I want to post this email from one of our customers, it seems important because he solved the problem that sometimes with Firefox the ostube script just shows a black block instead of a video block on home page:<\/p>\n
Chris I’ve fixed this issue!<\/p>\n
The following is a little long winded, as I was taking notes as I was
\ntesting things. At least it’s detailed. \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n
Being as my “no startpage video” problem apparently isn’t to do with
\nthe server, isn’t to do with templates and I can’t think of where else in the site to look, I
\nlooked into what the cookies are doing. Note, this is ALL in the firefox browser, v3.0.
\nWhen I load the main page, http:\/\/www.climbclips.com\/index.php , I get no video.<\/p>\n
I opened the cookie data with tools\/edit cookies in firefox. There are
\n5 entries. The first 4 are name things like __utmb, __utmc etc.. I didn’t find these interesting.
\nMainly because I have no idea what they do, and they didn’t appear to change. What I did find
\ninteresting was the cookie\/s called PHPSESSID. The stuff below explains their behavior.<\/p>\n
For the index page, on a fresh load which contains the video problem,
\nthere is one PHPSESSID cookie, shown here:<\/p>\n
SITE: www.climbclips.com
\nCOOKIE NAME: PHPSESSID
\nCONTENT: a7776bb99e33bdceece8e0c2245cbba9
\nHOST: www.climbclips.com
\nPATH: \/
\nSEND FOR: Any type of connection
\nExpires: at end of session<\/p>\n
browse to another page, such as a video page (<\/p>\n
http:\/\/climbclips.com\/mediadetails.php?key=ec0cc59c8c7af133c215&title=Tahoe+Time)<\/p>\n
In addition to the cookie above, which appears unchanged, there is a new cookie:<\/p>\n
SITE: climbclips.com
\nCOOKIE NAME: PHPSESSID
\nCONTENT: c0c13326fe81f2e2d84eb44da4fc8ae2
\nHOST: climbclips.com
\nPATH: \/
\nSEND FOR: Any type of connection
\nExpires: at end of session<\/p>\n
Almost the same as the first cookie, except for the “SITE” is
\nclimbclips.com (without the www.), as well as the “host” is climbclips.com (without the www.)
\nThe “content” string is different as well.<\/p>\n
Now, I navigate back to the main page, index.php
\nThe video plays correctly. No new cookie entry’s are added or changed.<\/p>\n
I delete the PHPSESSID cookie with “site”: climbclips.com<\/p>\n
Reload the page.<\/p>\n
The video plays correct. Check the cookie, the deleted cookie has
\nre-appeared. (The same but with a new “content” string)<\/p>\n
Ok. I delete ALL the cookies and refresh the page.<\/p>\n
The video plays correct. The PHPSESSID cookie with the “site” and
\n“host”: climbclips.com has re-appeared. The PHPSESSID cookie with the “site” and “host”
\nwww.climbclips.com has NOT re-appeared.<\/p>\n
Now. I close the browser window. Open a new window at google. Clear
\nall the cookies for climbclips.com, load www.climbclips.com, no video.<\/p>\n
Check the cookies, there is only one PHPSESSID cookie. It’s the
\noriginal one with the “site” of www.climbclips.com and “host” of www.climbclips.com. (The key here is
\nthe addition of the “www”)<\/p>\n
Ok, so now I go to other OsTube installations that work to see what
\ntheir cookies are up to.<\/p>\n
Here’s one which is on the same server:
\nhttp:\/\/allspeedway.tv\/<\/p>\n
The video works. (it works everywhere but my site)<\/p>\n
There is only one PHPSESSID cookie for the main page. The “site” name
\nand “host” read as “allspeeday.tv” No www. (Though, the site URL itself did not contain a
\n“www” prefix, the URL was<\/p>\n
just, http:\/\/allspeedway.tv\/
\nSo I add a www to the url making it http:\/\/www.allspeedway.tv\/
\nLoad the page and NO VIDEO!
\nCheck the cookies and there is a new PHPSESSID, this time with “site”
\nand “host” reading as<\/p>\n
www.allspeedway.tv<\/p>\n
Same behavior as my site.<\/p>\n
Ok, so I go back over to my site and take out the www, loading
\nhttp:\/\/climbclips.com\/
\nIt works and video loads on the front page.<\/p>\n
So I don’t fully understand the meaning of the WWW url prefix, why
\nit’s used or not used etc.. But I clearly see a connection between it, PHPSESSID cookies and the video loading in firefox.<\/p>\n
On a whim, I decided to check the Admin settings for OSTube. I log in
\nto the admin panel, go to<\/p>\n
Configuration and sure enough “URL of your site: http:\/\/climbclips.com”
\nI add a www to make it http:\/\/www.climbclips.com.<\/p>\n
Clear the cookies, open a new browser, FIXED! The video loads.
\nWhat an insane way to figure this out. The problem was, the
\nirregularity of the issue across different pages and browsers made it very hard to troubleshoot.
\nAt least from my perspective.<\/p>\n
So, that’s it. Double check the “Url of your site” line in the ADMIN.
\nI didn’t think to check that, as you guys set that up…right? Anyway,
\nwater under the bridge.
\nThanks for all your help and now we both know.<\/p>\n
-Tobias<\/p>\n