Errors

zabberwan · April 5, 2011

Hello Larry,

Many thanks for writing a wonderful and coherent book on PHP/MySQL, I am really enjoying it, especially since there are so many things one can use.

However, I am having some issues implementing the Registration System in your book and being a new comer, I really don't know how to go about troubleshooting some of the frustrating issues. This is my first website and making it a dynamic one at the same time has been a steep learning curve. Right now the error page looks like as shown below.

Thanks for any advice..

zabberwan

Edited April 6, 2011 by zabberwan

Stuart · April 5, 2011

Hi zabberwan,

It basically means that your database connection is not correctly setup/being passed to the mysqli functions.

If you post your actual code it will be easier to see what exactly the problem is. But a few things to check:

Are you including your database configuration script?
Is the name of the first argument you're passing to mysqli_real_escape_string the variable containing your database connection object?
Have you accidentally created another variable with the same name as your database connection object elsewhere in your script?

If you put the following code on the line preceding the error you'll be able to see if the object exists when it is called:

var_dump($dbc); // Change $dbc to the first argument you're passing to the mysqli_real_escape_function

zabberwan · April 5, 2011

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for your response. I am on the way out in a minute, but will be back in a couple of hours. I'll post the main code for you to scrutinize.

Be back soon,

zabberwan

Paul Swanson · April 5, 2011

zabberwan,

The error information you posted included the username and password to your database, so you should change the password or you leave yourself open to data theft. In the future you should replace those values with made-up information, or just ####.

zabberwan · April 6, 2011

Hi Paul,

Thanks for pointing me my bloomer! I had in fact. edited and removed some of those lines, but seem to have copy/pasted the wrong file ( there were one too many files open on my Desktop). I am terribly sorry for this. I post below a new one. If you or admin could kindly replace the said file in the post or even remove the previous one, would be great. I'll definitely change my server paths and passwords to avoid any breach of security, but may take some care, caution and a few days to do so. Hurry makes bad curry, they say!

I am back on to working on the site and will tweak a bit and see what comes up..will post the inferences..

zabberwan

PS: Thanks to Admin - I have been able to edit replace the code in the original post!

Edited April 6, 2011 by zabberwan

zabberwan · April 6, 2011

Hello,

I suspect my error is directly related to the "mysqli_connect.php" and because the webhost adds the webserver username as a prefix to the database and also to your database username, it makes it all the more complicated and confusing. Assuming:

Username on Web Hosting Server is: rafter1

Name of my Database is: rafter1_whitewater

My Username for the database is: rafter1_hardrocks

Password for the database is: fastpaddle

Name of the database host: localhost

I tried replacing only the values and also replacing the capital letters like DB_USER etc, but it continues to give errors. Perhaps you can help me complete the following with the sample info above as I cannot figure out what to replace or leave as is:

<?php # Script 16.4 - mysqli_connect.php

// This file contains the database access information. 
// This file also establishes a connection to MySQL 
// and selects the database.

// Set the database access information as constants:
DEFINE ('DB_USER', 'username');
DEFINE ('DB_PASSWORD', 'password');
DEFINE ('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
DEFINE ('DB_NAME', 'ch16');

// Make the connection:
$dbc = @mysqli_connect (DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, DB_NAME);

if (!$dbc) {
trigger_error ('Could not connect to MySQL: ' . mysqli_connect_error() );
}

?>

Thank you for your patience,

zabberwan

Larry · April 6, 2011

DEFINE ('DB_USER', 'rafter1_hardrocks');

DEFINE ('DB_PASSWORD', 'fastpaddle');

DEFINE ('DB_HOST', 'localhost');

DEFINE ('DB_NAME', 'rafter1_whitewater');

Jonathon · April 6, 2011

It really does depend on how your host sets this all up. Ask them for what your details should be if your unsure. If they're a good host they will help you out. My guess would be this:

<?php # Script 16.4 - mysqli_connect.php

// This file contains the database access information. 
// This file also establishes a connection to MySQL 
// and selects the database.

// Set the database access information as constants:
DEFINE ('DB_USER', 'rafter1_hardrocks');
DEFINE ('DB_PASSWORD', 'fastpaddle');
DEFINE ('DB_HOST', 'localhost');
DEFINE ('DB_NAME', 'rafter1_whitewater');

Hope that helps

Jonathon · April 6, 2011

Note to self: Must type faster :lol:

Larry · April 7, 2011

Well, I cheated: copy and paste! Thanks for helping!

zabberwan · April 7, 2011

Thanks to you both!

I am still getting the error:


]An error occurred in script 'File Path/Connections/mysqli_connect.php' on line 14: mysqli_connect() [function.mysqli-connect]: (42000/1044): Access denied for user 'rafter1_hardrocks'@'localhost' to database 'rafter1_whitewater'

What happens with the code below? I left it unchanged since you ignored it..


