simplexml_load_string error

I think you are using the wrong user_id. Take a look at this message:

Warning: simplexml_load_string(): Unable to find user with email 380969451620-70qmqt1fv0vs6iq8vi12gd2mdfdn0gvo.app in C:\xampp\htdocs\hastingsflyfishers\wp-content\plugins\photonic\extensions\Photonic_Picasa_Processor.php on line 246

From this message above it seems like you are putting in your client id into the user_id field, while you should be putting in your email user. If your email is xyz@gmail.com, in the user_id field you should be putting in xyz. The only place you will put your client id is in Photonic → Settings → Picasa → Picasa Settings → Google Client ID, nowhere else.

Okay. Well, that fixed that. It wasn’t entirely clear, though.

However, it still doesn’t solve the other issues:

Warning: simplexml_load_string(): Entity: line 1: parser error : Start tag expected, '<' not found in C:\xampp\htdocs\hastingsflyfishers\wp-content\plugins\photonic\extensions\Photonic_Picasa_Processor.php on line 246

Warning: simplexml_load_string(): kind: That is not one of the acceptable values in C:\xampp\htdocs\hastingsflyfishers\wp-content\plugins\photonic\extensions\Photonic_Picasa_Processor.php on line 246

Warning: simplexml_load_string(): ^ in C:\xampp\htdocs\hastingsflyfishers\wp-content\plugins\photonic\extensions\Photonic_Picasa_Processor.php on line 246

Uncommenting this:

 // This works, but test further ...
  $rss = wp_remote_request($query_url, array(
		'timeout' => 30 ,
	        'user-agent' => 'Photonic',
		'sslverify' => true // prevent some problems with Google in token request
));

Results in just his message:
Warning: simplexml_load_string() expects parameter 1 to be string, array given in C:\xampp\htdocs\hastingsflyfishers\wp-content\plugins\photonic\extensions\Photonic_Picasa_Processor.php on line 246

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by funex.
• This reply was modified 8 years ago by funex.

Please don’t change the code – I can assure you that it works fine and doesn’t need changes.

What is the shortcode you are using? The error message indicates that you are setting an incorrect value for “kind” (which is a different error message from the previous time).

• This reply was modified 8 years ago by Sayontan Sinha.

Hi,
I wanted to follow up – were you able to resolve this?

If you can explain what you are trying to show, and what shortcode you are using for it (you can see the shortcode in the “Text Editor”), I can help resolve this easily.

In general, for Picasa there are two things you can show – thumbnails for all your albums, and thumbnails of photos within an album. Demos and examples of shortcodes for the first can be found here, while demos and examples for the second can be found here. Both these links are included under Photonic → Getting Started in your dashboard, as well as in the “Documentation” links that you see when you click on Add Media → Photonic → Picasa.

My apologies for the brief note yesterday – that was typed from my phone.

Here is an example shortcode:

[gallery type='picasa' user_id='hastingsflyfishers' kind='album' album='RecentOutings' access='public' protection='none' max_results='5' layout='square' caption='desc-title' thumb_size='72' main_size='400' fx='fade' controls='hide' timeout='100' speed='100' ]

Despite the album being an “album”, changing kind to “photo, or removing that tag altogether has eliminated that problem.

Well, basically Google looks at it from a user’s point of view, and they only have two permissible values for kind:

• album – This shows all albums for a user (only the albums, not the photos in an album)
• photo – This shows all photos for a user, and by passing the album you can get photos for a specific album

The catch here is that if you are providing the user, setting kind=’album’ and a specific album id, it misconstructs the API call, resulting in an error returned from Google.

For the next release I will make the errors report out better.

Hi, I am receiving a similar error trying either google photos or flickr, though the error is different. This is what I get when I turn on debug. Any ideas? I am using PHP 7.0. I am not sure if that could be the issue?

Warning: simplexml_load_string(): Entity: line 1: parser error : Start tag expected, ‘<‘ not found in /home/stjamestheatre/wp-content/plugins/photonic/extensions/Photonic_Picasa_Processor.php on line 246

• This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by kpdillon.

@kpdillon,
Please start a different thread, as this one is resolved. Please provide the shortcode you have used.

Also, Flickr will never give you this issue – XML is not used for Flickr.

• This reply was modified 7 years, 11 months ago by Sayontan Sinha.