Theme Builder Error: Unexpected token ‘<', " <fo"… is not valid JSON

Hi Luca,

Can’t give you access. As specified in the ticket I’m developing on localhost, which is good because it rules out the server side issues from the solution I tried from this ticket: https://www.8theme.com/topic/error-unexpected-token-is-not-valid-json-in-theme-builder/

Think I found the problem though.

The JSON error appears after creating/editing an elementor loop item. Its expecting JSON but instead is getting HTML so it doesn’t parse as valid JSON. If I delete the loop item, theme builder works again. But then I can’t create/edit loop items so it’s not functional.

Sent you the php stacktrace before but don’t know how it got removed from the ticket. I’ll send it again as an attachment here.

Thanks.

Sure, no sweat Luca. Thanks for your help.

Ok I’ve attached 2 files to replicate the issue:
1. elementor-LoopGridPage.json
2. elementor-LoopItem.json

The LoopGridPage references the LoopItem to draw the grid.

The use case is that I’m building a ‘product collections’ page. So the query in LoopGrid iterates all the terms for a product attribute (Artwork Theme) and then displays it according to the design in the LoopItem.

The LoopItem is just an Image box element that has its title, description and URL values set using the Archive’s dynamic tags. The LoopGrid outputs 1 Image Box for each attribute term (Artwork Theme) and the user can click through on any one to go to the shop page and see a collection of products with the selected attribute filter applied. Nice, simple, UX and if I use the same LoopItem with more than 1 LoopGrids that iterate different product attributes then the implementation is efficient also.

You’ll see the whole thing works fine in these templates, except that Theme Builder konks out with the JSON error after an Elementor LoopItem is created. Then Theme Builder throws the JSON error and, if I switch to table view, then I can’t open the LoopItem in Elementor Editor because it throws the php exception I sent you earlier and is unusable.

I did some testing to help isolate the error and this is what I found:

1. I tried the same setup for other Loop Items (like Post & Product) and the Loop Grid worked fine. Theme Builder and Elementor Editor also didn’t throw errors. They seem to only go bonkers when the LoopItem type is set to ‘Product Taxonomy’.

2. If I trash the LoopItem template then the LoopGrid still works and theme Builder starts working again. Theme Builder only throws the JSON error when the LoopItem is an active template (not in the bin). Wierd, yes.

3. I can successfully edit the LoopItem by clicking ‘Edit Template’ in the LoopGrid even if it’s in the bin. In this case, the LoopGrid thinks there’s no LoopItem template selected but I never exit the Elementor Editor so it doesn’t have a chance to crash. I guess, technically, the LoopItem still ‘exists’ in the bin so the LoopGrid can still read it. But of course that breaks Theme Builder and I can’t edit instances of different shop pages because the Editor is crashing so chicken and egg situation here.

Phew I talked your head off here. Hope all this will save you time. It may just be an edge case.

Thanks.
BTW, I can only upload 1 file at time so the LoopGridPage.json is attached to this reply and make another reply with the LoopItem attached.