Fatal error with PayPal Checkout add-on v. 3.9.0

[room34]

I’m not sure when version 3.9.0 was released, but I was accessing forms with PayPal fields just fine earlier today. Now, trying to load the form editing screen causes a fatal error, and from that point on, the whole site is inaccessible until I manually deactivate the plugin in the file system.

Here’s the error:

PHP Fatal error: Uncaught TypeError: Cannot access offset of type string on string in [REDACTED]/wp-content/plugins/gravityformsppcp/includes/class-gf-ppcp-api.php:147

The code up to and including line 147 is this:

// Convert JSON response to array.
$result_body = wp_remote_retrieve_body( $result );
if ( ! empty( $result_body ) ) {
	$result_body = gf_ppcp()->maybe_decode_json( $result_body );
} else {
	$result_body = array();
}
$debug_id                       = wp_remote_retrieve_header( $result, 'Paypal-Debug-Id' );
$result_body['PayPal-Debug-Id'] = $debug_id;

I haven’t dug deeper, but I think what’s happening is that the gf_ppcp()->maybe_decode_json() method is returning a string instead of an array. I was able to work around the problem by replacing the else statement with: if (!is_array($result_body))

I’m going to submit a support ticket too but I thought I would post it here in case anyone else is running into any new issues today with the PayPal add-on.

[curtiso116 (Curtis O)]

I have the same error on a few of my clients’ websites that use the PayPal plugin today. I hope this can find a solution soon.

[frankimbur]

Also have this problem on multiple sites and I have just submitted it to the support team. I note that there is also an error reported when examining the paypal connection setup in the webhook section.

[user5c785ae8905e28.5 (Salman Maqsood)]

We have encountered the same errors with the webhook and critical error on form pages on some of our client sites as well. We’ve submitted a ticket for support as well. Glad we’re not the only ones in this boat, and hoping this gets resolved quickly!

[Morgan_Kay (Morgan Kay (Gravity Forms))]

We are working on this and will release a solution as soon as we can!

[frankimbur]

@room34

if (!is_array($result_body))

I can confirm that this fix worked for me. I replaced the if ( ! empty( $result_body ) with if (!is_array($result_body)). THANKS!

[uamv (Joshua Vandercar (Gravity Forms))]

After further investigation, the fatal error is being triggered by this PayPal incident which is preventing the add-ons proper communication with the PayPal REST API. Our support team is able to provide a hotfix build of the PayPal Add-On which adds a guard clause to prevent the fatal error.

Note: Until PayPal resolves the incident on their end, it is likely that transactions may not be accepted. This version simply prevents any related fatal errors resulting from their outage.

[room34]

Great work by the GF team tracking this down… thanks!