Kunena 6.2.5 & module Kunena Latest 6.0.7 released

The Kunena team has announce the arrival of Kunena 6.2.5 [K 6.2.5] which is now available for download as a native Joomla extension for J! 4.3.x/4.4.x/5.0.x. This version addresses most of the issues that were discovered in K 6.1 / K 6.2 and issues discovered during the last development stages of K 6.2

Topics that are moved into this category are generally considered to be closed. Users may want to add additional information but these topics should not be resurrected in order to discuss new problems or unrelated matters.

Question [SOLVED] Another menu item has the same alias in Root

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12 years 10 months ago #1 by stella
I've just installed joomla 1.6. downloaded the latest kunena forum installcom_kunena_v1.6.4_b4832_2011-05-07

my installation went horribly wrong right from the beginning. told me that there was something with the same name already existing at the root (or something to that effect). i had a menu item called "forum" that i forgot to delete so i assumed this was the problem. i deleted it and attempted to install again. this time more problems saying that there was no previous software found that that it recommended i install 1.6 (a green button) i installed it. looked ok until later on then failed again.

i've looked in the modules manager and kunena doesn't exists, in the components manager menu it all appears to be there except when you click on any of the components i get "error 404 component not found". is there a way to get the components, lang files etc and upload them manually via ftp ?

in the plugins manager i found one item "System - Kunena Forum"

when you go to the main menu item, kunena menu has been installed.

in an attempt to start again i uninstalled it accidentally before i read that you shouldn't uninstall it. i really want this forum installed is there anyone that can give me some advice of what i should do now or where i can get help fixing what is now a terrible installation that looks to be half installed. HELP.
The following user(s) said Thank You: stellabella

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12 years 10 months ago #2 by sozzled
Replied by sozzled on topic Re: Installation problem
G'day, stella, and welcome to Kunena.

Well, J! 1.6 hasn't been the best piece of news we've seen in a while, but let's hope that we can help you with installing K 1.6.4.

There is a guide (with a video presentation to help) in K 1.6 Installation Guide . There's a small post-implementation "trick" that perhaps needs to be added to that guide (that was prepared for K 1.6.3) which is peculiar to new installations of K 1.6.4 where it hasn't been installed before.

So, the question is, have you installed Kunena before your failed attempt to install Kunena?

There are a few other questions I could ask, too. What specific version of Joomla are you using? Did you have something else installed that was named "Forum" and is that what has caused the problems?

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12 years 10 months ago #3 by stella
Replied by stella on topic Re: Installation problem
hi there sozzled. thanx for the quick reply.

answer to your questions;

no i hadn't installed kunena before this failed attempt.

Joomla 1.6.3 Stable is my joomla version.

there was initially a menu item called "forum" but it was empty, the article was empty. i was just left over from the design process. i fear this was the original problem that snowballed into my problem now.

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12 years 10 months ago #4 by sozzled
Replied by sozzled on topic Re: Installation problem
See my PM.

As this is a new installation, the problem might be cured quickest by uninstalling Kunena and then re-installing it again (use the video guide) although it might also be possible to salvage something from the situation you seem to have got yourself into.

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12 years 10 months ago - 12 years 10 months ago #5 by sozzled
The problem is solved. The underlying cause of the problem, in this case, was corruption of the J! 1.6 database tables. The Kunena 1.6 installer failed to create a menu item (the last phase of the intaller procedure) with the error message:

Another menu item has the same alias in Root. Root is the top level parent

The reason that it took so long to fix the problem was largely due to my own lack of familiarity with the new J! 1.6 structure.

There are a few lessons, from this particular case, that may benefit others but, in order to understand what happened it's necessary for people to think about how they go about creating a website before they even get involved in the mechanics of Joomla, Kunena, or the tools that these things employ. When people build a website, it is of critical importance to ask themselves (or their clients, if they are build a site for someone else)

What is the most important outcome that you are looking for as a result of putting a site on the internet?

A lot of that is discussed in Which came first? The template or the forum? I think this should be mandatory reading before people start looking at Joomla (or Kunena for that matter) before they do anything else.

