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M2 is so messed up that my question here keeps getting rejected.

Sorry about the title, but I'm either saying too much or too little, and it wouldn't let me post. That's super annoying. I don't know what the algorithm is that determines what's an insufficient question to put there.

Anyway....

M2 is getting worse and worse. It started with the issues in this post:

https://premium.wpmudev.org/forums/topic/the-create-user-button-is-inactive#post-945193

As you can see by the last post, it was pretty bad.

Now I am opening a new ticket because I'm way beyond the "create user button" problem, to where M2 is inoperable.

I've lost all my settings and memberships that I had created originally, and all I can figure is that happened when I finally deactivated it (because normal methods would not work) by renaming the folder. When I renamed it back, it was like starting from the beginning. And as you can see from that previous post, it was like I had reverted to a much earlier version.

And I could not get it to be "network" activated at all. I mean, I could click the "network activate" link, but even with MS_PROTECT_NETWORK set to true, I could only work with the plugin by going to each site individually. At each subsite, I had to "import" the content (what content? from where?) -- apparently it was trying to upgrade me from this older version I had never installed. Crazy.

So I tried to start over. I currently have ALL plugins disabled on my test site, and I'm trying to JUST install M2.

I deleted M2 completely. I commented the MS_PROTECT_NETWORK line out of my wp-config file. Then I went to the WPMU dashboard and installed M2. The very first thing I noticed is the confirmation message, which says Membership2 is set up for v. 1.0.1.1.

So now I'm at a total loss. I could start all the reprogramming all over again, but this is ridiculous. I can't trust that I can deactivate this thing at all in the event of a problem without losing everything I did and having it revert to some old version that I have never (intentionally/knowingly) installed.

Is it possible that at some point in the distant past I tested a free version or something, and there is some trace of it caught in my db? I'm grasping at straws here...hope someone can help me figure this out, because I've basically wasted two weeks of setup here, and I'm supposed to have this thing configured in time for a meeting early next week. If I can't get it rolling quickly, I am going to have to use some other plugin I guess. Really hope you can help me.

Thanks!

  • mabraham1

    I kept banging on it, because...that's just what I do. :stuck_out_tongue:

    I added back in the line in wp-config and refreshed the dashboard, and BOOM. It's back.

    Everything.

    It's all back. All my settings, all my memberships....they are there.

    Ok, so that's good news. But I've gotta say... my confidence in this plugin is just about rock bottom right now. (It gets a little credit for finding all my stuff again. :grinning:

    So I guess the key was in that wp-config line....it had to be removed, then reinstated. Y'all REALLY need to add that to your instructions somewhere or fix the plugin so it looks for that even on a new install. Or something.

    Thanks.

  • Patrick

    Hi there @kalico

    I hope you're well today, and I'm glad you got things sorted!

    There is a paragraph on the plugin usage page where the wp-config instructions are:

    Important note: the above constant will only work if added to wp-config.php before you start creating your memberships. Any existing memberships on any site in your network will not be recognized by the network settings. A future release of M2 will allow for pre-existing memberships to also function network-wide.

    If I understand you correctly, that define was already in your wp-config when you deleted the plugin. You then re-installed a fresh copy with that line still there but just commented out, and no memberships were visible in your network admin? Is that it?

    if so, that sounds quite buggy to me and should be reported to the developer. Can you please confirm (or correct me) and, if that's what happened, I'll file a report.

    Thanks!

  • mabraham1

    Yes, that define was already in wp-config when I deleted the plugin. I had put it in there before I created any memberships, as the instructions stated.

    When I encountered problems and had to start disabling plugins to find the cause, I got down to the point where the only plugin I had left was M2, and the issue was still there (kept seeing the "1" or the "0:validate:required" to the right of the fields, as noted in the other ticket). So I decided to deactivate M2 and reactivate it, and things went downhill from there.

