jimport('joomla.filter.output'); resulting in Class 'JOutputFilter' not found

[reashlin]

Hey,

Now i'm very confused.

I have this code

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// Some code
<?php
jimport('joomla.filter.output');
$k=0;
for ($i = 0, $n=count( $rows ); $i < $n; $i++) {
$row = &$rows[$i];
$checked = JHTML::_( 'grid.id', $i, $row->id );
$published = JHTML::_( 'grid.published', $row, $i );
$link = JOutputFilter::ampReplace( 'index.php?option=' . $option . '&task=edit&cid[]=' . $row->id );
?>
// Some code

when I try and open the page all I get is

Code: Select all

Fatal error: Class 'JOutputFilter' not found in /home/mglexis/public_html/Joomla 1.5/administrator/components/com_reviews/admin.reviews.html.php on line 89

can anyone tell me what is going wrong

[kdevine]

You are loading the right file unfortunately you have the wrong class name in your code. The class name is JFliterOutput.

[reashlin]

Cheers again,

I actually found that after some hunting in the API (I missed it the first two times I looked) and was about to come here and say not to worry.



Cheers.

[CirTap]

Hi,

the "Filter" package has gone through several changes and your code is not the most recent and will fail (again) should you update from SVN or the next RC to come.
It once was:
- /filter/output,php  JOutputFilter
- /filter/input,php  JInputFilter
then became what you have now (matching the general naming schema of the framework):
- /filter/output,php  JFilterOutput
- /filter/input,php  JFilterInput
and now is ("breaking" the schema once more):
- /filter/filteroutput,php  JFilterOutput
- /filter/filterinput,php  JFilterInput

thus after your next update, you need to change your code into
  jimport('joomla.filter.filteroutput');
to match the new filename.

I have no idea why they were changed again, for no obvious reason ...

Have fun,
CirTap

[reashlin]

Cheers for the heads up.

I will make a note of that.

[Bozzy]

Hi,

I'm working on the same Tutorial like reashlin and have the same problem. I changed the JFilterOutput syntax like described.
Like you perhaps see, the user should be able to edit a row of a database entry in a component by clicking on the entry name alternative to checkbox the entry and click "Edit".
But this does not work quite well: The Buttons of "Save", "Apply" and "Cancel" are shown in the top right but instead of showing the edit fields, the default overview of the database table with its entries from the pre-screen is shown.

What can this be
Thanks

[esedic]

Hi, probably you guys are working on example code from Learning Joomla! 1.5 Extension Development as I noticed that it's the com_reviews component which is a example component to build in this book.

I had the same problems, first with JFilterOutput class, then I noticed the same problem as Bozzy had.

I've seen that this book was published in May 2007, is it a problem of Joomla version in time that this book was written?

I was really looking forward to learn developing Joomla extensions but following this book's example is pretty hard, with all the corrections I had to make.

[CirTap]

I've seen that this book was published in May 2007, is it a problem of Joomla version in time that this book was written?

it definitely is.
In May '07, Joomla! was still in Beta 2 and it took another nine months for Joomla! to become final - new lifeforms come into being in this very period of time :-)
Everything can change in a pile of code labeled with beta. Some publishers, however, thought it'd be a brilliant (marketing) idea to (probably) urge their authors finish a book about an unfinished product. I didn't read this particular book (in fact never any J! book), but a statement like "all the corrections I had to make" tells me that this "early bird" issue, was a pretty bad deal. Not for this publisher of course, but if you're lucky, they have provided updated material on their website you may download -- they have a special area for errata.
It takes at least two months to proofread, copy-edit, layout, lecture, verify, and finally print such books. If this was released in May, the information is probably current as of February or March '07 -- that's one year old stuff. The pace of changes in behavior and appearance of the two main applications and the framework structure and API in particular, cannot be covered correctly in any book published before, let's say, Dez. '07. (My humble opinion of course.)
I think there have been at least three different versions of the back-end since Sept. '05 until we got what we have and see today; Beez wasn't even close, and several parts of the code (and documentation) up until early '07 meanwhile became literally useless. It's those tiny little details like a renamed class, a file moved, that can cause so much frustration.
<sigh>

To quote an honorable member of the Joomla! Community:

When you think you've got something well documented, those pesky devs go and change it.

