Template breaks URLs Topic is solved

[Rob Parker]

I'm doing final testing on a localhost copy of our website in preparation for the upgrade from J!3 to J!4. The localhost is running XAMPP, with PHP 8.2.4.

The upgrade to J!4.4.4 seems to have been successful, and the site runs with the default Cassiopeia template. However, if I change to the template we wish to use - tc_blp, a custom template built with Template Creator CK - the site fails, with a message "Invalid code 0 (probably an internal error)". It shows (in Quirks Mode) minimal content; within that, all the links from menu items are missing the sitename (blp) in the URL. For example, the Join Us page link is https://localhost/join-us; it should be https://localhost/blp/join-us. Developer tools reveals that most content has not loaded, for the same reason.

This behaviour occurs regardless of whether SEF Friendly URLs are set. SEF URLs work with the Cassiopeia template; however, they require the following entry in .htaccess:
RewriteBase /blp
That setting does not change the behaviour when the tc_blp template is active; the URLS are still broken.

Additional info: The localhost/blp site was set to use the Beez template before the J!4 upgrade, and the tc_blp template was installed after the upgrade. The tc_blp template was developed on our J4 testsite, currently running J4.4.4; it is working there with SEF URLs, and RewriteBase is not set in .htaccess. You can view that site here: https://j4.birdlifephotography.org.au/

Any suggestions gratefully received,

Rob

[AMurray]

Do you need to update to the latest Template Creator CK specifically for J4? (the developer site indicates this as v5.4.6).

We can't see your "localhost" site since it's local to your computer and not online.

This should probably be a question for the makers of Template Creator CK and since it's a paid prduct you shoud be entitled to support.

[Rob Parker]

Thanks for your thoughts, AMurray. The version of Template Creator we are using is not the current one, but it does produce templates for J4. Our support period for this product has expired. You can see that this template runs under J4 from our test site: https://j4.birdlifephotography.org.au/

[Mr. Wimpy]

Join-us (and Member login) are in a custom module.

How did you create these links?

What editor do you use?
In both TinyMCE and JCE you can create links to menu-items.
This will make links respect the root no matter what directory the site is in.

[Rob Parker]

I use JCE Pro as my editor. However, the links which are broken are the menu items themselves, not links within an article.

[Mr. Wimpy]

How did you create the links inside the custom module?

With JCE, when you create link, you also have the option to select a menu-item where a link should lead to.

[Rob Parker]

The link is not in the custom module. The link - with the missing sitename - is in the menu item which opens the custom module.

[Mr. Wimpy]

Oh wait, I was looking at the links at the top right. I had not noticed the menu at the bottom right.

[Rob Parker]

OK. But if you're using the test site (https://j4.birdlifephotography.org.au/) which you can see to solve my problem, that won't necessarily help. As I said, that site has the same template and Joomla version as the site on my localhost, which is where the problem exists. What I'm wanting is an explanation of why this combination of template and Joomla version fails on my localhost - or even some suggestions as to what might be the problem, even if you don't have a definitive solution - when it works perfectly on our test site.

In essence, my question is: what can cause the sitename to not be included in links generated from Joomla menu items? Why does a link which should be https://localhost/blp/photo-gallery appear as https://localhost/photo-gallery ?

[sclg]

I presume you have set the Joomla version setting within Template Creator to J4, not J3?
Not doing so can cause this error.
Page - Informations - Joomla Setting in the current version.

[Rob Parker]

Definitely set to Joomla! 4.x

[sclg]

I'd talk to Template Creator support then. Cedric is extremely responsive and helpful.

[Rob Parker]

I'm now doing that. He's been very helpful in the past.

[Rob Parker]

I finally decided to re-try the whole upgrade again. Installed another copy of our J3 site on my localhost, and ran the upgrade. No problem, with Cassiopeia template after upgrade. Installed tc_blp template, and now no problem. Cedric has not seen my problem previously, and does not know definitely what caused it; he suggests it could have been an incompatible extension which is used in a module whose position does not exist in Cassiopeia, but is only in tc_blp. I'm not sure about that; I think I removed all extensions with warnings in the pre-update check before the upgrade; but maybe I missed on.

Bottom line (for me) is that the problem has gone away.