PHP 8.x incompatibility with Fat Event v5.9 & questions about date format

Hi,

I upgraded to PHP 8.1 and got the following error when activating the plugin:

Warning: Uninitialized string offset 0 in /wp-content/plugins/fat-event/inc/shortcodes.php on line 256

Warning: Uninitialized string offset 0 in /wp-content/plugins/fat-event/inc/shortcodes.php on line 331

Fatal error: Uncaught TypeError: Cannot access offset of type string on string in /wp-content/plugins/fat-event/utils/utils.php:242 Stack trace: #0 /wp-content/plugins/fat-event/templates/layouts/list.php(10): FAT_Event_Utils::get_events(Array, 0) #1 /wp-content/plugins/fat-event/inc/shortcodes.php(100): include(‘/www/htdocs/w01…’) #2 /wp-includes/shortcodes.php(355): FAT_Event_Shortcode->event_shortcode(Array, ”, ‘fat_event’) #3 [internal function]: do_shortcode_tag(Array) #4 /wp-includes/shortcodes.php(227): preg_replace_callback(‘/\\[(\\[?)(fat_ev…’, ‘do_shortcode_ta…’, ‘[fat_event id=”…’) #5 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/helpers/helpers.php(246): do_shortcode(‘[fat_event id=”…’) #6 /wp-content/themes/bridge/vc_templates/vc_column_text.php(30): wpb_js_remove_wpautop(‘<p>[fat_event i…’, true) #7 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/shortcodes/core/class-wpbakeryshortcode.php(451): require(‘/www/htdocs/w01…’) #8 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/shortcodes/core/class-wpbakeryshortcode.php(424): WPBakeryShortCode->loadTemplate(Array, ‘[fat_event id=”…’) #9 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/shortcodes/core/class-wpbakeryshortcode.php(546): WPBakeryShortCode->content(Array, ‘[fat_event id=”…’) #10 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/helpers/helpers.php(1323): WPBakeryShortCode->output(”, ‘[fat_event id=”…’) #11 /wp-includes/shortcodes.php(355): vc_do_shortcode(”, ‘[fat_event id=”…’, ‘vc_column_text’) #12 [internal function]: do_shortcode_tag(Array) #13 /wp-includes/shortcodes.php(227): preg_replace_callback(‘/\\[(\\[?)(fat_ev…’, ‘do_shortcode_ta…’, ‘[vc_column_text…’) #14 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/helpers/helpers.php(246): do_shortcode(‘[vc_column_text…’) #15 /wp-content/themes/bridge/vc_templates/vc_tab.php(14): wpb_js_remove_wpautop(‘[vc_column_text…’) #16 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/shortcodes/core/class-wpbakeryshortcode.php(451): require(‘/www/htdocs/w01…’) #17 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/shortcodes/core/class-wpbakeryshortcode.php(424): WPBakeryShortCode->loadTemplate(Array, ‘[vc_column_text…’) #18 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/shortcodes/core/class-wpbakeryshortcode.php(546): WPBakeryShortCode->content(Array, ‘[vc_column_text…’) #19 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/helpers/helpers.php(1323): WPBakeryShortCode->output(Array, ‘[vc_column_text…’) #20 /wp-includes/shortcodes.php(355): vc_do_shortcode(Array, ‘[vc_column_text…’, ‘vc_tab’) #21 [internal function]: do_shortcode_tag(Array) #22 /wp-includes/shortcodes.php(227): preg_replace_callback(‘/\\[(\\[?)(fat_ev…’, ‘do_shortcode_ta…’, ‘[vc_tab title=”…’) #23 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/helpers/helpers.php(246): do_shortcode(‘[vc_tab title=”…’) #24 /wp-content/themes/bridge/vc_templates/vc_tabs.php(65): wpb_js_remove_wpautop(‘[vc_tab title=”…’) #25 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/shortcodes/core/class-wpbakeryshortcode.php(451): require(‘/www/htdocs/w01…’) #26 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/shortcodes/core/class-wpbakeryshortcode.php(424): WPBakeryShortCode->loadTemplate(Array, ‘[vc_tab title=”…’) #27 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/shortcodes/core/class-wpbakeryshortcode.php(546): WPBakeryShortCode->content(Array, ‘[vc_tab title=”…’) #28 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/helpers/helpers.php(1323): WPBakeryShortCode->output(Array, ‘[vc_tab title=”…’) #29 /wp-includes/shortcodes.php(355): vc_do_shortcode(Array, ‘[vc_tab title=”…’, ‘vc_tabs’) #30 [internal function]: do_shortcode_tag(Array) #31 /wp-includes/shortcodes.php(227): preg_replace_callback(‘/\\[(\\[?)