SOLVED Help getting remote compliments working

robertybob

Hi all, I’m really stressing myself out trying to get this to work, but I’ve no idea why it isn’t working when I think I’ve followed all instructions correctly.

I have a very long compliments file and therefore have put it on my Github to store, I’ve pointed the config file to it but nothing is displayed on the screen at all.

From the main MM error log:

[2020-07-26 18:35:03.100] [ERROR]  /home/pi/MagicMirror/modules/default/compliments/compliments.js:9
   config: { 
         ^

My config file:

{
module: 'compliments',
   config: { 
     remoteFile: 'https://github.com/robertybob/MagicMirrorConfigs/blob/master/compliments.json',
   ...
   ...
   }
},

sdetweil

@robertybob the error is in the actual compliments.js file, did u edit that file?

home/pi/MagicMirror/modules/default/compliments/compliments.js:9

never edit the module files

sdetweil

@robertybob u cannot access a file on GitHub like that

robertybob

@sdetweil Oh I see, do I need to save that file within the module’s folder and point it to that?

sdetweil

@robertybob correct

robertybob

@sdetweil Sorry about that, I didn’t realise I wasn’t supposed to edit the .js files within the modules folders, I’ve restored the original compliments.js file.

My code within config.js now reads:

{
module: 'compliments',
position: 'middle_center',
   config: { 
     remoteFile: '/home/pi/MagicMirror/modules/default/compliments/remote_compliments.js'
   }
},

however now only the default compliments are shown on the screen

sdetweil

@robertybob the doc says

remoteFile

Path or URL (starting with http:// or https://) to a JSON file containing compliments,

so. the file needs either the file prefix

file://
or the http prefix, assuming the server root
the server root is /home/pi/MagicMirror
so
http://localhost:8080/modules/default/compliments/compliments.json

json(json) and JavaScript(js) are like each other, but not the same.
I would put your json file thru one of the online parsers to make sure it’s right, and then use the correct file extension

sdetweil

@robertybob actually, looking at it again, your GitHub url should work. if u put that in a browser it downloads a file

but u need to use the raw link
remoteFile:‘https://raw.githubusercontent.com/robertybob/MagicMirrorConfigs/master/compliments.json’

and i put it thru an online validator and the contents look good

robertybob

@sdetweil Thank you so much! I spotted a missing comma a few minutes ago, which I’ve now corrected. The raw link works perfectly. Thank you so so much!!!

sdetweil

@robertybob awesome!!

I use this validator, just FYI.
https://codebeautify.org/jsonvalidator