We are lucky to create [easy to modify] digital documents :-) -- unlike those book-makers.
It remains a very time consuming job to review all the many online documentation that was written then and that is written today. The condition online probably led you (guys) to buy a book for offline reading which, unfortunately, isn't accurate either.

But isn't it great to have the online-fora so you can "utilize the wealth of knowledge our community provides"?

Have fun,
CirTap

(Don't get me wrong: this isn't a rant about books or even about this publisher. I love books -- flipping pages in a comfy chair... if it's a novel. I didn't buy any computer book for at least a decade because each and every book I'd spent by precious money for always turned out to contain substantial errors, some so tremendous to drive me nuts, wasting my time only to find out it's them being faulty and outdated, and not me being a stupid.)

[goodman123]

I don't know if this is related. After I installed com_tutorials on joomla 1.5.1. and started to submit a link on the frontpage, I got this error:
Fatal error: Class 'InputFilter' not found in components/com_tutorials/tutorials.class.php on line 73
I am clueless as to how to fix the problem.

[CirTap]

Fatal error: Class 'InputFilter' not found in components/com_tutorials/tutorials.class.php on line 73

wow, "InputFilter" is even older than any of the "J*Filter" stuff.
In line 73 change "InputFilter::" to "JFilterInput::" -- there might be more places where you need to change this, search in all the .php files that come with this component.
Similar change "OutputFiler::" to "JFilterOutput::" if there are any.

In any of the .php files you should find calls to jimport( ".." ) where the string value contains "inputfilter" and maybe "outputfilter" -- I can't recall the old string format when the filters where not yet part of the joomla/ subfolders. However, those line should now read:
jimport( 'joomla.filter.filterinput' );
jimport( 'joomla.filter.filteroutput' );
You may run into other "old" tutorials or example code that uses outdated locations.
Here's how you can fix it: these dot-separated strings equal the pathname to individual files located in the /libraries folder. jimport() translates the string into a full-qualified path such as "/webroot/htdocs/libraries/joomla/filter/filterinput.php" (which is to solve one of the troubles of "safe-mode")

It may happen that you run into sth. like this, too: "joomla.file.*" -- this means, load all files from the /joomla/file subdirectory for instance.
Some older "plugin" examples may use this and will now fail, because the "event handler" code was once part of the "/libraries/joomla/plugin" folder but has since moved to "/libraries/joomla/event".
Code using the "JEventDispatcher" class now needs to use "JDispatcher" -- jimport("joomla.event.dispatcher")

There might be other glitches, but these tips should help you to iron them out and get the code running.

If the code was found in the documentation wiki, please report any errors (and possible fixes on how you solved it) in the Developer Documentation Forum so we can fix this, and sorry for the inconvenience.

Have fun,
CirTap

[goodman123]

CirTap, thank you very much for your detailed reply. I will definitely give it a try.

[pmuruaga]

So People, what do you do with the tutorial, I was doing the same: Learning Joomla Extensions... and I had all the same problems you have, but it is good to read some book like this where you can go trough the chapters learning step by step. But it is sooo frustrating to get to more than a half of the book and can finish it. What can you recomend my to do? try other good book/tutorial? wich one? try to finish it? (I think it want be easy without doing the example). I don't know. I wanna learn to develop. Please masters of joomla, help us!!!

[CirTap]

Hi,
all I can suggest is to contact the publisher and ask for an errata or any other kind of "digital" update -- if available. Depending on the book's success (== sales) you might be lucky and such things exists (typically involves additional work from the author ~ payments ~ costs. Good sales = high probability for a second editon <g>)
Maybe the eBook edition is more up to date; maybe not.
Maybe you get a rabate for an updated eBook edition if you can convice the publisher that you own the printed book (which was obviously released way too early to be of any good use.)
According to their website, the "Building Websites with J! 1.5 Beta 1" book includes Free eBook upgrades up to 1.5 Final Release -- maybe they offer the same for the "Learning Joomla! 1.5 Extension Development".
Just ask

For this particular book, head over to http://www.packtpub.com/support , select the book's title from the list and get the updated code samples (dated 28 June 2007). I have no idea if the contents in this download are any "better" than the printed stuff or code samples that came on the CD (if there was one included) and whether that code will work with the recent release (1.5.1): I don't own that book nor have I even seen it in real life :-)

I already mentioned earlier that, imho, any book published before Dec. '07 will have a "lack of correctness" -- simply put: the older, the "worse". If you wanna learn and study code using a (printed) book, you simply need a more recent issue.

