Importer Fails to import menu items in PHP7

[mightyturtle]

The WordPress Importer plugin fails to import menu items at all with PHP 7 (any WP version). It's a pretty quick fix, though.

I noticed this as part of writing a fix for the importer on wp-cli:
​https://github.com/wp-cli/wp-cli/pull/2545#issuecomment-199026539

But it was noticed by others, a couple months ago, and a fix provided:
​https://wordpress.org/support/topic/importer-fails-to-import-menu-items-in-php7?replies=6

Since PHP7 has now been officially released for a few months, we're going to see more and more PHP7 installs pop up.

To sum it up:
wordpress-importer.php on line 798
Change:

$$meta['key'] = $meta['value'];

To:

${$meta['key']} = $meta['value'];

[netweb]

Pull request: ​https://github.com/boonebgorges/wordpress-importer/pull/1

@boonebgorges I was going to mark this as resolved but I see the pull request was closed and not merged

[dd32]

#38051 was marked as a duplicate.

[dd32]

#40596 was marked as a duplicate.

[RavanH]

Amazing... such a simple fix, even a pull request, and still after 15 months it's not fixed.

I'd say the WordPress Importer is a pretty essential part of WordPress even if it's 'just' a plugin. And PHP7 should be completely supported by now, no?

If there's no one to take care of this plugin, just let me know :)

[PowerKiKi]

This has been fixed a while ago in ​https://github.com/boonebgorges/wordpress-importer/commit/9dfd6350638abb02f5971e9116c4547b89399ef6

[danielbachhuber]

@PowerKiKi Did it make it into a tagged release of the importer?

[PowerKiKi]

My bad, I didn't check. It didn't got released :-/

[VlooMan]

Isn't there anyone who could actually release the fixed version? This has been fixed a YEAR ago on 29 Aug 2016 and still no release?!!

[mensmaximus]

I have updated the patch. So hopefully we will see an update soon.

[blafasl]

Please release the fix for PHP 7.0! I just spend 5 Hours with several xml export/import tests searching for a solution.

This bug is annoying, because I initially doubted the XML file and did not expect such a simple error with WordPress. Since the error only occurs with PHP 7 and no error message is displayed during the import, it was very difficult to find information about it on the Internet.

I think this Bug is critical, because you can not rely on the export/import function when migrating your site from one Wordpress installation to another.

[greggdavis]

I second that! I just spent several hours to find this little fix too.

Replying to blafasl:

Please release the fix for PHP 7.0! I just spend 5 Hours with several xml export/import tests searching for a solution.

This bug is annoying, because I initially doubted the XML file and did not expect such a simple error with WordPress. Since the error only occurs with PHP 7 and no error message is displayed during the import, it was very difficult to find information about it on the Internet.

I think this Bug is critical, because you can not rely on the export/import function when migrating your site from one Wordpress installation to another.

[RavanH]

Posted the request on ​https://make.wordpress.org/chat/ and ​https://wordpress.org/support/plugin/wordpress-importer but got no answer. No one seems to care :(

[danielbachhuber]

@boonebgorges @dd32 I'd love to help move this forward. Let me know what I can do.

[dd32]

I'll make a release of the plugin from the new location of the importer: ​https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-importer/ in the next couple of days.
edit: It'll be done this week - Week of Feb 12th

[RavanH]

@dd32 thanks for picking this up :)

[ocean90]

#43402 was marked as a duplicate.

[ocean90]

Version 0.6.4 includes the fix for this and is now available: ​https://wordpress.org/plugins/wordpress-importer/