MAJOR AUCTION SITUATION!!!! HELP!!!!

[Cartman]

Noticed that three of my auctions ended and they did not move to ended auctions so that I could relist them. Nor did I get any notification that the auctions had ended.

Upon going to PhPAuction's site, found out that something called a cron file needs to be created and run periodically. This will end the auction, delete the ended auctions from the database and also send emails to the Sellers and Buyers re: wins, etc.

Heh heh .... I HAVE NO IDEA how to set this thing up. All the files appear to be on my server in my auction file under cron ... with a README that was written by an Italian in a language that could be Italian for all I know.

Apparently you have to run a batch program to create an .exe file that will do all this, but I'm afraid to go any further. It said that in Windows it will set it up in the Windows task thingie. I don't know. I'm no technician.
All the files that they talk about ... including the auction.exe file are in the cron directory under the auction. But, how to make them work, I don't know.

I notice that on the newer versions of the auction program Pro XL and another one, this feature is built into the Back-end Admin panel and can be controlled from there. But, on this version you have to set it up manually.

Are you familiar at all with this cronfile thing? Or, for that matter, how to set it up?

I'd really like to get this resolved BEFORE people start using these auctions on a regular basis. THANKS!!! :shock:

[Fred]

Hi Karen - I know absolutely nothing about this program. I also don't know Italian - I just eat the food. Maybe someone here has the answer. Helen can't post with her computer problems so I am relaying for her.

Experiment on our test site - look at ours. Helen experimented. The auction she made closed. She did not do anything to make it close, other than set the close date where it asked, when entering the item. This was a couple of weeks ago so she doesn't remember how she set it up. But nothing special, just answered what the form asked. Also she never got any notice when it closed (that she remembers). Maybe that is for bidders not sellers to get a closing notice?

The manual explains some things but I find a lot of it is vague. http://www.phpauction.org/softwaremanual/?PHPSESSID=2d285a9687795b2558433aa1fd5cf1d9 Have you tried filling out a Help Ticket on their site?

[Cartman]

This is what I have to do: I just don't know how.

Create a Cron Job - Create a cron job or use an alternate method to ensure that the page /cron.php gets executed periodically. This page will close auctions, notify sellers & bidders, etc.

In Linux, you can create a file

/etc/cron.daily/phpauction.cron with these contents:


#!/bin/sh

lynx -dump /dev/null http://www.mydomain.com/phpauction/cron.php


NOTE
If you have PHP installed as a module the above one is the only way to run cron. If you have (or also have) PHP installed as a CGI you can substitute the lynx call above with the following:




PHP /absolute/path/to/cron.php

Of course the path to cron.php will depend on where you installed Phpauction PRO.
Be sure to give cron.php permission to be executable.

In Windows, you can add a taskmanager job phpauc.job

C:\php\php.exe c:\myweb\htdocs\phpauction\cron.php

NOTE
You will need to change the directories above correspond with the directories where you have installed Phpauction PRO.

P.S. Fred, in the admin sample, Helen's auction is still sitting there. It says it's closed on the homepage, but it won't actually close until this cron thingie executes the chron.php script to do the end-of-auction chores. That's why she didn't get a notice that her auction was ended. She was supposed to. Also, the winner would be notified, if any and the auction would be placed on a page where it could automatically be relisted, if there were no bidders. This seems to be a pretty important thing.

ON EDIT: OK, I did the last thing ... put it as a task in taskmanager on Windows. Set it to run at 3 p.m. every day. We'll see what happens in a half hour. Keep your fingers and toes crossed! :lol:

[jan]

"Keep your fingers and toes crossed!"

Karen, do legs count?

[Fred]

I sure hope this works :shocked: Makes no sense to me - I can't believe that everyone who wants to sell an item has to set a cron job... they don't have access to her auction script, panel etc

That php course that Richard mentioned whold be a big help at a time like this.

[Mary B.]

Karen, you may as well take that task out of your taskmanager - the instructions for Windows are for if your site is on a Windows server. It's not talking about your home PC.

