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    • 46625
    • 21 Posts
    Hello
    Im new to MODX, never used it before atall.
    I am trying to create a webpage and thought id write a post here first to see if you think i should start working with MODX or just forget it.

    I want to create a webpage where any visitor can submit a title and a link (URL). This content that the visitor is submitting is then to be displayed in a list on my website.

    I have tried with Wordpress, but not found any good plugins to support and do it as i want it.
    I have NO background in programing.

    I hope that MODX will support this and allow me to set this up quite easily and without having to edit to much code, more work with plugins/extensions.


    What do you think?
    Is MODX for me?
      • 14547
      • 58 Posts
      I think you should give it a shot. I'm not a programmer ... and I'm loving it.

      If you have basic HTML + CSS knowledge, my guess is that you might fall in love with it. I've tried many Content management systems before, but none of them give me the flexibility that MODx gives. Think of MODx as a box of LEGO. You've got the pieces, now go ahead and build whatever you want and how you want it smiley

      Good starting point:
      http://rtfm.modx.com/revolution/2.x/

      Good luck and welcom to the community!

      Cheers,
      John
        ~~||[ Simplicity is everything ]||~~
        • 46625
        • 21 Posts
        Thanks

        I have now runned the installation two times and every time it refuses to take my admin login details.

        And i can not retrieve the password either.
          • 3749
          • 24,544 Posts
          There's a three-part series on installing MODX here:

          http://bobsguides.com/blog.html/2013/03/24/installing-modx-part-i/.

          It's geared to installing at Arvixe, but almost all of it applies anywhere. Just reading it may give you some ideas about things you might have missed.

            Did I help you? Buy me a beer
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            MODX info for everyone: http://bobsguides.com/modx.html
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            • 10208 ☆ A M B ☆
            • 1,780 Posts
            Did you use an installer to install MODX? If so, don't trust it unless your host can specifically state that they have configured their installer for proper MODX installation.

            I've found only one host with a decent script installer for MODX and even then, I only barely trust it. There may be others, but so far I have yet to find them. MODX is safest installed manually. At least then when you look back at the steps you may have missed, you can find them.

            Do read Bob's information about installing MODX (and everything else on his site), there are few others who know MODX as well as he.

            Oh, one thing to NEVER do... do not extract the MODX.zip file on your computer and then FTP the extracted files onto the server. Load the .zip file onto the server, and then extract them in the file manager on the server, or use whatever extraction script your host provides for you.
              Frogabog- MODX Websites in Portland Oregon
              "Do yourself a favor and get a copy of "MODX - The Official Guide" by Bob Ray. Read it.
              Having server issues? These guys have MODX Hosting perfected - SkyToaster
              • 46625
              • 21 Posts
              Im stunned, it still does not work

              I unzip the .zip file to the right place in the FTB. I do not upload the unziped folder. I first upload the.zip file then i extract it.

              Then i run the setup folder and enter my database credentials and all shows OK.
              I then enter my username and password for admin.
              Then i finish the installation.

              Ive done it 4 times now.
              Every time everything shows OK

              But i can NOT login.

              Help please.
                • 36996
                • 211 Posts
                Can you look at core/cache/logs and see if you have an error log for the installation?
                Also, at the end of the installation process, did you try to toggle the warnings?
                Another suggestion, check the db, in the modx_active_users table for existing user/users.

                  • 46625
                  • 21 Posts
                  ok, removed everything again. Starting over with new database and empty folders.

                  This is the script i use to unzip my .zip file.

