[SOLVED] Need help with strange problem...

I am at wits end and hopefully someone might see something I am overlooking.

I recently installed easyphp to allow me to work on my site locally. I have never done this before, so it is a learning curve. So far I installed easyphp, copied the entire directory of my website to the www directory, created a database and copied all of the tables from my joomla database over to it, and then changed all my configuration settings. Here is the problem. When i open the site on the local server, everything is there except the menu bar. The bottom menu bar is there and functional. Here's what I have looked at:

I went to the local database and there are entries for joom_menu and joom_menutypes. When I bring up administrator and go to each menu item, there are no entries there (even though the bottom one has them on the site). Stranger yet, I go to menu manager and it lists the menus there and shows numbers in the published column.

I have checked, rechecked, and cannot figure out what is going on. I have recopied all of the files from the server to my local hard drive, deleted all of the database and started over again, and nothing is working. I am at a total loss as the site seems to be functioning fine for the areas I can get to, but I cannot figure out why there are no menu items.

Doc

Post edited by: krileon, at: 2010/12/22 17:05

Not familiar with this easyPHP.

I use xampp setup to work locally and Akeeba backup/restore to transfer sites.

Obviously you missed some database table transfer most likely.

I will look into those, however, as I said, I checked the database and they seem to be there. Even did the database twice. Odd thing is there are menu items at the bottom that are working, but if you go to those menu items under menu in administrator, they show 0 items. Could you tell me which database tables to look at and which files are involved and I'll see if that could be it. In the meantime I will look into the other option you are using.

Doc

I suggest using a more reliable localhost package. We can't help you with such an issue. Something is wrong with your localhost package or when coping the site something was missed.

You should move your site by directly extracting the entire file structure using FTP. Once done export your entire database using phpmyadmin. Once done import your entire database into your localhost again using phpmyadmin. Now reconfigure configuration.php to match your localhost and you'll have a successful duplicate of your live site.

Alternatively as nick suggested just use Akeeba.

Thanks for the feedback. I did everything you described and am at a loss as to what is going on. So I will start from scratch. Just to make sure I've got it, just let me know if this is correct. For my current live site:

1. Install Akeeba component.
2. Backup to a zip file.
3. Copy zip to local drive.
4. Install XAMPP, in directory unzip file.
5. Create database.
6. Navigate to page and installation should walk me through the rest.

If this is correct, please help me understand one thing.

Use joomlapolis.com as an example. Lets say I did this and now have a duplicate of this site on my local computer. Using this local server, I add a new component, maybe a module or two, and rework the site to my liking. All is now the way I want it and I want to make it my live site. But in the meantime, new users have been added to the live site, messages posted, etc. How do I "seemlessly" put this new site up. If I reverse the process, isn't the database overwritten? Would I not lose all the new data? And what if some of the components added put new tables in the database? As a beginner with this, perhaps I am just missing something obvious. It seems all the tutorials show how to move a backup to a new site or fresh install. I can't find any that talk about replacing your live site with an upgraded site but keeping all of the data intact.

Thanks for any guidance you can give on this or point me to some good sites that can help to understand this aspect.

Doc

Ok, perhaps this will help.

First, I installed Akeeba and did a backup.

I also installed XAMPP.

I installed a database table through phpmyadmin in xampp.

Next I renamed the two index files in htdocs folder that were there from xampp, put the zip file in and unzipped it.

Next, went to 127.0.0.1 and went through the steps with Akeeba installer.

Deleted installation file and went to 127.0.0.1 again.

Site came up just like before, with no menus. But now there is a warning message in that area:

[code:1]Warning: Parameter 1 to modMainMenuHelper::buildXML() expected to be a reference, value given in C:\xampp\htdocs\libraries\joomla\cache\handler\callback.php on line 99[/code:1]

And when I go to administrator under menu, and click on top or bottom menu, instead of nothing there, I have a list of warning messages:

[code:1]Warning: Parameter 4 to JHTMLMenu::treerecurse() expected to be a reference, value given in C:\xampp\htdocs\libraries\joomla\html\html.php on line 87

Warning: array_slice() expects parameter 1 to be array, null given in C:\xampp\htdocs\administrator\components\com_menus\models\list.php on line 143

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in C:\xampp\htdocs\administrator\components\com_menus\models\list.php on line 147

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in C:\xampp\htdocs\administrator\components\com_menus\views\list\view.php on line 65

Warning: Invalid argument supplied for foreach() in C:\xampp\htdocs\administrator\components\com_menus\views\list\tmpl\default.php on line 69[/code:1]

Any ideas?
Thanks,
Doc

Post edited by: tthdoc, at: 2010/12/21 13:58