Hi,

I'm trying to upgrade from v1.15.8. I've made several attempts since the release 1.16.x but I keep running into the same problem where after login, the screen stays blank. Today I gave it a new series of attempts, and did discover that it's not all that stays blank, but only the Operator screen (tickets.php). Everything else works, I can even see into tickets if I am able to find one from my URL history. The control panel works as well. Whether I upgrade to 1.16.0 or 1.17.3 or anything in between doesn't seem to matter. The difference is that upgrading to anything beyond 1.17.x gives an upgrade error regarding a plugin also... I'll get to that.

The initial ERROR shows:

Backend fatal error: PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught Error: Class name must be a valid object or a string in /public_html/osticket/include/class.forms.php:1121

Stack trace:
#0 /public_html/osticket/include/class.dynamic_forms.php(650): FormField->getImpl()\n
#1 /public_html/osticket/include/class.queue.php(372): DynamicFormField->__call('getImpl', Array)\n
#2 /public_html/osticket/include/class.queue.php(319): CustomQueue::getSearchableFields('Ticket')\n
#3 /public_html/osticket/include/class.queue.php(967): CustomQueue->getSupportedMatches()\n
#4 /public_html/osticket/include/class.queue.php(901): CustomQueue->mangleQuerySet(Object(QuerySet))\n
#5 /public_html/osticket/include/class.queue.php(914): CustomQueue->getBasicQuery(false)\n
#6 /public_ht in /public_html/osticket/include/class.forms.php on line 1121

I've searched around both here and trough, and found these topics, which seems related:

https://forum.osticket.com/d/101698-operator-panel-error-after-upgrade-from-116
https://forum.osticket.com/d/101113-upgrade-from-115x-to-1163-blank-screen

Both suggest (as does the error) that it might have something to do with a (custom) queue. The thing is, I don't use them, just the default system ones. I've even tried disabling those (some and/or all) but to no avail. It also doesn't matter which user I login with, my personal or the admin user, which contains no specific settings where mine might.

But it set me to thinking if we have anything non-default, and the only thing I can find is that we use the recaptcha plugin v2, which requires custom forms. Also because this was the thing that caused the 1.17.x hickup to fail. So I started hunting there, removing all of it, and bingo, the same problem - even in 1.15.8! I've even been able to narrow it down that if I touch nothing, but just disable the plugin, it already causes the problem.

However, no matter what I do (disable the plugin and/or remove it and/or remove all the custom forms and their use), as soon as I touch it, it gives the blank screen on tickets.php. It seems like it somehow "infected" the system and needs to stay there, or I get stuck. But if I keep it, I cannot upgrade.

The error disabling the plugin causes:

Backend fatal error: PHP Fatal error:  Uncaught Error: Class name must be a valid object or a string in /public_html/osticket/include/class.forms.php:1121
Stack trace:
#0 /public_html/osticket/include/class.dynamic_forms.php(650): FormField->getImpl()
#1 /public_html/osticket/include/class.queue.php(372): DynamicFormField->__call('getImpl', Array)
#2 /public_html/osticket/include/class.queue.php(319): CustomQueue::getSearchableFields('Ticket')
#3 /public_html/osticket/include/class.queue.php(967): CustomQueue->getSupportedMatches()
#4 /public_html/osticket/include/class.queue.php(901): CustomQueue->mangleQuerySet(Object(QuerySet))
#5 /public_html/osticket/include/class.queue.php(914): CustomQueue->getBasicQuery(false)
#6 /public_ht in /public_html/osticket/include/class.forms.php on line 1121

I'd really like to update to the latest version, not in the last place because with the current version I'm experiencing issues that new emails don't get send on creation of a ticket to the ticket owner (they do on reply, so now as a work around I have to create a ticket and reply only after creating it) 😅 and I'd hoped a newer version would solve this issue.

I'd appreciate any help on how find and remove what it is that the recaptcha plugin does that causes the ticket.php screen to blank as soon as I disable it. 🙏

Edit: also, I welcome a better title, didn't know what to point to as the actual cause/issue.