Plugin throwing TypeError after Wordpress 4.5 upda

Question

I'm debugging a visual composer plugin that broke after I updated Wordpress to 4.5 and I can't figure out why it is throwing a TypeError.

The error message in the console:

JQMIGRATE: Migrate is installed, version 1.4.0              load-scripts.php?....
Uncaught TypeError:     $template.get is not a function     composer-view.js?ver=4.1.1.1:73

The only occurrences of $template are found in the code below. I understand that this isn't very much context to go off of but, how can I resolve this error?

/**
 * Convert html into correct element
 * @param html
 */
html2element: function(html) {
  var attributes = {},
    $template;
  if (_.isString(html)) {
    this.template = _.template(html);
    $template = $(this.template(this.model.toJSON()).trim());
  } else {
    this.template = html;
    $template = html;
  }
  _.each($template.get(0).attributes, function(attr) { // **errors on this line**
    attributes[attr.name] = attr.value;
  });
  this.$el.attr(attributes).html($template.html());
  this.setContent();
  this.renderContent();
},

Update:

It looks like this might be a problem with jQuery. Wordpress 4.5 includes jQuery 1.12 which fixed a bug that allowed certain code to be run with incorrect syntax. I assume that the plugin code must have had incorrect syntax but ran nonetheless until now.

https://wordpress.org/support/topic/read-this-first-wordpress-45-master-list#post-8271654

Answer 1

Well, i found the solution in this site: https://wordpress.org/support/topic/visual-composer-is-not-working

first: edit html2element:.... in in /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/assets/js/backend/composer-view.js

html2element: function(html) {
        var $template, attributes = {},
            template = html;
        $template = $(template(this.model.toJSON()).trim()), _.each($template.get(0).attributes, function(attr) {
            attributes[attr.name] = attr.value
        }), this.$el.attr(attributes).html($template.html()), this.setContent(), this.renderContent()},

---

second: However if you open up the frontend editor you'll have this "trim" issue on custom_views.js:101 , and line 467 of another file. I forgot the name, but I think it may be frontend_editor.js.

edit in: \wp-content\plugins\js_composer\assets\js\frontend_editor\

• frontend_editor.js
• custom_views.js

Bad code:

this.$controls = $( _.template( template, data, _.extend( {},
            vc.template_options,
            { evaluate: /\{#([\s\S]+?)#}/g } ) ).trim() ).addClass( 'vc_controls' );

Fixed code:

this.$controls = $( _.template( template, data, _.extend( {},
            vc.template_options,
            { evaluate: /\{#([\s\S]+?)#}/g } ) )().trim() ).addClass( 'vc_controls' );

third: See the black magic.

Cheers.

Answer 2

I am using the Astra theme. This fix is 99.9 % working. For some tho, this only stops the spinning wheel, but once the page loads visual composer does not.

I made a slight change to this code (that is posted everywhere by now)

Original Astra theme code here (composer-view.js)

        html2element:function (html) {
        var attributes = {},
            $template;
        if (_.isString(html)) {
            this.template = _.template(html);
            $template = $(this.template(this.model.toJSON()).trim());
        } else {
            this.template = html;
            $template = html;
        }
        _.each($template.get(0).attributes, function (attr) {
            attributes[attr.name] = attr.value;
        });
        this.$el.attr(attributes).html($template.html());
        this.setContent();
        this.renderContent();
    },

The code that works :

html2element: function(html) {
    var $template, 
    attributes = {},
    template = html;
    $template = $(template(this.model.toJSON()).trim()), 
     _.each($template.get(0).attributes, function(attr) {
    attributes[attr.name] = attr.value
}); this.$el.attr(attributes).html($template.html()), this.setContent(), this.renderContent()

},

The main difference is located here (versus original code)

}); this.$el.attr

There is a semicolon instead of the original comma :) :

}), this.$el.attr

Cheers folks :) So

Answer 3

I was able to resolve the issue. Turns out I was using an older version of JS composer. Updating to the newest version broke my site so I tracked down the error and updated the html2element function to

html2element: function(html) {
            var $template, attributes = {},
                template = html;
            $template = $(template(this.model.toJSON()).trim()), _.each($template.get(0).attributes, function(attr) {
                attributes[attr.name] = attr.value
            }), this.$el.attr(attributes).html($template.html()), this.setContent(), this.renderContent()
        },

All is working well for me again! Hope this helps others.

Answer 4

I made this modification that works on my WP 4.8.1 (PHP7)

in the file wp-content/plugins/js_composer/assets/js/backend/composer-view.js

you must modify the render method :

replace this line

this.html2element(_.template($shortcode_template_el.html(), this.model.toJSON())); 

by this line

this.html2element( $shortcode_template_el.html() );

It seems the _.template() function that doesn't work perfectly and doesn't return the good object, so better give the html code instead.

Answer 5

try updating your theme. Goto Appearance>Themes, and check for an update. This resolved the issue for me automatically upon update.

The error arises when you update to WP 4.5 for me running the Nimva theme. You have to update to 2.02 of Nimva, which allows auto updates.

Answer 6

I was still getting this error after trying the patch in Ben's answer: Uncaught TypeError: Cannot read property 'custom' of undefined

So I modified the html2element in composer-view.js as follows:

 html2element: function(html) {
        var $template, attributes = {},
            template = html;

        $template = $(template(this.model.toJSON()).trim());
        if($template.get(0))
        {
            _.each($template.get(0).attributes, function(attr) {
            attributes[attr.name] = attr.value
        })};

        this.$el.attr(attributes).html($template.html()),
        this.setContent(),
        this.renderContent()
    },