WP 5.1 throws fatal error when calling hook() function

  • Temlakos

    (@temlakos)


    6 years ago

    I am using a custom, non-WP-native theme called News Station, from Flexithemes.

    News Station by FlexiThemes

    That is why I am posting here, rather than on any “theme’s page.” WordPress does not maintain pages on themes that organizations other than WordPress built. Nor would I expect such service. In fact I have also left a message with FlexiThemes support, just to cover that base. Nevertheless, you should know what’s happening and how your upgrade broke my theme, in case it breaks anyone else’s custom theme.

    When I upgraded to WP 5.1, and after carefully updating my theme to its current version, I got a fatal error on this line in the header.php file for my theme:

    <?php $theme->hook(‘meta’); ?>

    The error message spoke of calling the hook() function with a null, or something like that.

    Happily, I had available to me (horrors!) a plugin called Downgrade. I used that to set a permanent target of WP 5.0.3. That is compatible.

    I am using PHP 5.6, the current stable version. I have available to me PHP 7.0 and 7.1 (the “Edge” version).

    Why is WP 5.1 breaking my theme at this line in the header file?

    Please do not suggest that I “comment it out.” When I do that, nothing loads, and I don’t even get an error message to tell me what’s wrong.

    Maybe I’m one of the few people in this forum who at least can fall back on an earlier version of the program.

    I would appreciate any insight you have, especially anything I can pass along to FlexiThemes if it’s anything they can fix.

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
  • Howdy_McGee

    (@howdy_mcgee)

    That’s a premium theme and should be asked via their support routes. By paying for the theme license they should provide at least some kind of support. The error you’re receiving is not a traditional WordPress error but a theme specific error so the developers of that theme would know best.

    That being said if you’re getting a fatal error for calling a method on null, it sounds like $theme variable doesn’t exist.

    Thread Starter Temlakos

    (@temlakos)

    FlexiThemes’ support team got back to me an hour ago. They have reached out to your Core team. They also have promised a quick rewrite of their theme that should be out any time. Bottom line: they’re working on it. “A backward-compatibility problem,” they said.

    They also confirmed that the Downgrade plugin is a good fallback in case any further backward-compatibility issues arise.

    Which version of PHP do you recommend? Their Changelog tells me they’re already up on “PHP 7 compatibility issues.” I’m using PHP 5.6, which my host tells me is the latest stable version. True? Or false?

    Howdy_McGee

    (@howdy_mcgee)

    PHP 7+ is the go to now-a-days. Check out WordPress Requirements page for more information:

    https://www.ads-software.com/about/requirements/

Viewing 3 replies - 1 through 3 (of 3 total)
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