Strange bugs after last update, site won't display correctly

I’m sorry to hear about this, I hope I can help solve it quickly. It was a big update, especially a complete rewrite of the loop function. I tested it pretty thoroughly, but apparently I must have missed something.

That is strange that it works directly inside PHP files, but not in content or widget. Could you give me an example of the shortcode you’re using? Also, if you have WP_DEBUG set to true, any error messages?

I’ll keep looking to see what could be causing it.

Thanks Eliot. I’ve been telling myself not to stress out because I’m confident you’ll be able to work it out ??

The shortcode I’m using inside the PHP files is a plain wck field (not a repeater). These are being used on my archive pages and my custom latest posts page.

Every page on the site is being affected though, so it would be really hard to pinpoint any one shortcode. When I disabled the plugin, everything returned to normal except that my shortcodes were now outputting as text instead of the intended content.

Then with the plugin active, I stripped the contents of my home page (just from the page text editor) and saved. When I reloaded the front-end page, other than the fact that it was just an empty page with a title, the rest of the page loads well. I’m only using one instance of CCS in the footer on that page, and with the page content stripped, the footer shows ups, wck field and all. But I am using two loops on that page, one for plain recent posts, another for recent posts in just the one category.

So then I checked another page on the site, leaving everything intact first. The content is showing up but the footer isn’t — even though I’m using CCS in the content, and yes, the shortcodes are working in the content on that page. However, on that page I’m using a loop shortcode (plain recent posts) in the footer. I’m using this on most pages in the site, actually.

This is all so strange! There doesn’t seem to be any one reason for what’s happening!

The only other relevant thing I can think of is that I’m not using any loops in the content anywhere other than on the home page as mentioned — just wck fields and regular content code, the break shortcode, and mobile detect (which I use quite a lot). Can’t think of anything else right now…

I’m not sure what WP_DEBUG is — I looked for it quickly in the documentation and didn’t find it. I’m away the rest of the day today unfortunately, but if you could provide me with an example of how to use it and I’ll give it a shot as soon as I get back tonight.

Thanks again, Eliot!

Since the code works inside a PHP file but not in content or widget, it makes me wonder if it’s an unexpected interaction with the theme or another plugin.

Oh, just note that when I put the contents back in the home page and click save/update, I get returned to a blank /wp-admin/post.php page, but the changes are saved. If I click “back” I come to the edit screen with the correct “post saved” message.

After I updated the plugin, the old url I used for the documentation threw an error that I didn’t have access to the page. So I accessed it from the link in the menu and all was fine. Just wondering if the issues could be related?

Thanks!

Just saw your message. I’m wondering that as well, but it seems to me it’s the CCS update that caused this as everything was working before. But I didn’t check the site for a few hours after the update, so it very well could be! I hope there’s a way to pinpoint the issue…

You can set WP_DEBUG to true inside wp-config.php, which will display any PHP notices, warnings or errors: https://codex.www.ads-software.com/WP_DEBUG

Hopefully this will help diagnose the issue.

Very strange about the permalink behavior – “returned to a blank /wp-admin/post.php page” after post save/update; URL for a post “threw an error”. Since CCS doesn’t affect permalinks, it’s possible that something else is going on.

Lol — sorry about that! My vocab might have gotten confusing there. I just meant that an error message was displayed on an otherwise blank screen.

But I guess that’s not important after all… When I checked the site this morning, the same problems persisted, so I decided to apply your updates to see if that changed anything. I checked the site again, and everything’s back to normal!

Thank you SO MUCH, Eliot! Whatever you did worked! I couldn’t be more grateful ??

Whew, I’m glad to hear everything is back to normal! Thank you for letting me know – version 1.3.0 was especially a big update, and I was concerned whether it was fully compatible with previous versions.

I also included a few of your suggestions, such as getting taxonomy fields and exclude=”this”.

I’m so glad it worked out for both of us — lol.

I hadn’t noticed the taxonomy fields — that’s awesome! I’ll go check it out right now ?? Thanks!!