WordPress sites can get complicated. With tens of thousands of different themes, and tens of thousands of plugins available, your site can have lots of different chefs in the kitchen \u2013 each adding their own spice<\/s> code to modify WordPress in some way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sometimes, the way these modifications were done, they can cause conflicts. This article will go over ways for you to debug<\/strong> your site to hopefully, at the very least, track down where the issue is originating from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Enable WP_DEBUG<\/code><\/h2>\n\n\n
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If you have access to your hosting account and can edit files, the first thing to do is to temporarily enable WP_DEBUG<\/code> mode. With this enabled, WordPress will be able to spit out some error messages, helping you figure out what the problem is and where it is coming from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To enable WP_DEBUG<\/code> you will need to log into your host and find a file wp-config.php<\/code>, usually located in the same folder that WordPress is installed in (check the public_html<\/code> folder).<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In this file, look for a definition<\/em> called WP_DEBUG<\/code>. It should be near the bottom of the file and look like define('WP_DEBUG', false);<\/code>. All you need to do is change false<\/code> to true<\/code> and then save the file.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Now, if you go to the page with the error, you will hopefully see some error messages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I also recommend adding the following below the WP_DEBUG<\/code> constant for a more robust debug. The following code will only be active when you set WP_DEBUG<\/code> to true<\/code><\/p>\n\n\n\n
if (WP_DEBUG) {\n @error_reporting(E_ALL);\n @ini_set('log_errors', true);\n define('WP_DEBUG_LOG', true);\n define('WP_DEBUG_DISPLAY', false);\n}<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
With the above, now logs will be saved in a file called debug.log<\/code> that you can view, and enable \/ disable the logs along with the WP_DEBUG<\/code> definition. The debug.log file can be in different locations depending on the source of the error, so if using something like cPanel, or if your host has a file manager, it’s probably best to search for the filename to quickly find its location.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
If you are not a coder, these messages will mostly look like gibberish to you, but the real value can be found by taking a look at the filename included in the message.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Example message:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n
Notice: Trying to get property 'data' of non-object in domain.com\/wp-content\/plugins\/example-plugin\/file.php on line 15<\/code><\/pre>\n\n\n\n
You may have no idea what a ‘property’ is or what ‘non-objects’ are, but we can still use the file path to determine that this notice is coming from file.php<\/code> which is a plugin file for a plugin called example-plugin<\/code>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Just note that an error or notice doesn’t always mean that the error generator (the theme or plugin showing the message) is the cause<\/em>. Sometimes other plugins can change core WordPress behaviour that other plugins rely on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, just remember to go back and edit wp-config.php<\/code> again to set WP_DEBUG<\/code> back to false<\/code>. You don’t want your site showing error messages to all visitors.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/hdplugins.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/wordpress-debug-wp_debug.png\")
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