Good luck & have fun,
CirTap

[victorf]

HI

For the correct use of the JOutputfilter

The jimport must by
jimport('joomla.filter.filteroutput');

and insted of JOutputFilter now is JFilterOutput whit those changes the component will work fine

[geekhead]

I'm trying to get the tutorials component to work. This is the closest thing i've found to my error message.
this is the error
Fatal error: Class 'InputFilter' not found in /home/xxxxxx/public_html/components/com_tutorials/tutorials.class.php on line 68

The jimport must by
jimport('joomla.filter.filteroutput');

I assume this will fix my issue with the tutorials component, Where do I put this?

and insted of JOutputFilter now is JFilterOutput whit those changes the component will work fine

and where do I put this?

[reashlin]

Basically anywhere in your code,

if it says *Filter it should now be Filter*. For whatever the * happens to be at the time.

So you don't add extra lines, you change the old lines to what they now should be.

[geekhead]

change filter to filter?

OK, in the code I have

Code: Select all

$iFilter = new InputFilter();

I change this to...?

and then I have

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if ($iFilter->badAttributeValue( array( 'href', $this->url ))) {
			$this->_error = addslashes( _TUT_MOSTUT_VALID_URL );
			return false;
		}

I change that to...?

and then

Code: Select all

//domain host
	function filter( $data ) {
		$banlist = array ("'","\"",";",",","www.");
		for($i=0;$i<31;$i++)
			$banlist[] = chr($i);
		return str_replace ( $banlist, '', strtolower ( $data ) );
	}

I change than to...?

Code: Select all

function referrer( $URL ) {
		if(trim($URL) != '')
				   $Url_data = parse_url($URL);
		$ValidURL  = is_array($Url_data) &&
					 strlen(trim(@$Url_data['host']))!=0;
		return $ValidURL?tutorial_HTML::filter(trim($Url_data['host'])):"Direct hit";
	}

I change this to...?

thanks in advance

[reashlin]

Sorry, a poor desctiption from me.

Things like

Code: Select all

$iFilter = new InputFilter();

should be

Code: Select all

$iFilter = new FilterInput();

This was what I meant with the asterix (*) around Filter in my previous example.

The rest of your references to "filter" seem to be ok as they are not part of the renaming scheme.

[geekhead]

yup, thats what I thought you suggested.

now the error is FilterInput instead of InputFilter

argh!

you know what, I have never had a successful 1.5.x site yet, 1.1.15 works perfectly, I'm going back to what works.

everyone keeps telling me i must update, but even they make sacrifices because of 1.5.x issues

[CirTap]

Hi,
you should not blame Joomla for you not looking at the API docs (http://api.joomla.org/li_Joomla-Framework.html)
It's not prohibited to open J! source files and have a look at the code.

In 1.0.x almost all stuff was prefixed with "mos*"; functions, classes, globals, constants ... packed into a few files
In 1.5 there's usually only one class per file and very few have their small "Helper" class with them.
Hint: Native classes in 1.5 all start with a capital "J" and (the few) global functions with a lowercase "j" -- jexit(), jimport().

The import statements, filepaths and class names are pretty straight forward:
jimport("joomla.filter.filterinput")
/libraries/joomla/filter/filerinput.php
class JFilterInput
http://api.joomla.org/Joomla-Framework/ ... Input.html

jimport("joomla.filter.filteroutput")
/libraries/joomla/filter/fileroutput.php
class JFilterOutput
http://api.joomla.org/Joomla-Framework/ ... utput.html

CirTap

[geekhead]

as with most users that are not programmers, the api docs are over our heads.

but...the developers of the components and mods should be familiar with the newer code and making their plugins compatible with the newer versions of joomla.

the issue really is that 1.5 works great with 1.5 developed components, but there is limited backwards compatibility (even in legacy mode) and that there still isn't the number of compenents and moduals for 1.5 that provided all the robust functionality of the 1.x series. although I understand the need to upgrade, I sacrifice my 1.x functionality.

I have used 1.5 for small sites that do not need much functionality and it works fine.

