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DEBUGGING!EESITE!PROBLEMS

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WHO!IS!THIS!GUY?

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Partner & Lead Developer

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FORMATSample problem Debugging process

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STEP!"#!QUESTIONS• Verbally speak the problem

• Have you seen this problem in the past?

• Have you read about or hear someone talk about this problem?

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STEP!"#!QUESTIONS

• What are the symptoms?

• I have incorrect content displaying

• No content is displaying

• My template not rendering as expected

• All URLs show my site’s home page

• I see the “white page of death” on certain pages

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STEP!$#!CONFIRMATION• “Is it plugged in”

• Clear your cache

• Try multiple browsers / computers if necessary

• Log in as the user who experienced the problem

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STEP!$#!CONFIRMATION

• Based on the symptom(s), what do we know about the problem in the past?

• Log debugging issues for future use and refer to them later.

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STEP!%#!MAKE!CHANGES• Begin to change things to find the source of the

problem

• Template code

• Channel Entry (or related module) data

• System setting changes

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SAMPLE!PROBLEMS

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PROBLEM!"Verbal review of the problem:

I have the 10 most recent “News” entries on my sidebar, but they don’t show up on some pages.

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PROBLEM!"#!THE!QUESTIONS

Have you seen this problem in the past?

(If you’re Lisa Wess you probably have dreams (nightmares?)about this problem, they’re so common.)

• If so, what was the solution to that problem?

• If not, it’s time to start making changes.

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PROBLEM!"#!THE!SOLUTION

Add dynamic=”no” to the {exp:channel:entries} loop parameters so the URL doesn’t determine what results are returned in the sidebar.

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PROBLEM!$Verbal review of the problem:

I’m making changes to my template flat file, but they aren’t appearing on the website.

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PROBLEM!$#!THE!QUESTIONS

Have you seen this problem in the past?

• If so, what was the solution to that problem?

• If not, it’s time to start making changes.

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PROBLEM!$#!CONFIRMATION

• Check database details

• Clear the cache

• Try updating a different template (narrow the search)

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PROBLEM!$#!THE!CHANGES

• We have unexpected template / display output

• Start with enabling the template debugging option

• What is different between templates that work, and the one that does not?

• Goes back to your experience and what you remember or have logged about previous problems

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PROBLEM!$#!THE!SOLUTION

The template that wasn’t showing changes was flagged in the database to not be saved as a flat file and thus our changes were not being displayed.

Switching the template to be saved as a flat file fixes the problem.

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PROBLEM!%Verbal review of the problem:

My channel:entries loop isn’t returning the expected number of results.

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PROBLEM!%#!THE!QUESTIONS

Have you seen this problem in the past?

• If so, what was the solution to that problem?

• If not, it’s time to start making changes.

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PROBLEM!%#!CONFIRMATION

• Check number of results with CP filter (if possible)

• Clear the cache

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PROBLEM!%#!THE!CHANGES

• Review the query being executed

• Manually run the query yourself if needed

• Update the channel:entries parameters to modify the query being executed

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PROBLEM!%#!THE!SOLUTION

ExpressionEngine defaults to limiting Channel Entry loops to 100 results for performance reasons.

Because we want over 100 results returned in a single loop we had to add a limit=”x” parameter to the tag.

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PROBLEM!&Verbal review of the problem:

My entire site is nothing but a “white page of death.” I can log in to the CP, but the front-end isn’t displaying.

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PROBLEM!&#!THE!QUESTIONS

Have you seen this problem in the past?

• If so, what was the solution to that problem?

• If not, it’s time to start making changes.

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PROBLEM!&#!CONFIRMATION

• Make sure it’s not just a single template

• Clear the cache

• Review any recent repository changes

• Recall any recent database changes

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PROBLEM!&#!THE!CHANGES

• Enable all debugging

• Template debugging

• Output profiler

• Debug setting in EE

• $debug variable in index.php

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PROBLEM!&#!THE!SOLUTION

A newly implemented plugin, CI Helpers, had a bug in its plugin file.

Turning on our debug settings allowed us to see the PHP error and fix the problem.

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!ERIKREAGAN"""•"""EECI"#$%%

PROBLEM!'Verbal review of the problem:

My entire site is nothing but a “white page of death.” This time it’s even the control panel. I can’t access the CP to turn on any debug settings or see what’s wrong.

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!ERIKREAGAN"""•"""EECI"#$%%29

PROBLEM!'#!THE!QUESTIONS

Have you seen this problem in the past?

• If so, what was the solution to that problem?

• If not, it’s time to start making changes.

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PROBLEM!'#!CONFIRMATION

• Review any recent repository changes

• Recall any recent database changes

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PROBLEM!'#!THE!CHANGES

• Disable extensions to see if that helps

• Enable all debugging in your config file

• Template debugging

• Output profiler

• Debug setting in EE

• $debug variable in index.php

!ERIKREAGAN"""•"""EECI"#$%%

PROBLEM!'#!THE!SOLUTION

A newly implemented extension had a bug in the code.

Disabling extensions allowed us to determine it was an extension causing the problem. Turning on our debug settings allowed us to see the PHP error and fix the problem.

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!ERIKREAGAN"""•"""EECI"#$%%

QUESTIONS• Verbally speak the problem

• Have you seen this problem in the past?

• Have you read about or hear someone talk about this problem?

• What are the symptoms?

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!ERIKREAGAN"""•"""EECI"#$%%

NON(EE!TIPS• .htaccess

• print_r()

• var_dump()

• debug_backtrace()

• Xdebug for PHP

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!ERIKREAGAN"""•"""EECI"#$%%

GETTING!HELP• Seek help on EE forums or 3rd party support channel

• Ask on twitter (with the #eecms hash, of course)

• Consider sites like Stack Overflow for general PHP or server issues

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!ERIKREAGAN"""•"""EECI"#$%%

WHAT!NOT!TO!DO• Bug the first person you see on AIM/Skype/gTalk

without trying things yourself

• Complain on the EE forums without troubleshooting yourself

• Complain on a 3rd party dev's forums without troubleshooting yourself

• Complain on twitter

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!ERIKREAGAN"""•"""EECI"#$%%37

focuslabllc.com/blog/troubleshooting-expressionengine

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THANKS!@ErikReagan

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