This is underway. One complication has been dealing with the expanded list of example styles. For this and the other issues you mentioned in your response, we are poking the database a lot to get the migration right.

We already migrated the tables, but they are messed up. The styles are munged and the sidebars can't be udated and saved.

Regarding CSS: by "backup", do you mean we should simply move the old /components/com_sidebars/css/xx.css into the new directory?

Sharon

What has to be done when migrating existing sidebars and styles from Joomla! 1.0.x to version 1.5?

Each sidebar has to have a name. However, the "heading" os optional. Simply leave the "Heading" portion blank on the sidebar setup form if you do not want it to show.

Just a quick update on this issue: there has been no progress. They are "working on it".

The information I have is that the nesting functionality dropped out to accomodate the new feature that allows attachment of sidebars to categories.

This sounds like non sequiter to me, since we are talking about two very different things.

If a user errs by nesting more than one sidebar in the side position with incompatible formatting, the results are visble on the published page. I have done this once or twice; it is obvious and easy to correct.

The program calls the "container" sidebar, which in turn recursively accesses the other sidebars within the container. I most often do this for alignment on the right (or left) side of the text. As touched on earlier, this ensures a uniform margin and eliminates txt bleed between sidebars.

Likewise, I have manually appended nested sidebars at the article's tail for several articles. For an example, look at DSM-V: Annotated List Of TS-Si.org Articles (Update). Both the text box and signature close are nested in a container sidebar. Both of the nested sidebars are used in other articles.

This conforms to a rock solid database management pratice of maintaining one-to-many relationships. This is no different than how sidebars work in the first place.

Just because the program calls for appending a sidebar to a category should not matter. The same prnciples apply.

Let me point out that the "nesting" functionality is one of the strongest arguments for using Sidebars in the first place. It is a real productivity booster and enhances the presentation. If I had to choose, I would take nesting over the crippled category feature any day.

I am told that nothing will happen on this issue until next week. Let's hope we get a solution.

Sharon

I have brought up this problem before, in this forum thread.

All the way through Sidebars 1.7,  we could "nest" sidebars. That is: (1) create a container style with minimal formatting; (2) create a sidebar with the codes for two or more other sidebars within it.

This permits stacking different sidebars vertically. Not only does this make for a clean presentation (with no text bleed and formatting problems from the article text), it also provides a lot of flexibility. I can reuse sidebars in varying combinations to enhance the content. This is a much more efficient and workable solution than using tables.

On of our sites, TS-Si.org is stuck at 1.0.7 because this feature dropped out of the subsequent releases.

iJoomla applied a hotfix on my development site, SS-G Dot Net, promising it would become part of a future release, but it has not appeared.

Now, I am planning to migrate TS-Si.org to Joomla! 1.5.x

I did an install of Sidebars for 1.5 on my personal site, sharon-gaughan.com - that site (for now) is just for fooling around and trying out things. I am glad I did that. Sidebars for 1.5 also lacks the nesting functionality.

It appears they ported over 1.9 with the shortcomings. Our site, TS-Si.org has nearly 500 sidebars, used in varying combinations throughout the site. Many of them use the nesting technique. I can't proceed without understanding what I will need to do, either with an improved Sidebars release or none altogether.

Yes, I have put in a support ticket. Why not just restore the functionality and get it over with?

Sharon

Done, ticket submitted. You and any other interested readers can see what happens on the develoment site.

Go to http://www.ss-g.net and look at the FAQS, located at http://ss-g.net/content/category/3/7/43/.

Start with Lorem Ipsum? (Without Container Sidebar and Style), located at http://ss-g.net/content/view/44/43/.

It should be self-explanatory after that.

Sharon

Have a look at what? The site was so messed up I had to roll sidebars back to 1.0.7 so we don't disappoint our reders.

This is what I will do. I will set up a demonstration page on our development site. Then I will put in a support ticket.

Sharon

We installed 1.0.9 and it was faster. Most everything seemed ok but there is a big drawback. We can't nest the sidebars.

