SID-01041: Create New Topic does not work

Status:	Answered	TWiki version:	5.0.1	Perl version:	5.12.2
Category:	CategoryMissingFunctionality	Server OS:	Ubuntu 10.10 server	Last update:	14 years ago

After selecting "Create New Topic" in the Web drop down menu, I get the expected "Note: This topic does not exist" page. Selecting the "Create WebCreateNewTopic" link simply displays the same page again and again. Using the "Jump" box for a non-existent topic functions identically. A new topic can only be created only by placing a link to it on an existing page, and then selecting that link.

-- LarryBristol - 2010-11-29

Discussion and Answer

You seem to be missing the WebCreateNewTopic in your web. Make sure that topic exist in all your webs. It might be missing if you upgrade from an older TWiki. On the file level copy data/_default/WebCreateNewTopic.txt*. Or, using the browser, create the topic with the content of _default.WebCreateNewTopic.

Content of _default.WebCreateNewTopic:

<!--
   * Set VIEW_TEMPLATE = WebCreateNewTopic
-->

-- PeterThoeny - 2010-11-29

There was no such topic in my webs, so I created it as you suggest.

Now, when I select "Create New Topic" from the Web drop down menu, it simply displays the "WebCreateNewTopic" page.

Using the "Jump" box for a non-existent topic functions exactly as before. For example, I enter "MyNewTopic" and press ENTER. It shows the "Note: This topic does not exist" page as expected, asking if I have spelled it correctly. Below that is the "Do you wish to create the topic 'MyNewTopic'? I press the link labelled "Create 'MyNewTopic', and it simply redisplays the same page, and continues to do so no matter how many times I click the "Create ..." link.

I am completely baffled...

-- LarryBristol - 2010-11-30

Something did not go well on upgrade. Best to start with a completely new TWiki web, for example, do not mix old and new files in the TWiki web.

Make sure TWiki.WebCreateNewTopicTemplate, TWiki.WebTopicNonWikiTemplate, TWiki.WebTopicViewTemplate are of the TWiki-5.0.1 release you installed.

Make sure WebTopicNonWikiTemplate, WebTopicViewTemplate do not exist in other webs.

-- PeterThoeny - 2010-11-30

I'll go try those things, but before I do, I should point out that I did not do an upgrade. I installed everything on a new server (new hardware, new linux install, new Apache install, new TWiki, everything). After getting it configured, I then copied my Webs in their entirety from the old server to the new one. I also copied a few files (such as the user pages) from the Main web, and those few other customisations that had been wiped out.

-- LarryBristol - 2010-12-01

OK, I confirmed that the topics you mentioned in the TWiki web are those from the 5.0.1 release. I also confirmed that the other topics you mentioned do not exist in the user webs.

Just to see if it might be a mixture of old and new, I created a new web named NEW. I then selected "Create New Topic" from the menu drop down. It did exactly the same thing as reported previously - it simply displays the contents of "WebCreateNewTopic". (The URL is "http://fastpath2.bmc.com/twiki/bin/view/NEW/MyNewTopic?create=on&newtopic=MyNewTopic&template=WebCreateNewTopic&topicparent=".) I also tried entering "MyNewTopic" in the Jump box. It does the same thing as reported previously. When I hit ENTER. I get the expected "topic does not exist" page. When I press the "Create 'MyNewTopic'" link, it simply redisplays the same page.

-- LarryBristol - 2010-12-01

Peter, I think you are just as baffled at this as I am. I have one possible explanation, but it is so far out of my area of expertise that I do not even know how to proceed. Is it possible that this is the result of some sort of problem involving the perl environment? The reason I suggest this is that I think something went wrong in that regard during installation.

Like I mentioned somewhere, this is a completely new server, using Ubuntu 10.10 (server). The installation included perl 5.10.1. The configure script shows the following:

Perl version: 5.010001 (linux)

@INC library path:
/srv/www/twiki/lib
.
/etc/perl
/usr/local/lib/perl/5.10.1
/usr/local/share/perl/5.10.1
/usr/lib/perl5
/usr/share/perl5
/usr/lib/perl/5.10
/usr/share/perl/5.10
/usr/local/lib/site_perl
/srv/www/twiki/lib/CPAN/lib//arch
/srv/www/twiki/lib/CPAN/lib//5.10.1/i686-linux-gnu-thread-multi
/srv/www/twiki/lib/CPAN/lib//5.10.1

Early on, I used CPAN to install/upgrade additional perl packages. During this process, I think is was when I installed File::Copy, it seems that CPAN insisted that I upgrade to perl 5.12.2. And indeed, my system contains various directories for that level. But as you can see, TWiki does not seem to be aware of that.

I have sense learned that CPAN is probably not the correct way to install/upgrade perl modules. The recommended way is to use "apt-get" to get the perl modules using the Ubuntu package manager.

I am concerned that I have a corrupted perl environment, and that this might be the cause of both this problem and the problem where CommentPlugin cannot find any templates at all!

Unfortunately, if this is the case, I have no idea as to what I need to do to correct it! So my questions are:

• Do you think this might be the problem?
• If so, what would you recommend? I am definitely do not have the expertise to know what to do.

I now doubt that the perl situation has anything to do with this at all. For one thing, the only place where perl 5.12.2 seems to be installed is when I log into my own personal shell account. I was working in that account (using sudo) when the perl upgrade occured. So it seem Apache and TWiki know nothing about 5.12.2 at all. I went back to the Ubuntu package manager and installed/upgraded all of the packages needed. I am confident that these went into the 5.10.1 libraries. Nothing (including a complete reinstall of TWiki) has made any difference in this regard.

-- LarryBristol - 2010-12-06

Closing this question after more than 30 days of inactivity. Feel free to reopen if needed. Consider engaging one of the TWiki consultants if you need timely help. We invite you to get involved with the community, it is more likely you get community support if you support the open source project!

-- PeterThoeny - 2011-02-21

I had the same problem and solved it by using the WYSIWYG editor to paste the

<!--
   * Set VIEW_TEMPLATE = WebCreateNewTopic
-->

into the file. Everything works fine now. Using the HTML editor just displayed the above text.

-- SamGold - 2011-06-07

Thanks Sam for sharing. Shouldn't that be reversed? You need to paste that in raw edit.

-- PeterThoeny - 2011-06-07

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