Magento 2 Manual Theme Installation

• Download and Unzip your Theme
• Theme Installation
• Importing Demo SQL Data
• Lot's of Problems on the way...
  • How to clear out a manually installed theme ?
  • Error Collection

Download and Unzip your Theme

After unzipping your theme, you will find a folder named _themeXXXX. Upload all folders from this directory into your Magento root directory - e.g. /var/www/html/magento. In my case the template only had a folder data:

Next switch to sources/sample_data and copy the folder pub to the Magento root directory:

Make sure that all files that you uploaded will be accessible by the default user, e.g. www-data:

chown -R www-data:www-data .

Theme Installation

1. Run Upgrade:

php bin/magento setup:upgrade
php bin/magento setup:di:compile
php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy -f

If you are not running the Magento scripts with the www-data user, make sure to change the owner of every folder and file inside var and pub after every recompile:

chown -R www-data:www-data ./var
chown -R www-data:www-data ./pub

NOTE: Manual static content deployment is not required in "default" and "developer" modes. In "default" and "developer" modes static contents are being deployed automatically on demand. If you still want to deploy in these modes, use -f option: bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy -f.

1. Setup the new Theme:

On the Admin sidebar, Content > Design > Configuration > Select your current theme > :

3. Click on Edit to select your theme:

Importing Demo SQL Data

To use the sample SQL DATA that comes with your template, you have to start with a blank database. First create a backup of your database to be able to roll it back later:

mysqldump -u username -p database_name > file.sql

Delete all tables from the database - or delete the db and recreate. Then import the sample data from your template.

Bow download a fresh version of Magento and run the init script - make sure that --db-name is set to the database you just prepared above:

bin/magento setup:install \
--base-url=http://mysite.dev \
--db-host=localhost \
--db-name=magento \
--db-user=magento \
--db-password=magento \
--admin-firstname=admin \
--admin-lastname=admin \
--admin-email=admin@admin.com \
--admin-user=admin \
--admin-password=admin123 \
--language=en_US \
--currency=USD \
--timezone=America/Chicago \
--use-rewrites=1

Now go through the regular setup through the Magento Admin panel. The Theme should already be selected and ready to be configured.

If your run into the following issue when trying to load the frontend:

1 exception(s):
Exception #0 (Magento\Framework\Exception\LocalizedException): Unable to find a physical ancestor for a theme 'Magetigue'.

Make sure that type for the theme is set to 0:

SELECT * FROM theme;
UPDATE theme SET type = 0 WHERE theme_id = 4;

Lot's of Problems on the way...

The original theme that I was using did not work... all just went downhill... Error message by error message.

I found that the theme supports PHP up to v7.0.4 but not v7.1. As I am using PHP v7.2 this probably is the issue here.

The free theme I downloaded above was labeled Magento 2.3 compatible and worked right away.

How to clear out a manually installed theme ?

1. File Operations

Delete the content from app/design/frontend/<Vendor>. You might also find files in var/view_preprocessed & pub/static/frontend.

2. DB Operations

Go to your theme table and delete the entry for your created theme.

mysql -u magento -p
SHOW databases;
USE magento;
SHOW tables;
DESCRIBE theme;
SELECT * FROM theme;
DELETE FROM theme WHERE theme_id=4
EXIT;

The template was stored under theme_id=4 in the theme table inside the Magento database.

3. Flush cache

php bin/magento cache:flush

4. Recompile

rm -rf generated/* var/* cache/*
php bin/magento setup:di:compile
php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy -f

5. CleanUP

I am still getting an error message when trying to access the storefront:

If the theme has a configuration in Magento Admin, then it is important to delete all references to the theme in table eav_attribute:

SELECT * FROM eav_attribute;
DELETE FROM eav_attribute WHERE attribute_id=151;

A quick re-compile, deploy and flush later everything was up and running...

rm -rf generated/* var/* cache/*
php bin/magento setup:di:compile
php bin/magento setup:static-content:deploy -f
php bin/magento cache:flush
chown -R www-data:www-data .