In your control panel, you should have a link (somewhere) where you can set up a cron job. Leave the default settings at Minute 0 Hour 0 Day * Month * Weekday * , and type the command in the Command box. Your CPanel is set up differently than mine, so I'm not quite sure where to find cron jobs on yours. I don't know what your server paths are, or how you have this auction script set up, so I can't give you any specifics on what path to use in your command.

I'm looking further into it so I can give you better directions.

Mary

[Fred]

Mary - check the Jake CPanel. It is the same CPanel that Karen has.

[Mary B.]

Ok, that part is easy, then. It's labeled "Cron Jobs", and the link is in the bottom row of CPanel links. Fred is installing the auction software to my "help" account (set up so I could help out from time to time), so I can see what path you need to use in your cron command.

[Mary B.]

Update:

Try this, Karen,

Fill out your cron job as I describe above, and in the Command box, type this:

http://www.mydomain.com/phpauction/cron.php

(substituting your own domain where indicated). What this does is tell the server to execute cron.php every night at midnight. This should work. If it doesn't, post back here and let us know.

Mary

[Fred]

I knew I directed the Q to the right person - Thanks Mary. :toast:

[Cartman]

Thanks, Mary & Fred! Yeh, I figured the Windows thing out! DUH!!!!

I got those emails about the auction ends because I physically typed in the URL to the cron.php file. So, I CAN activate it manually. But, I would sure like to be able to figure out how to set it so that it does it automatically.

I think, Fred (and I shouldn't do that because in my case it's dangerous ...) but, when you activate the cron.php, it sends out emails and closes out all auctions that are closed, whether I put them up or not. It notifies me and whoever else has closed auctions and puts them in our respective control panels so that we can either delete them or relist them. The one function covers everybody. I don't think that each person has to set up a cron.job.

ON EDIT: Mary, The path to my cron.php file is collectingsouthpark.com/auction/cron.php, so I'm assuming that I should put that and NOT phpauction, right?

[Mary B.]

Yes, this is what goes in the Command box:

http://collectingsouthpark.com/auction/cron.php

[Cartman]

Thanks, Mary!!!!!! You're a doll! Got the command in and put up a test auction which will end tomorrow. So, we'll see.

One other dumb question ...

On the sell page (folder: Sell.php) (a form where folks can fill out their info for their auction item), it has a blank where you can fill in the direct URL of a pic of the item from your server. It also has another blank where you can search your C: drive for a pic. Both are radio buttons.

It says next to each one that having a pic is optional. But, you can't uncheck the radio button. It has to be one or the other. And, as long as they are checked, you have to have a pic or you'll get a little error page telling you that your image must be .jpg or .gif.

Would you have any idea how you can put in a "no pic" option?

[Mary B.]

The sell.php script and the template_sell_php.html (in the templates folder) would both have to be edited to do that. You'd have to put a command and a variable in the php file to process that option, and then edit the HTML template to have the option show on the page.

Gene and I don't really have the time to do this right now, but maybe you could suggest it to the script creators. Do they have a support forum somewhere?

[Fred]

I looked for a support forum but found none. They do have Help tickets; but I bet they would just encourage you to purchase their latest version. :shocked:

[Cartman]

Thanks, guys! I'll just put in a support ticket and ask the question. Who knows? Maybe they might answer it!

I'm thinking now that that "optional" thing means that you can pick either/or option for picture. Not that the pictures themselves are optional.

I can't wait until someone actually bids on something in one of the auctions. That may open up a whole 'nuther can of worms! JOY! :roll:

[Mary B.]

I'm looking at the scripts - maybe I can come up with a solution. Not today though, I have several other irons in the fire. I'll test any changes I make on my test site, and send you the files if it works.

[Cartman]

Thanks, Mary! But, like I said ... no biggie. It's basically a question. Most auctions do not REQUIRE that people have a pic. Many folks on eBay don't have digital cameras and such and can't put up a picture. But, they can still sell their item. It's just a wierd thing to have on an auction is all.

Thanks, again, for all of your help yesterday! I must have been on the cpanel homepage 60 times and never once saw the cronjob tab. Sometimes all this stuff really makes a person feel "dumb"!!! :shock:

But, I'm learning. :o

[Cartman]

Nothing happened at midnight. But, oddly enough ... when I physically typed in the comman url as it is in the chron job ... it functioned as it should. Maybe the command line has to be an absolute path? I'm going to investigate further.

