Authentication not possible. No “oauth_token”.

This is a code issue within the Photonic plugin itself.

While it may seem that way, it is unlikely to be the issue; as recently as yesterday, other users have executed authentication for the plugin without problems.

The line you are pointing to is executed this way (photonic/Admin/Authentication.php, lines 298 and 299):

$request_token = $module->get_request_token(admin_url('admin.php?page=photonic-auth&provider=flickr'));
$authorize_url = $module->get_authorize_URL($request_token);

The first line gets the $request_token, which is passed to the call for get_authorize_URL (in OAuth1.php), where the error is occurring.

Let’s look at the code for get_request_token (OAuth1.php, line 146):

	public function get_request_token($oauth_callback): array {
		$method = 'GET';

		$signature  = $this->generate_signature($this->request_token_URL(), ['oauth_callback' => $oauth_callback], $method);
		$parameters = [
			'oauth_version'          => $this->oauth_version,
			'oauth_nonce'            => $this->nonce,
			'oauth_timestamp'        => $this->oauth_timestamp,
			'oauth_callback'         => $oauth_callback,
			'oauth_consumer_key'     => $this->api_key,
			'oauth_signature_method' => $this->oauth_signature_method(),
			'oauth_signature'        => $signature,
		];

		$end_point = $this->request_token_URL();
		if ('GET' === $method) {
			$end_point  .= '?' . self::build_query($parameters);
			$parameters = null;
		}

		$response = Photonic::http($end_point, $method, $parameters);
		$token    = $this->parse_token($response);

		return $token;
	}

The $token is being parsed out of the $response, which is a call made to https://www.flickr.com/services/oauth/request_token with various parameters. The only way that the $token will not have values is if the line $response = Photonic::http($end_point, $method, $parameters) is failing – that is a simple call to the endpoint with the parameters… this happens either when there is a connection failure, or when something is messing with the parameters when the call is being made (typically a security plugin).

Since I have never been able to replicate the issue on any of my test or live instances, there is no way for me to say which one of these is affecting your site. I can help you troubleshoot this further if you are comfortable adding lines of code – let me know if you want to proceed that way.

I have one fundamental question for you: do you really need authentication? Are your galleries private? If they are not private, you can simply display your galleries without the need for any authentication.

My galleries are not private. How can I display them without authentication?

You don’t need to do anything! Basically you can just start creating the galleries using the Photonic wizard. See here for gallery creation guidelines. Note that for Flickr, all you need is an API key if there are no private photos.

Let’s start with this this before trying to troubleshoot authentication.

What information have you selected/filled in for that?

Can we arrange a webcall?

Sorry, the forum rules don’t permit that.

It sticks on both ways. Current user as well as with Another User.

I understand, but when you select “Another User”, what value do you put into the “User Name” field?

Seems to be showing up fine when I run the search. If you open “Developer Tools” in Chrome and view the “Console”, are you seeing any errors?

The errors in your Query Monitor are for when you are running authentication – you are getting a “403 Forbidden” error when you are doing the OAuth steps (that is the step that is failing in authentication).

Are there other items in this list corresponding to Photonic?

Is this list increasing each time you are trying to go through the user selection?

Also, you are getting “Forbidden” responses for non-Authentication calls, which is very puzzling – basically your API key should be able to do a regular fetch of information from Flickr. Can you confirm that there are no “hidden characters” or “special characters” in your API key?

At this time, I am confident that you are facing an issue with either your site’s configuration, or a conflict with another plugin or a conflict with your theme. If Photonic is working with the exact same details on another site, then the only source of the issue boils down to factors other than Photonic. Note that you are facing “403 Forbidden” issues on non-authenticated calls, which shouldn’t happen unless there is an underlying issue with how your site is connecting to Flickr.