V8.5.0 Beta bug. Preview versions of section_tree JavaScripts being uploaded.

[NormanRouxel]

A bug that was meant to be fixed in 8.0.3 seems to be re-appearing in 8.5.0beta.

A site containing (in the Overall Layout)

<actinic:variable name="JavaScriptArray" value="URL Data From All Sections" />

Is uploading a file Act_section_tree_URLs.js that contains links that refer to Act_PreviewWarningPage.html and not to the live pages.

This behavious seems erratic and may be related to whether an offline preview was done just before the Update.

Unfortunately, I've not managed to recreate the exact conditions that cause this to happen here but have definitely seen it on a live site of another Actinic user.

The original problem with 8.0.2 was described in http://community.actinic.com/showthread.php?t=24020

[cdicken]

Thanks Norman - I've passed this on to the team.

[Darren B]

Does this mean it is not being released today then?

[cdicken]

This won't hold up the release of 8.5.0 - it will be fixed in a future release

[fleetwood]

This little buggy affects the non java section listings too.
I'm using 8.03 and the layout TopLevelSectionLink (which I think I'm right in saying does not use java to generate the listing), also alternates between uploading preview links and correctly coded links.
After retesting, I concur with Norman that it appears to be related to offline page preview.

All browsers closed.
Upload
Links OK.

Offline page preview.
Upload.
Live site displays preview links.

[wfl]

This won't hold up the release of 8.5.0 - it will be fixed in a future release

Any idea when this will be Chris as it obviously creates problems uploading a site?

[cdicken]

Hi Alistair

It's not down as a critical fix, so it won't make the next maintenance release.

I would say though that the problem Martin experienced is a very odd one, as I have never seen this happening with standard section lists.

With regards to the *.js files, I would suggest taking a look at the section of the Advanced User Guide on 'Advanced Lists' as this allows you to insert any kind of section list anywhere in the design, without the reliance on JavaScript. It might be a good option if this bug is causing you difficulties.

[wfl]

That gives me a big problem Chris.

We use Normans Norcascade (and have done for a couple of years) but as part of the original Twinhelix menu. That allows us to have Actinic's menu as just a part of our own.

The problem we have is that the tree script is no longer correctly generated when we do an upload but the offline one is generated when we do a preview.

The result is that whenever we have previewed at the next upload Actinic will upload the offline script.

ATM while we are finishing off our design whenever we then need to do an upload we have to manually delete the tree script from the local folder beforehand.

In production mode this will be a problem as we are considering creating a regular automatic download/upload/download routine to maintain the site.

I don't see where it is not Critical to any Actinic user who uses Norcascade and wants to upgrade to V8. Perhaps Norman can tell you how many customers this will affect? This problem didn't exist in V7 or, AFAIK, any of the versions of 8 prior to 8.5 that I used when evaluating / testing.

[NormanRouxel]

This also affects anyone using the YahooSections code which is a standard part of many Actinic V7 themes. When they upgrade they'd expect it to continue working.

As to NorCascade being broken (it will repair itself when Actinic fixes this bug) - I've written a new menu NorList that uses Actinic's built-in PHP to generate a static HTML UL list structure that is styled by CSS and animated by JavaScript to appear as NorCascade does. It has one very important new feature. As the list is not generated by JavaScript it can be seen by search engines, leading to better indexing of your site. The downside is that the menu list is embedded in every page and could make pages rather big if you have more than 200 Sections.

[wfl]

The point of our menu is that it works both in the Actinic and non Actinic sections of our web site but always contains the shop menu structure.

Creating content is important to us and our information pages, articles and knowledge base are important marketing tools. We also plan to use the menu to point to defined search results to provide an alternative to the shop structure.

Locating the .js menu is good too. Because it floats over the top we can set an anchor point and always have it fixed to that until it moves out of sight when the menu will move with the page.

[cdicken]

OK - understood - I have asked the team to include this bug in the next maintenance release.

[completerookie]

ATM while we are finishing off our design whenever we then need to do an upload we have to manually delete the tree script from the local folder beforehand.

is this a workaround - does it sort of solve the immediate problem prior to the bug fix?

[wfl]

It is a workaround but definitely not a solution as it has to be done every time you have previewed, i.e. Actinic is not refreshing the JS script when it uploads, only when it previews.

[pinbrook]

OK - understood - I have asked the team to include this bug in the next maintenance release.
__________________
Cheers

Chris Dicken
Actinic Software

so that where all the bugs come from, it's all down to Chris adding them back in

[cdicken]

Hi Norman

I've asked the development team to investigate this, but they have not been able to reproduce it. Here is the testing report:

I added

<actinic:variable value="All Data From All Sections"
name="JavaScriptArray" />

to the <head> of Works Best with Executive.

- refreshed site OK
- made offline site preview OK
- refreshed the site again OK
- made offline page and site preview OK
- uploaded OK

On the site it always include the full URL, offline it always include
the relative path.

Could you maybe suggest a test scenario or else let me see a snapshot with this happening. We need to get to the bottom of your problem.