Fatal error occurred

Hi there!

Thanks for the detailed report!

Please try this:

1. Go to Plugins > Editor and select WordPress Popular Posts from the dropwdown at your right.
2. Click on wordpress-popular-posts/admin/class-wordpress-popular-posts-admin.php to edit this file.
3. Find: $theme->colors = ['#333', '#999', '#881111', '#a80000']; and change it to: $theme->colors = array('#333', '#999', '#881111', '#a80000');
4. Hit the Update file button to save changes.

Please report back the results.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Hector Cabrera. Reason: Wrapped code in backticks

Ok how do I do that without being able to gain access to the WordPress backend?

Just noticed you guys might not have access to your dashboard either. So please follow these instructions to disable WPP, then reinstall it (but don’t enable it yet!) and follow the instructions from my previous comment. If you guys can confirm that the above fix works, I’ll push an update immediately.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Hector Cabrera.
• This reply was modified 7 years, 2 months ago by Hector Cabrera. Reason: Fixed typo

I made the edit suggested above and got a new error when activating the plugin:

Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error.
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_RETURN, expecting ‘)’ in website/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-popular-posts/admin/class-wordpress-popular-posts-admin.php on line 860

Thanks @mountain-hiker-1!

Could you please:

• Share your PHP version.
• Share a screenshot of the edited part of the file.

I have an old GoDaddy account with shared hosting using PHP Version 5.3. I cannot upgrade to newer PHP unless I move to a new hosting plan. I plan to do that when I renew in October.

I don’t have screenshot but saved edit looks like this:
Edit Plugins
Editing wordpress-popular-posts/admin/class-wordpress-popular-posts-admin.php (inactive)

// Fallback, just in case

$theme = new stdClass;
$theme->colors = array(‘#333’, ‘#999’, ‘#881111’, ‘#a80000’);

return $theme;

I’m pretty sure it’s the PHP version. I’m running 5.6.30 on my laptop and during all this time (been working on version 4.0 for over a year now) never had this problem.

Anyways, please try this:

1. Let’s replace this entire block of code:

   // Fallback, just in case
   $theme = new stdClass;
   $theme->colors = ['#333', '#999', '#881111', '#a80000'];
   
   return $theme;

   with:

   // Fallback, just in case
   return array( '#333', '#999', '#881111', '#a80000' );

2. Next, right above, change:

   if ( isset($_wp_admin_css_colors[ $color_scheme]) ) {
       return $_wp_admin_css_colors[ $color_scheme];
   }

   with:

   if ( isset($_wp_admin_css_colors[ $color_scheme]) && isset($_wp_admin_css_colors[ $color_scheme])->colors ) {
       return $_wp_admin_css_colors[ $color_scheme]->colors;
   }

3. Finally, a few lines above find:

   var wpp_chart_views_color = '<?php echo $color_scheme->colors[2]; ?>';
   var wpp_chart_comments_color = '<?php echo $color_scheme->colors[3]; ?>';

   and change it to:

   var wpp_chart_views_color = '<?php echo $color_scheme[2]; ?>';
   var wpp_chart_comments_color = '<?php echo $color_scheme[3]; ?>';

4. Hit the Update file button to save changes.

Please report back the result.

I made the edit suggested above and got a new error when activating the plugin:

Plugin could not be activated because it triggered a fatal error.
Parse error: syntax error, unexpected T_OBJECT_OPERATOR in website/wp-content/plugins/wordpress-popular-posts/admin/class-wordpress-popular-posts-admin.php on line 849

Damn, I made a small mistake while typing that line here (that’s what I get for replying from my phone).

Please change:

if ( isset($_wp_admin_css_colors[ $color_scheme]) && isset($_wp_admin_css_colors[ $color_scheme])->colors ) {
    return $_wp_admin_css_colors[ $color_scheme]->colors;
}

to:

if ( isset($_wp_admin_css_colors[ $color_scheme]) && isset($_wp_admin_css_colors[ $color_scheme]->colors) ) {
    return $_wp_admin_css_colors[ $color_scheme]->colors;
}

Success! I made the correction above. The plugin activated with no errors and my blog is again displaying popular posts.
Thank you!

Finally! Hahahah Thank you for your kind help and patience. I’m sure other users will appreciate it as much as I do.

Alright, in the following minutes I’ll push a new update with this fix and other minor changes. Please update as soon as you can.