                      <?php
                      /* Simple script to upload a zip file to the webserver and have it unzipped
                        Saves tons of time, think only of uploading Wordpress to the server
                        Thanks to c.bavota (www.bavotasan.com)
                        I have modified the script a little to make it more convenient
                        Modified by: Johan van de Merwe (12.02.2013)
                      */
                       
                      function rmdir_recursive($dir) {
                      foreach(scandir($dir) as $file) {
                      if ('.' === $file || '..' === $file) continue;
                      if (is_dir("$dir/$file")) rmdir_recursive("$dir/$file");
                      else unlink("$dir/$file");
                      }
                       
                      rmdir($dir);
                      }
                       
                      if($_FILES["zip_file"]["name"]) {
                      $filename = $_FILES["zip_file"]["name"];
                      $source = $_FILES["zip_file"]["tmp_name"];
                      $type = $_FILES["zip_file"]["type"];
                       
                      $name = explode(".", $filename);
                      $accepted_types = array('application/zip', 'application/x-zip-compressed', 'multipart/x-zip', 'application/x-compressed');
                      foreach($accepted_types as $mime_type) {
                      if($mime_type == $type) {
                      $okay = true;
                      break;
                      }
                      }
                       
                      $continue = strtolower($name[1]) == 'zip' ? true : false;
                      if(!$continue) {
                      $message = "The file you are trying to upload is not a .zip file. Please try again.";
                      }
                       
                      /* PHP current path */
                      $path = dirname(__FILE__).'/'; // absolute path to the directory where zipper.php is in
                      $filenoext = basename ($filename, '.zip'); // absolute path to the directory where zipper.php is in (lowercase)
                      $filenoext = basename ($filenoext, '.ZIP'); // absolute path to the directory where zipper.php is in (when uppercase)
                       
                      $targetdir = $path . $filenoext; // target directory
                      $targetzip = $path . $filename; // target zip file
                       
                      /* create directory if not exists', otherwise overwrite */
                      /* target directory is same as filename without extension */
                       
                      if (is_dir($targetdir)) rmdir_recursive ( $targetdir);
                       
                       
                      mkdir($targetdir, 0777);
                       
                       
                      /* here it is really happening */
                       
                      if(move_uploaded_file($source, $targetzip)) {
                      $zip = new ZipArchive();
                      $x = $zip->open($targetzip); // open the zip file to extract
                      if ($x === true) {
                      $zip->extractTo($targetdir); // place in the directory with same name
                      $zip->close();
                       
                      unlink($targetzip);
                      }
                      $message = "Your .zip file was uploaded and unpacked.";
                      } else {	
                      $message = "There was a problem with the upload. Please try again.";
                      }
                      }
                       
                       
                      ?>
                      <!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd">
                      <html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml">
                      <head>
                      <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=UTF-8" />
                      <title>Unzip a zip file to the webserver</title>
                      </head>
                       
                      <body>
                      <?php if($message) echo "<p>$message</p>"; ?>
                      <form enctype="multipart/form-data" method="post" action="">
                      <label>Choose a zip file to upload: <input type="file" name="zip_file" /></label>
                      <br />
                      <input type="submit" name="submit" value="Upload" />
                      </form>
                      </body>
                      </html>


                  Then i run mysite.com/modx/setup/

                  I pick language
                  I enter database info.
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                  All seems to be OK when running the setup.

                  I enter my admin stuff.
                  the last page also shows all OK

                  I finish the installation.
                  When that is done, all still shows ok.

                  I press next and then login.
                  And now i try to use my login details i just setup.
                  It do not work.



                  1. at the end of the installation, i tried to toggle the warnings. No warnings was shown.

                  2. it seems the log file show lots of errors.
                  here are them.

