Title: [Plugin: Spots] Problems with nested serialized data structures
Last modified: August 20, 2016

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# [Plugin: Spots] Problems with nested serialized data structures

 *  Resolved [JochenT](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jochent/)
 * (@jochent)
 * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-spots-problems-with-nested-serialized-data-structures/)
 * Hi,
 * currently I’ve a problem with nested serialized data structures stored as _transient_spot_xxxx
   in table wp_options. The problem emerges when cloning a site (e.g. live server
   to staging or vice versa).
 * The original value is:
    option_name: _transient_spot_9310 option_value: s:266:”
   a:2:{s:6:”output”;s:211:”<p>Sie möchten noch mehr über die E-Plus Gruppe erfahren
   und benötigen zusätzliche Informationen?</p> <p>[Kontaktieren Sie uns](http://eplus-gruppe.de/kontaktformular-presse/)
   </p> “;s:6:”status”;s:7:”publish”;}”;
 * After cloning the modified entry is:
    option_name: _transient_spot_9310 option_value:
   s:279:”a:2:{s:6:”output”;s:211:”<p>Sie möchten noch mehr über die E-Plus Gruppe
   erfahren und benötigen zusätzliche Informationen?</p> <p>[Kontaktieren Sie uns](http://test.xxxxx-xxx.xxxxxx.xxx.de/kontaktformular-presse/)
   </p> “;s:6:”status”;s:7:”publish”;}”;
 * The over all length of the string is modified correctly (+13 characters). But
   the length of the string of the second array element (length=211) is unmodified.
   This results in a failure when executing the unserialize() in function icit_get_spot()
   on line 1028 of the plugin.
 * I use a professional plugin for the cloning process (BackupBuddy) and have reported
   the problem to them. Their answer is: “The WordPress Codex states that you do
   not need to serialise values, if the option value needs to be serialised then
   it will be serialised (by WordPress function) before it is inserted into the 
   database. … You will need to contact the plugin author to have them update the
   plugin to conform to the WordPress convention.”
 * Although I’ve suggested them to add a feature which will convert nested serialized
   structures as well, it might be very helpful if you could modify the plugin to
   avoid such nested elements.
 * This is a great plugin and we use it for a complex footer to allow editors to
   modify the footer elements without having to deal with the widgets itself.
 * [http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/spots/](http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/spots/)

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

 *  Plugin Author [Robert O’Rourke](https://wordpress.org/support/users/sanchothefat/)
 * (@sanchothefat)
 * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-spots-problems-with-nested-serialized-data-structures/#post-2783866)
 * Hi Jochen,
 * You’re right – interesting bug that. WP should know if it’s got serialised data
   to insert so I didn’t think it would cause an issue like that.
 * I’ve removed the explicit serialisation in version 1.0.7 of the plugin along 
   with some improvements to the caching.
 * Can you update the plugin and then try it again and let me know if the problem
   comes back?
 *  Thread Starter [JochenT](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jochent/)
 * (@jochent)
 * [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-spots-problems-with-nested-serialized-data-structures/#post-2783931)
 * Hi,
 * I’ve updated to v1.0.7 and reviewed the entry in table wp_options. Now it contains
   a straight none nested serialized data structure. This should make no problems
   when cloning the site, any more.
 * Thanks for the quick update.

Viewing 2 replies - 1 through 2 (of 2 total)

The topic ‘[Plugin: Spots] Problems with nested serialized data structures’ is closed
to new replies.

 * ![](https://ps.w.org/spots/assets/icon-256x256.png?rev=1025761)
 * [Spots](https://wordpress.org/plugins/spots/)
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 * 2 replies
 * 2 participants
 * Last reply from: [JochenT](https://wordpress.org/support/users/jochent/)
 * Last activity: [14 years ago](https://wordpress.org/support/topic/plugin-spots-problems-with-nested-serialized-data-structures/#post-2783931)
 * Status: resolved