• Registered: 2013-10-24
  • Posts: 1

Topic: Another reason for 'Config XML file not found'

I am developing a web application which allows users to dynamically select images to be displayed in a JB slideshow that users have uploaded throughout the year.  Image file names, titles, captions, and other info is stored in a MySQL db.  Therefore, I dynamically create the needed config.xml file.  I know enough PHP to get along, and I was kind of surprised this all worked.  However, I sometimes get the Config XML file not found error and it has absolutely nothing to do with a pathing problem.

I have found that an "&" in the image title stored in the db that when placed in the config file's <title> tags cause the error.  The same holds true with the galleryTitle parameter in the script: new juicebox( {galleryTitle: . . . });

I cannot find any documentation about what characters are allowed or NOT allowed in the <title> tags and/or the galleryTitle parameter and/or any other tags or parameters.  (One issue was inserting a "&mdash;" character into a title string with a PHP script.)

This caused a lot of hair pulling because the cause of the problem had nothing to do with the error message, and forum searches did not help me.

Ideally I would like to see documentation helping me or any other user with this issue. At the very least, I would hope to warn other users trying to do something similar.

Assistance or help?

Thanks,

Bill

  • Registered: 2012-04-24
  • Posts: 5,924

Re: Another reason for 'Config XML file not found'

All XML entities within configuration option values stored as attributes to the opening <juiceboxgallery> tag in the gallery's XML file must be escaped (otherwise, the XML formatting of the document may break).
The following characters should be replaced with their escaped counterparts as follows:

& (Ampersand)                ->  &amp;
< (Left angle bracket)       ->  &lt;
> (Right angle bracket)      ->  &gt;
" (Straight quotation mark)  ->  &quot;
' (Apostrophe)               ->  &apos;

When entering data into the text fields in JuiceboxBuilder-Pro, these characters are automatically escaped by the applicaiton and you do not need to make the substitutions yourself.

There is a link to an online tool which will escape XML entities for you in the following FAQ:
How do I add HTML formatting to the Gallery Title or Back Button?