First post of older threads not showing

[DSH Ace]

The OP of non recent threads just say 'click to edit'. Here is what it looks like:

http://dynastysportshub.epizy.com/showth...?tid=13364

I can click the full edit option, change nothing and submit and bring it back but with some unknown symbols inserted like this:

http://dynastysportshub.epizy.com/showth...hp?tid=974

It seems to be affecting all threads past a certain date and just happened today.

Would obviously prefer not to manually have to fix all the important threads.

We are running 1.8.22

I have admin access but very limited knowledge of web tech and am nowhere near confident enough to update to the latest version etc.

Any help very much appreciated.

[Laird]

Maybe a similar situation with similar solution as in the older thread "Click to edit" after migrating from IPB 3.4.x to MyBB 1.8.19?

[DSH Ace]

Maybe a similar situation with similar solution as in the older thread "Click to edit" after migrating from IPB 3.4.x to MyBB 1.8.19?

This wasn't a migration issue as our forum has been up and running for over 3 years until this issue cropped up yesterday.

From the posted solution:  

4. Log in to the MySQL database and by going to the operation do change the encoding on UTF-8 (utf8_general_ci) in the tables with the prefix mybb_
5. Go to ACP MyBB and in Tools & Maintenance go to UTF-8 Conversion and select "Convert All".
6. Edit the code in the inc/config.php file and upload it via FTP

$config['database']['encoding'] = 'latin2';
on
$config['database']['encoding'] = 'utf8';

I can do step 5 but have no idea of how to do steps 4 and 6.

[Laird]

I'm not knowledgeable about database character encoding issues, so I can't guarantee that the solution in that thread is correct nor even that it won't make things worse. I don't even understand what it means by points #1-3.

I'll leave it to more knowledgeable members to advise here - I just wanted to point in the general direction of the possibility of database character encoding issues.

If you want to throw caution to the wind and just try something (please at least back up your database and files first) then maybe skip step #4 (I'm not even sure why it would be necessary) and try just steps #5 and #6.

Step #6 involves editing your live inc/config.php file. You should be able to download it via FTP or via some sort of web filesystem manager/browser provided by your host, edit it locally, and then upload it back again. If you need more help doing that, then let us know. Note that if you convert to not just UTF8 but 4-byte UTF8, then you'll need to edit the string 'utf8mb4' rather than 'utf8' into that line in the config file.

I do advise that you wait for somebody more knowledgeable to weigh in here though. Maybe step #4 is important.

[HLFadmin]

Before changing anything, what is your sql server collation?

   

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More info.

https://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/...ction.html

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The way I read it, the client-server connection and collation (if possible) is what determines the sql results. If not possible, the server falls back on its defaults. And I think the config.php statement is the main factor for all MyBB sql queries. So, if the tables match with what MyBB says, it should work because the priority is the client-server connection. The set server collation is the fallback. In my case, it matches what I'm expecting. In the case of multiple sql applications, as on a shared server, the host may set a different fallback collation.

On my server, I can set the server collation from the drop-down. On a shared server it may be different.

If you perform step 5 to convert all tables to utf8, and leave it at that, then step 6 is to edit the inc/config.php to read utf8, or
If you perform step 5 to convert all tables to utf8, and then utf8-mb4, then step 6 is to edit config.php to

$config['database']['encoding'] = 'utf8mb4';

After the conversion you should see the table collation like this.

   

Before converting tables to utf8mb4, make sure your PHP Info shows mbstring module is present.

I am not a SQL wizard. I only think I understand what I'm doing. I may be wrong.

[DSH Ace]

Thankyou both for the help.

I don't have access to the free web hosting service (epizy) but have messaged the person that set all that up (they left the site last year).

I can only access the mybb Admin control panel so assume there is no way of knowing the sql server collation from that.

Here is what I can see on the dashboard:

SQL Engine MySQLi 10.6.14

With regard to the UTF8 conversion there seems to be a problem as they are all showing the red X with convert now even after I did the conversion and it said it was a success.

[PARADOX987]

you can change the database encoding in inc/config php then after try the Tools & Maintenance settings to change the database encoding

[HLFadmin]

You're saying to reverse the order of step 5 and 6. Right?

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Actually yes.
That's the sequence outlined here.
https://docs.mybb.com/1.8/administration/utf-8-setup/

[DSH Ace]

Before changing anything, what is your sql server collation?

I have access to the server now; It's actually a paid hosting service at $90 per year via ifastnet.com.

The sql server collation is the same as the one you have pictured: utf8mb4_unicode_ci

I have downloaded the config file and here is what i'm seeing:

$config['database']['encoding'] = 'utf8';

I also found two files with the prefix mybb under mysql_db_tables

mybb_theme.xml and  mybb_theme_colors.xml

Here are the first lines of code in them:

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

+<theme version="1822" name="MyBB Master Style">

and

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>

+<colors>

Ultimately I'll have to track whether the posts I have updated continue to show and whether any new threads start to suffer the 'click to edit' problem. I am worried that the issue may become pervasive on the site.

We would have no problem paying to get the issue fixed; but obviously don't want to pay someone not to be able to fix it which is why it would be good to know what's actually going wrong.

Again; the site was fine for over 3 years until a few days ago when the exact same issue as the thread linked earlier arose. But that one was a migration and the fix listed doesn't seem to apply here as those things seem to have been done already.

Is the fact that in the mybb ACP under UTF8 conversion they are all showing the red X with "convert now" a sign that something is wrong though? I have tried twice to do the conversion (once on all, once on just a single element) and both times it said it was successful but all the 'convert now' alerts remained.

[HLFadmin]

Your config.sys says the coding is utf8, the server collation is utf8-mb4.
What is the encoding on the tables as shown in phpMyadmin , and are all the tables the same encoding?
What version MySQL. Can be seen on server stats page.