Can php pages just break

CodeMama

I have a major problem, maybe my pages got sabotaged even. I walked out of work one day with a full php app working came back two days later and its not working, if you hit for example "view order" it just goes to a blank page or logs you out, I have spent a week trying to find the problem with no luck at all, I don't understand what happened over last weekend, and this work order system is thousands upon thousands of lines of code, which WORKED perfectly as of Nov 13 but by the 17th it was hosed...any ideas how this can happen..code is code right it doesn't change unless its been tampered with and now I'm searching for a needle in the haystack here and my job could be on the line YIKES....help please, the pages are big but I would be happy to email the code to someone that could help, I have gone in the db and checked for not null fields even set them all to be ok with null still nothing....

php_dev

I have seen that happen before during my contracts as well! It can be a few different things. First check any aspects of the program that are database driven-- if you coded something and the data has changed, maybe that is what was mistaking your code. Also, check to ensure that when you move between pages, your code is transfering the proper values to variables. I think that is a good start to troubleshooting, and I wish you luck finding the problem!

Hope it helps!

CodeMama

Well I went in the db and set all fields that were set to not null, to null to see if that would change anything as far as getting the pages to load, it didn't
I'm lost and going to lose my dang job over this...

katsurace

r u sure that u haven't made any changes in server configuration?? sometime change in server configuration can create such kinda error

laserlight

CodeMama wrote:
this work order system is thousands upon thousands of lines of code, which WORKED perfectly as of Nov 13 but by the 17th it was hosed

Inspect all changes to the code from November 13 to November 17. If there are no changes, then check the server configuration (which would be harder, since configuration files like php.ini are not necessarily kept under version control, so you may have to cross reference with the defaults for any unusual configuration settings).

If none of these are suspect, then check the database as php_dev suggested. Perhaps some critical data there was tampered with due to some SQL injection vulnerability in the code. If you suspect this, checking server logs may also help.

CodeMama wrote:
Well I went in the db and set all fields that were set to not null, to null to see if that would change anything as far as getting the pages to load, it didn't

What did you hope to achieve by doing that? Changing the previously working database schema randomly is not a good idea when you are trying to fix something.

CodeMama

Not that I'm aware of, I don't know too much about server configs, only how to keep my local copy of xampp set up, any idea what kind of change I should be asking about when I call the host up?

laserlight

CodeMama wrote:
Not that I'm aware of, I don't know too much about server configs, only how to keep my local copy of xampp set up, any idea what kind of change I should be asking about when I call the host up?

Ah, if you are relying on a hosting provider instead of administrating the server in-house, then check if that hosting provider changed any server settings since 13 November. By right, they should not be making such changes without prior notice, but you never know.

php_dev

Checking the server is definetly important-- but if that does not yield anything, also recheck your code, and ensure that there are no 'exit;' or die calls that are being called. I know it sounds ridiculous but sometimes if something has changed, if statements begin to execute differently and maybe something is stopping the code.

As well, if you do includes and requires into the code, ensure that all of those files are present and there are no problems. Last but not least, ensure that your error reporting is on, so that you can find out what the problem is if it's in the syntax.

2005

Some time ago I had very similar problem. My script with "thousands of lines" stopped to work" for no reason. It showed just a blank page. Then I created a new file and moved some functions to the new file. This solved the problem. My script file was very large - about 250 KB. I don't know the reason why my script stopped to work, but splitting that large file into 2 files solved the problem.

CodeMama;10893855 wrote:
...and this work order system is thousands upon thousands of lines of code, which WORKED perfectly ...

steamPunk

have they upgraded the php version ?

I had a thing stop working once and it just showed blank pages - I discovered that the version of Wordpress i had installed in part of the site was an open door to hackers who'd managed to insert some javascript at the foot of every page