NMS 2: mysterious error

[Maki]

Hi to all.

It's a couple of days that I'm experimenting with NMS 2 with CMSms 1.2.3  and I can't get rid of a mysterious error. It goes all smoothly until I start the job. When I do a new window opens, the mails are sent then nothing happens. When the page stops "loading" I close it and I refresh the admin page. Then the job list shows "status: ERROR" without further explanations and I have to reset the job.
I tried a new clean install with only NMS+CGE and a two address list with default template but no changes.
I tried with "mail", "sendmail" and "smtp", no difference.

The strange thing is that the emails are correctly sent, so I really can't understand the error message.
Anybody else having this issue?
Is there a log or something I can try to understand?

Thanks.

[Maki]

This stuff is driving me crazy... Now when I go to the "users" tab there is a warning telling me "We are currently experiencing technical difficulties. We will try to fix the problem as soon as possible. Sorry for the inconvenience.".

If I start posting a new job I get the same message. Yet, it still works. What does that message mean?

[Maki]

This stuff is driving me crazy... Now when I go to the "users" tab there is a warning telling me "We are currently experiencing technical difficulties. We will try to fix the problem as soon as possible. Sorry for the inconvenience.".

Ok, this is Error Emailer, forgot to check its preferences, sorry for being so dumb. I disabled it (since it doesn't mail me any error anywas) and turned on debug mode in config.php. Here are the results:

Opening the "Users" tab gives me:

Code: Select all

Notice: Undefined index: noform in /accounts/guidi/www/maki/tmp/templates_c/NMS^%%63^63A^63A268F8%%module_file_tpl%3ANMS%3Busers.tpl.php on line 12

Source Context:

7	  <?php else: ?>
8	    <p><?php echo $this->_tpl_vars['message']; ?>
9	</p>
10	  <?php endif; ?>
11	<?php endif; ?>
=======> 12	<?php if ($this->_tpl_vars['noform'] == ''): ?>
13	<?php echo $this->_tpl_vars['startform']; ?>
14	
15	<div class="pageoverflow">
16	  <p class="pagetext"><?php echo $this->_tpl_vars['prompt_userfilter']; ?>
17	</p>

and

Code: Select all

Notice: Undefined index: pagecount in /accounts/guidi/www/maki/tmp/templates_c/NMS^%%63^63A^63A268F8%%module_file_tpl%3ANMS%3Busers.tpl.php on line 45

Source Context:

40	<div class="pageoptions"><p class="pageoptions"><?php echo $this->_tpl_vars['itemcount']; ?>
41	 <?php echo $this->_tpl_vars['itemsfound']; ?>
42	 <?php echo $this->_tpl_vars['oftext']; ?>
43	 <?php echo $this->_tpl_vars['totalitems']; ?>
44	</p></div>
=======> 45	<?php if ($this->_tpl_vars['pagecount'] != ''): ?>
46	<div class="pageoverflow">
47	<div class="pageshowrows"><?php echo $this->_tpl_vars['firstpage']; ?>
48	 <?php echo $this->_tpl_vars['prevpage']; ?>
49	 <?php echo $this->_tpl_vars['pagetext']; ?>
50	 <?php echo $this->_tpl_vars['curpage']; ?>

Opening the "jobs" tab gives:

Code: Select all

Notice: Undefined index: cleantemplink in /accounts/guidi/www/maki/tmp/templates_c/NMS^%%A6^A6C^A6CF7830%%module_file_tpl%3ANMS%3Bjobs.tpl.php on line 87

Source Context:

82	 </tbody>
83	</table>
84	<?php endif; ?>
85	<?php echo $this->_tpl_vars['createlink']; ?>
86	 <?php echo $this->_tpl_vars['deletecompletedlink']; ?>
=======> 87	 <?php echo $this->_tpl_vars['cleantemplink']; ?>
88	 <?php echo $this->_tpl_vars['processlink']; ?>
89	<br/>

Then processing the job gives:

Code: Select all

Notice: ob_flush() [ref.outcontrol]: failed to flush buffer. No buffer to flush. in /accounts/guidi/www/maki/modules/NMS/action.process_queue.php on line 219

Source Context:

214		$this->Redirect( $id, 'process_queue', $returnid, $parms );
215		return;
216	      }
217	
218	    echo "<p>".$this->Lang('initializing_job').': <strong>'.$jobrow['title'].'</strong></p>';
=======> 219	    flush(); @ob_flush();
220	
221	    // create a table (temporary in purpose) containing all
222	    // of the emails we're going to send to
223	    $taboptarray = array('mysql' => 'TYPE=MyISAM');
224	    $dict = NewDataDictionary($db);

I don't think I can go beyond that, my PHP knowledge is limited.
The CMSms core has been unzipped directly on the server, and NMS installed through the module manager, so I exclude corruption during FTP transfer.

