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osTicket 1.8.x Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

This article was updated on 06 Mar 2014

Frequently many of the questions on the osTicket forums are duplicated. As much as I wish people would use the search feature it seems that most people would rather ask their question than actively look for the answer. So I've tried to compile a small list of things that people have either frequently asked, or I think they simply might want to do.

Table of Contents:
Q: How do I change the copyright at the bottom of the page?
Q: How do I make support the default Help Topic?
Q: How do I turn on error displaying for osTicket?
Q: Help %{message} isn't working!
Q: How do I add custom text fields to my tickets?
Q: Can I upgrade from 1.7 to 1.8 with git?
Q: I was using a great mod with 1.6ST or 1.7 will it work with 1.8?
Q: Where can I get the old install files like 1.6ST or 1.7ST?
Q: How do I change the theme colors?
Q: How do I configure the LDAP Authentication and Lookup plugin?
Q: How do I rid of the XXXXXX from the thank you page?

Q: How do I change the copyright at the bottom of the page?
A: edit \include\clientfooter.inc.php and change line 4.

Q: How do I make support the default Help Topic?

A: edit \include\client\open.inc.php find this line: <select id="topicId" name="topicId"> change the line under it to:

<option value="1" selected="Support"> Support </option>

Q: How do I turn on error displaying for osTicket?

A: Generally speaking you shouldn't need to, because you should be able to consult your PHP error logs. However some web hosts do not give people access to their PHP error logs or to edit their PHP.ini. In cases like this you can utilize osTicket itself to display the error messages. edit \bootstrap.php find these lines on or about line 32-33:

    ini_set('display_errors', 0);
    ini_set('display_startup_errors', 0);

change them to:

    ini_set('display_errors', 1);
    ini_set('display_startup_errors', 1);

Make sure that you change them back when you are done.

Q: Help %{message} isn't working!

A: %{message} was removed as a valid template code a while ago, Did you mean to use %{response} or perhaps %{ticket.thread.original} or perhaps %{comments}? Go to Admin panel -> Emails -> Templates and in your email template add one of them. Keep in mind that if you use %{ticket.thread.original} that this will result in the original message every time that template is triggered.

Q: How do I add custom fields to my tickets?

A: The directions for 1.6 through 1.7.3 are deprecated and should no longer be followed! Adding custom fields, drop downs, etc. just got a whole lot easier! You can add custom fields in the UI by going to Admin panel -> Manage -> Forms. You can either add your own form or edit any of the three built in forms. Generally if its not contact or company information you should put it in Ticket Details, or add your own. Currently additional forms can only be added via Help Topic so make sure that you enable the additional form to display by going to Admin panel -> Manage -> Help Topics. Click on the help topic that you want to display the additional form information and select your new form in "Custom Forms" drop down.

Q: Can I upgrade from 1.7 to 1.8 with git?

A: Of course you can! Here is a reply written by the Dev Jared:


add a remote for the 1.8 repo

git remote add osticket-1.8 https://github.com/osTicket/osTicket-1.8

then fetch from the new remote

git fetch osticket-1.8

then you can switch to the 1.8 master branch (or the develop if you dare)

git checkout osticket-1.8/master

You may need to name the branch in your local repo

git checkout -b master-1.8

alternatively you could merge osticket-1.8 onto your repo (which may result in merge 
conflicts, beware). This process would be required if you are going to rebase your 
customizations onto 1.8

git merge osticket-1.8/master

If you are using the deploy script to manage the installation on your web server, you would 
then deploy 1.8 to stage the upgrade. Use deploy --help for usage and options

php setup/cli/manage.php deploy -v /var/www/osticket

Q: I was using a great mod with 1.6 or 1.7.x will it work with 1.8?

A: Not with out tweaking. As a general rule all available Mods are available in the Mods and Customizations section of the forum for each version. Trying to install a mod for the wrong version will likely result in a headache and non-functional osTicket installation. The mods that are available for 1.8ST are available at osTicket Forums. The good news is that osTicket 1.8.1 isn't that far away and should introduce the new plugin system that will make installings plugins (packaged mods) easier than ever!

Q: Where can I get the old install files like 1.6ST or 1.7ST?

A: Many people have asked where they can get older versions of osTicket.
1.6ST is available here: https://tmib.net/files/OST_1.6.zip

1.7ST is available here: https://tmib.net/files/osTicket-1.7.0.zip

  Q: How do I change the theme colors?

A: You can edit the css in the /assets/default/css/themes.css file.

Q: How do I configure the LDAP Authentication and Lookup plugin?

A: I wrote an article about it!  Its available here: osTicket 1.8.1 – How to configure the LDAP Authentication and Lookup plugin.

Q: How do I rid of the XXXXXX from the thank you page?

A: There are two options that you can choose from that will get rid of the XXXXXX from the thank you page.

Option – 1
First and simplest is to go to Admin panel -> Manage -> Pages -> Thank you and remove the following from the page body:

#%{ticket.number}

This will suppress the display of the fake ticket number.

Option – 2
If you actually want the osTicket to display the ticket number you can edit the source. Option 2 is NOT as secure as it should be. This explicitly changed by the devs to not display the ticket number because it is insecure to display it in most current use cases. If your osTicket installation is behind some sort of authentication wall it may be okay for you to do this. Once osTicket finishes implementing First Class Users the ticket number will be safe to display again.

Edit /open.php circa line 76 change:

array_fill(0, 3, 'XXXXXX'),

to:

array_fill(0, 3, $ticket->getExtID()),

 

I fully plan on updating this list from time to time, but have not setup a specific time to do so. If you see something that you think should be added to the list please feel free to PM me on the osticket forums.