// Make the connection:
$dbc = @mysqli_connect (DB_HOST, DB_USER, DB_PASSWORD, DB_NAME);

if (!$dbc) {
       trigger_error ('Could not connect to MySQL: ' . mysqli_connect_error() );
}

zabberwan · April 7, 2011

I changed the //Make connection lines to:


// Make the connection:
$whitewater = @mysqli_connect ("localhost", "rafter1_hardrocks", "fastpaddle", "rafter1_whitewater");

if (!$whitewater) {
       trigger_error ('Could not connect to MySQL: ' . mysqli_connect_error() );
}

This removed all other errors, except:


An error occurred in script '/File Path/venture-wilderness/user_reg_lu/register.php' on lines 20, 27, 34 and 89: mysqli_close() expects parameter 1 to be mysqli, boolean given 
Date/Time: 4-6-2011 21:45:19

Any idea how to get rid of this one?

Thanks,

Zabberwan

zabberwan · April 7, 2011

I finally managed to get it working, but only partially. It accepts the input , generates and sends the email. However, when it does not accept the activation email which the user sends back after clicking on the activation link. Get an error: Firefox can't load this page for some reason! I tried with other browsers, but can't load the page. The activation link looks like this:

https://venture-wilderness.com/activate.php?x=naught%2540bitbyteshop.net&y=201ced4781acaccf2618fe587284f93a[/size][/font]
[font="Verdana"][size="3"]

I also wanted to know:

a. how to redirect a user after logging-in from HTTPS to HTTP mode and

b. how to change the fonts of the screen prompts and for email

Thanks

Jonathon · April 7, 2011

Hi Zaberwan,

Can I just check what your link is, on my browser, which is blackberry it was passing all kinds of font sizes and fonts.

Stuart · April 7, 2011

That simply means venture-wilderness.com/activate.php doesn't exist.

Have you actually created that page?
Is it actually called activate.php? Not activation.php etc...
Is it located in the root domain?

zabberwan · April 7, 2011

@ Jonathon: of course you can and are welcome!

zabberwan · April 7, 2011

Hi Stuart,

I placed the files in a folder <user_reg_lu> on my website. This contains all files required to run the aplication and there is one include file file that contains 4 files header.html, footer.html, config_inc.php and layout.css

The file responsible for activation is the activate.php. It also contains a $url = BASE_URL . 'index.php'; // Define the URL:

I changed it to $url = BASE_URL . 'user:red_lu/'; // Define the URL: So the activation link comes out correctly, but it just won't activate as it is unable to load the site:



<?php # Script 16.7 - activate.php
// This page activates the user's account.

require_once ('includes/config.inc.php'); 
$page_title = 'Activate Your Account';
include ('includes/header.html');

// Validate $_GET['x'] and $_GET['y']:
$x = $y = FALSE;
if (isset($_GET['x']) && preg_match ('/^[\w.-]+@[\w.-]+\.[A-Za-z]{2,6}$/i', $_GET['x']) ) {
$x = $_GET['x'];
}
if (isset($_GET['y']) && (strlen($_GET['y']) == 32 ) ) {
$y = $_GET['y'];
}

// If $x and $y aren't correct, redirect the user.
if ($x && $y) {

// Update the database...
require_once (MYSQL);
$q = "UPDATE users SET active=NULL WHERE (email='" . mysqli_real_escape_string($dbc, $x) . "' AND active='" . mysqli_real_escape_string($dbc, $y) . "') LIMIT 1";
$r = mysqli_query ($dbc, $q) or trigger_error("Query: $q\n<br />MySQL Error: " . mysqli_error($dbc));

// Print a customized message:
if (mysqli_affected_rows($dbc) == 1) {
 echo "<h3>Your account activated successfully. You may now log in.</h3>";
} else {
 echo '<p class="error">Your account could not be activated. Please re-check the link or contact the system administrator.</p>'; 
}

mysqli_close($dbc);

} else { // Redirect.

$url = BASE_URL . 'index.php'; // Define the URL:
ob_end_clean(); // Delete the buffer.
header("Location: $url");
exit(); // Quit the script.

} // End of main IF-ELSE.

include ('includes/footer.html');
?>

Can you make any sense out of it?

If you want to have a look at the other code, I'll post it also..

Thanks a lot for the support guys, I'm pretty exasperated with all the code..

ps: the forum just won't work Firefox, it just goes on a binge of loading something and just won't get out of it. Wonder if you also have the same problem!

Stuart · April 8, 2011

Hi zabberwan,

Quickly scanning through the PHP code you posted I can't see anything wrong with it. Aside from that I'm going to have to hand over to someone else here - I haven't got a clue what these lines mean:

<user_reg_lu>

$url = BASE_URL . 'user:red_lu/';

Are you using some kind of framework? They remind me of Basic Authentication but they're obviously not that. Either way I've never seen anything like that before so afraid I can't help you. I'm still confused you posted:

https://venture-wilderness.com/activate.php?x=naught%2540bitbyteshop.net&y=201ced4781acaccf2618fe587284f93a

Which returns a 404 which means the page doesn't exist in the root directory. Do you have activate.php in your root domain?

zabberwan · April 8, 2011

user_reg_lu is the short form of (user_registration_larryulmann) and is name of the folder which contains all the user registration files on the remote server. If you go to https://venture-wilderness.com you will find a "Registration" tab and clicking on it will take you straight to the Registration form.

