Patch or rebuild older theme?

  • okieman

    (@okieman)


    11 months, 1 week ago

    About five years ago, I built a site for a client using Foxy theme by Elegant Themes. We added a child theme to accommodate the client’s extensive modifications, and the site includes ecommerce. (The client did not want to pay monthly subscription fees to Elegant Themes, so we can’t access their support.) Recently, we’re getting error messages (“There has been a critical error on this website”) on the Editor account of a new user. When this new user is logged in, and tries to edit a page, she has no Update button to save her work. Tinkering with her role has not helped.

    I pulled the recent messages from the error log and ran it through AI software. The verdict is that the theme is old enough (v2.2.19) to conflict with the PHP 8.2 running at the host (Siteground). I believe it was last updated in 2023(?).

    I can either patch this problem with changes to the Editor role that will include edit_theme_options, unfiltered_html, edit_files; or start over with a new theme. I’m pretty good with code, but this particular issue is unfamiliar to me. Any tips?

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)
  • Moderator threadi

    (@threadi)

    11 months, 1 week ago

    Unfortunately, you don’t specify what error occurred. If you could provide that information, we would at least be able to give you a second opinion on your AI help.

    The assumption that it has to do with an incompatibility between a component of the project and the currently used PHP is quite plausible. A solution for this depends first of all on what the specific error is and which component it affects.

    If it is the purchased theme, you would first have to check whether you are allowed to make any changes at all according to their license terms. Of course, support has expired, etc., but it could still be unfavorable if that should change.

    You would then have to weigh up whether a completely new theme makes sense based on the effort involved. Sometimes it is cheaper to adapt an existing project, sometimes not. Without knowing the details, it is not possible to give any real advice.

    Thread Starter okieman

    (@okieman)

    11 months, 1 week ago

    from the debug.log …
    [21-Jun-2025 03:08:36 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_HTTPInterface::$expects_json is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/HTTPInterface.php on line 305
    [21-Jun-2025 03:08:36 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_HTTPInterface::$owner is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/HTTPInterface.php on line 307
    [21-Jun-2025 03:08:36 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_API_Spam_ReCaptcha::$data_utils is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/api/Service.php on line 244
    [21-Jun-2025 03:08:36 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_API_Spam_ReCaptcha::$API_KEY_REQUIRED is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/api/Service.php on line 247
    [21-Jun-2025 03:08:42 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_HTTPInterface::$expects_json is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/HTTPInterface.php on line 305
    [21-Jun-2025 03:08:42 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_HTTPInterface::$owner is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/HTTPInterface.php on line 307
    [21-Jun-2025 03:08:42 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_API_Spam_ReCaptcha::$data_utils is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/api/Service.php on line 244
    [21-Jun-2025 03:08:42 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_API_Spam_ReCaptcha::$API_KEY_REQUIRED is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/api/Service.php on line 247
    [21-Jun-2025 03:09:00 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_HTTPInterface::$expects_json is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/HTTPInterface.php on line 305
    [21-Jun-2025 03:09:00 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_HTTPInterface::$owner is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/HTTPInterface.php on line 307
    [21-Jun-2025 03:09:00 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_API_Spam_ReCaptcha::$data_utils is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/api/Service.php on line 244
    [21-Jun-2025 03:09:00 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_API_Spam_ReCaptcha::$API_KEY_REQUIRED is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/api/Service.php on line 247
    [21-Jun-2025 03:09:01 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_HTTPInterface::$expects_json is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/HTTPInterface.php on line 305
    [21-Jun-2025 03:09:01 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_HTTPInterface::$owner is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/HTTPInterface.php on line 307
    [21-Jun-2025 03:09:01 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_API_Spam_ReCaptcha::$data_utils is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/api/Service.php on line 244
    [21-Jun-2025 03:09:01 UTC] PHP Deprecated: Creation of dynamic property ET_Core_API_Spam_ReCaptcha::$API_KEY_REQUIRED is deprecated in /home/customer/www/clientname.com/public_html/wp-content/themes/Foxy/core/components/api/Service.php on line 247

    Moderator threadi

    (@threadi)

    11 months, 1 week ago

    None of the lines in error.log are error messages. They are all deprecated messages. This is PHP’s way of indicating that the programming will not be compatible with a future version of PHP and will then lead to errors. Not now.

    The annotated lines are all from two files in your theme. Theoretically, it would be possible to adapt this, but since it involves dynamic variables in objects, it could be quite complicated to make it compatible with modern PHP.

    Since it is a commercial theme, I do not have access to its source code, which is why I cannot say anything more specific about it. Please note that we cannot provide any further assistance with commercial themes here in the forum.

    Thread Starter okieman

    (@okieman)

    11 months, 1 week ago

    Thank you, @threadi
    I will try reddit.

Viewing 4 replies - 1 through 4 (of 4 total)

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