                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not copy /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/modContext/bde2000c798fd870bfc6f0c0fb0e0e19/0/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/index.php
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not copy /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/modContext/bde2000c798fd870bfc6f0c0fb0e0e19/1/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/ht.access
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not copy /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/modContext/41634a97fbb377215b0b065f5edab24f/0/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/manager/assets
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not copy /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/modContext/41634a97fbb377215b0b065f5edab24f/1/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/manager/controllers
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not copy /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/modContext/41634a97fbb377215b0b065f5edab24f/2/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/manager/templates
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not copy /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/modContext/41634a97fbb377215b0b065f5edab24f/3/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/manager/min
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not copy /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/modContext/41634a97fbb377215b0b065f5edab24f/4/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/manager/ht.access
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not copy /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/modContext/41634a97fbb377215b0b065f5edab24f/5/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/manager/cache.manifest.php
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not copy /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/modContext/41634a97fbb377215b0b065f5edab24f/6/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/manager/index.php
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not install files from /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/xPDOFileVehicle/1d7b8700a980f1c4e80a7172a6a00539/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/connectors/
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not install files from /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/xPDOFileVehicle/b72a6d5c6bb206ef1e2a6df2dc710553/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/connectors/
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not install files from /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/xPDOFileVehicle/61b4f5aae0285ec00087dfe179aee82e/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/connectors/
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not install files from /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/xPDOFileVehicle/9b9232f8765b7bcb3892ae71dd5cb722/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/connectors/
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not install files from /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/xPDOFileVehicle/385b17be4f63550b2d2f6276cc3096e8/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/connectors/
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not install files from /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/xPDOFileVehicle/b96a9c35a20a556526476e0d6b52eb0d/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/connectors/
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not install files from /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/xPDOFileVehicle/b42ad4fc3bf0bff1dbb74c7acda48f2a/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/connectors/
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not install files from /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/xPDOFileVehicle/35d6629486751636da3e4a59844bd4aa/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/connectors/
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not install files from /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/xPDOFileVehicle/9696f8bbb8216fc2d3da2dbb01e33d2e/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/connectors/
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not install files from /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/xPDOFileVehicle/1fd64d48c10a054699fbefab0fd3dc65/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/connectors/
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) Could not install files from /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/core/packages/core/xPDOFileVehicle/ed35d6b927780352640d42668f39eb1e/ to /storage/content/15/115715/okuus.se/public_html/modx/connectors/
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) modUser: Attempt to set NOT NULL field username to NULL
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) modUserProfile: Attempt to set NOT NULL field email to NULL
                  [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) modSystemSetting: Attempt to set NOT NULL field value to NULL
                  



                  What should i do?
                    • 14547
                    • 58 Posts
                    1. Theory (since I don't know if it's even possible): You're not using special characters in your password are you?

                    2. Have you made any custom changes (chmods)anywhere?

                    3. This may sound cheesy but; try to reinstall and write down your admin username and password in notepad. Then when you come to the point that you have to enter your admin login credentials, copy and paste them from notepad into the corresponding fields.

                    When setup is done, don't manually fill in your user credentials, but instead copy & paste them into the corresponding fields.

                    4. Are you trying to roll out MODx in a shared hosting environment or do you own a linux VPS/ dedicated server or are you running your own home server?

                    [EDIT]
                    Well... this is peculiar:
                    ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) modUser: Attempt to set NOT NULL field username to NULL
                    [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) modUserProfile: Attempt to set NOT NULL field email to NULL
                    [2014-02-18 09:37:19] (ERROR @ /modx/setup/index.php) modSystemSetting: Attempt to set NOT NULL field value to NULL


                    These fields are empty?

                    [EDIT 2]
                    Google led me here:
                    https://forums.modx.com/thread/87312/2-2-10-installation-quirks-empty-username-column-after-installation#dis-post-481106

                    In short; Disabling opcache could solve your problems. If you're on a shared host, ask your webhoster if they can disable it, or else:

                    Change your ht.access file (the one in your web root) to .htaccess, then add the following line to it:
                    php_flag opcache.enable Off


                    Then if you do a reinstall, did that solve your problem?
                    [ed. note: johnsim last edited this post 12 years, 8 months ago.]
                      ~~||[ Simplicity is everything ]||~~
                      • 46625
                      • 21 Posts
                      1. My password is only lower case letters containing 7 letters. I have also tried to use 7 lower case letters and two numbers at the end.

                      2. I have not made any changes to permissions. But since i have tried installing so many times, i have tested making ALL folders 777 READ/WRITE where i place the installation before i run it. Every time i make a new attempt on installing, i create a new database, new folder to put the files in. Never use the same location or database twice.

                      3. I tried that. With so many attempts now, i know i am typing the correct password and username when loging in. Tho, i thought of it and did a copy paste to notepad. But that did not work.

                      4. I am running it on my website/hotel provider called www.citynetwork.se. It is running on a Linux/Apache server