I’m currently trying to edit some php files that came with an open source forum software. The forum’s index.php file at the beginning includes another file, functions_display.php, in another directory. Index.php then calls a function defined in functions_display.php called display_forums.
If I comment out the include line, the forum breaks. If I comment out the call to display_forums, the forums are no longer displayed (as I would expect). But, if I make any changes whatsoever in functions_display.php, they are never reflected when viewing the site. I’ve tried putting in an echo statement; nothing shows up on the site. I’ve tried typing some random text outside the php tags which should have been read as html; still nothing shows up.
I’ve even gone to extremes to try to get my changes to functions_display.php to be reflected somehow, the culmination being that I backed up the file and completely deleted every last bit of code in it (leaving an empty php file). But it STILL WORKED PERFECTLY, as if I hadn’t even done anything. Yet if I rename the damn file, it breaks again. So it still complains if it can’t find the file, even if it somehow “remembers” and uses the original version of the file.
I have absolutely no idea what’s going on. How can I get the site to reflect the changes I make to functions_display.php? Our forum is powered by phpBB3, and is hosted by a really crappy free host, if that helps at all. (and yes, I’ve cleared my browser’s cache, multiple times)