After quite a bit of research I finally found the solution to the following problem challenge:
For some reason I am running a Joomla! 1.5 site in an intranet where internet access is only possible through a proxy server (despite the fact that I normally avoid Joomla! – I am using a different CMS for websites, not even WordPress). Out of the box, this is apparently not at all foreseen in the Joomla! configuration options – there is no option whatsoever for a proxy connection.
As a result, I always get ugly error messages in the admin backend: „Unable to retrieve feed data“. Already tried to disable all available feeds without success.
A pretty good description of the problem is posted here.
Solution:
- Make sure cUrl extension is installed and active, easiest way is by running
phpinfo()
on your web server.
Dunno how? Well, simply use your favourite text editor to create a new file with the following code:
[codesyntax lang=“php“]<?php phpinfo(); ?>
[/codesyntax]
- Save as e.g. phpinfo.php and upload to your webspace; open with your browser and search for cUrl.
- If cUrl is not active, enable it in your php.ini; if cUrl is not installed get in touch with your server admin or look for another solution – I have cUrl up and running.
- find simplepie.php in your Joomla! directory, it should be in libraries/simplepie
- open simplepie.phpwith your favourite text editor and search for curl_set. In my Joomla! version 1.5.22 I got the first hit in line 7677:[codesyntax lang=“php“ lines_start=“675″]
if (version_compare(SimplePie_Misc::get_curl_version(), '7.10.5', '>=')) { curl_setopt($fp, CURLOPT_ENCODING, ''); } curl_setopt($fp, CURLOPT_URL, $url); curl_setopt($fp, CURLOPT_HEADER, 1);
[/codesyntax]
- add a single line of code after the closing } bracket:[codesyntax lang=“php“]
curl_setopt($fp, CURLOPT_PROXY, 'myproxyaddress:port');
[/codesyntax]myproxyaddress doesn’t require a http:// prefix and could be either name (my.proxy.com) or IP address (12.34.56.78); port is optional. For more details on cUrl proxy parameters ask you favourite search engine.
- save the file in it’s original location and off you go, no more errors regarding the external feeds.
BTW: My favourite text editor is Notepad++ (click on the logo below to read more)….
Hello, thanks a lot for the information. it is still necessary to do the same for Joomla 1.7.1.
Best regards
Holger
I must admit I have no clue – why don’t you just give it a try and report back?