PHP v7.8.9

Yesterday, two of my clients admins started displaying "undefined" under the headings on the adming.php page. While the links o the pages work, as does all other aspects, e.g. orders page, products page, and so on, the 'totals' summary are not displaying. I did not find anything in the error logs and even re-uploaded all the admin files, but with not success. One client just informed me it works fine on his iPad, but not on his cell. I cannot get it to work on either a laptop or desktop. Anyone else having this problem or have a recommendation?

Thanks in advance.

An additional problem. The sites with this problem are also unable to add tracking information. And error message appears stating "error updating"

Marshall
CENLYT Productions - ms designs
Affordable Web Design
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Cenlyt.com

On first thought, have you added something recently in your includes file?
That would explain how it is across multiple pages.

Mike Beebe
President,
DataLinks Software Solutions
www.dlss.ca
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We had this same problem and it was related to ShipStation for us. ShipStation was not able to import any orders and our admin page was showing the "undefined" also. We thought it might be a database issue but it wasn't.

After extensive digging and testing we found the problem was in the ajaxservice.php file.

This is what fixed ours.

I'm sure Vince will look into this.

We replaced the following lines in the ajaxservice.php file:

print $retval;
if(@$debugmode||@$debugxmlemails){
dosendemail($emailAddr,$emailAddr,'',"Shipstation Debug",$retval);
}

With this:

// Send ShipStation a clean XML-only response and stop execution immediately.
// This prevents later PHP warnings or debug output from corrupting the XML.
if(ob_get_level()>0) ob_clean();
if(!headers_sent()){
header('Content-Type: application/xml; charset=utf-8');
header('X-Content-Type-Options: nosniff');
}
print $retval;
if(ob_get_level()>0) ob_end_flush();
exit;

Why it works:

It clears anything already sitting in the output buffer.
It explicitly identifies the response as XML.
It sends the completed XML.
It flushes the buffer.
It immediately stops execution before any later warning or debug code can interfere.

The original file continued running after:

print $retval;

and then evaluated the debug-email condition. Our log showed an undefined $debugxmlemails warning immediately afterward. Even though that warning was technically nonfatal, the original output-buffer behavior was evidently preventing ShipStation from receiving a usable response.

Patrick

ECT v7.9.5
PHP v8.3.32

The includes.php files have not been changed in either site, nor does either site use Ship Station. And we have also since discovered customers cannot set up accounts and PayPal is not working.

UPDATE: I updated one of the sites in question to v7.9.5 and it did not resolve the problem.

Marshall
CENLYT Productions - ms designs
Affordable Web Design
Custom Ecommerce Designs
Responsive Websites
Cenlyt.com

Hey Marshall,

Try my suggestion I mentioned earlier and see if it works. It won't cause any harm. I'm just curious if the ajaxservice.php file is the issue.

For giggles I resorted back to the original file and the "undefined" issue popped back up. Once I uploaded the revised the "undefined" problem went away. I may not just be a ShipStation issue.

Patrick

Patrick,

It worked. But here is something weird. I did it on the site I just updated to v7.9.5 and when I connected with Filezilla, it should the file size on the server for ajaxservice.php at zero.

Marshall
CENLYT Productions - ms designs
Affordable Web Design
Custom Ecommerce Designs
Responsive Websites
Cenlyt.com

What likely happened during the v7.9.5 update is one of these:

1. ajaxservice.php was created but its upload failed.
2. The update process truncated the existing file and did not finish replacing it.
3. File permissions, disk limits, or a connection interruption prevented the file from being written.
4. FileZilla displayed an outdated directory listing, though refreshing the listing would normally correct that.

The important test is:

1. Refresh the server directory listing in FileZilla.
2. Confirm ajaxservice.php still shows 0 bytes.
3. Download the server copy and open it in a text editor.
4. If it is empty, replace it with the correct ajaxservice.php from the same v7.9.5 update package.
5. Make sure the uploaded file has a normal, nonzero size.
6. Clear any server cache, CDN cache, and browser cache.

Patrick

Hi Marshall
I've been looking at this problem with a client that may or may not be one of the ones you are trying to help, but I think this may come down to some kind of security settings or software on the server. The first thing I tried to do was an update but there are a couple of files that just can't be updated. This client has a "hidden" vsadmin directory and it's the same files that can't be updated in both, which kind of seems to indicate that the server is blocking them.
/vsadmin/assets/ectadmin.js
/vsadmin/inc/incordstatus.php
Also, if I rename the offending file to give it a .PDF extension it still can't be uploaded which kind of indicates that it's the contents and not the filename.
So then with the admin, the AJAX call to update the Dashboard seems to succeed but the contents of the file are missing so that's why the "undefined" errors. I've made some changes so this fails a bit more elegantly and there isn't a javascript error causing problems for scripts which come after. But would it be possible to ask the host if they have recently installed any security software, or changed the settings? Also, this is a wordpress site I am looking at so would it be possible to see if they have enabled any security plugins and if it's possible to try disabling them to see if things start working?

Vince

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I first approached the host about this issue and their response was:
"I would have a look in the browser console and check the error log to see where in the code that's going wrong. I looked at a test site here on the same PHP version as you, updated it to the latest ECT version, and don't see any stray messages about undefined variables so I don't think it's a general issue. Thank you."

Neither of the two sites this affected are WordPress, one is on shared hosting PHP version 8.3.32, the other is a dedicated server, PHP version 8.4.23. I found it truly weird they should both have the same issue at the exact same time.

Marshall
CENLYT Productions - ms designs
Affordable Web Design
Custom Ecommerce Designs
Responsive Websites
Cenlyt.com

Hi Marshall
I did check the error logs but it seems the call is returning a 200 HTTP response which would normally indicate that all went well. But nothing is returned.

quote:

---

I found it truly weird they should both have the same issue at the exact same time.

---

Yes, I don't think this is just coincidence and also this site has been running fine for a few months on the same update with no problem. I did update again while trying to troubleshoot this but the issue was already there. So I don't think it's anything to do with the updater.
But who are you hosting with? Maybe there were changes on the server of something like that?

Vince

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Vince & Marshall,

Just FYI: I'm using ServeLink to host my sites.

Patrick

I'm hosting on Servelink, too. I also had "undefined" under the headings on the admin page. Vince applied the updaters for me, now it doesn't say "undefined", it just has a dash. I also can't add a tracking number in the order details page. When I hit "enter" it says "error updating". My packing slips were looking wonky until Vince applied the updater, but now they seem to be ok. The tracking number issue is the big one. I use ShipStation through my Paypal account, it is not integrated with my ECT site. I have to manually add the tracking number in that field in order details.

It seems that if you report this to servelink they will add an exception to whatever security software they are using that is flagging this.
While you are there could you report that it's not possible to upload the following files by FTP as this is likely to be related...

vsadmin/assets/ectadmin.js
vsadmin/inc/incordstatus.php

Vince

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Interesting. Seems the good folks at Servelink have already done this for me without my asking. I am now able to add tracking numbers again, and the dashes in the main headings area of the dashboard are now replaced by numbers! Thanks to all - Vince, Peter, and whoever else may have been involved.