[CirTap]

Hi,
whoever's willing to writing code in PHP, which I'd consider programming not using, should get himself familiar with how an API reference is written and what the stuff means. The pages at api.joomla.org contain typical information and are just fancy looking compared to the plain-vanilla layout of most other references, incl. the PHP manual. It's neither top-notch nor does ist suck. It's just a reference like many others.
It isn't that hard to learn reading it, and you can safe yourself a lot of time and headaches if you know "how to read a function definition". That's basic knowledge in order to write any PHP code.
That chapter from the PHP manual and the Joomla! Framework naming schema I mentioned in my previous post should help you and others to walk your way through the J! API Reference. For the remaining issues: post in the forums :-)

This topic started as the result of some people using code examples from a book that was published when J! 1.5.0 was not yet released. The codebase of the Framework was complete, yet it wasn't stable. Unfortunately the two classes in the "filter" package have been renamed twice after that book was released. That's sad, but it happend. It's not like everyone now has to rewrite thousands of lines of code due to this; just flip two words. If you were a programmer -- which according to your last post I assume you're not -- you'd know that this kind of "refactoring" happens all the time. Now both classes fit well into the system and you don't have to remember yet-another exception in the file and class naming schema (which is not as strict as it could have been.)

I absolutely agree that many extensions written for 1.0.x (or Mambo) do not work seamlessly within 1.5.x, but the legacy layer does a pretty good job. Many "old" extensions suddenly stop working because their "programmers" did not use the interfaces 1.0.x had to offer, it's API, and wrote their own stuff -- bypassing the system. Given the code quality and code design of some such extensions, their "creators" aren't developers either.
So who's to blame? Maybe its Mambo and J! 1.0 for not providing the tools that forced 3PDs to finally come up with their own "solutions"?

Sure, the 1.0-API wasn't very sophisticated and the reason for 1.5 to be written in the first place. Backwards compatibility is a curse.
In summary, Joomla! 1.0 provided less functionality than 1.5. It's just the many, many Mambo and J! 1.0 compliant extensions that added to it. Get yourself well written extensions, and you have the same "functionality" in 1.5.
People who "just use" the CMS application won't necessarly notice, but web designers an developers do, and they have much more and much better tools to use.
It's just 6 months since 1.5 was released. Allow 3PDs to catch up and get familiar with the new environment. It's an easy task to refactor an old extensions using the new Framework, but it takes time.

Have fun,
CirTap

[geekhead]

i do not know how to write php, nor do i have time to learn it. I'm not a child, i'm in my 50's, and I work for a living.

I can edit and modify it just fine using the hacks that I find in the forums and online.

I applied all of the suggestions and I understand how the code gets modified over time. I understood and applied all of the the above suggestions. N one of them worked. I believe that th component I was trying to use just has coding issues that goes beyond the filter syntax.

I'm a big joomla user. Joomla is great, some components and mods are not.

As for waiting for the 3rd party extentions to catch up, that is my plan. I figure by the end of the year the 3rd party extentions should be caught up to 1.5

[CirTap]

I understood and applied all of the the above suggestions. None of them worked.

not sure you really did, 'cos you also wrote:

now the error is FilterInput instead of InputFilter

which means you did not change any occurance of the "old" class name to JFilterInput and/or fixed the jimport() statements accordingly.
Please check my list again and give it another try or post the lines you believe are bogus and cause the error.

I believe that th component I was trying to use just has coding issues that goes beyond the filter syntax.

that's possible. If you'd post the actual error message(s) you receive we may help you iron it out.
In Global Config please set the error reporting to "highest".
Even small things (aka "PHP notices") may result into a "fatal error" but it's the part causing the "notice" that ought to be fixed in many cases. They're often hard to spot even for developers (of any age), so never mind :-)

Have fun,
CirTap

[phonglanpls]

I know that is old topic.
That is I fix the problem:
Replace:
// $link = JFliterOutput::ampReplace( 'index.php?option=' . $option . '&task=edit&cid[]='. $row->id );
By
$link= JRoute::_( 'index.php?option=com_reviews&task=edit&cid[]='. $row->id );
And remove statement: //jimport('joomla.filter.output.php');
The program run correct.
Good luck
YM: joomla_express

[toumi]

i have the same pb, so :
just you change the JOutputFilter::ampReplace function by JFilterOutput::ampReplace

finaly you must have the correct code :

jimport('joomla.filter.output');
........
$link = JFilterOutput::ampReplace( 'index.php......);