Wordpress help

Question

I need some help!  I have a website that is Wordpress that is running my design (https://nmfe.webhosting.cals.wisc.edu/) and now it cannot update the file. My college's IT person has tried everything. His email is below but cannot get anything to work.  Below is his response:

Mark Millard resolved incident #1921 Resolution: Not Solved Waiting on the third-party developer to fix their bugs. The following change was made: <!--[if !supportLists]-->·        <!--[endif]-->State changed from assigned to resolved VIEW DETAILS

Was going back through email, and I didn’t see this initially as it wasn’t attached to your original support ticket.

Unfortunately, this is a common response from third-party plugin developers, although it is sometimes true, it results in taking some of the support load off of them because they can just blame another plugin.

That said, I did at least try. I created a fresh new local test wordpress environment on my computer with only that one in5 plugin installed and activated. I also even tried with three different default wordpress themes (2014, 2019, 2021). Anyway, unfortunately I got the same error each time I tried to upload your NFME file. I also looked again at the plugins page, but that developer has not pushed any plugin updates for 5 months, so at this time there is no new plugin update we can try.

You could try going back to them and letting them know that tested was they suggested and still got the error.

Answer 1

I'm sorry that you're having trouble uploading your content to WordPress. Thank you for sending a screenshot of the error message. That error usually indicates that there's a third-party editor, plugin, or theme that is interfering with the in5 WordPress plugin.

You could try the following:

• Use the workaround for uploading content if you use Elementor, Divi Builder or other 3rd-party editors: Is the in5 embed plugin compatible with WordPress editor plugins (e.g., Elementor)?
• Disable other plugins and reupload your content.
• Use a different theme and reupload your content.

If you're still having trouble after trying the above, would you be able to send us a screenshot of the readout from your Console? Here's how you can access the Console in Chrome:

• Right-click
• Select Inspect
• Click on the Console tab

You're welcome to post it here or you can send it to us here:

• https://ajarproductions.com/pages/contact.php?category=in5

Comments

Thanks Myra!  I just got this email back from the IT group:

Hi Mimi,

I mention that I used the wordpress themes developed by wordpress because they also suggested that some themes can cause issues as well, so I wanted to remove our CALS theme as a possible culprit as to why their plugin was not working—thus even using it with different themes it still causes the error.

 

Your question actually prompted a new line of inquiry for me on “what has changed”. Back in November 2022 we completed (along with DoIT) a major upgrade to PHP version 8, which is the underlying language that WordPress runs on. This was a necessary upgrade for performance and security. 

During our pre-upgrade testing we had a number of third-party plugins that caused critical site errors that needed to be fixed by their developers.  Fortunately most developers were aware of this major update to PHP 8, and they updated their plugins if they had issues with PHP 8 errors, some plugins that were abandoned did not, and the plugins had to be removed from our system.  Anyway, This got me thinking that perhaps the in5 plugin was actually incompatible with PHP 8, but just not throwing a typically site critical error.

On my local test wordpress I have the ability to roll back the version of PHP to version 7.x, and my hunch was confirmed.  The plugin worked and uploaded the file when I rolled back the PHP version.  So I can fairly certainly confirm that the plugin is likely having an issue with PHP version 8.  The reason we didn’t notice at first is the way it is throwing the critical error. Typically the plugin will not even activate or run, and will completely bring down a site.  But this one was only causing a critical error on upload.

 

Anyway, I’m fairly confident that is what is causing the issue, having tested it several times toggling PHP version back and forth.  To get this fixed, I would alert the plugin developer that it appears there plugin upload is not working on PHP 8 and hopefully they will push a fix that we can then update on our wordpress platform.

Best,
~Mark

 

 

Mark Millard

Web Services Developer

CALS IT, College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS)

mark.millard@wisc.edu

(he/him)

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Thank you for the update. I checked with Justin, and that could be the issue. He said that he hasn't tested it on PHP8 yet.

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Thanks Myra!  Hopefully, Justin can get this tested and maybe have a new version of the plug-in available soon.  For now, I am stuck in the version of the file I have uploaded.  Our entire campus IT at University of Wisconsin-Madison upgraded to PHP8 so at the college level, we have no control over these issues.  It is obvious now that when they did the conversion, although the plug-in didn't throw an error at the time, it is not compatible with the current system the UW is running. Can you make sure that I get notified when something becomes available?  Thanks, Mimi

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Hi Mimi, I've made a note to notify you with updates regarding the in5 WordPress plugin.

In the meantime, you may want to use the old way of embedding your in5-exported content into WordPress that doesn't require using the in5 WordPress Plugin (from https://ajarproductions.com/blog/2017/04/10/instant-publishing-from-indesign-and-in5-with-wordpress-plugin/):

The Old Way

Before this new plugin, the process to include in5 (or any) HTML content on your WordPress posts would involve the following steps.

