Forum is blank after posting

[CrossMediaGroup]

I'm having problems with my main forum forums.crossmediagroup.net. Recently, I decided to add a copy of the same forums to one of my subdomains at business.crossmediagroup.net/forums. The both share the same databases. The problem is that when I post at forums.crossmediagroup.net I am not redirected to the post I create. I am sent to a blank page.

Also I cannot click on the links under Last Post Info. I guess the path is screwed up or something. I know I need to RTFM, but I need the site up and running and reading PHP and MySQL Manual is taking some time. Can anyone help me with this?

[CrossMediaGroup]

New:

I just found out if I visit index.php?showtopic=11&view=getnewpost the link won't show up. But if I visit index.php?showtopic=11, everything works just fine (visiting Last Posts).

I still don't know what's going on with the posting though.

[sde]

interesting .. doesn't phpbb have a setting for the main domain in the control panel? it seems like there would be conflicts for running the same db on multiple domains.

could you please remove the links from your signature? we welcome you to be part of our community, but we've had a problem lately with new members posting just to spam their site for ranking purposes. if it was a little personal site that had nothing to do with engine ranking or business, there would be no problem. there also wouldn't be a problem if you are an older member.

thanks.

[CrossMediaGroup]

I'm not interested in high volumes of "untargetted" traffic nor am I an advocate of spam. I'm on here because I need coding help while I'm learning PHP because I need the site up and running. I am only interested in targetted traffic because spam is not going to bring you clients willing to pay $300+ for web design projects.

I'm not using phpBB, I am using Invision Board 1.3.1. BTW, was Invision Board 1.3.3 created? I can't remember. I know they have 2.0.3 now though. Anyways, what problems should I expect when using the same database with 2 different subdomains? I tried looking for PHP scripts and .htaccess commands for pointing the subdomain to the http://business.crossmediagroup.net/forums forums but all I found were lousy redirection scripts. I heard I can do this with httd.conf, but I don't even know where that file is located and if I even have access to it.

[sde]

if you heard you could do this with a .htaccess or httpd.conf, then they were probably referring to mod rewrite.

basically you would use regular expressions to change business.crossmediagroup.net/forums to forums.crossmediagroup.net. i think you would accomplish the same thing by creating a symbolic link between the 2 forum directories server-side though.

Are you sure there is no "forum path" setting in the invisionboard control panel? there might be something in the scripts that is causing the error based on the path it's hosted at.

thanks for understanding and fixing the sig. you are 100% right, but you'de be suprised how many people have register and post just for the purpose of SEO. we work hard to keep the integrity of the information here. it just comes at a small price for new members.

[CrossMediaGroup]

I inquired my host about mod_rewrite, so hopefully it will be added. Here's my PHP info.: http://forums.crossmediagroup.net/phpinfo.php

I'd like to learn more about creating a symbolic link. I'm looking for a redirection that does not change the URL when I travel through my forums because I don't want to confuse my visitors by sending them to a different subdomain.

I'm going to do some more research on it. Here's my config file:

