Troubleshooting Checklist for Event Espresso

WordPress is an amazing open source platform. With that strength comes the possibility of many plugins and themes. These can achieve different goals and are written by different people to wildly different standards.

So when problems strike, the first thing that needs to be done is some basic troubleshooting. This is useful not only for issues with Event Espresso, but any other plugins and themes that work with WordPress.

Check the Version Number of Event Espresso

This step is important because the issue you are seeing may be something that was fixed in a recent update of the software. You can check to see which version of Event Espresso is on your website by viewing the WordPress plugins page. The top of this page displays the current version number of Event Espresso 4. If you need help with updating please see this guide.

Check for a Theme Conflict

You can check if the issue is caused by a conflict or a bug within your theme by previewing the default WordPress theme in the Customizer (Twenty Seventeen at the time of writing).

If you cannot preview the default theme using the Customizer, you can use the Theme Test Drive plugin to test the theme without your visitors being aware.

Check for a Plugin Conflict

Deactivate all the plugins you have with the exception Event Espresso and see if the issue is resolved. If not try the theme option as well.

If the issue is resolved, start activating your plugins, one by one, testing for the problem each time. This systematic approach will help you find the plugin that is causing the issue/conflict. Once the plugin is identified we will be able to examine it in more detail or you can simply keep the plugin deactivated.

We maintain a list of known plugin and theme conflicts that you can check here: https://eventespresso.com/wiki/known-third-party-plugin-theme-conflicts/

Activate WP_DEBUG mode

You can make the following edit to your site’s wp-config.php file. This will log all errors, notices, and warnings to a file called debug.log in the wp-content directory. It will also hide the errors from displaying on screen so they do not interrupt page generation.

// Enable WP_DEBUG mode
define( 'WP_DEBUG', true );
if ( WP_DEBUG ) {
        @ini_set( 'display_errors', 0 );
        define( 'WP_DEBUG_LOG', true );
        define( 'WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false );
}

Check for a JavaScript Conflict

Some conflicts with Event Espresso can be related to Javascript where there’s a library that is either being loaded incorrectly, or an old version of a library is being forced to load, or something has stopped JavaScript from running. If you use Chrome or Firefox you can use the developer tools Console to pinpoint any JavaScript errors.

Also read here, for more JavaScript troubleshooting.

Specific error messages and their solutions

Nothing in your event queue is an error message that will display on the registration checkout page if there’s a problem with caching or if the session data gets deleted by a plugin like NextGen Gallery.

You can follow this guide to ensure that Event Espresso’s checkout pages are not served from a cache.

If you use the NextGen Gallery plugin there’s a workaround solution posted here.

The maximum number of inputs on this page has been exceeded is an error message that will display on the event editor page when the server’s max_input_vars limit is exceeded. You can contact your host to ask for instructions for how to raise this limit.

Page not found when viewing an events page. This will happen if the site’s rewrite rules were reset too early or too late in a request. This can be fixed by visiting the site’s Settings → Permalinks page, which will flush the rewrite rules at just the right time.

No configuration section has been provided while attempting to save “_Config” is an error message that will display if the “Event Slug” option in Event Espresso > Events > Templates setting is changed to event. The Event Slug setting must not be changed to event. See also: How to change the event slug for Event Espresso events.

Help Us Help You Troubleshoot your Issue

If you have gone through the steps above and your issue is still occurring, then please open a support ticket in our support forums:

https://eventespresso.com/support/forums/

Please include the following information in your support post:

  • Your version of Event Espresso (e.g. Event Espresso 3 or Event Espresso 4)
  • A brief explanation of the issue
  • Also let us know any steps that you have tried to fix the issue

It will also help to include the site URL (website) and/or some screenshots.

How to take Screenshots

Screenshots are helpful in describing an issue when the site URL can’t be shared or a link to the site is not available (e.g. you are working on the site locally on your computer). Here are tips on how to take screenshots on various platforms:

Mac

To take a screenshot of the entire screen, press the following keys: command + shift + 3
To take a screenshot of the a specific area of the screen, press the following keys: command + shift + 4. Then select the area that you would like to capture.

You can then upload your screenshot to WP Media on your site and then share a link in your support post. Another option is to use a screenshot service such as TinyGrab, Cloudup, MonosnapCloudapp, Snipboard, or an equivalent screenshot sharing service. Then you can share a link in your support post.

Windows

To take a screen of the entire screen, press the following key: prtscn
To take a screen of the current window only, press the following key: alt + prtscn

You can then upload your screenshot to WP Media on your site and then share a link in your support post. Another option is to use a screenshot service such as TinyGrab, MonosnapCloudapp, Snipboard, or an equivalent screenshot sharing service. Then you can share a link in your support post.

iOS (iPad, iPhone) 

To take a screen of the entire screen, press the following on your device: power button + home button

You can then email your screenshot to your email address and / or upload it to a service like Dropbox from your device. Then you can share the screenshot to one of the screenshot sharing services mentioned above for Mac or Windows.


Need more help?

  • Browse or search for more information on this topic in our support forums. Customers with an active support license can open a support topic and get help from Event Espresso staff.
  • Have an emergency? Purchase a support token and get expedited one-on-one help!
  • Go back to documentation for Event Espresso
Event Espresso