Troubleshooting

Smarty Manual
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# Chapter 17. Troubleshooting

# Smarty/PHP errors

Smarty can catch many errors such as missing tag attributes or malformed variable names. If this happens, you will see an error similar to the following:

Example 17-1. Smarty errors
    Warning: Smarty: [in index.tpl line 4]: syntax error: unknown tag - '%blah'
           in /path/to/smarty/Smarty.class.php on line 1041

    Fatal error: Smarty: [in index.tpl line 28]: syntax error: missing section name
           in /path/to/smarty/Smarty.class.php on line 1041

Smarty shows you the template name, the line number and the error. After that, the error consists of the actual line number in the Smarty class that the error occured.

There are certain errors that Smarty cannot catch, such as missing close tags. These types of errors usually end up in PHP compile-time parsing errors.

Example 17-2. PHP parsing errors
    Parse error: parse error in /path/to/smarty/templates_c/index.tpl.php on line 75

When you encounter a PHP parsing error, the error line number will correspond to the compiled PHP script, NOT the template itself. Usually you can look at the template and spot the syntax error. Here are some common things to look for: missing close tags for `{if}{/if}` or `{section}{/section}` , or syntax of logic within an `{if}` tag. If you can't find the error, you might have to open the compiled PHP file and go to the line number to figure out where the corresponding error is in the template.

Example 17-3. Other common errors
    Warning: Smarty error: unable to read resource: "index.tpl" in...
    or
    Warning: Smarty error: unable to read resource: "site.conf" in...
The `$template_dir` is incorrect, doesn't exist or the file `index.tpl` is not in the `templates/` directory A `{config_load}` function is within a template (or `config_load()` has been called) and either `$config_dir` is incorrect, does not exist or `site.conf` is not in the directory.
    Fatal error: Smarty error: the $compile_dir 'templates_c' does not exist,
    or is not a directory...
Either the `$compile_dir`is incorrectly set, the directory does not exist, or `templates_c` is a file and not a directory.
    Fatal error: Smarty error: unable to write to $compile_dir '....
The `$compile_dir` is not writable by the web server. See the bottom of the installing smarty page for more about permissions.
    Fatal error: Smarty error: the $cache_dir 'cache' does not exist,
    or is not a directory. in /..
This means that `$caching` is enabled and either; the `$cache_dir` is incorrectly set, the directory does not exist, or `cache/` is a file and not a directory.
    Fatal error: Smarty error: unable to write to $cache_dir '/...
This means that `$caching` is enabled and the `$cache_dir` is not writable by the web server. See the bottom of the installing smarty page for permissions.

See also debugging, `$error_reporting` and `trigger_error()`.

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