CiviCRM Community Forums (archive)

OK, I am feeling terribly thick at the moment.  I've been trying to get the cron job working on a CiviCRM 4.4.3 installation, and I'm getting nowhere. 

I hope someone can point me in the right direction.....

To simplify things, I am doing all testing on barebones installs, and trying to start the cron job using the url method.  To further simplify, I have enabled only the Update Membership Statuses scheduled job.  Job runs manually from the Settings - Scheduled Jobs screen.

Attempt #1:

Joomla! 3.2 with no addon components, modules, or plugins, just Joomla! and CiviCRM 4.4.3.
I have configured only one Administrator user on Joomla!, and am using that for all testing.

URL attempted:
http://[SITEROOT]/administrator/components/com_civicrm/civicrm/bin/cron.php?name=username&pass=password&key=site-key

username and password work perfectly for admin access to site, and site-key is confirmed to be as entered in civicrm.settings.php.

URL always returns:
ERROR: Invalid username and/or password

If I put the wrong site-key in the URL, I do receive a wrong key error.  As long as that is correct, no matter what I put in the user / password fields, I receive the same Invalid username and/or password error. 


Since so many more posts / users are operating on Drupal, I decided to try a Drupal 7 install, in hopes I might have better luck.....

Attempt #2:

Drupal 7.24 with no added modules beyond CiviCRM 4.4.3.  Again, there is only one user defined, an all access admin user.

http://[SITEROOT]/sites/all/modules/civicrm/bin/cron.php?name=username&pass=password&key=site-key 

In this case, any inaccurate entry in username, password, or site-key return the expected error.  Unfortunately, when all entries are correct, all I get is a white screen in response.  There is no report of the cron job starting in the logs.  The job just silently stops.

I figure I must be missing some crucial part of the initial setup, but I can't seem to sort it out.

Any assistance is greatly appreciated!

Cheers,
Mike

Thanks for the response, but I'm still confused...If the cron job was working correctly, wouldn't the Last Run field update in Scheduled Jobs screen?  Or is that only an indication that the job was manually run? 

I am seeing no entry in the scheduled jobs log either.

Cheers,
Mike

Good thought. 

Since Joomla! is my preferred CMS, I've switched back to my original configuration for troubleshooting, and have added a bunch of echo commands to the cron.php file.

Current environment is Joomla! 3.1.5, CiviCRM 4.4.3.

cron.php contents:
echo "Step 1";
require_once '../civicrm.config.php';
echo "Step 2";
require_once 'CRM/Core/Config.php';
echo "Step 3";
require_once 'CRM/Utils/Request.php';
echo "Step 4";
$config = CRM_Core_Config::singleton();
echo "Step 5";
CRM_Utils_System::authenticateScript(TRUE);
echo "Step 6";
....


When I run, I receive echo responses through Step 5.  CRM_Utils_System::authenticateScript(TRUE).


I then moved my attention to the Joomla.php file in CRM/Utils/System.  Placing echo statements that file shows the script running to the following point:

.....
  function authenticate($name, $password, $loadCMSBootstrap = FALSE) {
    require_once 'DB.php';

    $config = CRM_Core_Config::singleton();

    if ($loadCMSBootstrap) {
      $bootStrapParams = array();
      if ($name && $password) {
        $bootStrapParams = array(
          'name' => $name,
          'pass' => $password,
        );
      }
      CRM_Utils_System::loadBootStrap($bootStrapParams, TRUE, TRUE, FALSE);
    }

    jimport('joomla.application.component.helper');
    jimport('joomla.database.table');

echo "Jooma.php Check 1";

    $JUserTable = JTable::getInstance('User', 'JTable');

echo "Joomla.php Check 2";
.....

Script echos Step 1, but not step 2.

JTable::getInstance('User', 'JTable'); seems to be the culprit.  I don't quite understand what this is doing.  I'm only finding documentation on this Class for J!1.5 and J!2.5, nothing for J!3. 

Can y'all help me to sort out what this is doing, or not doing as the case may be?

Cheers,
Mike

Here's the info from the API for various versions of Joomla!

J! 1.5
& getInstance($type, $prefix= 'JTable', $config=array())

J! 2.5
getInstance(string $type, string $prefix = 'JTable', array $config = array()) : mixed

J! 3.x
getInstance(string $type, string $prefix = 'JTable', array $config = array()) : mixed

I don't really know what to do with this info....Any help out there?

Cheers,
Mike

No, I'm still plugging away at this.  I've figured out a few things, but am still not able get this to work.

First, while I can't tell you exactly why, the jump from Joomla! 3.1.5 to 3.2 did help.  In reading other similar posts, it appears that there may have been a problem with the Joomla! version check, resulting in the Joomla! framework not loading, which caused a failure whenever getInstance was called.  Upgrading to 3.2 or 3.2.1 resolved that problem.

The current sticking point seems to be the new password scheme in Joomla! 3.2, which now defaults to "strong passwords", which has a different hashing scheme.  Because of this, the check of the password from the URL cron entry against the database entry for the user fails.

I see where it's going wrong, but I am not code competent to a level where I can sort out the changes that need to be made to make this work.

I'm surprised there aren't more people clamoring for this, as it appears that it is impossible for anyone to run scheduled crons with any Joomla! 3 installation.

If there is anyone with the expertise to dig into the joomla.php code to deal with the new Joomla! password scheme, they would certainly receive my undying gratitude!

Cheers,
Mike