(fat_ev…’, ‘do_shortcode_ta…’, ‘[vc_tabs style=…’) #32 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/helpers/helpers.php(246): do_shortcode(‘[vc_tabs style=…’) #33 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/templates/shortcodes/vc_column.php(94): wpb_js_remove_wpautop(‘[vc_tabs style=…’) #34 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/shortcodes/core/class-wpbakeryshortcode.php(451): require(‘/www/htdocs/w01…’) #35 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/shortcodes/core/class-wpbakeryshortcode.php(424): WPBakeryShortCode->loadTemplate(Array, ‘[vc_tabs style=…’) #36 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/shortcodes/core/class-wpbakeryshortcode.php(546): WPBakeryShortCode->content(Array, ‘[vc_tabs style=…’) #37 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/helpers/helpers.php(1323): WPBakeryShortCode->output(Array, ‘[vc_tabs style=…’) #38 /wp-includes/shortcodes.php(355): vc_do_shortcode(Array, ‘[vc_tabs style=…’, ‘vc_column’) #39 [internal function]: do_shortcode_tag(Array) #40 /wp-includes/shortcodes.php(227): preg_replace_callback(‘/\\[(\\[?)(fat_ev…’, ‘do_shortcode_ta…’, ‘[vc_column widt…’) #41 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/helpers/helpers.php(246): do_shortcode(‘[vc_column widt…’) #42 /wp-content/themes/bridge/vc_templates/vc_row.php(331): wpb_js_remove_wpautop(‘[vc_column widt…’) #43 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/shortcodes/core/class-wpbakeryshortcode.php(451): require(‘/www/htdocs/w01…’) #44 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/shortcodes/vc-row.php(40): WPBakeryShortCode->loadTemplate(Array, ‘[vc_column widt…’) #45 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/classes/shortcodes/core/class-wpbakeryshortcode.php(546): WPBakeryShortCode_Vc_Row->content(Array, ‘[vc_column widt…’) #46 /wp-content/plugins/js_composer/include/helpers/helpers.php(1323): WPBakeryShortCode->output(Array, ‘[vc_column widt…’) #47 /wp-includes/shortcodes.php(355): vc_do_shortcode(Array, ‘[vc_column widt…’, ‘vc_row’) #48 [internal function]: do_shortcode_tag(Array) #49 /wp-includes/shortcodes.php(227): preg_replace_callback(‘/\\[(\\[?)(fat_ev…’, ‘do_shortcode_ta…’, ‘<p>[vc_row css_…’) #50 /wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(308): do_shortcode(‘<p>[vc_row css_…’) #51 /wp-includes/plugin.php(205): WP_Hook->apply_filters(‘<p>[vc_row css_…’, Array) #52 /wp-includes/post-template.php(255): apply_filters(‘the_content’, ‘[vc_row css_ani…’) #53 /wp-content/themes/bridge/page.php(52): the_content() #54 /wp-includes/template-loader.php(106): include(‘/www/htdocs/w01…’) #55 /wp-blog-header.php(19): require_once(‘/www/htdocs/w01…’) #56 /index.php(17): require(‘/www/htdocs/w01…’) #57 {main} thrown in /wp-content/plugins/fat-event/utils/utils.php on line 242

Can you please release a plugin version which is compatible with PHP 8.1, as PHP 7.4 is out of security support?

Another question: please see attached screenshots of old vs new version. Although I tried to change the date format at WordPress Settings / General to „D, j. M Y“ the date format did not get changed. Can you add a separate option here please with the new release? And: with the new version, the time of the event is also displayed by default – we could hide this with CSS, but having an option here too would be great.

Looking forward to your reply, as currently we had to downgrade to v100.5 which is pretty old (and also pretty slow in contrast to the latest available version) – so we would really like to update as soon as possible.

Thx,
Matthias