SMPT mail problem
a) I’ve had a series of problems trying to use weblogin. I’m running MODx in Windows under a WOS portable wrapper (
http://www.chsoftware.net). This uses Php Version 5.2.5. (From Central China on a flaky internet connection, randomly blocked, I have to protype this way).
b) The first mailing problem was that Php 5 is natively unable to handle authenticated logins, which most mail systems now require. I solved this problem, more or less, by using a virtual mail, PHP MAILER (file:///D:/aData/INTERNET/ZOTERO/storage/3861/index.html ).
c) The next problem was that most ISPs (e.g. Google mail, and my own ISP, Bluehost.com) now require an SSL login. Any attempt to login yields a message like this :
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« MODx Parse Error »
MODx encountered the following error while attempting to parse the requested resource:
« PHP Parse Error »
PHP error debug
Error: mail() [function.mail]: SMTP server response: 530 5.7.0 Must issue a STARTTLS command first i40sm1193804wxd.25
Error type/ Nr.: Warning - 2
File: I:\WosPortable\www\modx-0961p1\assets\snippets\weblogin\weblogin.processor.inc.php
Line: 105
Line 105 source: if(!mail($email, "New Password Activation for $picture2story.net", $message, "From:".thormay."\r\n"."X-Mailer: MODx Content Manager - PHP/".phpversion())) {
Parser timing
MySQL: 0.0307 s (18 Requests)
PHP: 6.4206 s
Total: 6.4512 s
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Not solved : I have no idea how to get MODx or Php5 to issue a STARTTLS command, or even whether they are able to do it. There are many forum references to this problem on the Internet, but I have not seen a coherent solution.
**SUGGESTIONS?!?**
=> one suggestions was to turn off TLS (which is apparently on by default) , and I tried this in the email.php file of PHP MAILER: $mail->mail.smtp.starttls.enable = false.
Of course, even if it worked, this made no difference to Gmail or Bluehost, which require TLS. ISPs have a good reason for increasingly requiring encrypted logins, so even finding an ISP who doesn’t want it would only be a temporary and not very wise solution. I’m totally fed up after wasting days mucking around with this nonsense. The inability of users to e-mail pretty well destroys the whole purpose of moving to a CMS for me.
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2. Some context and comment on MODx
Techies may want to ignore the following, but it could mean something to the rest of us. I have been running a largish static website (
http://thormay.net) for ten years. Technically it is a kind of archeological dig of primitive untamed html, innocent of CSS and cluttered with awkward tables. On the other hand, it has let me say what I wanted to say with a minimum of fuss. I’ve shamelessly used programs like Dreamweaver to avoid messing around with code except for some tweaking. This site has thousands of files, and I wouldn’t even comptemplate trying to suck it into a CMS in this lifetime.
Now I’m setting out to build a language learning site called Picture2Story. This will actually require the human zoo to talk/write back in quite complicated ways. For example I’ll be ecouraging people to submit translations, hopefully on a page that has the 1st language version in parallel. A mockup of the general concept can be seen here:
http://thormay.net/store/picture2story/p2s_indexpage_all.jpg and
http://thormay.net/store/picture2story/p2s_story_all.jpg
Clearly Picture2Story is going to require a CMS and lots of customized templates. Looking across the battlefield of Blogland and the battalions of CMS hopefuls, it is obvious that a) they are pitched at the chattering classes who are happy with filling in fixed themes/templates, or b) mostly need professional programmers to modify them. I cut my teeth on Chomskyan grammars in natural languages, so a bit of formalism doesn’t faze me. On the other hand, I don’t want to spend forever learning new code conventions. As a teacher on a laughable Chinese salary I certainly can’t hire programmers.
MODx looked like a reasonable compromise. It seems to be customizable. However, approaching as an outsider, again and again things tend not to work as advertized. An answer is probably somewhere each time, but each time seems to need hours and days hunting down vague clues on the Internet (and life is short). Behind each reference are all kinds of assumed bits of knowledge that an outsider doesn’t have. In other words, there is a major problem with documentation.
Suggestion: I think many of the documentation problems could be solved with clever, interlocking and hyperlinked flow diagrams online. Like many people I have a visual memory/imagination. Smart flow diagrams could save huge amounts of time now needed to pick through screeds of fractured description.
MODX Staff