For instance:

Molecular Scaffold Guides Connections Between Brain Cells
http://ts-si.org/content/view/3223/991/

Sidebar no. 262 (right hand column) is a combination of two other sidebars (261 & 260). They form a neat vertical column (a stack), with no bleed from the text. Each of the constituent sidebars are used elsewhere on the site, as appropriate.

We had to uninstall 1.0.9 and drop back to 1.0.7 while we consider our options.

Sharon



{sidebar id=262} Combo: Cerebellum & Salk Neuroscience 261 260

Drn! I thought they were compatible!

I clicked on "Old Town discussed at City Hall" and saw the whole article.

The intro text is very short; otherwise, it works just fine.

I guess I do do not understand the problem. Can you provide more details?

Sharon

Are you suggesting there is more than one version of News Portal carrying the same version number (1.0.1)?

Sharon

OK. I went ahead and uninstalled .24 and tried an upgrade to 1.0.1

The back end said success, but the front end was blank. My server logs show the error stream below. I then turned around and dropped back to .24

---------------------------

[Wed May 21 16:40:53 2008] [error] [client 71.241.238.29] PHP Warning: include(/chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/components/com_news_portal/../../administrator/components/com_news_portal/constants.php) [function.include]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/components/com_news_portal/news_portal.html.php on line 121 
[Wed May 21 16:40:53 2008] [error] [client 71.241.238.29] PHP Warning: include() [function.include]: Failed opening '/chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/components/com_news_portal/../../administrator/components/com_news_portal/constants.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/pear') in /chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/components/com_news_portal/news_portal.html.php on line 121 
[Wed May 21 16:40:53 2008] [error] [client 71.241.238.29] PHP Warning: require_once(/chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/components/com_news_portal/../../administrator/components/com_news_portal/news_portal.config.php) [function.require-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/components/com_news_portal/news_portal.html.php on line 122 
[Wed May 21 16:40:53 2008] [error] [client 71.241.238.29] PHP Fatal error: require_once() [function.require]: Failed opening required '/chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/components/com_news_portal/../../administrator/components/com_news_portal/news_portal.config.php' (include_path='.:/usr/share/pear') in /chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/components/com_news_portal/news_portal.html.php on line 122 
[Wed May 21 16:41:35 2008] [error] [client 71.241.238.29] PHP Warning: include_once(/chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/components/com_directory/directory.class.php) [function.include-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/modules/mod_pxt_latest.php on line 4 
[Wed May 21 16:41:35 2008] [error] [client 71.241.238.29] PHP Warning: include_once() [function.include]: Failed opening '/chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/components/com_directory/directory.class.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/pear') in /chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/modules/mod_pxt_latest.php on line 4 
[Wed May 21 16:43:51 2008] [error] [client 74.6.8.53] PHP Warning: include_once(/chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/components/com_directory/directory.class.php) [function.include-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/modules/mod_pxt_latest.php on line 4 
[Wed May 21 16:43:51 2008] [error] [client 74.6.8.53] PHP Warning: include_once() [function.include]: Failed opening '/chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/components/com_directory/directory.class.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/pear') in /chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/modules/mod_pxt_latest.php on line 4 
[Wed May 21 16:44:24 2008] [error] [client 65.214.45.151] PHP Warning: include_once(/chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/components/com_directory/directory.class.php) [function.include-once]: failed to open stream: No such file or directory in /chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/modules/mod_pxt_latest.php on line 4 
[Wed May 21 16:44:24 2008] [error] [client 65.214.45.151] PHP Warning: include_once() [function.include]: Failed opening '/chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/components/com_directory/directory.class.php' for inclusion (include_path='.:/usr/share/pear') in /chroot/home/tssiorg/ts-si.org/html/modules/mod_pxt_latest.php on line 4 

I have not installed iJoomla News Portal 1.0.1 at this time. As stated earlier, we reverted to .24 pending improvements. I am very reluctant to upgrade any further until I can see evidence that the software is fully functional and acceptably debugged.

Sharon