Logging on to admin area

[Beth]

Please be patient with me. I am relatively new to web stuff in the manner of production. I just started a blog on my website at the beginning of the year. I have been struggling with serendipity and not completely understanding it but trudging along in a relatively functional way. My computer was keeping all the log in information for me but I was trying to clear my cache and cookies (as I was having difficulty embedding a you tube video on my blog and thought this might fix the problem). So now I have a new problem, I can't log back in and when I was searching through the forum trying to figure out the answer and trying different combinations of web addresses, I realized that i can add templates too...yea... but first thing first. How does one log back in?

[yellowled]

I can't log back in and when I was searching through the forum trying to figure out the answer

The password is in your blog's MySQL database. You need a tool to access the table serendipity_authors in said database, e.g. phpMyAdmin. Ask your web hosting company about that.

See http://board.s9y.org/viewtopic.php?p=52822#p52822 for how to set a new password properly.

Also, you do not want your browser to store your login data, it's a security issue. I highly recommend using a password manager like 1Password or KeePassX for that.

YL

[Timbalu]

See viewtopic.php?p=52822#p52822 for how to set a new password properly.

Do not do this! This is an old way described, which would not work any more since a few years!
It would help to know your Serendipity version, but since you wrote "at the beginning of the year", I assume it is at least the Serendipity 1.6 Series.

For those cases, there is no other way to retrieve your password, - you will have to know your username though at least - you can create a manual fixlogin.php script file with this content to update your database.

Code: Select all

<?php
$username = "YOURusername";
$password = "YOURpassword";
include 'serendipity_config.inc.php';
echo serendipity_db_query("UPDATE {$serendipity['dbPrefix']}authors SET password = '" . serendipity_hash($password) . "', hashtype=1 WHERE username = '" . serendipity_db_escape_string($username) . "'");
echo "Password changed."; 

Adjust username and (new) password to yours and save that file as fixlogin.php. Upload it to your Serendipty blog root directory and link you browser to it. [Note: Later, when all is done successfully, do not forget to erase that file again!]

[yellowled]

Sorry for finding the wrong thread.

We should really have a FAQ for this.

YL

[Beth]

I think I misspoke. I actually know my user name and password and can access that. I just can't get to the admin login page. Do you know how I get to that?

[Timbalu]

"/blog/serendipity_admin.php" shortcut "/blog/admin" for mod_rewrite users

[Beth]

Thank you! Thank you!

If you don't mind me asking what I am sure are three very simple questions?

1. I keep getting an error that it is 404 error. Why? Sometimes I have problems pasting code in the google browser but I tried it in firefox and it failed as well. Is there something i have to look for in the code?

2. I have a huge problem with formatting. When I play around with size and other formatting, it gets all crazy on me and I can never seem to set it just right? Are there any tips or something to help me with this?

3. Can I install a template on just the blog area of my website or is it using the template for my website?My website is www.firstclasscanine.com if that helps you at all.

Thank you for allowing me ask simple questions that I am sure has you all slamming your open palm against your forehead as you read this.

[Timbalu]

1. I keep getting an error that it is 404 error. Why? Sometimes I have problems pasting code in the google browser but I tried it in firefox and it failed as well. Is there something i have to look for in the code?

What do you mean exactly by pasting code in the browser? And where do you get the 404?

2. I have a huge problem with formatting. When I play around with size and other formatting, it gets all crazy on me and I can never seem to set it just right? Are there any tips or something to help me with this?

This is very likely the template you are using, which seemed to be something generated by RVSiteBuilder, whatever that is and does in detail.

3. Can I install a template on just the blog area of my website or is it using the template for my website?My website is http://www.firstclasscanine.com if that helps you at all.

This depends on what that global template and the roots htaccess and all those scripts do. As far as I can see, you can't even access the blogs backend properly by http://firstclasscanine.com/blogweb/ser ... _admin.php, which gets redirected to the roots page.

Normally you have a site like at http://firstclasscanine.com and install a vanilla Serendipity Blog seperately! Then you include or access it via the root blog nav link. If you want it to look like your root template, you have to do this by hand, converting an already existing serendipity template to your needs. This is not trivial! There is also the option to embed it into an already existing site.

You seemed to have used an automatic tool, to bind a not seperately installed serendipity blog package into that. I for myself can't really help here, since I do not know what your hoster or wherever you got that from has changed, to make this work somehow.

Even the very old Serendipity version 1.5.5 shows, that this is not well supported (*). We do not provide the Serendipity Blog software to be used like that. It is a standalone framework and if used embedded by another framework, you really have to know what you do.

(*) see http://forums.rvskin.com/index.php?showtopic=11380 as an example

[Beth]

Thank you Ian.

What do you mean exactly by pasting code in the browser? And where do you get the 404?

I get the embed code from you tube and paste it into the blog post. The error occurs in the area that the video should pop up in.

You seemed to have used an automatic tool, to bind a not separately installed serendipity blog package into that. I for myself can't really help here, since I do not know what your hoster or wherever you got that from has changed, to make this work somehow.

This explains all my problems I think. Thank you because I am clueless. It was automatic. I don't think I did anything. My extent of my knowledge is looking at stuff and figuring it out by a combination of looking it up and pressing buttons. Your comment will now help me no longer bang my head against a wall.

Thank you again.

[Timbalu]

I get the embed code from you tube and paste it into the blog post. The error occurs in the area that the video should pop up in.

Ok this should be solvable at least.
Are you using the Personal Configuration → Use WYSIWYG editor ?

In example, the pasted video code should look like:

Code: Select all

<iframe width="540" height="405" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TnzFRV1LwIo?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

If missing, add the http: in src="http://www..." manually, since YouTube doesn't offer it nowadays and then the showup can error or does not appear.

In the Entry Edit area:
If the (green) Button announces the editor as Xinha, find one of its neighbour buttons called "Toggle HTML Source" - press that and the textarea will turn into source code mode. If you paste your embed video code into the textarea now, it should appear properly on frontpage after saving.

If the Editor is CKEDITOR in current 1.3.1 version, here the is a [?], which is set by a event plugin, you can find the embed media [movie] button to paste your code in.

If all that does not help or you are not using a WYSIWYG-Editor, come back and show us the the video code you are using.

You should use the forum at http://forums.rvskin.com to get help on these other things.

[Beth]

Yes. It fixed it! Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! I have been trying to fix this now for a total of 5 days. Thank you!

Beth