post goes blank after new comment added

[janeboha]

Sayontan,

I'm having this problem, still, and am uncovering some info about it but I need your help to resolve it. The problem seems to happen after I add a comment - that the post page goes blank. (My mySQL database is clean, I've checked it.)

So I found a WP troubleshooting guide http://codex.wordpress.org/FAQ_Troubleshooting#How_to_deactivate_all_plugins_when_not_able_to_access_the_administrative_menus.3F "Why Do I Get a Blank Page When I Submit a Comment?" Description: When anyone tries to comment on a post, the window goes blank and the comment doesn't appear to have been recognised by WordPress. It indicates that a critical part of the coding is missing:

<input type="hidden" name="comment_post_ID" value="<?php echo $id; ?>" />

Reason and Solution:The Theme that you are using is missing a critical part of the comment form so WordPress doesn't know which post the comment refers to. You need to check the comment.php in your Theme and ensure that code (above) appears within the form.

Also sends the reader to the Relevant discussion threads: entry (http://wordpress.org/support/topic/38683?replies=10) that is describing what's happening to me. It says, for that person who entered his problem,
______________________
"you are missing an important part of the form:

<input type="hidden" name="comment_post_ID" value="<?php echo $id; ?>" />
...
I suggest you search for the following in your comments.php template file and then add the code shown about on the next line.

<p><input name="submit" type="submit" id="submit" tabindex="5" value="Submit!" /></p>"
___________________________

However, when I look at the .php file for Suffusion, it's nothing like that. (Not html, I think). It is:

vti_encoding:SR|utf8-nl
vti_timelastmodified:TR|06 Oct 2009 02:34:11 -0000
vti_extenderversion:SR|5.0.2.4803
vti_cacheddtm:TX|06 Oct 2009 02:34:11 -0000
vti_filesize:IR|5036
vti_backlinkinfo:VX|

Nowhere to put a line in that language. I'm wondering if you can provide some code so that maybe this will fix the problem. It's very annoying; it's happening ONLY in my most popular posts - the ones with the most comments!

Also, when I do a test and open the blank page in Internet Explorer, the debugger indicated:

Line: 6
Error: Object required

{return (element.className && new RegExp(pattern + '($|[ ])').test(element.className))
_______________________________________

I'd really like to get this fixed; it's ONLY my most popular posts where this is happening!It's happened in BOTH my MOST popular posts.

Thanks,

Jane

[sayontan]

Jane,
Where did you get this?

vti_encoding:SR|utf8-nl
vti_timelastmodified:TR|06 Oct 2009 02:34:11 -0000
vti_extenderversion:SR|5.0.2.4803
vti_cacheddtm:TX|06 Oct 2009 02:34:11 -0000
vti_filesize:IR|5036
vti_backlinkinfo:VX|

I don't have this anywhere in my code. So if you opened a PHP file with this content, it means the file is corrupted. How did you get this code? Was it by double-clicking the PHP? Or was it by opening the PHP in your theme editor in WP? Moreover, if you open the comments.php in a proper file editor you should see this line:

Code: Select all

   <?php comment_id_fields(); ?>


This puts in the comment_post_ID field automatically into the form.

Sayontan.

[janeboha]

Sayontan,

Maybe we're getting closer to figuring out this problem.

Here's what I did:
in Admin:

Appearance --> Editor -->index.php.

It's there. Just those lines.

When I go through my server and open the wp_admin/index.php, I do not see that line that you have identified.

Hmmmm!

Jane

[sayontan]

Jane,
The line I identified should be in comments.php, not index.php.

Also, the VTI stuff seems to be an artifact of FrontPage. See here: http://drupal.org/node/78768 . Are you using FrontPage to publish your stuff?

Sayontan.

[janeboha]

Sayontan,

comments.php begins:

<?php
/**
* Comment Management Panel
*
* @package WordPress
* @subpackage Administration
*/


and that line is not there.
____________________________
wp-comments-post.php begins:

<?php
/**
* Handles Comment Post to WordPress and prevents duplicate comment posting.
*
* @package WordPress

and that line is not there.
_______________________

And YES, I am using FrontPage. I do not use Drupal. But I see in my server there are a lot of _vti folders where the .htaccess file is.

Recommendations? Add it? There are a lot of lines of code!

Thanks,
Jane

[janeboha]

I'm seeing that FrontPage seems to be a bit of a problem.

So I need to think of this two ways:

One, what's a short term "fix" that I can change in the coding so I can get this problem solved for now. That is something you can maybe help me with? Something to add into the coding for now, and where to place it? Funny that that line you mentioned isn't anywhere.

the other is an alternative to FrontPage!!

Thanks.

Jane

[sayontan]

Jane,
Obviously something is wrong there. This is the start for my file:

Code: Select all

<?php
/**
 * Threaded comments
 *
 * @package Suffusion
 * @subpackage Templates
 */
?>


I even checked for the version that you are using, 2.4.0 (the current release is 2.6.5) and this is the top of that file:

Code: Select all

<div id="comments-wrap">
<?php // Do not delete these lines
   if (!empty($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']) && 'comments.php' == basename($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']))
      die ('Please do not load this page directly. Thanks!');

   if ( post_password_required() ) { ?>
      <p class="nocomments"><?php _e("This post is password protected. Enter the password to view comments.", "suf_theme");?></p>
   <?php
      return;
   }


So either way you have the wrong file. Maybe you copied the wrong file over? Or maybe you are seeing a file in a sub-folder? Or maybe you have the remnants of a plugin?

Sayontan.

[sayontan]

What exactly are you using FrontPage for? The last time I used it was in 1999 and I hated it so much that I immediately resolved to learn HTML and PHP, but I guess things must have improved in the last decade.

From the looks of it FrontPage causes issues with a lot of CMS platforms. If it is indeed editing the template files, then you have a serious problem. My take is that if you are using FrontPage simply to create your blog entries, you might consider replacing it with Windows LiveWriter, which is a tool specifically used for blogging (I use it too, quite often). On the Mac platform you can use iBlog.

[janeboha]

Sayontan,

As I write, I am downloading WindowsLiveWriter! Thanks for this tip.

The comment.php file I sent you a snippet of is under "the wp-admin" folder.

Now I went to the "Theme" "Suffusion" and there I find, again, comment.php! Wow, two of them. One as indicated above, and yours, in Themes, Suffusion.

Yours, however, does not begin as you indicated. This file begins:

<div id="comments-wrap">
<?php // Do not delete these lines
if (!empty($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']) && 'comments.php' == basename($_SERVER['SCRIPT_FILENAME']))
die ('Please do not load this page directly. Thanks!');

...

It seems like the top part is missing!

Okay, now what?

Thanks,

jane

p.s. My business used the FrontPage but it's pretty simple stuff. So I never found any issues with it until now, when I'm blogging, changing it all the time, and because it's so interactive, it calls in other features to work well that I never had to worry about before. The times, they are a changin' and with it, we are too.

[janeboha]

Sayontan,

Amazing! I could see there was some error in how the file was uploaded...Something was erased somehow, somewhere, and I saw you had a more recent version. So I uploaded that, starting ftp'ing just with the comments.php file. The page suddenly showed up again! But not the comments. Then I just went to WordPress and did the automatic upgrade (which I didn't know there was one ready for us). All the pages that weren't showing up are now showing up, and all my comments are there!

You cannot understand how much I thank you for bearing with me during this time!

If my blog weren't about dogs, I'd be writing all over my blog about how much I love your theme!

Jane