Message Board error when not logged in

When a someone links to a user profile, when not logged in, when trying to post a message to the message board, they get a fatal error as follows...

Fatal error: Call to a member function getGUID() on a non-object in /home/ouruser/ourwebsite.com/cs/mod/messageboard/ajax_endpoint/load.php on line 29

This is a 1.61 installation. But I tried the same thing on this elgg site, and I don't get the error. Is the Message Board plugin here different than the 1.6.1 version we are using? If not, what could be causing this problem on our site when it doesn't occur here on this site?

  • Well, in fact the Post it box should not be displayed at all to non-logged-in users since all content needs an owner. In at least one place the code checks for this, but this slipped through.

    Definitely a bug - the add message form should not be there.

  • Specifically, the code for the messageboard widget in

    mod/messageboard/default/widgets/messageboard/view.php

    fails to check for the logged in user.

    On the other hand, the code for mod/messageboard/index.php does check.

  • Something to post to Trac (if it is not already there!)

  • It was mentioned here:

    http://trac.elgg.org/elgg/ticket/248

    but in a different context and the bug was closed as invalid.

  • Kevin,

    It's interesting though that this elgg site does not cause the error message. That leads me to believe that "maybe" there is a more current version of the Message Plugin than we have for 1.6.1. At least that would be a temporary fix so that users wouldn't get the nasty error message.

    Also, please forgive me but I'm still trying to figure out how things work here. You said the trac (248) was closed as invalid. What does that mean? It's dead and will not be looked at as an issue? And if so, have you reported this problem?

  • Note: There is a similar issue for "Files". If a nonlogged in user selects "More Files" from a profile page, and then selects "All Site Files" from the left menu, and then selects "upload a file" a blank pages appears.

    This similar to the Message board issue, in that unlogged in users should not have the opportunity to upload a file, right?

  • Ron, when a core developer closes a trac item with the tag invalid, that usually means the developer doesn't think the issue is a bug. It will not be looked at unless someone opens it or creates a new trac ticket.

    You're more likely to see things fixes by reporting them in the Trac system than posting them here.

  • Thank you Cash. I appreciate the advice and will log these issues to trac. And I understand it's more likely to see things fixed by doing so than posting them here. But, at the same time I don't want to waste the developers time with an issue until I know it's really something that needs to be looked at. Sometimes it's just my understanding of the way things work that is broken, rather than the code. So I like to pass my thoughts by others to see if I'm on the right or wrong track. That's the purpose of this group, and  it's been helpful, at least for me, to get headed in the right direction.

  • Fair enough. I hope we see improvements in Elgg due to your work.

  • @Ron thanks for the trac tickets--They're not going unnoticed.  If you have moderately investigated a bug, go ahead and post it to trac as unconfirmed. The worst that will happen is that it will be marked as worksforme. 

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