database error: table taxonomymeta doesn't exist

Is it possible that you are using the taxonomy meta plugin? That plugin began failing after the introduction of WordPress 4.4 and may explain the errors you are experiencing. The Unique Headers plugin does not do anything directly with custom database tables, only the ones provided within WordPress.

Hi Ryan,

No that plugin is not in use. I saw some references to that one also, that got me on track to this plugin. However it seems it must be something else, I will try to debug this error later.
Thanks for the feedback, I’ll close this topic for you.

Thanks,
Ruud

If you just deactivate plugins one by one, you should be able to easily narrow down which plugin is the culprit.

Hi Ryan,
I had some time to dig a little further into this bug.

I think I found the source for this bug. In the plugins legacy.php file an action is used to create a taxonomymeta table in the wpdb object.

Then from the call in the theme the attachment ID is retrieved which triggers update_meta_cache(). update_meta_cache then tries to attempt to locate the proper table, it tries ‘taxonomymeta’ and because action just added this table it doesn’t return true. Next update_meta_cache tries to do the SELECT taxonomy_id, meta_key, meta_value FROM wp_ceia_taxonomymeta query, which fails.

I’m not sure what to make of this, I haven’t seen the error reappear also.

Please comment.

Thanks,
Ruud

I have the same issue:

Query monitor output:
Query:

SELECT taxonomy_id, meta_key, meta_value
FROM wp_taxonomymeta
WHERE taxonomy_id IN (21)
ORDER BY meta_id ASC

Call stack

update_meta_cache()
 wp-includes/meta.php:823
get_metadata()
 wp-includes/meta.php:494
Unique_Header_Taxonomy_Header_Images->header_image_filter()
 /srv/www/test.dev/content/plugins/unique-headers/inc/class-unique-headers-taxonomy-header-images.php:173
apply_filters('theme_mod_header_image')
 wp-includes/plugin.php:235
get_theme_mod()
 wp-includes/theme.php:874
get_header_image()
 wp-includes/theme.php:1004
test_archive_unique_header_background_style()
 /srv/www/test.dev/content/themes/test/inc/template-tags.php:266

Component
Plugin: unique-headers

Table
‘Table ‘test.wp_taxonomymeta’ doesn’t exist’

Ruud, sorry, I don’t think I got a notification about your comment last week. I will look into this as soon as possible (probably within the next 24 hours).

I suspect removing that action hook from the legacy.php file will solve your problem. I’m not sure why it would be causing problems, but it sounds like you are probably correct.

Thanks for your assistance ??

Paul, it sounds like your are being tripped up by the same problem as Ruud. I’m not sure why it would be causing any problems, as it was working fine when I tested it, but I guess I made a mistake somewhere :/

The code that will be causing this issue is in the legacy.php file. If you remove the last action hook there, which attaches unique_header_wpdbfix to init, that SHOULD fix it I think.

I’m hectically busy for the next 24 hours so don’t have time to work on this myself right now sorry.

If it fixes it, just update your site and let me know it worked here. I’ll make sure the next release includes the fix (probably to be released on Friday night or Saturday).

Sorry if this is a bug by me BTW (sounds like it is). I thought this was totally bug-free based on the testing I did, but I guess I missed some stuff :/

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for your feedback.

>Thanks for your assistance ??
No worries, glad to help out.

Please let us know once you have a new version out with a fix.

Thanks,
Ruud

Ughh, I stuck this in my work calendar instead of my personal calendar, and so I didn’t see it until now sorry :/ I will try to get to it this evening.

Thanks Ryan,

Much appreciated.

thanks for looking into this, hope the info was useful

I have experienced the same problem ( …..wp_taxonomymeta doesn’t exist) when adding/renaming a category.

I needed a temporary fix, so I installed an additional plugin Taxonomy Metadata.
This additional plugin has added a new empty table ( …..wp_taxonomymeta ) and thereby overcome the error caused by the table not existing.

I look forward to a proper fix, when Ryan has time.

At a guess, anybody who knows enough sql to add an empty table can “temporary fix” the problem without installing an additional (and unwanted) plugin. This must be safer than altering a .php file.

This should have been fixed already. How would I go about replicating the problem you are experiencing? It seems to be working for me just fine on my own installation of it.

Problem occurred when I added a new category and tried to edit it. The problem went away if I had one additional empty table (taxonomymeta).

To re-create the problem.

1. Manually delete (drop) the table taxonomymeta (I used phpMyadmin).
2. Verify that the table definitely does not exist (I used phpMyadmin).

Then (and this is how I discovered the problem before)

3. Add a new category and then try to edit it.

My error appeared at the top of the screen:

WordPress database error:[Table ‘….wp_taxonomymeta’ doesn’t exist]
  SELECT taxonomy_id, meta_key, meta_value FROM wp_taxonomymeta WHERE  taxonomy_id  IN (1116) ORDER BY meta_id  ASC

Then to put my site back into a reasonably healthy state, I deactivated and deleted the plugin Taxonomy Metadata; discovered that it did not delete the table taxonomymeta (which is helpful in this situation).

So, is it possible to either

1. remove Unique Headers’s requirement for the table taxonomymeta?

OR

2. for Unique Headers (at installation time) to create an empty version of table taxonomymeta? (if not existing)

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WordPress 4.4.2 Running PHP version: 5.3.29 Version 1.5.2 of Unique Headers