Difference between revisions of "Site is blank"

Revision as of 03:28, 9 March 2013

A Blank Page or often otherwise called the White Screen of Death (WSoD) indicates that there is an error on the page; however, this is not necessarily caused by JomSocial even if the page that is expected to be loaded is one of JomSocial's pages. These white screens usually hide the exact error behind it, but these errors are cleverly hidden by Joomla to prevent potentially malicious users from viewing your Site Paths.

Enable Error Reporting in Joomla

Enabling this setting in the Joomla Global Configuration is usually enough for most of the errors to show up.

Navigate to the Joomla Global Configuration in the site Backend.
Under Server Settings, locate the Error Reporting option. It will likely be set to System Default, which would hide the error with blank page.
Temporarily change this setting to Maximum or even Development.
Save and return to the page with 'WSoD and now, in most cases, you will be able to see what the exact error is now.

Error Not Displayed, Error Reporting Set to Maximum or Development

In the System pane in Joomla Global Configuration, enable the Debug System option.
Save, and try again.

If the error still doesn't show, don't panic! Some developers put this code into their extensions:

/* Enable this when debugging*/
error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors','0');

In essence, this little piece of code, if loaded on the page, will force Joomla to not show any error even if you enable System Debug and Error Reporting. It is most commonly used by beginner developers to hide notices and warnings in their code. Rest assured, JomSocial doesn't use this nasty trick to hide any errors in any piece of its code.

You will have to track down which extension prevents Joomla from displaying errors and that could potentially involve disabling many plugins, modules, and components, but, in most cases, it is the only way to properly identify the offender.

Hint: It's not JomSocial so you can confidently skip disabling any JomSocial extension provided in our download package.

Backend is blank too

Houston, we have a problem!!!
Well, not really... If Back End of site returns WSoD and you cant enable Error reporting you will just have to use the nasty trick we mentioned earlier but this time, paste it into

ROOT/administrator/index.php

Open that file and immediately after

define('_JEXEC', 1);
define('DS', DIRECTORY_SEPARATOR);

paste this little nifty code

error_reporting(E_ALL);
ini_set('display_errors', '1');

Now you should be able to view the error behind blank screen.

Back End still blank, even after trying the custom hack

This is potentially the biggest problem you might experience, but solution is the same as if it was for not displaying errors in Front End, only this time, You will have to disable extensions directly in the Joomla Database and that can be potentially dangerous if you dont know what you doing, so plese, make a backup before you do anything.

@@ Line 1: / Line 1: @@
-==White Screen of Death==
+===White Screen of Death===
-Blank Page or popularly called '''White Screen of Death (WSoD)''' indicates that there is an error on the page, '''not necessarily caused by jomSocial''' even if page that is expected to be loaded is one of the jomSocial's pages. These white screens usually hide the exact error behind it, but these errors are cleverly hidden by Joomla to prevent simple (or malicious) users viewing your site paths.
-===Enable Error Reporting in Joomla!===
+A '''Blank Page''' or often otherwise called the '''White Screen of Death (WSoD)''' indicates that there is an error on the page; however, this is '''not necessarily caused by JomSocial''' even if the page that is expected to be loaded is one of JomSocial's pages. These white screens usually hide the exact error behind it, but these errors are cleverly hidden by Joomla to prevent potentially malicious users from viewing your '''Site Paths'''.
-Enabling this setting in Joomla! Global Configuration is usually enough for most of the errors to show up.<br />
-Please navigate to the Joomla Global Configuration in the site Back End and under Server Settings locate the ''Error Reporting'' option. It should be set to '''System Default''' which would hide the error with blank page.<br />
-You change this setting to '''Maximum''' or even '''Development'''. Save and go back to the page with WSoD <br />
-In most cases, you should be able to see what is the exact error now.
-===Error is not displayed even if error reporting is set to maximum or development===
+===Enable Error Reporting in Joomla===
-On the System Pane in Joomla Global Configuration, enable '''Debug System''' option. Save, and try again. <br />
-If that dont show the error either, dont panic. Some developers put this code into their extensions
+Enabling this setting in the Joomla '''Global Configuration''' is usually enough for most of the errors to show up.<br />
+# Navigate to the Joomla '''Global Configuration''' in the site '''Backend'''.
+# Under '''Server Settings''', locate the '''Error Reporting''' option. It will likely be set to '''System Default''', which would hide the error with blank page.
+# Temporarily change this setting to '''Maximum''' or even '''Development'''.
+# Save and return to the page with '''WSoD'' and now, in most cases, you will be able to see what the exact error is now.
+===Error Not Displayed, Error Reporting Set to Maximum or Development===
+# In the '''System''' pane in Joomla '''Global Configuration''', enable the '''Debug System''' option.
+# Save, and try again. <br />
+If the error still doesn't show, don't panic! Some developers put this code into their extensions:
 <syntaxhighlight lang="php">
 /* Enable this when debugging*/
@@ Line 17: / Line 24: @@
 </syntaxhighlight>
 <br />
-In essence, this little piece of code, if loaded on the page, will force Joomla! '''not to show''' any error even if you enable '''System Debug''' and '''Error Reporting'''. It is most commonly used by beginner developers to hide ''notices'' and ''warnings'' in their code, but rest asured, that jomSocial dont use this nasty trick to hide any errors in any piece of its code.<br />
+In essence, this little piece of code, if loaded on the page, will force Joomla to '''not show''' any error even if you enable '''System Debug''' and '''Error Reporting'''. It is most commonly used by beginner developers to hide '''notices''' and '''warnings''' in their code. Rest assured, JomSocial doesn't use this nasty trick to hide any errors in any piece of its code.<br />
-You will have to track down which extension prevents Joomla! to display errors, and that could potentially involve disabling many plugins, modules and components, but in most cases, it is the only way to hunt it down properly.<br />
-'''A hint:''' its not jomSocial, you can confidently skip disabling any jomSocial extension provided in our download package.
+You will have to track down which extension prevents Joomla from displaying errors and that could potentially involve disabling many plugins, modules, and components, but, in most cases, it is the only way to properly identify the offender.<br />
+{{alert|<strong>Hint:</strong> It's not JomSocial so you can confidently skip disabling any JomSocial extension provided in our download package.|alert-info}}
-===Back End is blank too===
+===Backend is blank too===
 '''''Houston, we have a problem!!!''''' <br />
 Well, not really... If Back End of site returns WSoD and you cant enable '''Error reporting''' you will just have to use the nasty trick we mentioned earlier but this time, paste it into