UBB.threads PHP Forum Software Community Forums UBB.threads 7 Version 7 Support Today's Birthdays Island Not Working

In Threads 7.5.3 I have the General Disply Option "Show Birthdays in Calendar?" checked. In Portal Settings I have "Only show birthdays for users online in past X days." set to blank (I've also tried zero).

Yet birthdays are not displayed in the Today's Birthday island even though if you click on today's date in the calendar, several birthdays are displayed.

Am I missing another setting someplace? Thanks.

http://www.dennyp.com/ubbthreads/ubbthreads.php

Let's put this on hold until tomorrow 8/30. I thought there were birthdays on the calendar for 8/29 when I posted this, put there aren't any there now. I may have clicked on the wrong date when I was checking this in the wee hours of the morning.

Well I see birthdays on the 29th of August in your calendar and the Birthdays island is empty.
You might want to clear cache in the ubb control panel.
Or sometimes you need to kick start them by ftp. Go into the cache folder and delete all of the files except for the index.html file. That will force ubb to rebuild all of the files.

Before you go down that road also double check file permissions are okay. You can check in the UBB control panel at
cp>>permission checks.
Click on any line in question to expand the display.

First thing I did was check file permission from the CP. Here are the results of the ones that failed.

images/avatars/default (FAIL)
images/forumimages/default (FAIL)
images/forumimages/Halloween (FAIL)
images/graemlins/default (FAIL)
images/graemlins/default_dark (FAIL)
images/icons/default (FAIL)
images/icons/default_dark (FAIL)
images/icons/Halloween (FAIL)
images/markup_panel/default (FAIL)
images/markup_panel/default_dark (FAIL)
images/news/default (FAIL)
images/news/default_dark (FAIL)
images/news/Halloween (FAIL)
images/moods/default (FAIL)
images/moods/default_dark (FAIL)
images/moods/Halloween (FAIL)
languages/english (FAIL)
languages/english/admin (FAIL)
templates/default (FAIL)

Under each of these directories, all the individual files also fail.

The installation manual does not list permissions for the above directories that I can find. What should the permissions be?

Here is what I found in the installation manual. Of the directories listed here, mine are all set as specified.

Unix & Mac Servers:

You must set the following permissions on the UBB.threads™ files and directories. You can use your FTP software to set these permissions. For exact information on setting permissions in your FTP client, see the documentation included with that program.

includes/ directory: set permissions to 0777
files within the includes/ directory: set permissions to 0666
sessions/ directory: set permissions to 0777
templates/compile directory: set permissions to 0777
templates/ directory: set permissions to 0777
cache/ directory: set permissions to 0777
cache_builders/ directory: set permissions to 0777
cache_builders/custom/ directory: set permissions to 0777
files within the cache_builders/custom/ directory: set permissions to 0666
styles/ directory: set permissions to 0777
files within the styles/ directory: set permissions to 0666
tmp/ directory: set permissions to 0777 gallery/ directory: set permissions to 0777
directories within the gallery/default directory: set permissions to 0777

While awaiting a reply on the above posting, I tried the other options. Clearing the cache via the CP option did nothing.

I went into the cache folder. I saw a birthday.php file. I copied it to my computer for safekeeping then deleted it. When I displayed my board page, the entire Today's Birthdays island was gone. I waited a while, refreshed the page and still no Today's Birthdays island. No birthday.php file was rebuilt in the cache directory. I went back into the CP and into the Portal Settings screen. I didn't change anything, I just clicked on Submit. Then the Today's Birthday island came back and there was a new birthday.php file. But the Today's Birthday island was still empty with birthdays actually showing up when today's date was clicked in the calendar.

In case it is useful, here is the contents of birthday.php ...

<?php if(!defined('UBB_MAIN_PROGRAM')) exit; ?>
<?php echo $tbopen ?>
<tr>
<td class="<?php echo $style_side ?>tdheader">
<?php echo $ubbt_lang['BIRTHDAYS'] ?>
</td>
</tr>
<tr>
<td class="<?php echo $style_side ?>alt-1">
<?php echo $ubbt_lang['NO_BIRTHDAYS'] ?>
</td>
</tr>
<?php echo $tbclose ?>

Does any of this information help? Thanks.

Okay lets start with the templates folder first since this is the issue that started this post.
This works for me on my site.
folder files permissions

Templates 777
Templates/compile 777
Templates/Default 755
Templates/Default/admin 755
Files under Templates/Default 644

We are posting on top of each other but that is a normal responce. When you delete the files the cache time comes into play unless you delete the files then again clear cache in the control panel.
But look into the file permission issues first that I posted above since the birthday island template is in the templates folder that has a issue.