<?php
$INFO['admin_group']			=	'4';
$INFO['allow_creator_vote']			=	'1';
$INFO['allow_dup_email']			=	'1';
$INFO['allow_dynamic_img']			=	'0';
$INFO['allow_flash']			=	'1';
$INFO['allow_images']			=	'1';
$INFO['allow_online_list']			=	'1';
$INFO['allow_search']			=	'1';
$INFO['allow_skins']			=	'1';
$INFO['auth_group']			=	'1';
$INFO['autohide_bday']			=	'';
$INFO['autohide_calendar']			=	'';
$INFO['avatar_def']			=	'64x64';
$INFO['avatar_dims']			=	'64x64';
$INFO['avatar_ext']			=	'gif|jpeg|jpg|swf|png';
$INFO['avatar_url']			=	'1';
$INFO['avatars_on']			=	'1';
$INFO['avup_size_max']			=	'20';
$INFO['ban_email']			=	'';
$INFO['ban_ip']			=	'';
$INFO['ban_names']			=	'';
$INFO['base_dir']			=	'/home/burutsa/www/forums/';
$INFO['board_desc']			=	'Website forums';
$INFO['board_name']			=	'Cross Media Group Forums';
$INFO['board_offline']			=	'0';
$INFO['board_start']			=	'1096564796';
$INFO['board_url']			=	'http://forums.crossmediagroup.net';
$INFO['boardname']			=	'IBForums';
$INFO['calendar_limit']			=	'';
$INFO['clock_joined']			=	'j-F y';
$INFO['clock_long']			=	'M j Y, h:i A';
$INFO['clock_short']			=	'jS F Y - h:i A';
$INFO['cookie_domain']			=	'.crossmediagroup.net';
$INFO['cookie_id']			=	'ipb_';
$INFO['cookie_path']			=	'/home/burutsa/www/forums/';
$INFO['debug_level']			=	'1';
$INFO['disable_gzip']			=	'0';
$INFO['display_max_posts']			=	'15';
$INFO['display_max_topics']			=	'15';
$INFO['email_footer']			=	'';
$INFO['email_header']			=	'This email generated via IBForums';
$INFO['email_in']			=	'EMAIL';
$INFO['email_out']			=	'EMAIL';
$INFO['emo_per_row']			=	'3';
$INFO['etfilter_punct']			=	'0';
$INFO['etfilter_shout']			=	'0';
$INFO['flood_control']			=	'30';
$INFO['force_login']			=	'0';
$INFO['forum_skin_1']			=	'';
$INFO['forum_skin_8']			=	'';
$INFO['guest_group']			=	'2';
$INFO['guest_name_pre']			=	'Guest_';
$INFO['guests_ava']			=	'1';
$INFO['guests_img']			=	'1';
$INFO['guests_sig']			=	'1';
$INFO['header_redirect']			=	'location';
$INFO['home_name']			=	'Cross Media Group';
$INFO['home_url']			=	'http://www.crossmediagroup.net';
$INFO['hot_topic']			=	'15';
$INFO['html_dir']			=	'/home/burutsa/www/business/forums/html/';
$INFO['html_url']			=	'http://business.crossmediagroup.net/forums/html';
$INFO['img_ext']			=	'gif|jpeg|jpg|png';
$INFO['index_news_link']			=	'1';
$INFO['installed']			=	'1';
$INFO['load_limit']			=	'';
$INFO['match_browser']			=	'0';
$INFO['max_emos']			=	'20';
$INFO['max_h_flash']			=	'200';
$INFO['max_images']			=	'10';
$INFO['max_interest_length']			=	'50000';
$INFO['max_location_length']			=	'50000';
$INFO['max_messages']			=	'50';
$INFO['max_post_length']			=	'1000';
$INFO['max_sig_length']			=	'50000';
$INFO['max_w_flash']			=	'200';
$INFO['member_group']			=	'3';
$INFO['msg_allow_code']			=	'1';
$INFO['msg_allow_html']			=	'0';
$INFO['new_reg_notify']			=	'0';
$INFO['news_forum_id']			=	'1';
$INFO['no_reg']			=	'0';
$INFO['nocache']			=	'1';
$INFO['number_format']			=	'none';
$INFO['offline_msg']			=	'';
$INFO['php_ext']			=	'php';
$INFO['post_titlechange']			=	'50000';
$INFO['pre_moved']			=	'Moved: ';
$INFO['pre_pinned']			=	'Pinned: ';
$INFO['pre_polls']			=	'Poll: ';
$INFO['print_headers']			=	'0';
$INFO['reg_auth_type']			=	'0';
$INFO['safe_mode_skins']			=	'0';
$INFO['session_expiration']			=	'3600';
$INFO['show_active']			=	'1';
$INFO['show_bday_calendar']			=	'1';
$INFO['show_birthdays']			=	'1';
$INFO['show_calendar']			=	'1';
$INFO['show_img_upload']			=	'1';
$INFO['show_totals']			=	'1';
$INFO['show_user_posted']			=	'1';
$INFO['sig_allow_html']			=	'0';
$INFO['sig_allow_ibc']			=	'1';
$INFO['sql_database']			=	'DATABASE';
$INFO['sql_debug']			=	'0';
$INFO['sql_driver']			=	'mySQL';
$INFO['sql_host']			=	'localhost';
$INFO['sql_pass']			=	'PASSWORD';
$INFO['sql_port']			=	'';
$INFO['sql_tbl_prefix']			=	'ipb_';
$INFO['sql_user']			=	'USERNAME';
$INFO['start_year']			=	'2003';
$INFO['time_offset']			=	'0';
$INFO['upload_dir']			=	'/home/burutsa/www/business/forums/uploads/';
$INFO['upload_url']			=	'http://business.crossmediagroup.net/forums/uploads';
$INFO['use_mail_form']			=	'1';
$INFO['year_limit']			=	'5';

?>

Thanks.

[sde]

i would highly recommend that you ask invisionboard support or forums since how this is going to work is highly dependant on how the forum software was programmed. ask them if you can run the software on 2 different domains or file systems with the same database. if the answer is yes, then you will know if you should even proceed.

now that i look at your config file, a symbolic link would not work because it is has values that are sensitive to the domain it is running on.

anyhow, a symbolic link is just a 'shortcut' on a *nix system. it would sort of be the same as having an identical copy of the original file system in the second sub domain. you would need shell access to setup a symbolic link.

$ ln -s /path/to/source /path/to/shortcut

sorry i can't be more help.

[idx]

The IPB folks might have some better tips, but it might be worth toying with mod_rewrite for a bit. (if your regex skills are ok) Mod_rewrite can be quite a beast and it usually takes me a bit to get it working, but here's a quick example:

(put this in a .htaccess file in the same directory your index.php file is for IPB)

RewriteEngine on
Options +FollowSymlinks

RewriteEngine on
RewriteCond %{HTTP_HOST} forums.crossmediagroup.net(.*)
RewriteRule (.*) http://business.crossmediagroup.net/forums/index.php?%1 [R,L]

So for each hit to forums.crossmediagroup.net they'll be bumped to the other subdomain. In my quick tests I couldn't find a way to do it without using the R modifier (redirect), but it's worth a try.

You might also just want to make two copies of your IPB installation and try changing some of the values in the config file.

-r