Any suggestion?

[spod_dmd]

Hi Maki

Did you ever find a solution for this? I'm having the same problem. The emails are sent but the client sees  status: error and action: reset on their job list after starting the job to be processed. It actually sends as far as I can see but the error message confuses the client and dents their confidence in NMS.

Any help to sort this out would be appreciated.

[Maki]

As for that specific error, yes, I found a solution, sort of... I activated the fastcgi mode on the server and it worked. Don't know why exactly, I suppose the reason is just because the fastcgi mode has longer timeouts. In fact NMS takes two seconds to send all the emails and 40 to do who-knows-what and the standard timeout on my server is 30 seconds.

However I still had some problems, and things got even worse with 2.1 that was so broken that I couldn't even subscribe to the list (which worked in 2.0 and there are forum reports with the very same problem). So I lost any confidence with a piece of software that is apparently thrown out in the wild without having been tested in its most basic functionalities, and gave up.

My newsletter is currently on hold, when I find the time I'll look in PHPlist, Dadamail or other well tested alternatives, this stuff is too delicate to handle it with erratic software. I can't consider NMS "production level", but "beta" at best.

[calguy1000]

However I still had some problems, and things got even worse with 2.1 that was so broken that I couldn't even subscribe to the list (which worked in 2.0 and there are forum reports with the very same problem). So I lost any confidence with a piece of software that is apparently thrown out in the wild without having been tested in its most basic functionalities, and gave up.

Well, I don't see any recent bug reports on the tracker, oh well.

Also, NMS isn't going to work on every site... this is a fact, it's because some hosts won't allow timeouts to be adjusted, or other things to be adjusted, others won't allow outgoing emails to be sent en-masse.

But I've successfully sent 10,000 emails in 40 minutes with NMS using a properly configured remote host.  I checked with the host in advance to make sure that there were no PHP limitations, or email limitations.

[Maki]

However I still had some problems, and things got even worse with 2.1 that was so broken that I couldn't even subscribe to the list (which worked in 2.0 and there are forum reports with the very same problem). So I lost any confidence with a piece of software that is apparently thrown out in the wild without having been tested in its most basic functionalities, and gave up.

Well, I don't see any recent bug reports on the tracker, oh well.

I said *forum* reports see the messages from Signex in http://forum.cmsmadesimple.org/index.php/topic,20509.0.html. Yes, I know there is a bug tracker, but:
a) the thread was started by you, so I suppose you read it, but still, you didn't comment.
b) the forge is largely ignored by the developers, you included. In the NMS section there two years old bugs and the "latest news" column announces NMS 1.0.2. No wonder that the users ignore it too.

Sorry if it sounds a harsh judgement, but IMHO a bug that prevents users to sign-up, while not dangerous, means that the module is useless and has not been tested in its basic functionalities before the release. Still it took two weeks to have it fixed in NMS 2.1.1, when it came out I had already given up.
Of course you'll disagree, but it didn't help to build confidence in this particular module.

Also, NMS isn't going to work on every site... this is a fact, it's because some hosts won't allow timeouts to be adjusted, or other things to be adjusted, others won't allow outgoing emails to be sent en-masse.

But I've successfully sent 10,000 emails in 40 minutes with NMS using a properly configured remote host.  I checked with the host in advance to make sure that there were no PHP limitations, or email limitations.

No problem with that, I knew. But a 30 seconds timeout should be enough to send *two* test emails: in fact it took a couple of seconds, but still couldn't conclude the job. As said when I upped the timeout it worked, but I still cannot understand the reason for which it takes 40 seconds to do a simple job. And no, there aren't other limitations, I have checked with my host which is a reputable one.
On the same server PoMMo seems to run fine, there is  a preference to tell the program what timeout adatpt itself to. Plus a set of support tools that check what works and what not. I think it can be a good alternative for those that cannot use NMS. Of course it will not integrate seamlessly in CMSms like NMS.