Custom sidebar not working at all

Software Support
1

I am involved with three separate websites using 3.2.1.0, 3.2.0.1, and 3.2.0.3 respectively. Each is recently upgraded and none display the custom sidebar items previously created. I am not sure this went wrong during the upgrades, it might have been before. The Custom sidebar plugin appears to be activated and the data is still there. New sidebar items created now do not show either. I have read other threads but none are within my remit as we need our host for any server / PHP reports.

2

I had to turn the plugin off and on so that the sidebar items were visible.
Also, spaces should be avoided in the custom block name.

3

Well I have made things worse now. The plugin could only be deleted not “turned off” and having done so it has not reappeared in the plugins list at all. Following this I reinstalled it using FTP but it does not show in OJS as available.

4

After leaving it alone for a couple of days the Custom Block plugin has reappeared shown as installed. However, it does not work. Any ideas?

5

Hi @nickpanes,

Can you describe what you mean in more detail by “it does not work”?

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

6

I have the plugin installed on three sites. In one case I have reinstalled from Github. I do not know when it stopped working but in the past we had sidebar information. I can create and edit a custom sidebar but it never appears. I have deleted and re-created them but they never appear on the site afterwards - they are just invisible.

7

Hi @nickpanes,

If you re-installed the plugin from github manually then it’s likely that the plugin isn’t properly registered with the system. Do you see anything in your database for the following query?

SELECT * FROM versions WHERE product = 'customBlockManager';

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

8

I do not have server access but the problem was when I uninstalled it the plugin it did not re-appear in the gallery. There may have been a delay in this happening which I did not allow for. Perhaps the best thing for me now is to delete it then re-install conventionally when I can?

9

Hi @nickpanes,

Because the custom block manager plugin comes with OJS, it’s not listed in the plugin gallery. I’d suggest contacting someone with database access to check if the versions entry is missing. Another potential cause would be adding the wrong version of the plugin files from GitHub – make sure you’ve got the set of files from the version of OJS you’ve got installed.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

10

I know the version of custom block manager, which according to the file downloaded is 1.2.0.0.

11

Hi @nickpanes,

The best way to make sure you’ve got the right version of the files is to get them from the same .tar.gz download you installed OJS with.

Regards,
Alec Smecher
Public Knowledge Project Team

12

There has been a step forward. In one case we had not ticked the Links tab under website / appearance. By doing this the custom block we already had is visible again but if a new block is created it does not appear. We can get round this by expanding the use of the single working custom block, but I assume I am right in thinking we should be able to add additional blocks?

1 Like