A blank page in PHP usually means that there's a syntax error in the code
and that error reporting is turned off. You can turn error reporting on in your script with this:
error_reporting(E_ALL); However, that won't work for errors that are caught in compile time, before execution starts, because that line needs to execute before it works.
The solution, then, is to turn error reporting on at the server, in the PHP.INI file. Look for a line that says
error_reporting = "something" and change the something to
E_ALL (the most errors reported). If you can't access your server's PHP.INI file, talk to your support or server administrator.
Meanwhile, you might also check your error log, which should be available to you via your hosting control panel. The error may or may no be logged there.
Finally, turning all error reporting on in live servers is considered a generally poor practice for security reasons. Also, working directly on a live server can be dangerous as you found out -- an error can spread. Try to set up a development server, where you do the actual development work, and when everything is right, you transfer the files to the live server. Your development server can be on your own computer, or you can just have a second installation of Codeigniter on your live server, in a separate directory.
I hope that helps!
Hey, don't work without a PHP debugger. Several free IDEs have this features built in. Two are NetBeans and CodeLobster. Without a debugger, it's like you're driving with a blindfold on -- you are going to crash!