Email Options settings not sticking

Hi, when I try to set my E-Mail Options for "Use MIME HTML when sending emails" or "Email Admin format" to HTML the settings don't stick. After I select the option and click the Update button, the value shown for the option is blank (under the Value column of the big list of E-Mail options.) The other email options I changed seem to work ok. I'm using a new install of v1.5.1. Any suggestions?

Sounds like a typical set of symptoms caused either by incomplete uploads of files, or the existence of plugins that are designed for an older version and are malfunctioning.

I tried a new install with no mods and still see the exact same problem. However, I did install it from the same zip file I had downloaded for the other install (a few days ago). Can I just replace (re-upload) the admin portion of my install without having to go through the whole install process again using a freshly downloaded zip file (in case my other one was corrupted)? Is the admin/includes/configure.php file the only one I need to not overwrite?

I downloaded a fresh copy of the full install zip file, and then I re-uploaded all the admin files, and it made no difference. The "Use MIME HTML When Sending Emails" setting under the "E-Mail Options" tab is still somehow getting cleared after I change it. I checked in the db using phpMyAdmin and I can see the setting change to the value I set it to (true or false) right after I click the Update button, but then after I go to another Admin page I check phpMyAdmin again and the value in the db has been set to a blank value (not true or false).

Extremely bizarre.

Let's start at the very beginning ... Please click Reply below and answer all the questions in the Posting Tips section.

OK:

- Have you already posted about this issue? If so, DO NOT POST a duplicate. Instead, reply to your existing post, with MORE information. -- Only in this thread.

• What version of Zen Cart are you using? -- v1.5.1.
• Has your site been upgraded? When? From what version(s)? -- no, it is a fresh install.
• If you've upgraded, HOW did you upgrade? (official upgrade procedure or an automated script from your hosting company?) -- n/a
• What addons have you installed? When? -- none
• HOW did you install it? (upload via FTP and run zc_install, or a one-click install from your hosting company? (one-click installs are NOT recommended)) -- downloaded the full zip file from the zen-cart.com link, then uploaded the zip file to my site using the cPanel file manager, then used the Extract button in the file manager to extract the files from the zip archive.
• In what ways is your site customized or different from a brand new uncustomized install? -- none
• If you're encountering display/layout problems, post your site URL* so it can be seen in action. -- n/a, admin problem only
• If you're encountering problems that could be related to your server or hosting company, include the name of your hosting company (not their URL). -- I have a dedicated server leased from LiquidWeb
• HAVE YOU LOOKED IN THE FAQ AREA for answers to your question? (ie: a search for your error message or what you want to edit/change, etc) -- yes, didn't find anything helpful.
• Have you searched the FORUM for your error message or for answers to the question you're asking? -- yes, didn't find anything helpful.
• WHEN did the problem "start"? How does that compare with other events of your hosting company, changes you've made to your site files/addons, or your admin settings, etc? -- I only started working with zen-cart a few days ago, and I noticed the problem when I was working through the e-Start book and got to the email settings section. I did have a few addons installed, so I did a fresh install to a different folder with a different database with no mods at all, and the problem appears identical.
• If this is your first store, have you tested all aspects of transactions before going live? -- yes it's my first zen cart store, and I have not gone live yet.

Here's how I can reproduce the problem:

1. Log in to my admin area and click the Configuration -> E-Mail Options link.
2. On the E-Mail Options screen, I see that the "Use MIME HTML When Sending Emails" option Value is blank.
3. Click the "Use MIME HTML When Sending Emails" option line to select it and show the form to the right for setting the option value. In that form, click the "true" radio button and then click the "update" button.
4. The Value for that option now shows as "true".
5. Now click another option, for example the "Send low stock emails" option, and set it to "1". When I click the "update" button, I can see the "Send low stock emails" option value change to "1", and at the same time the previously set "Use MIME HTML When Sending Emails" option value changes to blank.

After playing around with this more, it appears that this problem is more general and on this page when I set one option, then set another, the previously set option sometimes gets set to blank. I had only noticed the one described in my steps 1 through 5 until just now. The option value I just changed will also sometimes get cleared if I switch to another admin screen, then go back to the E-Mail Options screen again.

k,

So far I have been unable to reproduce.

