machine and since I did not have installation permissions, I placed a copy on Google Drive for the client to access and install, with instructions. Later there was additional work. Now with full permissions, I upgraded the client from phpBB 3.1.10 to 3.2.1. I installed a new version of we_universal style, but the development version has a few issues (quote icons and the like would not show). I reapplied custom code changes to my digests extensions. In addition the client wanted additional template changes with banner images in the digests. These plus communication challenges added a lot of time.
- Client said he had managed to acquire the domain name a competitor was using, which had expired. Changed DNS to redirect to the selected domain but the action never completed. However, I later learned that the domain did not expire but GoDaddy let him buy it anyhow. Client paid me for my time.
- Upgraded a forum from phpBB 3.0.12 (subsilver2 style, no mods) to 3.2.1. Changed the style with the upgrade to Allen Subsilver. I added the old logo. I added an extension so external links render pages in new tabs. Redirect issues were solved by removing cPanel redirects and creating an index.html file with a meta tag to redirect to forum. In addition, SuperCacher was turned on. I had to flush SuperCacher in cPanel to affect logo changes. I created a question on registration but registration is currently disabled. I suggested configuring the new reCaptcha if this is enabled.
- Another error was reported by client I helped last month. I looked at the error log. I determined that German language pack said it was installed by the files were not there and that triggered the error. I added the German language pack for phpBB 3.1.10. Another error pointed to something wrong with the Profile Side Switcher extension. Version 0.0.1 was installed, updated to 1.0.0 and that error went away. I also removed some dead modules. I changed permissions on cache, files, images/avatars/upload and store folders. I cleared the cache. The extensions tab did not show. This may be a database issue with the modules table. Waited for feedback or additional permissions. Client paid me for the work to date.
- I completed a month plus long project to change the website’s front end from static pages to WordPress. Originally I placed WordPress in a /wordpress folder. I moved the old files into an old_files folder, moved WordPress into the root folder, installed a plugin to change some paths and changed some database columns to get it to work from the root folder. The move to WordPress included creating a shopping cart and testing it, replicating a members only area by doing it inside of WordPress, installing a theme, installing a form generator for membership applications and creating the membership form, and the integration of a photo gallery using a plug in. So while phpBB is my specialty, I can do a lot of WordPress work too, so it doesn’t hurt to ask if you want me to do some WordPress work for you.
- Upgraded a forum from phpBB 3.2.0 to 3.2.1. Reapplied logos. Updated American English language pack.
- Removed malware from site using cPanel’s file manager, placed bad content in Trash for customer’s review then submitted it to Google for a check. Later, client encountered more spam issues. Web host said WordPress plugins were sending spam. They blocked access to the site so I couldn’t go in and do anything. Sent support an email. Never replied back but a couple days later I could get into WordPress. Client has both a French and an English site. Updated plugins and updated WordPress on both sites. Installed plugin that automatically updates plugins on both sites.
- Upgraded a forum from phpBB 3.0.14 to 3.2.1. Work involved rehosting the forum too as the customer’s virtual server was underpowered, making database operations problematic. Customer eventually chose a new web host and it took about a week to move the content over along with the WordPress content. Resource limitations occurred trying to upgrade forum on old host, requiring me to move it to my machine, do the work there and upload it. However, bigdump.php would not complete loading the database, due to resource limitations on the database (first time I’ve seen this for virtual hosting). Many tables had primary keys and indexes missing. Eventually the new host got WordPress working correctly for the client. I had to reload the phpBB database to recreate the indexes and primary keys that were missing. While running bigdump.php on the new host I encountered a Javascript error but I was able to load database from the command prompt instead. Installed the Hexagon style, configured the logo, placed a special tile background image and uploaded old icons for forum and topic images. In some cases browser resized them, making them a bit fuzzy. Installed the Advertising Management Extension and added two ads in two locations. Upgraded PHP to 7.1 and tested. Installed the Advanced BBCode Box extension. Uploaded his many old images used in the headers principally to /styles/Hexagon/theme/images.
- Troubleshooting. Email interface wasn’t working. It was set to send mail via SMTP. I turned it off and tested it and received a sample mass email.
- Upgraded a forum from phpBB 3.0.11 to 3.2.1. Kept the prosilver style and reapplied the logo. Installed Google Analytics extension. Installed Advertising Management extension but HTTP 403 errors triggered when creating ad. Asked client to file a support request to get this addressed. Advised about placement of skyscraper ads (not a good idea for phpBB). Forum is inside a frame. Recommended this be addressed. Later, working with security rules were setup to bypass modSecurity for ad placement. Installed reCaptcha.
