SID-02191: Troubleshooting Custom Templates After Upgrade

Status:	Asked	TWiki version:	6.0.2	Perl version:	5.10.1
Category:	CategoryTemplates	Server OS:	RHEL 6.7	Last update:	9 years ago

We just upgraded our TWiki instance from 4.1.2 to 6.0.2 and have a lot of custom templates which use the Spreadsheet Plugin.

The issue we are running into is that after we copy over all of our custom templates to the templates directory and ensure proper owvership, they are still not working. So we need a way to diagnose where they are failing.

Looking at the installed plugins section, the SpreadSheet Plugin does not show any errors. So we are not sure what has changed in the plugin, if anything, from 4.1.2 to 6.0.2.

-- Robert Webb - 2016-04-22

Discussion and Answer

Further info,

If I set debug on the spreadsheet plugin, I see the following in the beginning of the run:

TWiki::Plugins::SpreadSheetPlugin::initPlugin( maint.NetworklocalDMZ ) is OK SpreadSheetPlugin::commonTagsHandler( maint.WebHome ) SpreadSheetPlugin::commonTagsHandler( maint.WebHome ) SpreadSheetPlugin::commonTagsHandler( WebLeftBarLogin ) SpreadSheetPlugin::commonTagsHandler( WebLeftBarWebsList ) SpreadSheetPlugin::commonTagsHandler( maint.WebLeftBar ) SpreadSheetPlugin::commonTagsHandler( LanguageSelector ) SpreadSheetPlugin::commonTagsHandler( WebTopBar ) SpreadSheetPlugin::commonTagsHandler( WebBottomBar ) SpreadSheetPlugin::commonTagsHandler( maint.NetworklocalDMZ ) TWiki::Plugins::SpreadSheetPlugin::Calc::init( maint.NetworklocalDMZ )

However in the new site, I only see:

TWiki::Plugins::SpreadSheetPlugin::initPlugin( maint.NetworklocalDMZ ) is OK SpreadSheetPlugin::commonTagsHandler( maint.NetworklocalDMZ ) TWiki::Plugins::SpreadSheetPlugin::Calc::init( maint.NetworklocalDMZ )

I am beginning to think that someone here a long time ago may have customized stuff in TWiki itself.

-- Robert Webb - 2016-04-22

Not sure. Possibly a different order in the {PluginsOrder} configure setting? The default is just 'SpreadSheetPlugin'.

TWiki's core and standard plugins are maintained with compatibility in mind. It is unlikely that the new SpreadSheetPlugin version breaks your site.

If you suspect a customized TWiki you can download a previous version matching your old TWiki from TWikiProductionRelease and compare files using diff.

-- Peter Thoeny - 2016-04-23

Thanks for the info Peter.

The old site just had the SpreadSheet plugin in the order listing just as this one. I even made sure only the same plugins between old and new were enabled.

I will keep looking into it. I even tried copying the SpreadSheet plugin from the old site to the new and I had the same result.

-- Robert Webb - 2016-04-26

If you installed additional plugins, try disabling all plugins but the core ones to see if a plugin plays bad.

If you have a custom plugin, test with the standard TopMenuSkin to see if the custom skin is the issue.

To test if you have customized your old TWiki you'd need to download that version and use diff on each directory to find out.

-- Peter Thoeny - 2016-04-26

So I have tracked down a big part of my template issue. It appears to be a conflict between some custom templates that were created and the change from 4.1.2 to 6.0.2 in the view.pattern.tmpl. If I copy just that file from 4.1.2 and overwrite the 6.0.2 version most of my pages start working again.

Doing a diff between the two, there are a lot of changes.

I do have some other cleanup, but what I have left so far appears to be minor.

-- Robert Webb - 2016-04-28

Oh, one other off topic question from templates.

On the default TopMenuBar there is an "EDIT" and "ATTACH" button located top right, can these be removed somehow? If I hover over them they are pointing back to the TWiki/TopMenuSkinTopBar and I am afraid that my users will get confused.

Thanks for all your help.

-- Robert Webb - 2016-04-28

Ok, so I figured out the EDIT and ATTACH issue by creating a custom TopMenuBar.

-- Robert Webb - 2016-04-28

So it appears that the pattern skin update at some point has broken all my custom templates. Not sure where to start with this.

-- Robert Webb - 2016-04-28

So I am assuming from what I know that,

TMPL:PREFERENCE COVER with a Set value "rack" handles calling the various *.rack.tmpl files.

I have 4 of those files (common, viewany, viewprint, view). When I click on a link in TWiki that uses that combination of template and form, I only see the static data which is entered into the form at the time a new rack is created (That is data located in the individual topic txt file for a rack that was created with the form.)

Even a simple custom common template that sets breadcrumbs for me does not work. It is just doing %TEMP:DEF statements. Its name is common.test.tmpl and in that web preferences I have SKIN = test,topmenu,pattern.

-- Robert Webb - 2016-04-28

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