Embedding templates in weblog entries = blank page.
Development and Programming
Solved. It was ‘Quick Save’. The problem only occurred when I created a new entry, used ‘Quick Save’, and then updated with either ‘Quick Save’ or ‘Update’. When I created an entry and chose ‘Submit’, I could then use either ‘Quick Save’ or ‘Update’ and nothing broke.
Update: this has nothing to do with embedding entries – I get a blank page whenever I edit and submit an entry after its initial creation. For example, I create a test page and it works. Then I edit any field from that entry and either ‘Quick Save’ or ‘Publish’ and the result is a blank page. Immediately starting working after I posted.
I’ve put together four sites with ExpressionEngine wherein the entire site is built in pages, and for dynamic chunks of information I’ve embedded templates within Pages entries using the allow_eecode plugin. It has worked smoothly until this new site.
The problem: on my current site, Pages is working just fine and as soon as I embed any template in an entry, that page URI renders a blank screen. PHP errors are on, and no change that I make to the Page entry will undo the blank screen. (Not even removing the embed tag!).
Here’s what I’ve tried: • cleared filesystem cache and database cache various time to no effect • embedded different templates to see if there was a template-specific conflict • created pages with different names and URI segments to make sure there was no conflict • wrapped the allow_eecode tags around several entry tags, a single entry tag to see if the plugin could only be used on one entry field at a time • completely removed allow_eecode tags from the template (did not get rid of blank page) • built a new page with embed code in entry WITHOUT using allow_eecode template (resulted in blank page again – issue may have nothing to do with allow_eecode) • added a blank embed tag {embed=""} and got blank page • added a random tag {segment_1} and got blank page
My setup: • ExpressionEngine 1.6.7 • Ubuntu Hardy on SliceHost • Multiple Site Manager
Template:
{exp:weblog:entries dynamic="on" limit="1"}
{embed="group/.part-header" page_title="{title}"}
<div id="content">
{exp:allow_eecode embed="y"}
{precontent}
{content-1}
{content-2}
{content-3}
{content-4}
{postcontent}
{/exp:allow_eecode}
</div>
{embed="group/.part-footer"}
{/exp:weblog:entries}Entry (example):
{embed="group/.part-header"}
OK, so are things working again?
Yes – sorry for the frequently-updated post. I’m not if this is a ‘Quick Save’ bug or what, but it sure is weird.
Most of the time I get rid of Quick Save. It confuses clients no end. I’m going to go ahead and close this. Don’t hesitate to post again as needed.
Re-opened sorry. I just happened across this. You should never get blank pages in ExpressionEngine.
This most likely has to do with an extension you’re running. If you want to list extensions then that might help us to have an idea of what is going on.
Error messages being on would help a lot too. =) Can you check PHP Info for display_errors and let us know the setting?
Hi Lisa,
I didn’t realize that you’d re-opened the thread! Here are my extensions:
Edit Menu (v.1.0.2) Publish Page Improvements (v.2.0.1) LG Add Sitename (v.1.0.1) LG TinyMCE (v.1.3.3) File, by Mark Huot (v.3.1.1) jQuery for the Control Panel (v.1.1.1) Tag Submit (v.2.6.3)
PHP’s display_errors is on, and during the course of trying to figure it out I tried to get PHP errors logged and displayed on-screen but neither generated any sort of error message. (I am the clown running my own server, but I’m about 80% sure that the problem isn’t PHP-related.)
I agree that error messages would be helpful, but I haven’t had any 😊
You have several extensions that modify the Publish Page behavior and I’d bet that is where you’re running into blank pages.
I’d recommend disabling all extensions (green button in upper right of Extensions page) temporarily and trying a quick save, see if it works. I’m betting it will at which point the question is to figure out which extension is misbehaving.
Can you also check in Admin -> System Preferences -> Output and Debug Preferences and tell us what error outputting is set to?
Output and Debug Preferences: 1: PHP/SQL error messages shown only to Super Admins. (I also set it to ‘2’ when testing, but still got blank pages whether logged in or not.)
I disabled all extensions, then stepped through them one at a time while quick saving the Page in question. It continued to work each time, but I never got a blank page even with all extensions enabled. I did, however, get an error from the LG TinyMCE extension when re-enabling it:
Notice: unserialize() [function.unserialize]: Error at offset 45808 of 65535 bytes in /home/mydomain.tld/public_html/system/extensions/ext.lg_tinymce.php on line 1097
Notice: unserialize() [function.unserialize]: Error at offset 45808 of 65535 bytes in /home/mydomain.tld/public_html/system/core/core.extensions.php on line 234You’d want to contact Leevi about that particular error. If you don’t use that extension, do you have problems with Quick Save?
Ah, be careful individually disabling, that removes their data, which is why I recommended the global disable. But yes, if it works, then testing individually becomes the troubleshooting method. Looks like you found your culprit! I’d make sure you’re on the latest LG TinyMCE - upgrading if not; and if you are, reporting it to Leevi.
I also don’t want you to think that blank pages are par for the course - that isn’t something that should happen, so thank you for getting back to me.
Now that you know the source, though, and that it’s a third-party add-on, I think that it’s best to take it up with that add-on’s author. So are you all good now?
I’m still trying to narrow it down to one individual extension (hopefully LG TinyMCE). I’ve figured out how to reproduce the problem consistently: create a new Page, submit via ‘Quick Save’, and go look for a blank page. So far, these extensions are definitely on my safe list:
Edit Menu (v.1.0.2) Publish Page Improvements (v.2.0.1) LG Add Sitename (v.1.0.1) File, by Mark Huot (v.3.1.1)
More in a few minutes.
This is just annoying; I can easily avoid the problem and move on, but it’s bugging me that I can’t consistently reproduce the problem. I just used the method above while re-enabling each extension and despite getting the TinyMCE error I never got a blank page. I suppose disabling all the extensions proved that it was an extension, and LG TinyMCE seems suspect but I can’t verify that it’s clearly that extension.
I’m just going to make sure each extension is up to date and move on, unless either of you would like me to try and figure this one out!
It’s very likely that there is an extension conflict between two extensions. I’d suspect Publish Page Improvements and LG TinyMCE in combination. What we do know for sure is that it doesn’t happen when there are no third-party extensions at play.
I’m going to pop this down to the Extensions forum for further troubleshooting.
I only added ‘Publish Page Improvements’ so that I could avoid the blank page issue–that extension wasn’t part of the set that caused the original problem. This is starting to feel like a real whodunnit, and the worst part is that it could be a surprise ending where we find that the narrator is the culprit!
At least you have a sense of humor about this… 😉