However, $url = BASE_URL . 'user:red_lu/'; is a typo in my post.

I also found there is a video tutorial to the application at http://easykiss123.com

zabberwan

Stuart · April 8, 2011

Haha OK well if that's just a typo the only problem is that activate.php is not in your root directory - hence the 404 from the link you provided. If activate.php is in your user_reg_lu folder then you need to move it into the root OR alter the url you're directing people to from your activation email to reflect this. e.g. http s://venture-wilderness.com/user_reg_lu/activate.php?x=naught%2540bitbyteshop.net&y=201ced4781acaccf2618fe587284f93a.

zabberwan · April 8, 2011

I fixed the problem. The mistake was that i had also changed the values in activate.php. now it activates quite alright, but there is still a problem: the log-in works, but does not let you see the page you are actually wanting to visit or any page for that matter; it only shows you the index.php from the Registration. Something wrong with file paths around there. Will tweak around and let you know.

I have another apprehension: in my case I want to protect all pages except the home page (which I will redsign), and to do this you need to include the config_inc.php which contains a connection to the Database. Some of my pages already have the connection to the database as these are dynamic. Including a file with a second connection will definitely cause problems or do you think it wont create any hassles..

Thanks for keeping an eye on the thread. I do need some moral support, you know! :lol:

Did you have a look at the video? They have a Part II in which they explain the Advance Features..

Stuart · April 8, 2011

I'm not too sure about the issues of overwriting the database connection object - I'm pretty sure best practice would only to have one rather than overwriting the connection. Certainly if in your file it re-creates the connection details as constants you'd get errors resulting from trying to redefine a constant. On most of my sites I create the database connection object on every page because seldom is there a page that doesn't require a database connection at some point. Is there anything stopping you having the database connection object created once per page in a config file? Not sure what the best answer is re including files that create a DBC multiple times

Matthaus · April 10, 2011

You could also dynamically check to see if your database object is set and is a mysqli object before including the connection script. Or you could do the check in the connection script. Something like this should work:

if (!isset($db_connection) || !($db_connection instanceof MySQLi)) {
   // Whoops, no db_connection, better set it up...
   require(DB_CONNECTION);
}

You could replace "$db_connection instanceof MySQLi" with "is_a($db_connection, 'mysqli')" or "is_object($db_connection) && get_class($db_connection) == 'mysqli'".

Hope that helps.

-matthaus

zabberwan · April 10, 2011

@ Stuart

@ Matthaus

Thanks for your tips and advice..!

I was wondering if I need to worry about the second connection at all. First reason being that I have 2 different databases, one of them exclusively for the Registration, Login etc. processes and the other for everything else. When the user registers or logs-in he is using one database while the other is beyond his reach at that moment and cannot establish a second connection. When he has logged in he gets his Session ID set and is now directed to another page or destination, there is no need to keep Login connection open anymore.

Second reason being that as he moves on out of the SSL (HTTPS) mode to a normal (HTTP) mode the transfer should (according to my dim wits!) automatically sever the previous connection. However, I am not very sure about this, so I need to delve a little deeper to understand the goings on during the transience from one to the other mode. Your suggestion looks promising and might solve the problem if it shows up. Will let you know as I try it:

if (!isset($db_connection) || !($db_connection instance of MySQLi)) {
   // Whoops, no db_connection, better set it up...
   require(DB_CONNECTION);
}

Right now I have got the application working without errors. I am changing and polishing the CSS/Advance functions etc and adapting it to my site. I also combined the First Name and Last Name to a single single entry Name in the DB added a Username, Country and States Columns for the US. Presently trying to incorporate these as dynamic record sets directly from the DB using Dreamweaver.

When it doesn't work, it can be really exasperating, but when it works it is so much fun!

zabberwan · April 13, 2011

Hi All,

Have a few questions:

On calling for the Registration Page, it show the page alright, but appends an error:

<p>An error occurred in script '/xxxxx/yyyyy/zzzzz/venture-wilderness/user_reg_lu/register.php' on line 193: ob_end_flush() [<a href='ref.outcontrol'>ref.outcontrol</a>]: failed to delete and flush buffer. No buffer to delete or flush.

Is there a better way to write it, so that it gracefully ends or flushes the buffer content if only the content is there and not throw up an error when there is no content. What would the code look like? For example in the case of a connection we would write:

if (isset($connection)) {
mysql_close($connection) }

Is it really that necessary to have the buffer function "turn on" and "turn off"? One could also switch on "Output Buffering" permanently.

As shown above, what would the PHP code look like if the various errors or success messages were to show in the area and if there is nothing to show then the blank area would disappear and look like: https://venture-wild...lu/register.php

I will also add links for log-in and levels in the sidebar so that when activated they appear where the registration is..

Thanks for your much appreciated input

Errors

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