    - click Network Deactivate
    - see Plugin deactivated message AND Membership2 is set up for v.1.0.1.1 AND Plugin is not network activated (see screenshot)
    - try that again: click network deactivate, and still see same messages.
    - the plugin still showed up in the subsites

    So that's when I decided to disable the plugin by changing the name of the folder.

    - changed folder name (via SSH)
    - refreshed my admin screen
    - confirm that it's gone
    - renamed it back
    - refreshed and the plugin was now available

    I network activated it, and immediately saw that an update was available: 4.0.0.5.

    - ran the update
    - noted it was just in all the subsites and each one was clearly independent of the others
    - walked through some update steps on each subsite for this "new" version, including some kind of data import (I didn't provide a file, it just went though some automated process)
    - none of my old data came though in this conversion process.

    That's when I decided to reinstall from scratch, so I

    - deleted the plugin (using WP interface)
    - commented the MS_PROTECT_NETWORK line out of wp-config
    - reinstalled it (using WPMUDEV Dashboard)

    And it STILL said that I'm using v. 1.0.1.1. Even though I had just reinstalled the entire plugin.

    I still had no data from all my previous set ups, which actually started to make sense as I thought about it, because I'd read that M2 stores data differently in a non-network set up.

    So then I uncommented the define in wp-config and refreshed my dashboard, and everything was all back.

    To summarize the main "problem" points:

    * M2 did not recognize my network setup during all of the time after (attempted/failed) deactivation and before I commented out the define. It was as if the deactivating ONLY caused it to lose it's network-activated-ness, and nothing more.

    * M2 was very resistant to being deactivated. It would only revert to non-network mode and an older version.

    * When I reinstalled (from scratch, after deleting the folder), it was still v. 1.0.1.1 until I uncommented the define. Then M2 "snapped out of it" and all my original data was back exactly how I'd left it.

    Phew! I hope that helps... :slight_smile:

  • Sajid

    Hi @kalico

    Its Sajid, working alongside Patrick here :slight_smile:

    * M2 did not recognize my network setup during all of the time after (attempted/failed) deactivation and before I commented out the define. It was as if the deactivating ONLY caused it to lose it's network-activated-ness, and nothing more.

    M2 requires that defined in wp-config.php file to active as network wide. When you add that line in wp-config.php file you do not need to "Network Activate" it, it become active automatically and can be deactivated by removing/commenting out that define from config file.

    * When I reinstalled (from scratch, after deleting the folder), it was still v. 1.0.1.1 until I uncommented the define. Then M2 "snapped out of it" and all my original data was back exactly how I'd left it.

    The latest and current pro version of Membership plugin is 1.0.1.1. I guess you accidentally activated the free version that is 4.0.0.5 and hosted on WordPress.org. Yes its confusing, but once you installed and activated our WPMUDEV Dashboard plugin, it takes care of it for you and does not prompt you update available notification.

    But I am glad to know things are working for you now and you are all set.

    Please feel free to start a new ticket if you need further support, happy to help :slight_smile:

    Cheers, Sajid

  • mabraham1

    Hi Sajid and Patrick. :slight_smile:

    Thanks for taking time to work on this.

    M2 requires that defined in wp-config.php file to active as network wide. When you add that line in wp-config.php file you do not need to "Network Activate" it, it become active automatically and can be deactivated by removing/commenting out that define from config file.

    A couple thoughts....

    1. The Network Activate/Deactivate Feature

    The instructions on this point do not include the information you've provided here, which would be helpful to users to understand how this feature really works. The usage page only says:

    But, if you want to create content protection rules network-wide, you’ll need to first add the following constant to your wp-config.php file:
    define( 'MS_PROTECT_NETWORK', true );
    You can then set up protection rules from your network admin for every site in your network.

    As you can see from my description of my problems, I spent a lot of time trying to network-deactivate that plugin, and getting some really funky results. But what you're saying here seems to indicate that it was never an issue of network deactivation, and always an issue of removing that line in wp-config.

