Hello,

I have recently upgraded Joomla! to 3.6.4 and now I get the above error (0 Error decoding JSON data: Syntax Error) on a number of K2 items while on others I don't.

I have tried resetting the parameters as discussed on issues.joomla.org/tracker/joomla-cms/12460 - I have removed the Editor and JB Library is not installed. I still get the same error.

0 Error decoding JSON data: Syntax error
Call stack
# Function Location
1 JApplicationCms->execute() /[path]/administrator/index.php:51
2 JApplicationAdministrator->doExecute() /[path]/libraries/cms/application/cms.php:261
3 JApplicationAdministrator->dispatch() /[path]/libraries/cms/application/administrator.php:152
4 JComponentHelper::renderComponent() /[path]/libraries/cms/application/administrator.php:98
5 JComponentHelper::executeComponent() /[path]/libraries/cms/component/helper.php:380
6 require_once() /[path]l/libraries/cms/component/helper.php:405
7 JControllerLegacy->execute() /[path]/administrator/components/com_k2/k2.php:147
8 K2ControllerItem->display() /[path]/libraries/legacy/controller/legacy.php:702
9 K2Controller->display() /[path]/administrator/components/com_k2/controllers/item.php:21
10 JControllerLegacy->display() /[path]/administrator/components/com_k2/controllers/controller.php:20
11 K2ViewItem->display() /[path]/libraries/legacy/controller/legacy.php:664
12 Joomla\Registry\Registry->__construct() /[path]administrator/components/com_k2/views/item/view.html.php:466
13 Joomla\Registry\Registry->loadString() /[path]/libraries/vendor/joomla/registry/src/Registry.php:72
14 Joomla\Registry\Format\Json->stringToObject() /[path]/libraries/vendor/joomla/registry/src/Registry.php:366

Please help.

Hello,

This is a core Joomla! issue, a lot of sources for this error.
There are several solutions posted online, I think one from Joomlashack was the most thorough.

Hello Krikor,

Thanks for the link to the JoomlaShack topic, I checked it. update [prefix]_modules set params="" WHERE params = "{"\"\"}";
is the first thing I did. I got a return of 0 rows updated.

I saw further down in the Github conversation that it was argued this is not a Joomla core issue and it is an extensions issue to do with the extensions not being able to handle this higher level of error handling, if I've understood it correctly.

I have also implemented the #116713 solution and defined the following in the top of my index.php file:

unset($this->_scripts[JURI::root(true).'/components/com_k2/js/k2.js?v2.7.1&sitepath='.JURI::root(true).'/']);

And I'm still getting the error. I thought disabling the javascript would resolve the JSON error? Am I wrong?

I have currently resorted to deleting the old K2 items and replacing them with new ones (after copying the content directly out from the SQL) this works but it is far from an ideal solution.

Any ideas?

The unsetting of a JS script is a frontend issue, it won't affect any aspect of data stored in the db.

The item's params are stored in JSON format.
If removing an item solves the issue, then you might have located the culprit.

Hello All,

I've found this issue while I'm editing some K2 items, after upgrading to Joomla 3.6.4
After some debugging on my personal website, I fixed this issue by hacking the file /administrator/components/com_k2/views/item/view.html.php
I replaced this statement:
With this one:
You can give it a try, may be it fix your issue.

we had the same issue, but only after importing Joomla articles into K2. Seems there is leftover metadata that creates the problem.
A solution is to clear the column "metadata" in k2 table "k2_items" here's the sql query:

UPDATE `tableprefix_k2_items` SET `metadata` = ''

NOTE: You will of course loose your metadata if there was any.

I had kept a few non-working articles to test a fix and yours worked.
Where Joomla articles had been imported, the metadata was showing:
{"robots":"","author":"","rights":"","xreference":....

Where I had recreated articles in K2 after the upgrade, the same metadata was showing:
robots=
author=

Now that I have cleared that field, I can now access the old articles!

Thank you smarterweb!

Hello Mohamed, I went looking for the line you quoted and couldn't find it but it was definitely a problem with the metadata. Thanks!

Hello Mohammed,

Care to make a PR?

Hello Krikor,

Yes of course, just wanted to have some more tests from others before the PR.

Can you help in this test?

I created a script to check for potential issues. You can find it here: github.com/robwent/joomla-json-db-check

Nice one Robert!!
Thanks.

Thank you very much @smarterweb – it was the metadata, just had the same problem and could solve it.

@Mohammed, what do need mate?
I'd love to help.

I head the same problem. deleting "{"robots":"","author":"","rights":"","xreference":""}" from the DB solved it. Thanks...

Nice to hear that :)

Same issue here. Some articles throw the error, some don't. The k2_items metadata seems to be the culprit. I have one of 2 things in my metadata.

If I have {"robots":"","author":"","rights":"","xreference":""} then it doesn't work.

If I have the following it does work.

robots=
author=

So first I deleted the nonworking data and left it blank. That works. But then I replaced it with the working data and that seems to work.

I'm going to fix these on an as needed basis and maybe a more robust fix will arrive.

Hello, I have an issue like all of this topic, but I can access to K2 items or category (screenshot attached), I check the metadata items erasing or replacing with the correct form, I check one by one the params content with a JSON Validator and all its OK and still with the same issue. If I open a item from K2 Stats Admin I can show a line error. (screenshot attached). Can some one help me?

http://imgur.com/a/Gnq24

http://imgur.com/a/12Hg6

Hello Jimenez,

I'm not an expert but your error messages are not the 0 Error decoding JSON data: Syntax Error.
They show that it is the JCE Editor component which is having problems: "...com_jce\models\editor.php
Start by checking your Site > Global Configuration > Default editor.

And please start a new topic if you have not been able to resolve it from there..

Best wishes.

Hello,
These errors are coming from the JCE editor not K2.
Disable error reporting to get rid of them.