All mine match yours. The only difference is that I have lowercase directories ...

templates
templates/default

Not sure if that makes a difference.

Thanks for looking into this.

No I just caps them by by the way I type.
Hate to say this but you may need to open a another support ticket for this item.
I have noticed here that sometimes a host will change file ownership of folders and files that will cause problems.
meaning you are not the owner of the file so some things will not execute properly.
Also I had a odd ball problem where one island did not create a table entry once that Rick fixed
But Rick can check that out for you.

If he deletes the files then re uploads then that will change the ownership of the files back to him.

Delete which files and upload them from where? Thanks.

I assume you are talking about the files in the cache folder.
But if this is the case would it not revert back to the default owner when the cache is rebuilt and cause the same problem?

Another piece of information ...

During the last couple of weeks I was testing the conversion from Classic to Threads on the same forum with a few selected users. At that time, the Today's Birthday Island was working.

Last night I made the conversion on a production basis.

I dropped the SQL database. Redefined it and ran createtables.php successfully. Then I ran the classic_import script successfully. Then I went in and tweaked a few CP settings.

I did not delete the ubbthreads directory and completely start over.

Well again I would suggest a support ticket since you may have the same weird issue I had.
Goto mysql look at table portal boxes.
There should be a entry for birthdays under the field portal name.

Also you should not have any file permission conflicts. So again another reason for a support ticket.
Believe me Rick is extremely fair on this issue so I would start there.

There is a birthdays entry under PORTAL_NAME.

I did submit the support ticket after your earlier suggestion to do so. I referenced this topic for the details.

Thank you for your kind assistance.

I am just guessing here but I think you have had something changed from your host where you are not the owner of the files/folders anymore.
JAISP may be correct to just re-upload the files but. I am not really sure.

I was referring to the cache folder. I had this problem once or twice after upgrades and such. Usually fixed it for me.

But what about my question on when the cache is rebuilt after new posts?
Did it still work?

I am the administrator of the server and there is just this one domain on it. I didn't make any changes at the server level between the two times I build the message board (testing & production).

I see the reference to deleting the cache files, but I still don't understand from where to reload them.

Ruben, I'm not sure if your question was directed at me or at JAISP, but I did delete the cache through the CP with no change.

I also went into the cache directory and deleted all the entries except index.html with no change in the Today's Birthdays island.

What I am talking about is the host will change their settings. so when you upload a file your are not the owner of the file. This usually happens to someone that is on a shared server.
When you say you are the admin of the server do you mean you are on a dedicated server or vps. If this is true this this issue usually does not apply.

What JAISP is referring to is just simply using a backup, upload the cache files. But to be honest I don't see how this will help in your case. Since the cache folder is rebuilt every few minutes. But you never know.

My opinion is wait for Rick to respond to you!

Yes, I am on a dedicated server with root/superuser privileges and access to everything.

I did create the support ticket referring to this topic and will wait for Rick to check into it.

Once resolved, I will post the resolution here for posterity in case it may help others.

Thanks again.

Reporting back on this issue ...

It starting working OK yesterday. I wanted to wait another day before declaring it "fixed". It's OK today.

If you ask what fixed it, I have to answer "I don't know." I didn't change anything. Rick took a look at it yesterday and noted it was working.

.. strange.

Well I am not so sure.
Why is it right now you have 9 birthdays in the calendar but only 5 names in the island???
Or did you put a value back in the "Only show birthdays for users online in past X days" setting?

Are the users that are not showing in a "banned" status?

I have no idea you would need to check that in your control panel.

That has been the case in others that were in the calendar but not in the Today's Birthdays island.

Okay like I said I would only know If I could access the control panel to see if the member is banned.
Most of my members don't use the birthday field so I hardly ever see someone at my site.
They are all to old so they don't want to be reminded.

Yes, anyone that isn't showing in the public island is banned. There was talk awhile back about how these shouldn't be displayed, so we made that change, however the change didn't get carried over to the regular calendar.

Rick I have a global moderator and his birthday is not showing up in the Today's Birthday box. He is not banned because I have checked that I have also cleared cookies and checked permissions.

Can't see why a global moderator's birthday does not show up even when I have checked his profile he has display birthday ticked.

Any help would be appreciated.