1. Upload the HTML to a web server and copy the address.
2. In the WordPress post editor, switch to Text (code) view.
3. Insert manually created <iframe> code that points to the address of the file posted via FTP.
4. Look up the height and width of your document and adjust the <iframe> code as needed, adding manual CSS styling.

This isn’t terrible, but it does involve 1) using an FTP client, and 2) writing some HTML.

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Hello Ajar team, it seems that the issue above is not yet solved, as I see exactly the same error message when trying to embed a webapp to Wordpress.

All the steps shown above to go around the issue work, but do not solve my problem, as I need to add the webapp inside a page or post in Wordpress, so I can then restrict its access only to people who will buy it.

If I just add the webapp to the server on a different path and prepare a post using <iframe>, when someone buys my product and install the webapp, the url remains fully visible and accessible, and can be distributed easily to anyone without buying the product.

As I cannot turn back indefinitely to PHP 7.x to solve the problem, could you please let me know if this will be done someday? Or if it is not in your plans, I need to find another way to protect my products.

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Thank you for following up on your message. I will do my best to try and answer your questions:

The in5 WordPress plugin is a tool that makes it easy to upload and display your in5-exported HTML content inside WordPress without needing FTP or coding skills. The plugin handles the following for you: it uploads (automates the ftp process) your exported ZIP file from in5, unpacks the content into WordPress, and automatically embeds it in your post or page using an iframe. 

An in5-generated web app is a complete, standalone, self-contained digital experience of an app that simulates a full-screen browser experience without the browser header and buttons, but created with InDesign. It's meant to be opened directly in a browser or uploaded to a server and shared via a link, not embedded in an iframe. Embedding a web app in an iframe doesn't make sense for several reasons: it limits the user experience by constraining size, blocking scrolling, or preventing features like fullscreen mode from working properly; it breaks web app behavior since web apps need full browser capabilities like history, deep links, and responsive layout, while iframes isolate content like putting an app inside a locked box; and it doesn't actually prevent sharing since anyone can view source or inspect the iframe to grab the link to the standalone app anyway. Here is more information on in5-generated web apps.

The in5 WordPress plugin and the in5-generated web app do not rely on PHP logic. The plugin is simply a convenience tool that unpacks your in5 ZIP export and embeds it in a WordPress post or page using an iframe. It does not generate or execute PHP code to display the content. Similarly, the in5 export itself is a fully self-contained HTML5 package that includes HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and media files. This package runs entirely in the browser and functions independently of any server-side language, including PHP. Whether your server is running PHP 7, PHP 8, or no PHP at all, the in5 content will behave exactly the same. 

It sounds like you are looking for a way to control access to your in5-generated content based on user purchases or membership. This type of functionality is typically handled by an eCommerce platform or membership system, rather than by in5 itself. While in5 creates the interactive content, managing who can view or download that content requires a system that can authenticate users, handle transactions, and protect file access. WordPress offers many plugins for this purpose, including tools for digital product sales, gated content, and secure file delivery. Integrating your in5 content with one of these systems can help you achieve the secure, purchase-based access model you are looking for. Here is an Ajar Academy course we have on creating a membership site with in5.

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Thank you for your very complete answer. I understand now that a webapp inside iframe will not work properly, and at the end would not make sense.

Of course I know as well that any product sales or commercial transactions will not be handled by in5 or indesign, I have many eCommerce options in Wordpress to do that.

But... 

one other option I could have, is to just add all my indesign content as a web page (not webapp) through in5 Embed plugin for Wordpress, and then restrict its access through membership plugins or any other option.

And still I have same issue, after exporting the content as web page using in5 plugin for inDesign, zipping all content, still the in5 Embed plugin for Wordpress does not work.

All this was done on a completely new Wordpress installation, without any other external plugins, and without any active themes.

According to Wordpress stats there are really not many people trying to use this plugin (300+), and although there are some other complains here about its bad functioning, I understand that solving the issue may not be a priority.

But, at the end, if you are able to solve it, you would make a few extra clients very happy to pay your fees for extra features (me included).

The way it is now, it really does not make sense.

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I'm sorry you're still having trouble with the in5 Wordpress Embed plugin. We test the plugin regularly on our WordPress site. There could be something specific about your setup that we will try and figure out.
Please send us the zip file you are trying to upload, a quick rundown of the steps in your process so we can try replicating the problem, a screenshot of the error message you receive, and the version of the plugin you are using.
You can send these through our contact form here: https://ajarproductions.com/pages/contact.php?category=in5 

Once we receive your files, we will test in our environment to try and reproduce the issue and work on troubleshooting the problem, and next steps. We appreciate your patience and thank you for following-up on this.

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Thank you, I just did send you the information through the contact form