This is a nightmare and honestly gives me no confidence to keep promoting your templates on my developer site.
I have wasted my time with someone on chat.

Is there a way to fix this or not - if not then I will schedule a new template design as I am fed up with the warning that the plugin is old and needs updating. It's over a year now and your not interested it seems.

I have had to register this account as the forgot password isn't working and your chat assistant couldn't help me recover. So thanks for that as well.
I think you have some potentially good products and you are letting yourself down at the last moment.

Great to see it works

Hi,

unfortunately, there is no ftp access to that server and the site contains personal information of people so I can't just give admin access. I have done a snapshot backup and am currently trying your extension manager. It did complete the update properly and without errors, but I have to do more testing and profiling before I can say if it's a final solution.

-Stefan

Hi Stefan,

When coding, error happens, we have to accept that. Joomla core also has issues so they have to upgrade to fix those issue when someone reports.

For your concern about manual installation, it works properly from my side and I don't get any issue reported from users. if it fails from your side, please PM me your ftp info and site url with admin account, I will have closer check.

Gardner.

I disagree.

If you write a plugin that's not compatible with Joomla, the problem is at your side. There are extensive coding guidelines for Joomla. You can't just divert from the guidelines and then say the problem is at the Joomla side if you didn't stick with the guidelines...

Also, if an update appears in the Joomla updater is entirely up to the developer. If the developer doesn't provide the update link in the extension's XML, the Joomla updater will not look for newer version.

Finally, as I wrote, also a manual install of the plugin fails! Means, downloading the plugin from your website and trying to install it throught the extension manager leads to exactly the same problem. So it likely isn't a problem with the updater but simply a bug in the code.

At the moment, I'm very inclined to put up a bug or even a security warning about this issue in my IT security blog...

Hi Stefan,

Sorry for the inconvenience but let me make it clear.

1. The update issue is from Joomla, not from our side. The reason is that, the Joomla update can not work with dynamic link.

2. The Joomla update system will notify you when an extension has new version. But it's more used for Joomla default extensions. For paid extension or extensions that require authority to upgrade, you can not update through the Joomla update and for extension that has big size, Joomla update does not work properly also. The most important thing is the way that Joomla update work, it's re-install upgrade method so, that mean the new version will override old version and your customization for the extension will be lost.

We provide the best solutions for user, keep them safe from the risk of losing work.

Gardner.

Then the plugin shouldn't appear in Joomla's update manager. The way it is now is very inconsistent...
If I would have known this kind of dependency in advance, I wouldn't have chosen T3 to be honest. Now I have to evaluate what would be the better long-term strategy - move away from T3, which would mean a pretty big redesign, or install yet another extension and risk instability, incompatibility and security flaws...

Hi Stefan,

I agree with you in some way. But the Joomla update is the re-installation upgrade so all your customization will be lost. It's not safe way actually. We include JAEM in all template package because it helps user to upgrade faster and safer. It belongs to our support system and update system. One more thing, Joomla update does not work properly when extension size is large as it has to download full package while JAEM will download new, changed files.

Gardner.

I think, the problem should be fixed rather than requiring the installation of yet another addon. Every addon increases the complexity and the risk of incompatibilities as well as the risk of security hole.
It is also notable that manual installation of the 2.3.1 plugin fails also, so you definitely have a bug there!

I checked it also, yeah, using Joomla update does not work properly. You can use JA Extension Manager, it's free. It's the best tool for upgrading JA products. After installing to your Joomla system, go to Components >> JA Extension Manager, in the Services Manager tab, select JoomlArt as your default service. Next, find T3 system plugin, check for new version the hit the Upgrade.

The advantages of the component is that, it has back-up file for each time you upgrade so you can restore if you want. You can also check for new files or changes of files, etc.

Here is the video tutorial: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t6W0bM0duS4

Gardner.

No, I'm running T3 on the website pretty much from the beginning since January and I did every upgrade. All upgrades went ok yet although sometimes they needed some human touch afterwards, e.g. when the breadcrumbs changed.

Hi Stefan,

It's the first time you upgrade or other versions works fine, just the 2.3.1 version?

Gardner.