Question When using firebug to look at code, how can you tell which php file the code is located in?

Kunenan 1.5.11.

For an example, the image reference below is apparently keeping the search box on the categories page from aligning all the way to the right, so I'd like to delete it (if I can without deleting the other expand/collapse buttons). How can I tell which file it's located in?

<img alt=""src=" azmatters.com/components/com_kunena/temp...s/english/shrink.gif " class="hideshow" id="BoxSwitch_topprofilebox__topprofilebox_tbody">

Hopefully the question makes sense. Thanks in advance.

EDIT: Ok now I see there's an expand/collapse button actually there that's invisible presumably b/c of the color. I still want to get rid of it if I can, but either way I'd still like help with the general issue of finding files.

If you could find out what server side code was used (with a tool as widely available as Firebug for Firefox) that's the end of the security ball-game! The fact is that what you see, as a user with your browser, is the HTML code generated behind-the-scenes at the website. Let me put it another way: when you issue a GET request to the webserver, the PHP interpreter, running at the website, generates the response as HTML. As far as the user is concerned, it's just HTML. How it's done is a mystery (as long as the browser can interpret it) ... and it should be a mystery.

How would you like it if the database tables, their locations and passwords were suddenly available for everyone to see? Well, of course, that's why we use PHP (or some other CGI tool). Firebug can't see it.

I'm just looking for the name of the file that contains the code...not the text of the file. Is that possible (with FB or another tool)? I'm not experienced enough (probably obviously) to be able to figure it out and hence am otherwise left to just search every file, which is quite tedious. Thx.

As I tried to explain (and obviously didn't succeed) in my last message, Joomla websites are constructed in PHP which is used as a server-side scripting language. Firebug, on the other hand, merely exposes the objects detected by the client (i.e. Firefox). If this sounds confusing, don't worry.

Think about it in these terms: when you buy milk at the shop what do you get? You get milk. But, even though you can analyse the milk to determine the percentage of fat, water, lactose and whatever else goes into making the milk, you can't find out the details of which cow in the world was responsible for producing the raw ingredients, can you?

The same thing applies with server side scripting. At the client/browser end, you can't tell what, specifically, was responsible for producing the raw HTML that was transmitted to you via the internet. The only way you can do that is to examine what is going on at the server. Firebug can't do that.

As for finding the name of the file that contains a certain piece of text, if you don't know which file it's in then, I'm sorry, you'll have to search all of them (or at least, start by knowing where to search). If the text is generated by Kunena, there's a good chance that it will be in the ../components/com_kunena folder (or one of its subfolders) somewhere (unless someone else knows where what-you're-looking-for is). What were you looking for again? :S

Gotcha, thx for your patience.

I'm trying to remove the expand/remove button just to the right of the search box on the categories page in default_ex (provided it can be easily done w/out deleting all the other expand/remove buttons). The html for the button reference per FB is in the OP. It's not a big deal...I mostly asked b/c it involved the more general question about php files which had come up in a few other instances. Thx for that answer, even though I don't like what it is.

Before we start dealing with ways to prevent you from being able to upgrade Kunena in the future, because you want to customise your site (please read what I wrote yesterday in Notice: Trying to get property of non-object in /components/com_kunena/template/default/view.php on ), what is the specific problem with this "button"? I mean, why not take a lateral look at the problem.

You have decided, for some reason , that this object doesn't is (apparently) "keeping the search box on the categories page from aligning all the way to the right" So, let me ask you a simple question: look at this page: is there something wrong with the way this page is laid out? If you can answer that question, then maybe we need to look at ways to redesign Kunena?

I still don't know the technical answer to your problem. I mean, it could take me a couple of hours to find every place where the shrink.gif is referenced and to isolate which parts of those files you should change and which parts you should not change. But, are we only talking conserving the 10 lousy pixels of space? :dry:

Thx for the reference to the other post. I've already been faced with your point when upgrading from 1.5.9 to 1.5.11....and I agree.

I'm not going to worry about the button any longer. The reason I wanted to move the search box over in the first place is that the expand/collapse button is invisible on my page due to its color, and hence I thought it was just blank space there between the search box and the border (such as due to padding). I probably wouldn't have cared even then except that I right-justified the advanced search link in the profile box under the search box and hence it'd be just a bit cleaner if they were aligned with one another. Again, not a big deal...and certainly no need to spend any time investigating.

Perhaps, though, that could be something to consider for future versions if it's not been addressed already. FWIW from a newb, it seems to me the other links in the profile box would be better as just additional tabs above (Announcements of course is already in both places).

Thx.

This has been a really interesting discussion. The further we have delved into the matter, the easier it has become to see what's at the heart of the matter. So, all of this discussion that went off into server-side scripting, and why Firebug is useless in this regard, simply boils down to the fact that you have an image that's camouflaged against the background colour of your website.

Well, easy problem: change the image! Use a contrast colour for the image.

No, that was just an example to illustrate my question about trying to find the php files.

Hi Inphx,

I run into this problem sometimes because I have to find where particular code is "hidden" also. This is how I do it:

1) Use firebug and highlight the element you want to find the code to.
2) look in the HTML for a class or ID.
3) Use windows search or some other tool to search all files in that folder for that class or ID - you should find the accompanied PHP in whichever files that show.

Alternatively if you just don't want it to display you would just use firebug to find the css element and add a "display:none;" to it, assuming no other element shares the same class or ID.