This is what I need to know from Helen and Fred:

In their manual they state that if PHP was installed as a "module" you have to put in the command:

lynx -dump/dev/null http://www.mydomain.com/phpauction/cron.php

If PHP was installed as CGI you can use the above or the following:

PHP /absolute/path/to/cron.php

Can you tell me how PHP was installed?

And, what would be the absolute path to the cron.php ... is it what we had:

collectingsouthpark.com/auction/cron.php

or something else?

Thanks, guys!

[Mary B.]

Try this, I think it's the absolute path to the script on your webspace:


/home/username/public_html/auction/cron.php

(change username to yours)

[Helen]

Hi Karen...

Hope this works, I have not been able to post lately.

PHP is installed as a module and the correct address to use
is collectingsouthpark.com/auction/cron.php as you said.

That is a great looking site. We're so proud of you! :cool:

PS.... Mary, guess you posted while I was getting an answer from lazzchatcircuit, lol. So probably either would work?

[Cartman]

I think that's it Mary. I used the collectingsouthpark.com/auction/cron.php last time and it didn't work. I put up another 1-day auction and put cron jobs both of the ways that they said above. Figured, hopefully one of them would work!

btw ... Helen and Fred. This script is sorely in need of repairs, once it is up. I found three more errors that it makes that need fixing in the script. I have a support form in now and am waiting for an answer.

When you submit the form with no pic, it's supposed to just come up with No picture available on the auction description. Instead there's an error in the script that keeps you from going further. You get a page that says: photo must be .gif or .jpg.

error message: WARNING: getimagesize: Unable to open " for reading. in /home/csp/public_html/auction/sell.php on line 127.

Also, if you call a pic up by the URL from your hard drive, you get the same error message and the same go-back page, even tho you called up a URL of a .gif or .jpg image.

When you put in a Country other than the US, it still asks you to go back and give them a zip code. What's the zip code for Afghanistan???? Had to laugh at that one! I got around it by just putting in 5 zeros. But, who would know to do that?

If you are restricted to just the US, then there shouldn't be all those other country choices listed in the drop down.

It's fine, if you are script and php savvy. I'm not. And, their support is weak. I read through their whole manual and they say nothing about any of this stuff. There's no support forum. Just the tickets.

I think that all they are doing now is trying to promote their newest versions which cost like $300 or something like that.

Funny, though ... the demo they have on their site works fine. But, they don't tell you what they had to tweak to get it to work like that. I mean, I've touched nothing on this thing except that CHMOD thing we did, Helen. This program comes with these errors. Unfortunately, a novice php or cgi script person (like me) needs outside help to get it up to snuff.

Hopefully, if I get an answer on this stuff, it will be the end. I'll let you know what the tech support guy says.

But, be prepared if anyone downloads this script that they're going to have questions and problems setting it up.

I'll post all the fixes, as I get them (if I get them!) :roll:

[Helen]

We do appreciate all the help and input on this and are sorry to hear about the errors in the script. I have to agree that most of them do seem geared to a need for php knowledge as well. However, to reiterate, these are not OUR scripts, so we have no control over fixing errors.

While we are happy to try to help and find help when we can, we don't claim to be PHP literate. This is why we say up front that we can not offer support. Tutorials would open them up for everyone if we can get them.

We can only offer quick installations of these extra programs. We did not feel that our own PHP inexperience was reason enough to deny others, who do know or wish to learn, the chance to have them.

There also are features offered on the control panel that are beyond our own current expertise level. They are not there for us; they are available for advanced webmasters or for new webmasters as they grow, learn and need them.

We are not advanced webmasters, but we do claim to be advanced hosts, because we want to provide everything we can and our personal attention to everyone who trusts us to host their website. That's what we do best. :D

[Cartman]

I knew the rules going in ... anyway, it's neat when you can actually solve a problem or two in an area in which you formerly had no knowledge! Hopefully, eventually I'll be able to impart some of this newly found knowledge with others on this board.

