Cornerstone, builder empty after outside edit

[Inproma]

So I had a few pages built in Cornerstone that referenced two images. Now, I didn’t like the image names (physical file name) anymore, installed Phoenix Media Rename and edited the aforementioned assets.

I’ve used this plug-in on other occasions on other sites and knew that it was pretty reliable. Well, not if you work with Cornerstone, it seems, and little did I know of the chaos that this little change would cause …

Basically, all those pages are broken now, the builder is blank, yet the pages are still show in the frontend (except for the image, of course). Saving again in Cornerstone will nix the remaining existing data.

So! …–I’m a long-time user of everything Themeco. Pro, Cornerstone, made the early jump to X, and in general, I love the experience.

But this issue just caused me a little fit. It’s not the first time this has happened, the forum is full of posts about it and your general advice just goes like, “Sorry, Cornerstone data is corrupted. No backup from five minutes ago? You’re screwed, pal. ”

Just how? The only change had happened in wp_postmeta._cornerstone_data where the renaming plug-in changed the file name of the image.

It’s not only that I so easily can corrupt my entire content, it’s also that I get no hint of what is wrong. That last thing is probably what annoys me the most. Browser console shows nothing, server error logs are silent and with an inconsiderate click on “Save” I can easily evaporate an entire page.

Is there some kind of debug mode that I can enable? How do wp_post.content and wp_postmeta._cornerstone_data relate and what will cause an invalid state.

I could now tell my editor to rebuilt what was lost but I’d rather have this restored and more importantly: I’d like to understand. The data is there, give it to me.

[friech]

Hi @Inproma,

Thank you for writing in, I think the issue is not with Cornerstone, but with the Plugin you’re using and the Wordpress latest version. I checked that plugin page and see the plugin is tested up to 5.2.0 only, so I check the plugin on that version and yes it does work. So that plugin is not compatible with the latest Wordpress (5.2.2) yet.

As you might already know, we cannot provide support for third-party plugins or scripts due to the fact that there is simply no way to account for all of the potential variables at play when using another developer’s plugin or script. Because of this, any questions you have regarding setup, integration, or troubleshooting about the plugin will need to be directed to the original developer.

My advise would like you said above, to restore your site the date before you rename those files.

Thank you for your understanding.

[Inproma]

Ah, c’mon. The WordPress installation in question is still on 4.9.10. It’s not about compatibility, and we both know that.

I was hoping for a developer to chime in and explain how little changes like that will have Cornerstone tripping, without any sign of error.

Currently, trying to recover the existing content would far outweigh restoring a backup. We don’t take hourly backups, sorry.

I’m not asking for a magic wand, just for some directions as to restoring content. Being a seasoned developer, I’m not afraid of technical answers. I just don’t have the time to dig through the behemoth that is Cornerstone’s codebase.

[jade]

Hi @Inproma,

Cornerstone pages have serialized data that are saved in the database and if any of these data are improperly edited it will result to the issue you are getting right now where the Cornerstone built page only shows the shortcodes and displays nothing when you edit them on Cornerstone.

This is why we encourage users to use plugins that safely update the items in the database where the serialize data remain safe or properly edit just the like Better Search and Replace plugin.

You might also want to get in touch with the Phoenix Media Rename developer and ask them what data are affected when you do an update using their plugin.

@Inproma

I’m not asking for a magic wand, just for some directions as to restoring content. Being a seasoned developer, I’m not afraid of technical answers. I just don’t have the time to dig through the behemoth that is Cornerstone’s codebase.

Since the Cornerstone contents rely heavily on the data saved in the database, you will have to restore from the database entries prior to the changes that you did through the plugin. It is best to keep a full backup of the database before doing anything that changes the database data.

Hope this helps.