Problem with php-direct "hello world" reading arguments

[janaf]

I have a php direct eval page but have problems after 4.0.7 update.

Functionally, the code depends on this line, which is not working:
$mystring=vB::$vbulletin->input->clean_gpc('r', 'mystring', TYPE_STR);
$output=$mystring;

The code should read URL arguments: <myurl>&mystring=Hello
Now, it returns nothing, $mystring is empty. Does anyone have a suggestion how to make this work? Workarounds?

I have also tried this syntax:
$mystring=$vbulletin->input->clean_gpc('r', 'mystring', TYPE_STR);
but get: Fatal error: Call to a member function clean_gpc() on a non-object in <url>

A slightly longer version with the cycle of what the page does is here; it has a form with a drop-down posting values to itself:

$mystring=vB::$vbulletin->input->clean_gpc('r', 'mystring', TYPE_STR);
$output=$mystring;
$output.='<br><form action="" method="POST">';
$output.='<input type="hidden" name="securitytoken" value="'.vb::$vbulletin->userinfo[securitytoken].'" />';
$output.='<select name="nominalsize"><option value="">[Say Hello]</option><option value="Hello World">Hello World</option></select><br>';
$output.='<input type="submit" value=" Submit " />';
$output.='</form>';

This page where I used this code used to have a few thousand pageviews daily, and is now at stand-still for more than a week :mad:

A long version with my full code is here;

https://vborg.vbsupport.ru/showthread.php?t=250920

But the key to the problem is the first line here, so the longer version may just be confusing...

Please help! My vb-coding experience is low, I'm depending on you guys.....

[Deceptor]

This should do the trick
$vbulletin->input->clean_array_gpc('r', array(
'mystring' => TYPE_STR,
));

$mystring = $vbulletin->GPC['mystring'];

[janaf]

Thanks deceptor,

I have found that the problem is a caching problem. All the time the cache refresh time has been set to zero but still old content is displayed, also even if the POST arguments are changed. I remember now that I had the caching problem when I originally wrote the first code, but it was solved by setting caching to zero for the vB content. But this seems to be back now. I can read the argument once, after saving the code, but then that result "sticks" enen after a page refresh. So if the page is read first time without arguments, then none are read until some time has passed. Can I codewise explicitly disable caching?

:confused:

With your syntax I am getting:

Fatal error: Call to a member function clean_array_gpc() on a non-object in <url>phpeval.php(97) : eval()'d code on line 1

Can you confirm this syntax works with a 4.0.7? Something wrong with my vb installation?

This also works, no error message, but with the caching problem:

vB::$vbulletin->input->clean_array_gpc('r', array('mystring' => TYPE_STR));
$mystring =vB::$vbulletin->GPC['mystring'];

[Lynne]

Deceptor just forgot the vB:: , otherwise they are the same.

There is a bug with cache set to 0. The fix is posted in the bug report over in Jira.

[janaf]

Thanks Lynne,

Before reading your post I made a bug report http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBIV-9336

I found your solution suggested here:
http://www.vbulletin.com/forum/showthread.php?362542-CMS-Widget-quot-Cache-refresh-time-quot-doesn-t-seem-to-work.&highlight=Cache+refresh+time
and the bug tracker here http://tracker.vbulletin.com/browse/VBIV-8082

However, it did not work for me. I tried the suggested code changes, flushed the CMS cache several times, even re-started Apache.

I also tried other more drastic code changes in execphp.php like:

if (!isset($config['cache_ttl']) )
{
$config['cache_ttl'] = 0;
}
and
if ($config['cache_ttl'] > 999999)......
But it seems that whatever I do, the php direct content was still cached. Maybe pending some site specific setting?

Also this does not work for me:

ACP => Options => Add No-Cache HTTP Headers => Help Cookies and HTTP Header Options = yes

This works perfectly but of course degrades the site performance:

ACP => Options => Server Settings and Optimization Options =>Disable Content Caching

I tested mostly with this one-line php direct evaluation code

$output=vB::$vbulletin->input->clean_gpc('r', 'mystring', TYPE_STR);

And calling the page with a browser call like <url>&mystring=xxxxxx

So any ideas on what I can do?

[Lynne]

Actually, I was thinking about the wrong thing above. Your code isn't in a widget which is the bug report I was thinking of. So, changing the cache code in the widget isn't going to help you out at all.

[janaf]

Ah, the "execphp.php" looked right to me.

I can see there is a /packages/vbcms/content/phpeval.php which has two suspect lines:

on line 60:
'cache_ttl' => '60',
and on line 67
protected $cache_ttl = 60;

So it caching is hardcoded to 60 minutes there?

I tried setting these to zero but that did not help :o

[Lynne]

To be honest, I don't know. I really don't know much about the caching in the CMS.

[janaf]

For now, I am running the site all un-cached, working acceptably. It's on a dedicated server and is not heavily loaded. I can keep it that way until I see what comes out of the bug report / Jira....

http://www.41hz.com/forums/content.php?253-TSdb

[LizP]

This is just a hack, but I had to solve this problem ASAP and here's what I did... I basically turned off rendering a cached page for direct PHP eval pages, which honestly if I'm using the eval pages it's likely b/c the content is dynamically being created so I don't want to use a cached page anyway.

On line 60 of packages/vbcms/item/content/phpeval.php:

// if ($preview_only OR $this->rendered['rendered_text'])
if ($preview_only)

That's it. Keep in mind, this hack will be overwritten by future upgrades, but hopefully vb will have the issue resolved by then. Hope this helps get you running today though!

[janaf]

Thanks LizP! This works for me too.

Just judging from the variable names, it seems like this is for the non-preview only but that if fine with me.