I just wanted to post whatever situations I come up against, so hopefully others won't haver to struggle.

This morning I got a message from the tech (from Italy):

"Are you running an old version of phpAuction GPL? I am sure that these problems were addressed in the current distribution."

OK, well ... I don't. They weren't. And Giano ... I'd really like some help here!!!! So, maybe I can get him to tell me how to correct the problem manually and I'll be sure to pass it on here.

You guys at RS are the greatest. Never before have I ever been offered any scripts close to the cool stuff you offer. So, some have to be worked at a little. Anything worth having is certainly worth a little legwork on my part. :D I'm just really dense sometimes and need guidance. And, somehow, I don't think that Giano is the one who is going to be giving it to me! :shock:

But, I'm having fun!!!

[Fred]

If the CPanel does not have a file that should be there, it is our responsibility to make sure it gets there. If mail does not work because of a problem on our server, we make sure it gets fixed.

What we envisioned when we began hosting was to provide the best variety of programs and install these programs for our clients. We knew through experience that no matter what the promoters of these programs tell you, there would be bugs. We also knew that it would be a nightmare if we committed to fix all the problems that were encountered - we also knew our own limitations. As Helen said, we are not technical experts. There is nothing that we would like better than to be able to provide flawless programs. We know that is now very realistic. Thus we created this forum.

Don't mistake this as a cop out on our part. As I said before, we are not experts. We envisioned this forum as a community of friends helping friends, this Forum was to be a place where members could post a Thread showing a fix or modification they found in programs that would benefit all members. This is not meant as a forum for Fred to show how smart he is - that would be a very short forum indeed. Helen and I are Administrators but not the experts - you guys are. We are just members looking for answers just like everyone else. If we have a solution we will post them.

What about this idea - To make it easy for people to locate these fixes without hunting through the entire forum maybe a new Catagory called Fixes could be created or under the Tips and Tricks Catagory, a forum for each program is created that would only list fixes for each program. For example -

phpBB2 Solutions
PHP Auction Solutions
CGI Script Solutions
Shopping Cart Solutions

As a fix is found, they would be copied in the appropriate forum. Only the fixes would be listed - not questions to problems - that would make it too cluttered. Those would be posted just as we are doing.

Comments :?:

[Cartman]

That sounds like a great idea, Fred!

A tech by the name of Mary (whoa, deja vu!) sent me a new sell.php file to replace the one I had. Once I uploaded it, all of he error messages and problems were gone. Of course, it also caused two more error messages that weren't there before. But, I posted them to Mary and I'm sure I'll have an answer and fix soon.

Fred, if you set up the fix file, I can put that sell.php file there so that folks can grab it.

Helen, if you put this new sell.php file on your demo, all of those warning and error messages on the top and bottom of the page will disappear!

We're getting closer, folks! :)

[Helen]

Hi Karen,

I hope you know that my (our) posts are not directed to you personally. We are delighted that you are putting in the effort to figure some of this out, and for Mary's gracious help.

It was intended as a reminder to everyone... as you said earlier, people may expect us to have the answers when they request these programs. That thought is scary, since that was not our intention or within our abilities, lol.

I would hope that everyone who tries one or some of them will be as willing to help others as you two are. It is appreciated more than you know.

Actually, the purpose of the new ongoing/growing Webmasters Idea Bank page is for this purpose exactly... a place to put solutions like these, that we can refer people to for answers, ideas, resources, etc. We need everyone's "gems" as well as the solutions posted on the forum, which will be copied there for quick, easy reference.

You can see some of the things I was hoping to find good links for, but welcome any more that people have or can think of which should be added. For anyone who has not seen this page it is: http://ideabank.rightstuffhosting.com/

In my opinion, we don't need both that and more categories here too. Tell us what you guys want in addition to the Webmasters Idea Bank. :D

[Cartman]

Hi all,

Well, we're comin' down to the finish line .... FINALLY!!!!

Mary Lacey and Gianluca Balda, the two techs at phpAuctions support are just wonderful and PATIENT. They helped me through all of the problems I had within a 48 hours period and I think, they are in Italy!

