Can not get handle to Joomla! application object

Question

I am trying to write a php file to process a form submission.
Here is the code I have so far:

<?php


 define('_JEXEC', 1);

if (file_exists(dirname(__FILE__) . '/defines.php')) {
    include_once dirname(__FILE__) . '/defines.php';
}

if (!defined('_JDEFINES')) {
    define('JPATH_BASE', dirname(__FILE__));
    require_once JPATH_BASE.'/includes/defines.php';
}

require_once JPATH_BASE.'/includes/framework.php';

//The following two files do not exist in my Joomla installation, is that normal?  
//require_once JPATH_BASE.'/includes/helper.php';
//require_once JPATH_BASE.'/includes/toolbar.php'; 



//This here is throwing an exception 
 $app = JFactory::getApplication();

//$app->redirect('another page in my site');
?>

I am getting the following error:

Error displaying the error page: Application Instantiation Error: Application Instantiation Error

Every other page in the website is working correctly, I have checked the configuration file and all the database settings are there.

I also tried repairing the DB through joomla back end and through phpmyadmin and that didn't change anything.

any ideas what have I done wrong here?

Thank you

Answer 1

You haven't included the JFactory so to use Joomla's Database Class.

After requiring the framework add:

require_once( JPATH_BASE .'/libraries/joomla/factory.php' );

The following are not part of Joomla 3 version - it's normal that you don't see such files. How did they reach to your code?

//The following two files do not exist in my Joomla installation, is that normal?  
//require_once JPATH_BASE.'/includes/helper.php';
//require_once JPATH_BASE.'/includes/toolbar.php';