[FIXED] Revslider PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: [] operator not supported for strings in base-admin.class.php

[FIXED] Revslider PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: [] operator not supported for strings in base-admin.class.php

If after updating your PHP version to 7.0+ you may notice your Revslider doesn’t work anymore or you can no longer log in to your admin dashboard with only a white screen being displayed.

If you want to see the what the error(s) are, you can FTP into your WordPress install (or use File Manager if on a cPanel server), open up wp-config.php and change this line:

define(‘WP_DEBUG’, false);

to

define(‘WP_DEBUG’, true);

After doing so, you can refresh that blank white page in your browser and you should see an error like this:

PHP Fatal error: Uncaught Error: [] operator not supported for strings in /var/www/html/wp-content/plugins/revslider/includes/framework/base-admin.class.php

Your options are to either purchase a Revslider license, download the plugin zip file, and update the plugin via FTP (since you can’t access admin dashboard). Once you update the plugin, make sure you go into your wp-admin > revslider and add your license key so it will continue to update over time from the WordPress admin dashboard.

Or, you can apply this simple fix and it should start working right away. We have had to do this on numerous sites over the last few years, and it has always worked. If not, contact us and we can take a look for you!

The Fix:

  1. Either FTP into your WordPress installation directory or you can use File Manager inside of cPanel if you are hosted on a cPanel server.
  2. Open this file:
    /wp-content/plugins/revslider/includes/framework/base-admin.class.php
  3. Find this line:
    private static $arrMetaBoxes = ”; //option boxes that will be added to post
  4. Change that line to this:
    private static $arrMetaBoxes = array(); //option boxes that will be added to post
  5. That’s it!

Refresh the login page in your browser and you should be able to log in to your admin dashboard normally now.

Reminder: If you turned on the debug inside of wp-config.php, make sure you change that back to false.

If you are experiencing any other issues with your WordPress site or just want a checkup on your configuration, we’d love to help! We host nearly 1,000 WordPress-based sites and have seen it all. Feel free to call us 480-630-9992 or you can just email us [email protected].