Error One or more columns doesn’t have a header…..

Hello,
Firstly we apologize for replying so late to this issue.
Thank you for your patience.


In the new plugin versions, our developers introduced improved error checking for Tables linked from source files and improved error handling.

Our Plugin is based on libraries from DataTables JQuery Plugin, it follows some of their main limitations – one of them is not being able to have empty/blank Header name in any Column from the linked Table’s data source file.

Previously, ( on Lite version 2.1.71 or older) we had some specific User cases where they were able to have one or more Columns with empty Header Names on the source files for linked Tables ( such as CSV/Excel) and that somehow worked – even though it should not – our Plugin was intended like that from the start, to not allow any blank Headers on the Table’s source data.

From now on – that will no longer be possible, so please check your source file ( Csv/Excel) and make sure that each column has a Header Name.

We will not be changing this error checking because it needs to exist for some other important new Plugin functionalities.

I am sorry if that causes an inconvenience.

If you can’t isolate the issue on your own, our Support can help you try to isolate what the issue is with the source File.

If you can’t find any empty Headers, can you please send us your source File?

If it does not contain any sensitive data, you can wrap it inside a zipped folder and upload it anywhere like weTransfer/GoogleDrive and send us a download link.

Then we can inspect your file and reproduce the error on our end.

Or, if your file has any sensitive Data, please open a PRIVATE pre-purchase ticket (which doesn’t require a purchase code) and send your source file to our Agents there – they will try to debug it as quickly as possible.

–

If you don’t wish to debug the issue with your file, another option will be to downgrade your Lite Plugin version to an older version which does not have this error checking. You can download version 2.1.71 version here. Just scroll down to the “Previous Versions” section. Please note : Previous versions of plugins may not be secure or stable. They are not recommended for use on production websites.

Kind regards.

Hello again,
We are just following up – our developers made a fix for this issue.
We will share the instructions on how you can edit our Lite Plugin’s code to apply the fix.
Find this PHP file via FTP or your Hosting File Manager or the Plugin File Editor, in the path :
../wp-content/plugins/wpdatatables-lite/source/class.wpdatatable.php.
Then around line 1754 search with “CTRL+F” for this line :

$headingsArray = $objWorksheet->rangeToArray('A1:' . $highestColumn . '1', null, true, true, true);

Under it, add this :

while (!end($headingsArray[1])) {
    array_pop($headingsArray[1]);
};

So in the end, that part of the code should look like this :

$headingsArray = $objWorksheet->rangeToArray('A1:' . $highestColumn . '1', null, true, true, true);
while (!end($headingsArray[1])) {
    array_pop($headingsArray[1]);
};

Save changes, and purge cache of your Site, then try to load the existing Table/ or link a new Table from the same file and now it should work without throwing the error about empty Headers.

With this sample Excel, we can confirm it works when this fix is applied on both Lite and Premium Plugin versions.

This fix should be included in the next Update, our QA Team is just conducting final tests to ensure there are no negative effects before it is added to the Plugin’s core.

Let us know if you still encounter any issues regarding that error about empty Headers after applying this fix.

Thank you.