Thanks for the idea. I just created a new admin user and then created a new “Team Control” role with full access to everything including the link checker extension explicitly. Logged out and logged back in as that new user and got the same security error. This is a bit perplexing - not sure why giving explicit access to the extension wouldn’t permit all functions. I also enabled the REST API although I don’t think this extension requires a key to be hard coded for it to work. This one is definitely perplexing since you aren’t seeing any issues.
Please do confirm that you are NOT using an API key with this extension. Thanks again for your input and sorry to keep bugging you.
I believe I have tracked down the source of this error.
When plugin accesses:
/wp-admin/admin.php?page=Extensions-Mainwp-Broken-Links-Checker-Extension-Main everything works fines
Errors occurs on other 4 calls:
From Overview on main screen widget: /wp-admin/admin.php?page=Extensions-Mainwp-Broken-Links-Checker-Extension
From Dash backend when already properly accessed from: /wp-admin/admin.php?page=Extensions-Mainwp-Broken-Links-Checker-Extension-Main and
CLICKING Dashboard in Menu - /wp-admin/admin.php?page=Extensions-Mainwp-Broken-Links-Checker-Extension&tab=dashboard
From Dash backend when already properly accessed from: /wp-admin/admin.php?page=Extensions-Mainwp-Broken-Links-Checker-Extension-Main and
CLICKING Links in Menu - /wp-admin/admin.php?page=Extensions-Mainwp-Broken-Links-Checker-Extension&tab=links
From Dash backend when already properly accessed from: /wp-admin/admin.php?page=Extensions-Mainwp-Broken-Links-Checker-Extension-Main and
CLICKING Broken Links Checker Settings in Menu - /wp-admin/admin.php?page=Extensions-Mainwp-Broken-Links-Checker-Extension&tab=settings
Correct URL calls should be (not sure how to fix this myself:
NOTE that in all instances with the site/security errors the links are going to /wp-admin/admin.php?page=Extensions-Mainwp-Broken-Links-Checker-Extension when they SHOULD be going to /wp-admin/admin.php?page=Extensions-Mainwp-Broken-Links-Checker-Extension-Main.
It looks like you’ve downloaded the plugin from GitHub, but didn’t rename it to the correct name before installing on the site. You should remove “-Main” from the plugin name, because that’s an addition from GitHub. That way the links are correct again and hopefully the errors will be gone. You can als deactivate the current version, rename the folder on the server in the plugins directory and activate the plugin again.
That fixed the link issues - thanks Jos! Took a while to figure out but something good to know about Github.
And now - Wow SO very close - all the plugin links are working now and the setup tab DOES update the broken link checker plugin on each site.
Forced a link check on the 3 sites were and all data has reported back in and properly shows numbers in the dashboard. However, when I go to the “links” area in the dashboard it isn’t showing any of the links whether ALL or broken, etc. Per @Jos I just deactivated the plugin on my WP backend and then renamed the folder on my site. MainWP Broken Links Checker...
Does the link tab display all links properly for everyone else? Should I just go ahead and completely delete this plugin on my Main WP site and then re-upload it with the proper folder name? Is that perhaps why the links aren’t showing because the database info wasn’t properly setup for this plugin due to the wrong name? Do I also need to install and enabled the Broken Link Checker extension on each site (assuming not - I only have Broken Links Checker plugin installed now).
These questions are still making me feel like a NOOB but I am now literally 95% of the way there - once I get this working and showing links in the Main WP Dashboard properly I’m 100% onboard with this app and all features. Thanks again.
UPDATE 6:55 PM Mountain - deleted plugin and re-downloaded from GitHub. Manually uploading zip file directly to account on server and extracted and then re-named folder to proper name. Then, went back and activated plugin - resynched all sites - still NO links actually shown on links tab even though link count per site is correct. Whew - still so close - not sure what else to try here as security errors are gone after the rename.
UPDATE 7:07 PM Mountain - link checker link database table - wp_mainwp_linkschecker_links - is EMPTY which is why no data is displayed - lol - cpanel.subsiliohosting.com .... Link check summary table -wp_mainwp_linkschecker- is NOT empty hence data is displayed - cpanel.subsiliohosting.com .... Not sure why the plugin is NOT populating the link database table (will attempt extension install on each site).
The regular plugin is needed on the child sites and the extension is only needed on the dashboard site. It’s great that the errors are gone when using the correct name!
I’m not using the extension anymore, so I can’t help you with this last part.
Thanks @josklever - I guess this works for now. If I knew PHP I would delve into the code to determine why it isn’t populating the databases but at least this info allows my Web Dev to go to the site with any broken link and resolve it there even if he can’t see exactly WHAT the link is on the Main WP dash. Any other suggestions are welcome if someone does look at this.
I thought I would also add ONE more plea here for someone to take over this plugin and/or for the Main WP Devs to start supporting this again. For me at least, this is a critical function of managing WordPress sites (we have a little over 30 we manage for clients) and something I would also love to see in reports to show proof that all links are working correctly.
If I knew PHP myself I would try to figure out why the actual links are not populating into the Main WP database (there are 2 databases for this extension - see above). In general, this plugin seems to be pretty easy to maintain as it just reads data from the Broken Link Checker plugin on child sites so that local plugin does most of the work (that listing data definitely exists on those sites - checked - I was already using this plugin anyway on some sites).
This also makes me wonder if WPMU DEV would be interested in helping Main WP devs update and maintain this again (I guess keeping in mind that they are “kinda” competitors). I do find it VERY interesting that MainWP itself is one of the credited developers on Broken Link Checker (oops that was actually Manage WP - too many WPs out there) so they obviously put effort into this. The Broken Link Checker is still being actively maintained ( Version: 1.11.16; Author: [WPMU DEV; Last Updated: 4 months ago) so it would add so much value to the community to bring back this feature. This is one of the few advantages ManageWP has over MainWP so why not bring it back?
I was re-reading all the posts here and the tidbit above has me wondering whether Broken Link Checker V1.11.16 introduced compatibility issues with this version of the Main WP Link Checker Extension. I’m going to dig around and see if I can find v1.11.15 of the Broken Link Checker to see if that works better. This would help to further isolate the issue I suppose.
Side question - is anyone successfully running the current version of the link checker extension with 1.11.16?
This is starting to feel like a crusade for bringing the Broken Link Checker extension back - lol.
I have 1.11.16 running on a lot of sites with no issue. I do not “manage” the links form the dashboard, I just use it as a reporting tool and then I go to the child to actually repair things.
I have reached out to WPMU DEV and they do not want to help or take over this plugin.
Thanks @7thcircle for checking your version in the dash. I suspect your are also not seeing links info (URLs, etc) reporting to the extension database but I am curious whether you do in fact see anything there in the links dash on MainWP (like here - MainWP Broken Links Checker...).
This is is all so very interesting to me as back in 2019 ManageWP turned over management of the Broken Link Checker plugin to WPMU DEV but no one appears to want to support the Broken Link Checker extension at Main WP for that reason I guess. Check out this link (funny how much I am learning about this). New Home for Broken Link Checker Plugin - ManageWP.
So based on this, the core of Broken Link Checker became the “link monitor” in Manage WP which in my testing performs well. Link monitor was released in 2019 (I think) and was based on a fork from code base in Broken Link Checker and supposedly improved on its functionality which is why they handed the original back to WPMU DEV.
What a tangled Web this all is. I now better understand why WPMU DEV doesn’t want to support Main WP extensions or help with this I guess. I did misspeak earlier - it was obviously Manage WP that contributed to the Broken Link Checker development NOT Main WP. Whew!
