Weird Masthead Behavior

mblanchette1 · 2017-01-31 03:45:41

I'm working on another domain for photo workshops and have been running into a strange corner-case scenario involving the masthead. I'm using a graphical identity plate uploaded using Templates=>Upload Image. It generally works as expected, but on occasion (always after applying a change to a template or page), the masthead fails to display on certain pages.

I traced the code to try to figure out what was going on, and what I found is that Backlight attempts to retrieve the identity plate from the wrong folder every time it fails. Whereas, it normally fetches the identity place from /backlight/designer/... when it's working right, it appears to be attempting to fetch the resource from /backlight/[page]/designer/.... every time it fails. So it adds the page name in the link when it shouldn't.

The annoying part is that the behavior is not consistent, and when it happens, I have to make minor tweaks to something just to force a change, and again Clean Template Cache and empty the brower cache before retrying. Sometimes that works, sometimes it doesn't. I have found no workaround other than re-applying ficticious tweaks to force a rebuild of a page and keep retrying until it takes.

Has anybody else had this problem?

Last edited by mblanchette1 (2017-01-31 04:28:04)

charlie.choc · 2017-01-31 03:57:56

Clearing the template cache usually works for me to get rid of weird display issues, but I have seen similar behavior.

rod barbee · 2017-01-31 03:58:45

Hi Mike,

I've not had this problem with the masthead on my test site and this is the first I've heard of this kind of problem. Is this happening to the workshops page linked to from your main site, or is this a new page you're working on?
The only time I've had problems with images uploaded using the Backlight uploader is when I've moved sites. But that's been awhile and Ben may have even fixed that one.

mblanchette1 · 2017-01-31 04:02:54

Rod, this is a different domain (http://www.bestofneworkshops.com) exclusvely for New England workshops involving NE photographers. It seems to happen most often on the submenus under Information. If somebody wants to debug this from my site at some point, I'm sure I can easily reproduce it although the current iteration does not display the problem (I made it go away by tweaking). This is a brand new site built from scratch in Backlight, so there was nothing moved in this case.

Oh, and here's another strange aspect of this problem. Sometimes, the problem does not surface as long as I'm logged into Backlight. But as soon as I logout, the problem pops up on the generated site. On the surface, it seems like it has to do with the manner in which the resource link is constructed.

Last edited by mblanchette1 (2017-01-31 04:28:55)

rod barbee · 2017-01-31 08:53:46

I poked around the site and didn't come across any masthead problems.
But what a nice site you've created! Lots of great info and great pictures. Your workshops look fantastic.
(makes me want to take a workshop rather than lead a workshop )

mblanchette1 · 2017-01-31 09:12:23

OK, I went back in to one of the pages, made a trivial change (and undid it immediately), saved the page, cleared the cache, and the problem is back. Take a look at the FAQ page now: http://www.bestofneworkshops.com/faq/.

When I inspect the code, I can see that it's looking to find the masthead file in faq/backlight/designer/... instead of the usual backlight/designer/... which works fine for all other pages. It added the page name ("faq") to the front of the URL for some reason.

Any ideas? I will leave it broken for now in case somebody on the support team wants to have a look.

Last edited by mblanchette1 (2017-01-31 10:19:35)

rod barbee · 2017-01-31 09:58:07

The only thing I can think of is .htaccess.

You might shoot Ben some Backlight admin credentials with a link to this topic.

mblanchette1 · 2017-01-31 10:42:29

OK, I just emailed Ben with login details.

Ben · 2017-01-31 19:07:17

Thanks for the login. It turns out you've found a bug. It was easily reproducible on my end, and I'm very surprised this bug has been undiscovered for so long.

There are two ways of fixing this. If you're happy to edit a file, then open backlight/modules/standard-page/StandardPageDataModel.php and change line 105 from this:

$designerURL = URLHelper::siteURL().'backlight/designer/';

to this:

$designerURL = siteURL().'backlight/designer/';

If you're not comfortable in doing that, then another option is to visit Backlight > Settings and change the Page URL Format setting to something other than about/ and then clear your template cache via the Backlight > Designer > Clear Template Cache function.

I'll add the fix to our code base so that it will be part of the next maintenance update.

markh · 2017-01-31 20:18:19

Just chiming in to add data. I have also seen this behavior with disappearing graphical masthead but was always able to fix it by clearing the template cache. I will now add Ben's better fix. Thanks.

mblanchette1 · 2017-01-31 22:14:12

Thanks, Ben! I have no problem changing a file until the permanent fix arrives. That's a relief.

Community @ The Turning Gate

#1 2017-01-31 03:45:41

Weird Masthead Behavior

#2 2017-01-31 03:57:56

Re: Weird Masthead Behavior

#3 2017-01-31 03:58:45

Re: Weird Masthead Behavior

#4 2017-01-31 04:02:54

Re: Weird Masthead Behavior

#5 2017-01-31 08:53:46

Re: Weird Masthead Behavior

#6 2017-01-31 09:12:23

Re: Weird Masthead Behavior

#7 2017-01-31 09:58:07

Re: Weird Masthead Behavior

#8 2017-01-31 10:42:29

Re: Weird Masthead Behavior

#9 2017-01-31 19:07:17

Re: Weird Masthead Behavior

#10 2017-01-31 20:18:19

Re: Weird Masthead Behavior

#11 2017-01-31 22:14:12

Re: Weird Masthead Behavior

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