QuackFuzed [ Ramblings of a Con..ColdFuzed Mind ]

Mura CMS Mailing List Import: How to Avoid a PATH Error

Posted on September 3, 2011 at 5:58 PM in ColdFusion, Mura CMS

Before I get into the meat of the post, I have to give some major props to the folks at Blue River. In no particular order, Christine, Sean, Matt, Malcom, Steve, and Eddie put together an absolutely awesome conference, MuraCon 2011 last week in beautiful Sacramento, CA. For a first-year conference, I think MuraCon knocked it out of the park. Here's to hoping for a MuraCon 2012!

Just one request for 2012, guys: Can we do it one week earlier so I don't have to miss another football game/band performance? I thoroughly enjoyed hanging with you guys, but I've been in Texas for over a decade now, and, well, from late August until just before Christmas, Friday Night is meant for the Lights! :D

So I guess I'd better get on with the main point of the post, eh?

The Error Message

So have you perhaps tried importing email addresses into a mailing list and gotten a vague "500: Internal Server Error" message? Or perhaps one that said "Element PATH is undefined in VALS"?

I received the former, and upon checking the logs I found the following:

"Error","jrpp-3976","08/30/11","12:44:21","mura74C39D53D9CEC307FD2EC185C611E88D","Element PATH is undefined in VALS. The specific sequence of files included or processed is: /sites/muracms/www/admin/index.cfm, line: 51 "

Not particularly helpful, eh? Yeah, I didn't think so either.

The Cause and Solution

This rather cryptic error message is caused by missing headers/columns in the CSV or TAB-delimited file that is being imported. So, to avoid this kinda thing, just remember that you'll want the following as the _first line_ of you import file:

email	fname	lname	company	created

Note that the above example is for a TAB-delimited file (my preference). If you prefer CSV, be sure to use the same column headers and you'll be all set there, too. Also, there is no need to have each column on each row of the import file, just make sure you have the headers.

Hopefully the next time I do a Mura CMS mailing list import I'll remember to do this before getting the error. If not, hopefully this post will show up near the top of the Google search results so I'll quickly "remember" the fix. And hopefully it'll help someone else out there, too!

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