Error Collection

If you see these error messages:

ReflectionException: Class Magento\Framework\App\Http\Interceptor does not exist in /var/www/html/magento/vendor/magento/framework/Code/Reader/ClassReader.php:19 Stack trace: #0 /var/www/html/magento/vendor/magento/framework/Code/Reader/ClassReader.php(19): ReflectionClass->__construct('Magento\\Framewo...') #1 /var/www/html/magento/vendor/magento/framework/ObjectManager/Definition/Runtime.php(49): Magento\Framework\Code\Reader\ClassReader->getConstructor('Magento\\Framewo...') #2 /var/www/html/magento/vendor/magento/framework/ObjectManager/Factory/Dynamic/Developer.php(48): Magento\Framework\ObjectManager\Definition\Runtime->getParameters('Magento\\Framewo...') #3 /var/www/html/magento/vendor/magento/framework/ObjectManager/ObjectManager.php(56): Magento\Framework\ObjectManager\Factory\Dynamic\Developer->create('Magento\\Framewo...', Array) #4 /var/www/html/magento/vendor/magento/framework/App/Bootstrap.php(235): Magento\Framework\ObjectManager\ObjectManager->create('Magento\\Framewo...', Array) #5 /var/www/html/magento/pub/index.php(39): Magento\Framework\App\Bootstrap->createApplication('Magento\\Framewo...') #6 {main}

Clear all directories and files under Magento’s var subdirectory and install the Magento software again.

As the Magento file system owner or as a user with root privileges, enter the following commands:

cd <your Magento install directory>/var
rm -rf cache/* di/* generation/* page_cache/*

And more problems:

1 exception(s):
Exception #0 (Magento\Framework\Config\Dom\ValidationException): Element 'block', attribute 'type': The attribute 'type' is not allowed.
Line: 1001

Element 'block', attribute 'type': The attribute 'type' is not allowed.
Line: 1011

Element 'block', attribute 'type': The attribute 'type' is not allowed.
Line: 1020

Element 'block', attribute 'type': The attribute 'type' is not allowed.
Line: 1027

Element 'block', attribute 'type': The attribute 'type' is not allowed.
Line: 1034

Element 'block', attribute 'type': The attribute 'type' is not allowed.
Line: 1042

This is can be caused by themes that use <block type="..." instead of <block class="...". I found type declarations in the footer part of the theme and deleted them.

Also check all custom blog layout files in your theme (app/code/design/ThemeVendor/themename/Magefan_Blog/layout), they may have a code e.g.:

class="\Magento

you need to change it to

class="Magento

Then flush Magento cache (Magento Admin Panel System > Cache Management > Flush Magento Cache).

This solved the problem above but had me ending up with new errors:

1 exception(s):
Exception #0 (Exception): Notice: Undefined index: src in /var/www/html/magento/vendor/magento/framework/View/Page/Config/Generator/Head.php on line 126

Exception #0 (Exception): Notice: Undefined index: src in /var/www/html/magento/vendor/magento/framework/View/Page/Config/Generator/Head.php on line 126

This error refers to:

protected function processAssets(Structure $pageStructure)
    {
        foreach ($pageStructure->getAssets() as $name => $data) {
            if (isset($data['src_type']) && in_array($data['src_type'], $this->remoteAssetTypes)) {
                if ($data['src_type'] === self::SRC_TYPE_CONTROLLER) {
                    $data['src'] = $this->url->getUrl($data['src']);
                }

                $this->pageConfig->addRemotePageAsset(
                    $data['src'],
                    isset($data['content_type']) ? $data['content_type'] : self::VIRTUAL_CONTENT_TYPE_LINK,
                    $this->getAssetProperties($data),
                    $name
                );
            } else {
                $this->pageConfig->addPageAsset($name, $this->getAssetProperties($data));
            }
        }
        return $this;
    }

And a problem with the compilation:

php bin/magento setup:di:compile
Compilation was started.
Interception cache generation... 6/7 [========================>---]  85% 35 secs 365.0 MiBErrors during compilation:
        TemplateMonster\Megamenu\Plugin\Block\Topmenu
                Incompatible argument type: Required type: \Magento\Catalog\Model\ResourceModel\Category\StateDependentCollectionFactory. Actual type: \Magento\Catalog\Model\ResourceModel\Category\CollectionFactory; File: 
/var/www/html/magento/app/code/TemplateMonster/Megamenu/Plugin/Block/Topmenu.php

Total Errors Count: 1

In Log.php line 92:
                            
  Error during compilation  
                            

setup:di:compile