jDownloads 4.0 installation fails

[jazzbird]

My first attempt to install the updated extension:

JInstaller: :Install: Error SQL Duplicate column name 'importance'
Extension installation aborted.
Error installing component

[Arno]

Oh! Not good, sorry. I will check this quickly.

Please note that I need always a few informations:

- Joomla Version?

- PHP Version?

- Was Joomla updated to Joomla 4 before the installation attempt or is it a new Joomla 4 installation?

- Did a jDownloads version already exist on this Joomla installation?

- Have you tried to upgrade a jDownloads 3.9 version?

[jazzbird]

-Joomla version 4.2.5
-PHP 8.0
-Joomla was updated from 3.9 to 4.2 before the installation.
-Yes, I've been using jDownloads 3.9 with Joomla 3.9. I believe jDownloads was disabled before the Joomla update.
-Yes, as per your recommendation, I tried upgrading jDownloads 3.9 to 4.0

[Arno]

Thanks, I will check it quickly.

[Arno]

I cannot reproduce your problem here.

I believe jDownloads was disabled before the Joomla update.

Can it be, that this was also the status as you have tried to run the jDownloads upgrade?

If so, then enable jDownloads and try then again to run the upgrade.

[jazzbird]

Ugh! I tried enabling the component and it has broken my site! Now I can't even go to Manage Extensions. It gives me an error message. Help!

[jazzbird]

It has completely wrecked my site. I cannot manage extensions, plugins, modules, or any content. They all give me the same error as above. In fact I see that the extension has crashed the whole site. See attached screenshot. Please help me to fix this. This is a disaster.

[Arno]

Please use your backup and try the upgrade again. But with enabled jDownloads component.

[jazzbird]

Can this not be undone? I just spend a month of work migrating and upgrading the website. It was almost done and jDownloads was supposed to be the "finishing touch." I just enabled the extension and a couple of jDownloads plugins and it has completely disabled the site.

My developer has some backups but I don't know how recent they are and he doesn't work over the weekend. I'm wondering if there is a way to bypass whatever plugin has wrecked the website so I can have access to the menus again in the backend and disable them.

The website is developer.catholicsforisrael.com

Thanks for any suggestions or help.

[Arno]

Hi,
excuse me for the delay.

I'm sorry, but as a developer you should know how easily such things can happen when testing a beta version. Also, I have explicitly pointed out to ALWAYS create a corresponding data backup before. This is common practice and it is better to make 3 backups a day too much, which you don't need afterwards, instead of one too little!

Probably the problem only occurred because they had disabled the jDownloads component in the manager, instead of just the system plugin. Such a case I had not foreseen and therefore not tested.

But no matter, is now just happened. Please create at least NOW a complete backup. Then write me via PM and let's see.

[jazzbird]

Thanks for the reply, Arno. I am actually not the developer but the owner of the site. With the help of my developer, we went into the database, disabled the jDownloads plugins one by one, and were able to restore the website. It looks like it was the plg_content_jdownloads that crashed the site. I'm attaching a screenshot of all the jDownloads extensions. There are many of them. What should I do before I try again to install the 4.0 version? Should only the jDownloads administrator component be enabled and all the plugins and modules disabled?

[Arno]

Hi,
if the state BEFORE your first upgrade attempt could really be restored, you can now try an upgrade again (after a complete backup !!). For this all jDownloads extensions must be switched ON before! The only exception should be the system plugin of jDownloads. This should be switched OFF.

No other user currently testing jDownloads got your problem during the upgrade. Therefore, it must be somehow related to your installation.
But maybe it really just had to do with the jDownloads extensions disabled on them. Probably the installation script does not recognize that it is only an update and tries a new installation instead.

[jazzbird]

OK, thank you. I've invited my developer to join this thread and he will attempt the next upgrade. By "system plugin" I presume you mean the "Content - jDownloads 3.9" plugin that previously crashed the site?

[Arno]

NO!! This is a content plugin, not the jdownloads  System plugin.

[jazzbird]

I can't see a jDownloads system plugin on the list I provided above. And the content plugin certainly can't be turned on. This is the one that completely crashes the site.