    But....I still don't quite understand how, with that define still intact, I was able to click on Network Deactivate, and have it make actual changes to the plugin configuration on my site.

    In my experience, as noted earlier:

    - click Network Deactivate
    - see Plugin deactivated message AND Membership2 is set up for v.1.0.1.1 AND Plugin is not network activated << this set of admin messages was very confusing to see after clicking Network Deactivate

    - try that again: click network deactivate, and still see same messages. << the fact that I could still see "Network DEactivate" as an option after clicking on it (and getting the "Plugin is not network activated" message) is very confusing behavior.

    Another odd behavior I noticed: options I changed at subsites (after trying to network deactivate) did not affect the entire network, so clearly the "Network Deactivate" click had some effect. The define was still in wp-config, and the plugin was clearly not working as "network activated" (it was operating in subsites, independent of the network settings, which were unavailable). So that seems to negate (or perhaps just add confusion to) this statement:

    it become active automatically and can be deactivated by removing/commenting out that define from config file.

    On the whole, I am left perplexed as to how this really does work, and how it's intended to work. Clearer documentation would be really helpful. And the behavior of Network Activate/Deactivate seems really buggy.

    2. Versioning

    Ok, so....

    - Free version at wordpress.org is v. 4.0.0.5
    - M2Pro is 1.0.1.1
    - Old Membership plugin was apparently decommissioned at 3.5.3.3 (according to the usage instructions for upgrading from old Membership)

    Now that you explained it, I totally get the fact that you started versioning M2Pro from the ground up, hence it's current 1.0.1.1 status. But it's pretty easy for those of us on this side of development (end users) to make the assumption that 4.0.0.5 is the current version of M2Pro, when the last version of Membership was 3.5.3.3. It sounds so...sequential. And yet the truth is something so very different -- and it's not clearly stated anywhere.

    It seems like that should really be cleared up somewhere....maybe in the admin messages being thrown when the plugin is enabled/disabled? Because from a user standpoint, getting a message saying "You're using 1.0.1.1" when you just deactivated a plugin is just....well...super confusing. It makes you think right away that you've reverted to something earlier, not that you're actually using the latest and greatest!

    And then, to make matters worse, after making every effort to deactivate this plugin and having it apparently not deactivate, the first thing I got after renaming the plugin folder (a standard practice to disable a recalcitrant plugin) was an UPDATE message to 4.0.0.5!

    Based on what you're saying here, that makes just no sense at all. As a reminder, here is what I did:

    - changed folder name (via SSH)
    - refreshed my admin screen
    - confirm that it's gone
    - renamed it back
    - refreshed and the plugin was now available

    I network activated it, and immediately saw that an update was available: 4.0.0.5.

    - ran the update
    - noted it was just in all the subsites and each one was clearly independent of the others
    - walked through some update steps on each subsite for this "new" version, including some kind of data import (I didn't provide a file, it just went though some automated process)
    - none of my old data came though in this conversion process.

    Since there was an UPDATE available, the automatic assumption was that this was the newer version. But you're saying that my existing 1.0.1.1 install somehow wanted to UPDATE to an OLD version? I'm just lost here, so I'll stop trying to analyze it, LOL :slight_smile:

    As to whether everything is "working right" I am uncertain. I have two other "weird" situations I'm working on with Vaughn and Kasia.

    I can't help wondering if there is any connection between all these things, or if M2Pro is just kinda messed up. I hope not....it's our last best hope to accomplish some really major goals for our company right now. :slight_smile:

    Thanks for your time and effort on this. :slight_smile:

  • mabraham1

    It took a while, but I must say that the recent updates to M2 have completely smoothed it out. It no longer feels buggy, and everything it does "makes sense". Any issues I've encountered have been minor and short lived, and always traced back to something I have done, or a (solvable) plugin conflict.

    So a big thank you to everyone at WPMUDEV: Membership2 has been redeemed :slight_smile:

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