Whilst developing Joomla extensions I sometimes get a White Page error. I discovered this interesting post by Phil Taylor that I have edited and reproduced below.
Sometimes, due to a PHP error, a Joomla Extension can stop working and, without displaying an error, leading you to a blank page.
In that case, to find out why, perform the following actions:
-
Check server error logs (not access logs) if you have access to them. (cPanel or other control panels often allow this)
-
Go to Joomla Administration -> Global configuration and enable Error Reporting to Maximum, you can also turn on debugging. if you CAN’T get to the administration page, manually edit by FTP the /configuration.php file and change
$error_reporting = ’0′;
to
$error_reporting = ’2048′;
-
Try the action again – if you still get a blank page then goto 4.
-
Put the following code at the END of the configuration.php file BEFORE the closing ?>
ini_set( 'display_errors', true ); error_reporting( E_ALL );
-
Check the source of the white page – there might be still some HTML/Errors in the Page Source (Look in your web browser for the “View Source” option)
-
Change the .htaccess file setting the following:
php_flag display_errors on
php_value error_reporting 2048