So some further questions.

Which operating system are you using (windows/mac/linux etc)
Which version of PHP do you have
Which version of mysql do you have

When installing did you set a method for SQL caching (none/file/db)
If using file method can you confirm that the cache dir is writeable
Did you install the demo data.

Linux CENTOS 4.7
PHP 5.3.6
MySQL 5.0.95

I left the SQL caching setting as default during installation, which I think was none, but I'm not sure how to verify that. Can you tell me how to check that setting?
I have two different installations, both showing this problem, one has the demo data, the other does not.

mtn-niche:

Linux CENTOS 4.7
PHP 5.3.6
MySQL 5.0.95

I left the SQL caching setting as default during installation, which I think was none, but I'm not sure how to verify that. Can you tell me how to check that setting?
I have two different installations, both showing this problem, one has the demo data, the other does not.

Hi again

Thanks for the info.

You can check what sql caching you are using by looking in your configure.php

e.g. define('SQL_CACHE_METHOD', 'none');

I guess the other way forward is to see if any errors are logged, as explained here: http://www.zen-cart.com/content.php?124-blank-page

I checked my configure.php files and they have: define('SQL_CACHE_METHOD', 'none')

I did not have any error log files in my /log directory.

Any other suggestions?

You've only mentioned "email settings". What about all the other settings in your admin?

If none of your admin forms will save correctly, then you have a sessions/security problem ... probably caused by some rare incompatibility or by an incorrectly installed SSL certificate.

Still a lot of unknowns here. Thousands of other stores are not having this problem, so it seems to be quite unique to your environment. Don't have enough information to replicate your unique environment, so it's really hard to recreate in order to solve for your unique case.

What exactly must we do in order to recreate your exact same situation? Starting from a brand new computer fresh out of the box, with a blank hard drive.

Well, I have noticed other admin settings going blank after I set them, for example I set the "show IP in footer" to "0" and later went back and saw that it was blank (not 0 or 1). In this case, I guess blank is treated as 0 so the setting change still served the purpose. However, when I try to set the "show IP in footer" back to 1, the setting doesn't stick and the IP line does not show up in the store pages. I have added categories and products without any noticeable problems, so the problem must be related to only a certain type of admin settings.

My site is hosted on my leased dedicated server, so I can set up a brand new test account with a fresh install and give you admin access to the zen cart as well as the cPanel for the hosting account if you want. Is that something that you are willing to try? Might it be helpful for you to look at my php info listing?

Thanks for your help with this.

mtn-niche:

Hi, when I try to set my E-Mail Options for "Use MIME HTML when sending emails" or "Email Admin format" to HTML the settings don't stick. After I select the option and click the Update button, the value shown for the option is blank (under the Value column of the big list of E-Mail options.) The other email options I changed seem to work ok. I'm using a new install of v1.5.1. Any suggestions?
So, when you change email addresses, do they save properly?
Is it just "numbers" that don't save right?
Or is it radio-button-choices?
Or any other specific pattern related to the kind of data or the input-field-type?

Is this store entirely in English?
Is it entirely UTF8?

On the admin Configuration -> E-Mail Options screen:

When I click the "Email Address (Displayed to Contact you)" option line, then type an email address in the form and click Update, the option updates to show the email address I entered as the "Value" for the option.
Then I click the "Email Address (sent FROM)" option and type an address in the form and click Update, and the email I just entered shows up for the value of the option I just edited, but at the same time the previously edited option value is cleared (blank). I tried this process of changing one option then another many times and sometimes the options will update correctly without clearing the previous option and sometimes it will clear the previous option. I can't figure out a reliable pattern, but it seems to clear the previous option about half the time.

I am using only English, and I didn't change any character settings from the default install so I assume I am using UTF-8 only.

Incidentally, I tried using IE9 instead of Firefox (my preferred browser) and that didn't make any difference (in case it was an issue with browser-side scripting.)

Can I setup a user account for you with admin permissions and let you log in to my site and try it out for yourself?

Perhaps send a PM to wilt with that temporary login information.

DrByte:

Perhaps send a PM to wilt with that temporary login information.

OK, I created an admin account and sent wilt the details.