Downloads unpublished [solved]

[butterworth191]

Hi Arno

Running Joomla 3.9.4
jDownloads Version 3.2.64
PHP Version 7.2.14

I have a problem of several downloads which have become unpublished along with the category to which they belong. When I try to set the downloads as published, I receive the "message published" notification however when I refresh the downloads page it once more shows as "unpublished" and I get an error message in the status panel to say that:-

1 File(s) not found. The Downloads have been unpublished for public access.
Last internal messages (executed actions):
Friday, 15 March 2019 09:23:
Download not found AIFL Minutes 2018/2018 03 05 Minutes.pdf

The category \minutes 2018 to which this document belong has also become unpublished and when I try to publish it, then I get the message that the "message saved" and it displays correctly in the categories page.  When I refresh the categories page it shows as unpublished and when I look in the status panel i get the error message:-

Categories were found that no longer have the relevant directory and therefore those categories were not published.
All published Downloads exist.
Last internal messages (executed actions):
Friday, 15 March 2019 09:36:
Category not found AIFL Minutes 2018

This problem seems to have arisen since moving the category which these documents belong to into another parent category.  Thus they have moved from category as follows:

\management documents\AIFL minutes 2018
to
\archive\AIFL minutes 2018



I have tried numerous things to try to resolve the problem but so far to no avail.

Would very much appreciate you thoughts as to what might be the cause of this problem.

Many Thanks

Dave

[ColinM]

Hi
The problem came about because of the move.

This problem seems to have arisen since moving the category which these documents belong to into another parent category.  Thus they have moved from category as follows:

\management documents\AIFL minutes 2018
to
\archive\AIFL minutes 2018

It is not a bug!!!
First there is a solution but I need to undedrstand how the problem occurs.The location of categories and the files in a Download are recorded in the jD database tables.  So I guess you moved the directory  "AIFL minutes 2018" and files it contained from one directory "management documents" to directory "archive" using say an FTP program like FilleZilla or a file manager like eXtplorer.  Jd has no way of knowing that has been done as it was not involved in the transfer.  So basically when jD dicovers the files or directories are not where they are expected to be it responds by unpublishing all the 'erroneours' ones as a safety measure.

   
• Use the jD Tool Backup to make a backup of your jD database.  Also make sure you have copies of all the files involved.
• The first step is to undo what you have done! That is move the directory "AIFL minutes 2018" back to being a subdirectory of   "management documents" using what ever method you originally used.
• Check that everything in sub cat "AIFL minutes 2018" of cat "management documents" is now back to normal.
• If it is not then please ask again - but they may be unpublished but you should now be able to publish again, statring with the cat "AIFL minutes 2018"
• If you have established some subCategories and associated Downloads in Category "archive" that relate to the troublesome  sub cat "AIFL minutes 2018" then you shoud delete them.
• Next go to Categories and tick the select box next to the newly reconstituted subcat "AIFL minutes 2018".  Then click on the Batch button at top. This will offer you the opportunity to move (or copy) the Category and ts Downloads to your target cat "archive".
• You may need to Publish again

Please let us know how you got on

Colin

[butterworth191]

Hi Colin

First of all thanks for getting back so quickly and appreciate your very comprehensive and clear answer.

Unfortunately I am having difficulty reversing moving the categories back to their original locations.  As I did not make the changes myself I have had to assume that they were simply moved from either  the parent sections "Mangement" or "Volunteers" by changing the parent

So for example to move the category "Training 2018" back to the parent section of "Volunteers" I went into edit for the Category "Training 2018" and selected  the parent category of "Volunteers" from the dropdown menu. Sadly this did not work as I got the same error messages as before.

I can see from what you have said as to how they should have been moved and am thinking that it might be best to re-install them unless you may have any other ideas as to how I can retrace the changes.  Maybe I could use the database files to help in some way ?

Would appreciate your thoughts.

Best Regards

Dave

[ColinM]

Hi
Trying to unravel the database is 'challenging'!If you have the files then it is probably better to redo, which can be done in a bulk way.
Do you have FTP access to your site or super user access?  If that is so you can see if the folder and files are in the /archive directory.
You should delete the Downloads in \management documents\AIFL minutes 2018  When they are deleted you can then delete subcat AIFL minutes 2018  - again the one in Cat management documents.
Having got rid of the 'bad' cats and Downloads then go to jD Control Panel. on the right hand side under status tab you should see a line 'Check Download Area now' so click on it.  This will report the general situation and may give error messages, or if we are lucky and all the files are in sub dir 'AIFL minutes 2018 of dir  'archive' then it will have created the Downloads for you.  They may need to be published

Please let me know the status
Colin

[butterworth191]

Hi Colin

All sorted now and many thanks for your help 

The key to the problem for me was to use FTP (with Filezilla) to access the files and clean up any errors by deleting content in the appropriate downloads folders.

Regards

Dave