In my line of "work", when I build a website - and I have lost count of the number of sites that I have built - I adopt the KISS principle . I will summarise this strategy in the following way. Assuming that I want Kunena to be an essential ingredient in the site that I'm about to build, Kunena is the third thing that I do. It's not the first, nor the second ... and it's definitely not the last thing I do. The steps to building a trouble-free, fully-functioning website (with Kunena) are as follows:

(1) Install Joomla (it doesn't matter if you choose J! 1.5 or J! 1.6) - using the latest stable version and make sure that you configure SEO when you do this. Do not worry about the site template at this stage. That's something you can add later.

(2) Install a backup extension - I prefer to use Akeeba Backup - so that if you make a mess of anything later on, then you have a way to restore things to a known, working version.

(3) Install K 1.6.4 - the latest version. Use the method described in K 1.6 Installation Guide . Make sure that Kunena works. Test it and make sure that this works; you can always change things later.

(4) Backup your site.

If people adopt this simple strategy, 99% of the time they will not have installation problems; they will not have support problems and they can then read, in their own time, the articles in the Wiki that show them how to add new categories, tailor their menus and customise Kunena so that it meets their own requirements. After that, people can add other things, like a site template or other Joomla extensions.

Stella did not do anything wrong. Kunena did not do anything wrong, either. The underlying cause of the problem was in J! 1.6 itself.

In discussions with other members of the Kunena project team, I have discovered that some times other Joomla extensions do not behave "nicely" or that other extension developers have overlooked a few essential things that are necessary to keep J! 1.6 behaving well. J! 1.6 is not very forgiving to Joomla extension developers. We have found that J! 1.6 assumes that extension developers have done their job perfectly and, if they haven't, problems can happen. The good news is that the people who have developed K 1.6.4 have done their homework and have paid attention to the way that this extension installs. We're not accusing other developers and we're not blaming users who were blissfully unaware of the existing difficulties that lie in J! 1.6. I am, however, saying that none of us can make any assumptions without first testing things out to our own satisfaction and, then, implementing a solution that works.

I won't go into details about what we did to fix the database corruption. It's complicated and involved some very powerful tools to manipulate things. As fxstein wrote, in his topic How To Destroy your forum data... this is not something for novices. These things are best left to experts or only to be used as a last resort when no other choices are available.

In conclusion I owe a sincere debt of gratitude to Stella for her patience, willingness to learn, her faith in my ability and for her good humour. I gained much knowledge about Joomla from this experience (as I have also learned much in other cases when people fear that their Joomla/Kunena world has gone pear-shaped). Joomla is not just a case of "three-mouseclicks-and-I've-built-a-website" ... sometimes you need a lot of patience and perseverance and sometimes you just need bit of reassurance ... but there's an immense sense of satisfaction when you've finally figured it all out.
Last edit: 12 years 10 months ago by sozzled.
The following user(s) said Thank You: stellabella

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12 years 10 months ago #6 by stellabella
Thank you so much for all your help and support. could not have survived this without you.
i've set up my forum and it is working very well. i love it.

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12 years 10 months ago #7 by stellabella
I'd just like to add how much a appreciated your help and support throughout the installation. I love my kunena forum. :cheer:

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12 years 10 months ago #8 by sozzled
Thank you. I'm pleased we were able to help.

I see that you have still not enabled SEO on your site. If you would like assistance in this area, please give me a call.

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12 years 9 months ago #9 by DLCNormal
I am having a problem installing Kunena on a freash install of Joomla 1.6 (not an upgrade). I get the following message:
FAILED Uncaught Exception: Another menu item has the same alias in Root. Root is the top level parent

I have tried several of the suggestions in forum including reviewing the technical requirements (everything seems fine) and deleting menu items with similar aliases. It still doesn't work.

I was able to install Kunena on same hosting service but using Joomla 1.5 and it worked fine. However it doesn't seem to want to install on 1.6, even with a fresh install.

Any suggestions?

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12 years 9 months ago - 12 years 9 months ago #10 by sozzled
G'day, DLCNormal, and welcome to Kunena.

I fixed a problem like this a little while ago - see [SOLVED] Installation problem (although I did not give the exact details of what the problem was or specifically what we did to fix it because it's "tricky") but, if you're interested I might be able to help you.
Last edit: 12 years 9 months ago by sozzled.

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