ownloads Documentation Centre!Turn On Joomla! debug (Error Report)
Introduction
Helpful to use the Joomla! debugging system.
Sometimes a PHP or SQL error may be stopping jDownloads from working correctly on your site, an error message may or may not be shown. There are many possible causes including interaction with other extensions. One way that sometimes helps is to temporally turn on Joomla! debugging.
Turn on Joomla Debugging
The steps in turning Joomla debugging are:
1. select
and in 
click on 
then on tab 
set option 'Debug System' to Yes as illustrated opposite;
2. Also in the 'System Cache' option use the pulldown and set caching OFF;
3. If it is a Language problem then also set 'Debug Language' to Yes.
1. select
and in click on then on tab set option 'Debug System' to Yes as illustrated opposite;2. Also in the 'System Cache' option use the pulldown and set caching OFF;
3. If it is a Language problem then also set 'Debug Language' to Yes.
Set Error Reporting Level
The next step is to set the error reporting level so click on the
tab.1. Set Gzip Compression to No
2. Select Error Reporting to Maximum
Avoid the temptation to set the Error Reporting level to 'Development'. If you do it will show all sorts of 'syntax' errors as some parts of PHP are scheduled at some future date to change so they are marked 'deprecated' in the language definition.
NB'Development' is not present in Jooma 5 Series.
Run in Front End Again
Now try the front end again. This may show an error or warning message as illustrated below.
Copy the text of the error page as part of a post it in the support forum to seek help.
If you do not see you any error messages,it may be that your hosting service has deactivated error reporting in your server settings.
You should contact your hosting service and request that they turn it on.
Copy the text of the error page as part of a post it in the support forum to seek help.
If you do not see you any error messages,it may be that your hosting service has deactivated error reporting in your server settings.
You should contact your hosting service and request that they turn it on.
Example
The picture on the right is an example of an error message.
The error was created deliberately for this example by loading an incorrect version of the jDownloads Komento plugin!!
It is this text part of the Report that is generally most helpful. It is usually 20 or more lines.
This is the part of the report that is usually the most useful. So copy as text and send in Private Message (PM).
In this example that part of the report has been truncated.
The error was created deliberately for this example by loading an incorrect version of the jDownloads Komento plugin!!
It is this text part of the Report that is generally most helpful. It is usually 20 or more lines.
This is the part of the report that is usually the most useful. So copy as text and send in Private Message (PM).
In this example that part of the report has been truncated.
Debug Console
Note the 
symbol at the bottom left.
Clicking on this shows some 'Profile Information' as noted below. When an error or warning occurs then the Joomla! debug Console appears at the foot of the page.
Sometimes that may also be useful.
symbol at the bottom left.Clicking on this shows some 'Profile Information' as noted below. When an error or warning occurs then the Joomla! debug Console appears at the foot of the page.
Sometimes that may also be useful.
Clicking on the fields such as "J! Info", "Profile Information" shows some extra information that may help identify the problem.
Restore Settings to default
When you have finished looking for the 'fault' remember to turn off the debug settings!
When you have posted in the forum please remember to deactivate ALL the debugging setup. Leaving debugging on will slow your site down and probably confuse your users!
When you have posted in the forum please remember to deactivate ALL the debugging setup. Leaving debugging on will slow your site down and probably confuse your users!
ColinM October 2019 modified June 2023(v4)