Not really, it's two methods of doing exactly the same thing. The forum uses whatever is in settings.php, not what is in the database, so once you edit the file, whether you then edit it in the ACP or the database makes no difference to how it will work, but doing it in the ACP is quicker and easier.
(2011-01-23, 09:56 PM)Austin01 Wrote: [ -> ] (2011-01-23, 09:54 PM)MattRogowski Wrote: [ -> ]That's exactly what editing in the ACP does, update the database, and editing a setting in the ACP is easier than going into phpMyAdmin to do it.
Exactly, but if the problem is persisting it would make it a whole lot quicker.
Well he can't login because of the issue. So you have to do it that way.
No, because once you've changed the setting in settings.php, you'll be able to login fine, as the forum uses the contents of settings.php, and after you've edited that, logging in will work. You don't have to do anything in the database.
Let me explain how settings work.
The forum uses whatever is in settings.php. It does not query the settings table on every page load. If you ever edit settings in settings.php, the forum will use that, but the setting will not be permanent. This is why it says in settings.php not to edit it directly, but to use the ACP. When you save settings in the ACP, it updates the database, and rebuilds settings.php, by selecting everything and rewriting the file. This is why you need to edit the setting in the ACP after editing settings.php, because if you don't, the old setting is still in the database, so next time you save any setting, the old setting that is still stored in the database will be written to settings.php again, and you'll be back where you were before; this is the only way old settings can come back. This is also why when you edit settings.php to fix a logging in issue, you are able to login again, because the correct settings are in settings.php, which is what's actually being used. You then have to change the settings in the ACP to update the database, which will update the file again, but then everything is in sync and up to date. If you really want to edit the database directly, by opening your host control panel, opening phpMyAdmin, choosing your database, browsing the users table, finding the row for the setting you're editing, opening the page to edit it, editing it and saving it, then you can, but that's far slower and harder than going to the settings page in the ACP and editing it there.
Matt's correct because once I changed the settings in the file, I was able to login on the forum.
Anyway, it's fixed. Thanks so much you guys.