Mary Lacey sent me a whole new sell.php file to upload in place of the old one. That took away all of the warning messages at the tops and bottoms of my pages. (Helen ... I'm sending you an email with it as an attachment so that you can substitute it for the one that you have on the demo. That will get rid of the warning errors!)

Well, once that was loaded, all of a sudden there were warning errors on all of the login/logout pages ... including the login for the admin back-end control panel. Well, Gian told me that it was as simple as going into one file (/includes/config_inc.php) and taking out three extra line spaces that were after the final > of the code (would you believe?). Once I removed the three blank lines .... all was well! It's amazing how the littlest thing can throw off 5-6 pages!!!!

My last question to them concerns the fact that I have five auctions running and the counter says 1. Almost non-existent problem. Just me being anal. Once I get that squared away, I'm up and away and everything is functioning perfectly.

The tech folks at phpaction are great and they respond to your tickets within 24 hours, if not less.

The whole experience has also taught me a little bit more about php and where to look when something goes wrong. So, I guess it was worth the little bit of extra legwork.

If anyone finds themselves needing additional help, when they upload the auction script, just let me know. I'm sure that with the new sell.php file, everything will be running smoothly for you, too! :lol:

ALSO: Mary B. -- that new sell.php file also cured the "no pic available" problem. Now, if you just leave them blank it registers as it should.

[Shane]

Karen,

Keep us informed please, I'm following your route here, and interested in the auction thing, its exciting stuff. I love Italians too of course,. just don't mention soccer (football to you guys) to them at the moment. The support may come to to a halt.

Fred & Helen,

(& jon, he never gets the credit he deserves :shock)

Thanks for giving us the oppotunity to explore these things......couple more sites on their way to you, once these cheapskate brits pay up :D :shock

[Fred]

As usual, Helen has the better idea by using the Idea page to instruct.
:toast:
That way someone will not come back and post replies which could get the solutions lost in the process. Now who wants to write the first tutorial? Hey, where did everybody go? :confused:

[Helen]

Karen.... Got the page and will replace ours with it on the demo.
Thank you soooo much! I have no way to switch it in the installations though, will have to be done after that. It is really good to know they answer tickets promptly, too. We can help a lot by referring people who request it to a help section (or a link to a help section) for the program, which can include that page. I hope to do that for every program as they are "deciphered". :D

Shane, you're right, poor ol Jon gets no respect. :shock:

[Cartman]

Hey Helen,

Don't forget to mention that if someone needs help with any phase of the auction, I can AT LEAST impart what little knowledge I've acquired.

I couldn't believe it when about 20 pages had error messages all over them and it was because I had three blank lines at the end of a page. This stuff is really amazing sometimes. :shock:

And, Fred ... the only thing wrong about doing a tutorial for this thing is that we solved one problem by doing one thing. When it causes another problem, we do something else that negates the first thing. Ex. Helen and chmod'd the sell.php file to 777 and it solved our first problem of not seeing the "sell an item" page. But, when I uploaded the new sell.php file, the file is set at something else and works fine.

But, I can certainly lead folks in the right direction :cool: (this icon signifying "blind" not "cool" :lol:

Oh, and Helen, if the logins on the demo have problems after you upload the new sell.php file ... just go to /includes/config_inc.php and take out any extra spaces or line you have at the end of the page after the ?> and you be rockin' and rollin'.

The only remaining problem seems to be automatically activitating the cron.php via the cronjob file. Seems the command is still not right.

If you type in th direct URL to the file, the activation begins and the job is performed. But, it's getting it to automatically do it from cronjob in the cpanel that's giving me the challenge. I've put in another ticket to ask the question.

[Helen]

Hi Karen,

I was looking over this thread to see how I could pick out the solutions for a reference page. I hope to finish most of it this weekend. I have not done anything yet with the sell.php page yet either, but I will also that then too.

The tech is supposed to be here sometime this afternoon (AT LAST!) with my new hard drive. After that I may be able to get my external backup drive working... then maybe I can get working too. :D

I was wondering what number the new chmod is after the changes. No rush to run see, as I can't do anything anyway for at least another day... gotta download lotta stuff again, hook up stuff... you know the drill. :)

Later... I hope! :shock: