After uploading theme I get ”Class ’ZipArchive’ not found”

• unhappywithvellum

  said

  I have a number of your other themes which I installed through the WP admin without any problems.

  I have not been able to install vellum through the wp admin or by ftp.

  Through the wp admin it just fails to finish. Then I tried ftp as in instructions. All files uploaded.

  after uploading with ftp now I get the below error, Is there a bug in the latest package ?

  Fatal error: Class ‘ZipArchive’ not found in /home/website/public_html/wp-content/themes/parallelus-vellum/extensions/plugin-installer/object.php on line 107

• unhappywithvellum

  said

  I found the solution but I am not happy that the documentation doesn’t mention that zip needs to be installed.
  Also if I wasn’t the server Admin this could present a problem to users who are unable to install it.
  It should be mentioned in my view.

• malekovitch

  said

  Hi,

  is it a joke or your user name is “unhappywithvellum” …

  I’m a user like you, and i think you missed something in installation…
  You just have to dezip the folder you downloaded from TF, find the “parallelus-vellum” folder and upload it via FTP transfert.

  Is it hard ?
  After, you just have to activate theme and install required plugins…

  Even a child could install a wp theme.

• jeffw

  said

  @unhappywithvellum

  We use the ZipArchive class to unzip and install the required and recommended plugins that are packaged with the theme.

  The ZipArchive class has been a standard part of PHP for years and years. I think it first became part of the standard PHP install with v5.2, back in 2006. Alas, some web hosts deliberately choose to not install the class.

  If your host refuses to install the ZipArchive class then you can install the required plugins manually. It’s not an ideal situation to be in, but if you need to do that Andy posted instructions here → http://para.llel.us/support/groups/vellum/forum/topic/activation-error/#post-52543

  If there is anything else you need help with, please just let us know. If you can’t find answers to your questions by searching this forum, please just create a new topic for each separate issue that you have and we’ll do our best to point you in the right direction.

  References:
  http://php.net/manual/en/class.ziparchive.php

• unhappywithvellum

  said

  Even with zip installed this theme fails to install using wp admin you have to use the ftp method.

  The error message when you try to install it with wp admin is below.

  “Are you sure you want to do this?

  Please try again.”

• jeffw

  said

  We know that incorrect server permissions is one cause of WordPress spitting out that “are you sure” error message when it is trying to upload a theme to a server. That error message has nothing to do with the Vellum theme.

  This article describes how permissions should be set for WordPress → http://codex.wordpress.org/Changing_File_Permissions

  You should speak to your web hosts about this, it may be that they will need to reconfigure your server.

  I have also been told that uploading the incorrect theme zip file has caused WordPress to display this “are you sure” error message, although I’ve not experienced this myself.

  Someone mentioned to me that very low PHP resource values that some hosts set by default have been known to cause WordPress to generate a number of confusing error messages when trying to upload themes or plugins. So something you could try is to increase those values in your ‘php.ini’ file. Try something like this…

  max_execution_time = 120
  max_input_time = 120
  memory_limit = 64M
  post_max_size = 32M
  upload_max_filesize = 32M

  Unfortunately some web hosts don’t allow you increase resource values via your ‘php.ini’ file so it might be an idea to ask them about this before you try it.

• unhappywithvellum

  said

  It’s not a server error.
  I installed mingle to the same server and the same domain.
  I have also installed numerous other themes without the problem.
  It’s a vellum issue.

• jeffw

  said

  The “are you sure” error message is not a Vellum issue. It can be caused (for example) by server settings that limit the size of files that can be uploaded. The Vellum theme zip is big, because of the starter kits data it is more then 13MB, and it has been my experience that if the server is set up in such a way that it won’t accept files of this size being uploaded via a website interface then WordPress spits out that error message.

  I am telling you that several customers have fixed this issue by tweaking their server settings.

• unhappywithvellum

  said

  Yes but that’s why I am saying it’s a Vellum issue because I have no issue with minlge or salutation nor dozens of other themes I have installed.

  I also adjusted the server settings which is not a good idea for a server performance point of view and I doubt most web hosts would adjust settings as such.

  Even with the server settings adjusted it stills fails which means ftp is the only workable option.

  I’m sure it’s related to the size of the zip file as well but I believe it’s not a good customer selling point that the customer should need to get the server settings adjusted as in most cases web hosts won’t do it for them.

  I believe you should trim down the package and have the demo content as a separate package as with your other products.

• jeffw

  said

  Thank you for your feedback, I’ll make sure I pass it on to our development team.

• andy

  said

  Most people do not have trouble uploading the theme so the concern that “most cases web hosts won’t do it for them”, is not an issue. Out of nearly 3,000 downloads of Vellum this has been a problem for less than 1%. Our experience has been that most hosts are very helpful in adjusting these settings for their users if requested.

  Thank you for your concern and suggestions. We appreciate both.