*** EntryWizard ERROR *** Zip command failed

Downloading a lot of images files has always been a bit problematic, depending on the host setup.

If you are able to access the wordpress debug.log file, there may possibly be something useful there.

If you only get the message after a period of time, it’s possible you are running into limitations on the processing time. You could try breaking the download into smaller batches.

But if the message comes back immediately, it’s more likely that your hosting company has disabled your access to the system zip command. The plugin does contain a test for this situation, but it may not be as comprehensive as it should be.
You could ask your hosting company about it. Tell them that the “zip –version” test seems to work, but the actual command fails. If the test failed, the plugin would have used a different method.

Your best workaround would be to download the files using ftp — we often end up doing that when we have a lot of large files. You can find the location of the files by clicking the help item in the Data Management area of the webform, next to “with selected items”.

Hi Josie,
Many thanks for your typically prompt reply. I’d have been in touch sooner only a tech at my host managed, via doing a couple of php tweaks, to kill my site altogether. Now that one of his colleagues has managed to fix those issues I’m back more or less where I started.
The only real difference is that now the error message displays as thus:
Warning: popen() has been disabled for security reasons in /home/conwycam/public_html/wp-content/plugins/entrywizard/classes/ewz-webform.php on line 557
*** EntryWizard ERROR ***
Zip command failed

I have included a screen grab of line 557 in case it helps. If I had an email address I could send the file complete if needed.

The only other clue is that my host states they updated Apache a couple of days ago, and maybe changes to security could be the problem.
I can confirm that the message appears almost immediately and happens on all current and previous webforms. Even those with only 2 images, which are by default under 1MB each.

For the current comps, I’ve harvested the images via ftp but that isn’t really a long-term solution as those charged with comp secretary duties are not amongst those best placed to work this way.
Hope this issue can be resolved. The committee have been spoiled rotten by the enormous benefits of using your plugin and are reluctant to go back to old ways.
Thanks again for your continued support.
Best wishes,
Eugene.

I recently suffer from a hosting company a server upgrade.
I had many issues too. None with Wizardplugin.
Check changes and versions of the PHP. That was one of them.
Ownership and administration rights, was another.
Links to the old server, of course broken.
Have fun.

Thanks, that really helps me to understand what is happening. It looks as if your hosting company has disabled the ability to save the file.

And my tests to see if the mechanism would work were incomplete. I need to look into that more closely.

I’ll try to get a new version with a fix out ASAP, but it may be a week or two. In the meantime, you can try this:

Edit the file javascript/ewz-webforms.js (keep a backup copy!). Near the top, right after the line

var ewzG, ewzG1;

add a new line, exactly as below:

ewzG.canzip = false;

( If you are not used to editing code, it’s safer to use a text editor like wordpad. Make sure you save the file in plain text mode, with the .js extension. )

This should make the “download images” button work (perhaps a bit more slowly), although “download images and spreadsheet” may still fail.

Hi Josie,
Many thanks for the fix but unfortunately it didn’t work the error message stays the same. I’m assuming the js should look like this now:

“use strict”;
var ajaxurl;
var popupN; // used for id of popup

jQuery(document).ready(function() {
init_ewz_webforms();
});
var ewzG, ewzG1;
ewzG.canzip = false;
/* toggle visibility of hideable controls in the same form */

If there is to be a new version in the next couple of weeks I can take over file management in the interim (unless of course you can think of something else ?? )
Thanks again,
Eugene

Oops, many apologies.
That line should have gone about 25 lines further down, just after
`if( null !== ewzG1 ){
ewzG = ewzG1.gvar;`

Cheers Josie,
That didn’t work either…until I deleted some inadvertently inserted white space before the new line of text (my fault).
Now all three download options work fine albeit slowly, as you suggested, especially using Chrome. Go figure.
Thanks again for your help and support.
Best wishes,
Eugene

Good to hear! Sorry for the mistake.
I’m afraid there is nothing I can do about the speed if your hosting company does not allow access to external commands — the next version will just work as yours does now.
You may need to break up your downloads into sections if you have many large files.