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August 2008
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How to: Fix the 46 dashboard.php error in WP 2.5.0


This how to was suppose to release yesterday but since a special announcement take over, it’s was forwarded to today. The article below is quite useless now since WordPress is at version 2.5.1 but I just let this one go just for general info.

Anyway…
I’ve been encountering this line error a few times when I tried to migrate WordPress files one folder to another during the development progress for DSDexigns. It also happens on one of my project development.

Fatal error: Cannot use string offset as an array in [server root directory]/blog/wp-admin/includes/dashboard.php on line 46
The problem really bug me a lot cause at first, the only way I know how to solve this issue is by reinstalling WordPress again and upload the backup file. This procedure really cause lot of time wasted. Today, I took the initiative to search for the solution and indeed, I’ve found a tip that really useful and effective.

So how to solve this Fatal Error problem?
  1. First of all, you need to enter your WordPress database at phpMyAdmin.

  2. Click Search and type in dashboard_widget_options. Below the search field, click on SELECT ALL.

  3. Begin your search.

  4. The result page will indicates that there is 1 match inside table wp_options. Click browse.

  5. The next page shows your final result and as well as the one that been causing the Fatal Error message. Delete it.


So what happens?
Seriously, I’m not quite sure.
What I know for now is all the moving here and there is causing the to dashboard_widget_options corrupt.

Is it safe to delete dashboard_widget_options?
For the way I see it, when we delete the dashboard_widget_options, WordPress itself will detect that one of the values is missing, and so it will automatically restore the default setting.

Is there a simpler way to fix this problem?
Viper007Bond [ official website ] has written a plugin for this problem. Your can get the Dashboard Fixer at it’s plugin page. Please read the installtion guidelines to know how to use the plugin.

Additional Note:
The above problem only occurs on WordPress 2.5.0. It have been fixed for version 2.5.1.






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