[Resolved] "Content layout editor" button not working to create layouts from in post

[Author]

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[peterJ-3]

I am trying tocreate a new layout from within a page, post, or CPT by clicking on the Orange "Content layout editor" button

The button works when clicking to edit existing layouts attached to posts but does nothing when trying to create a new layout
where the post does not already have one.

[Christian Cox]

That's strange, can you try the following troubleshooting steps to help narrow down the source of the problem?
- Clear your browser cache, log out and log back in to wp-admin and try again.
- Open your browser's JavaScript console and look for any errors displayed when you click the orange button.
- Temporarily activate a default theme like Twenty Seventeen and deactivate all plugins except Types, Views and Layouts. If you need to use a plugin like Maintenance Mode to hide the site while testing, that's fine. Try the button again. If the problem is resolved, then there is probably a conflict with another plugin or your theme. Activate your theme, then other plugins, one by one, testing each time, until the conflict is revealed. Let me know what you find.
- If the problem was not resolved, then I'll probably need to take a closer look in wp-admin. Let me know the results of the tests and we can go from there.

[peterJ-3]

Getting this javascript error in the console

Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'server' of undefined
    at HTMLAnchorElement.<anonymous> (dd_create_new_layout.js:345)
    at HTMLDocument.dispatch (load-scripts.php?c=1&load[]=jquery-core,jquery-migrate,underscore,backbone,jquery-ui-core,jquery-ui-widget,jquery-ui-mouse,jquery-ui-resizable,jquery-ui-dra&load[]=ggable,jquery-ui-button,jquery-ui-position,jquery-ui-dialog,utils,suggest,jquery-ui-tabs,quicktags,shortcode,wp-a11y,wplink,jque&load[]=ry-ui-sortable,jquery-ui-menu,jquery-ui-autocomplete,wp-util,plupload,jquery-effects-core,jquery-effects-size,jquery-effects-sca&load[]=le,wp-pointer&ver=4.8.2:3)
    at HTMLDocument.r.handle (load-scripts.php?c=1&load[]=jquery-core,jquery-migrate,underscore,backbone,jquery-ui-core,jquery-ui-widget,jquery-ui-mouse,jquery-ui-resizable,jquery-ui-dra&load[]=ggable,jquery-ui-button,jquery-ui-position,jquery-ui-dialog,utils,suggest,jquery-ui-tabs,quicktags,shortcode,wp-a11y,wplink,jque&load[]=ry-ui-sortable,jquery-ui-menu,jquery-ui-autocomplete,wp-util,plupload,jquery-effects-core,jquery-effects-size,jquery-effects-sca&load[]=le,wp-pointer&ver=4.8.2:3)

[Christian Cox]

Okay thanks, is this error happening even when you disable your custom theme and other plugins? I wasn't clear from your comment if you had run that test or not.

[peterJ-3]

OK. Very odd. I tried disabling all plugins other than toolset and the button worked.

I then re-enabled all plugins one-by-one and it worked every time. Now I have all plugins enabled and it works only on the page that I was using to test.

I can "stop using layouts for this page" and then reload the page and it will let me add a layout on that page with the orange button, but not to other pages.

So from what I can figure, it will only allow me to cretae layouts for pages that have previously had layouts created for them and then removed.

[peterJ-3]

I tried the opposite, disabling plugins one by one. It seems that the issue was caused by the following plugin:

https://wordpress.org/plugins/heartbeat-control/

...and that heartbeat is required to be enabled on the post edit page in order for layouts to function properly. We use this plugin to assist with performance issues.

For now, I have enabled heartbeat on post edit pages only. Do you know if there are any further dependencies between Toolset and Heartbeat?

[peterJ-3]

Sorry, I closed the ticket, but still require an answer to my heartbeat compatibility question.

[Christian Cox]

That's odd. Toolset has no dependencies on the Heartbeat plugin, so I suspect something else is going on. I'll need to investigate more, and to do that I would like to request access to your wp-admin panel. I will create a clone of your site by installing the Duplicator plugin, then install that clone on my local environment so I can try to isolate the issue. If that's okay with you, please provide login credentials in the private reply fields enabled here.

[Christian Cox]

I see, I misunderstood the distinction. Thanks for the clarification. However, the J...1 password for the user you provided isn't working for me, can you double check?

[peterJ-3]

I changed the password to match the one I supplied you. Please try again.

[Christian Cox]

Hi, I was able to log in briefly and take a look at your wp-admin area, but then I was automatically logged out and now the login credentials no longer work. So I tried to replicate this problem in another site, and I'm able to use the Content Layout Editor button without any issues when I have modified the Heartbeat Control settings to 300, as shown in the attached screenshot. When I disable Heartbeat completely in the Post Editor, the button stops working as you mentioned.

Let me reach out to my 2nd tier support team to see if they are able to provide any specific details about dependencies upon the WordPress heartbeat. Please stand by and I will update you with the information I receive.

[peterJ-3]

That makes sense. We have a plugin preventing concurrent logins from the same account and I have been working on the site all day. Apologies for locking you out. I'll create a testing account in future.

Thank you for your efforts and I'll look forward to further info.

[peterJ-3]

Heartbeat is causing server overload and outages on the live site. Is there any progress on this, please? I have not received a response for three says.

[Christian Cox]

Hi, sorry I don't have a final word for you just yet. I've escalated this to our 2nd tier team for investigation, and they have asked our Layouts development team for some additional information about dependencies upon the core heartbeat. We have not yet received any details, but I will follow up with the team again tomorrow (most are not working on Sundays) to see if there's any progress. It might not be a simple thing to provide, since heartbeat is a core function of WordPress and disabling it isn't expected. At any rate, I will let you know what I hear as soon as possible.

In the meantime could you disable the heartbeat unless you're actively creating new Layouts? This would help minimize the overloads you're experiencing. If you have a staging environment set up, then you might be able to activate the heartbeat there, then create your new Layout and get it just right. Then use the Layout Storage button to copy the source code. Then activate heartbeat on your production site just long enough to create the new Content Layout and paste your code into the Layout Storage panel. See the attached screenshot for the location of the Layout Storage button.

[peterJ-3]

Thank you. I have disabled on live for now and will do any layout based releases in the middle of the night, out of hours, until then.