Use PHP shortcode value as CSS value - php

Question

I am facing the following problem. On my website I am trying to use a WordPress shortcode as input for a background color gradient.
The PHP is as follows:
function vip_relative_time() {
$post_date = get_the_time('U');
$delta = time() - $post_date;
$delta2 = intval(($delta/86400));
return $delta2;
}
add_shortcode('relativetime', 'vip_relative_time');
This code returns the amount of days that is between today and the post date. The goal is that the section on my website has a color gradient based on the above calculated days.
So when the calculating returns 50, 50% of the section will be filled with the selected color. This seems to work when I am editing the page:
But when I publish the page the the gradient is gone an I get the following error:
Warning
: Illegal string offset 'size' in
/home/customer/www/nicow23.sg-host.com/public_html/wp-content/plugins/elementor/includes/base/controls-stack.php
on line
1251
Anyone who can help me out to fix this problem? Do I maybe need to change the datatype of my shortcode?
Thanks in advance!
The code in controls-stack.php
/**
* Parse dynamic settings.
*
* Retrieve the settings with rendered dynamic tags.
*
* #since 2.0.0
* #access public
*
* #param array $settings Optional. The requested setting. Default is null.
* #param array $controls Optional. The controls array. Default is null.
* #param array $all_settings Optional. All the settings. Default is null.
*
* #return array The settings with rendered dynamic tags.
*/
public function parse_dynamic_settings( $settings, $controls = null, $all_settings = null ) {
if ( null === $all_settings ) {
$all_settings = $this->get_settings();
}
if ( null === $controls ) {
$controls = $this->get_controls();
}
foreach ( $controls as $control ) {
$control_name = $control['name'];
$control_obj = Plugin::$instance->controls_manager->get_control( $control['type'] );
if ( ! $control_obj instanceof Base_Data_Control ) {
continue;
}
if ( $control_obj instanceof Control_Repeater ) {
if ( ! isset( $settings[ $control_name ] ) ) {
continue;
}
foreach ( $settings[ $control_name ] as & $field ) {
$field = $this->parse_dynamic_settings( $field, $control['fields'], $field );
}
continue;
}
$dynamic_settings = $control_obj->get_settings( 'dynamic' );
if ( ! $dynamic_settings ) {
$dynamic_settings = [];
}
if ( ! empty( $control['dynamic'] ) ) {
$dynamic_settings = array_merge( $dynamic_settings, $control['dynamic'] );
}
if ( empty( $dynamic_settings ) || ! isset( $all_settings[ Manager::DYNAMIC_SETTING_KEY ][ $control_name ] ) ) {
continue;
}
if ( ! empty( $dynamic_settings['active'] ) && ! empty( $all_settings[ Manager::DYNAMIC_SETTING_KEY ][ $control_name ] ) ) {
$parsed_value = $control_obj->parse_tags( $all_settings[ Manager::DYNAMIC_SETTING_KEY ][ $control_name ], $dynamic_settings );
$dynamic_property = ! empty( $dynamic_settings['property'] ) ? $dynamic_settings['property'] : null;
if( is_array( $settings ) )
{
if ( $dynamic_property ) {
$settings[ $control_name ][ $dynamic_property ] = $parsed_value;
} else {
$settings[ $control_name ] = $parsed_value;
}
} else {
$settings[ $control_name ] = $parsed_value;
}
}
}
return $settings;
}

Answer 1

On or before line 1251, you should be checking if $settings is an array before trying to set its keys. If you do a var_dump($settings) prior to line 1251. It will probably tell you that it is not an array, and instead a string.
should be like this:
if( is_array( $settings ) )
{
//make sure we have an array first
if ( $dynamic_property ) {
$settings[ $control_name ][ $dynamic_property ] = $parsed_value;
} else {
$settings[ $control_name ] = $parsed_value;
}
} else {
//do something else
}