Migrate to New Joomla Instance [Solved]

[chepp]

We are in the process of building a new Web site. For a variety of reasons we chose to start from a clean Joomla instance and build from scratch. We want to copy the existing documents from our current site to the site we are developing. I couldn't find any documentation on how to do that (please point me in the right direction if I'm just missing it), so I copied the files from the old site, took a backup from the old site and tried to restore on the new site. The new site gives the error "1054 Unknown column 'tags' in 'field list' ". Do you have a suggestion on transferring my data from one site to the other?

Joomla!: 3.9.25
jDownloads: 3.9.7.3
PHP: 7.3.27
MySQl: 5.7.32-35-log

[Arno]

Hi,
what for a backup type have you use?

Database export? Akeeba backup? jDownloads backup?

Possible that we have forget to add a special tutorial for this scenario. I will talk with Colin he is the documentation manager.

[ColinM]

Hi,
What version of jDownloads were you using on your current site? 
I suspect it might be jD 3.2.x series in which case you should update jD to 3 9.7.3 as there were some database changes in the jD Categories and Downloads tables.Also are you using any of the jD supported extensions eg JComments please seehttps://www.jdownloads.net/documentation-for-v3-9/getting-started-v3-9/upgrading-from-jdownloads-3-2-to-3-9

Please let us know.
ColinWill also send you a PM

[chepp]

Both sites are using jDownloads 3.9.7.3 on Joomla! 3.9.26. They are using different templates but that shouldn't matter. I created a database backup under Tools of the old site and manually copied the files to the same data structure on the new site. I also tried to export the options from the current site and import them into the new site, but that failed as well. We're not using any jD supported extensions. We do use Akeeba but we only one to transfer jDownloads, not the whole site.

Thanks

[ColinM]

Hi
The method you have used is the one I would have suggested!  I presume the new jD runs in the backend but that the categories and Downloads do not appeaer to be present. 

Because you transferred to a new site you need to adjust the absolute Upload Directory Path in Path Settings. 
Typically it is something like  /home/xxxxx/public_html/jdownloads where the xxxxx is specific to your site.  If it is a subdomain then the subdomain name will also be in the absolute path.Basically it will be like the default path to the Joomla! logs or tmp folder but with jdownloads instead of logs or tmp.
Hope this helps
Colin

[chepp]

I set each instance to its own path to their own files starting at the server root, so I'm thinking that's not the problem. The issue looks to be either the database backup on the source side or the database import on the new site.

I did notice that the fields were disabled in the source site and enabled in the destination, so I tried enabling in both, getting a new backup, and seeing the restore fail with same message. Ditto with turning it off on both with a new backup file. I also created a download on the destination site to see if something would happen in the back end as a result of the first download, but no change. I'm still getting the message "An error has occurred. 1054 Unknown column 'tags' in 'field list' "


I should note that the categories successfully imported but the download data did not.

[ColinM]

HiI assume you have some tags defined in your jD Categories and the jD Downloads.  In trying to simulate your 'challenge' I see that jD does not save the tag info when you do a Tools database backup.
The Tags database structure is, to put it mildly, complex!  There are many intelinked tables.  The Tags table itself is just holds the tag names but not where they are used.  There are other tables, basicaly the ucm set, that hold the info about where a tag is used.
In your base site could you remove all of the jD Tags.  In the backend, the simplest way to get those jD cat and Downloads that have tag is to use the jD Control Panel - Statistics option.  If you click on a tag then it will list all the cats or Downloads as appropriate that have that tag.  So you can enter them and delete the tag.Might be a good idea to list them so you can restore later.  I do not have to hand a simple way of identifying them.

A bit painful and slow but safe!  When you take over the Joomla it will have had info on the jD tags.  jD Cats are usually identified by content type 10001 and Downloads by 10000
Then try the whole process again
Colin

[chepp]

The statistics section says I have no category or download tags. Is there a way to add a column 'tags' in 'field list' on the new site?

[ColinM]

Hi
Should have thought of this before! Go to Extensions - Manage - Database and click on the Fix button
Did a Google search for 1054 errors and there are a lot of instances - Joomla 1054 Unknown column 'tags' in 'field list'They all basically say the same thing which is to fix the database!!
Colin
PS none of the jD database tables have the column 'tags' so it is missing from some other item. 
Also checked the standard Joomla tables and they do not use a column called tags

[chepp]

Finally - success! Unfortunately the database fix did not resolve the problem, but I was able to resolve it manually. I noticed the jdownloads_files table on the source site had 61 columns and the destination database only had 60. The missing column was of course "tags'. I created a column in the destination database using the source as a guide (varchar(255), utf9_general_ci, No, None) and re-ran the import without error. I still need to set up the pages where the files are listed, but it looks like everything is there based on a 'List All Categories' test menu item.

Thanks for your help

[ColinM]

Hi
This is strange.  The stanard files DB entry only has 60 columns.  It does not have a 'tags' column in the table.In my test site I have both Categorory and Dowloads tags

Are you using another Tags Manager rather than the standard Joomla Tags Manager perhaps?  Or perhaps you did some time ago before jD supported Tags?
Colin

[chepp]

We don't use tags, and we've never installed third party tag managers. That is odd that the column is there if your team didn't put it there. We have been using jDownloads since 2014 and applied every update faithfully every time they are released (we were a bit slow on the 3.9x train, but we're there now). I have no idea when or how it was added to the table but it doesn't seem to interfere with normal operations.

I can confirm when I add a tag to download it does not show up in the jdownloads_files table, which is what I would expect at this point. I removed the column - seems everything is working fine without it. There is no data in the tags column in the source site. At this point I think we can call it an anomaly  and the problem solved.

Thanks for your time.