Error in the Sparkling theme

Sparkling
1

Hi there,

Since the last Sparkling update, I have been receiving an automated WordPress email with the following error message. The error message appears when the Customizer is accessed. The Customizer cannot be accessed. Error details:

Ein Fehler vom Typ E_ERROR wurde in der Zeile 19 der Datei /kosmetikstudio-nats.de/wp-content/themes/sparkling/inc/welcome-screen/welcome-page-setup.php verursacht. Fehlermeldung: Uncaught Error: Class “Epsilon_Section_Recommended_Actions” not found in /kosmetikstudio-nats.de/wp-content/themes/sparkling/inc/welcome-screen/welcome-page-setup.php:19
Stack trace:
#0 /kosmetikstudio-nats.de/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(353): sparkling_welcome_customize_register(Object(WP_Customize_Manager))
#1 /kosmetikstudio-nats.de/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(377): WP_Hook->apply_filters(NULL, Array)
#2/kosmetikstudio-nats.de/wp-includes/plugin.php(523): WP_Hook->do_action(Array)
#3 /kosmetikstudio-nats.de/wp-includes/class-wp-customize-manager.php(948): do_action(‘customize_regis…’, Object(WP_Customize_Manager))
#4 /kosmetikstudio-nats.de/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(353): WP_Customize_Manager->wp_loaded(‘’)
#5 /kosmetikstudio-nats.de/wp-includes/class-wp-hook.php(377): WP_Hook->apply_filters(NULL, Array)
#6 /kosmetikstudio-nats.de/wp-includes/plugin.php(523): WP_Hook->do_action(Array)
#7 /kosmetikstudio-nats.de/wp-settings.php(801): do_action(‘wp_loaded’)
#8/kosmetikstudio-nats.de/wp-config.php(119): require_once(‘/www/htdocs/w01…’)
#9 /kosmetikstudio-nats.de/wp-load.php(50): require_once(‘/w01…’)
#10 /kosmetikstudio-nats.de/wp-admin/admin.php(35): require_once(‘/w01…’)
#11 /kosmetikstudio-nats.de/wp-admin/customize.php(13): require_once(‘/w01…’)
#12 {main}
thrown

WordPress-Version 7.1
Aktives Theme: Sparkling Child (Version 1)
PHP-Version 8.5.9-nmm1

Thanks a lot for the help.

One more thing: when I deactivate my child theme, a notification appears stating that the “FirmaSite Theme Enhancer” needs to be installed. When I do that, I get the following error message: object(WP_Error)#4792 (3) { [“errors”]=> array(1) { [“plugins_api_failed”]=> array(1) { [0]=> string(6) “closed” } } [“error_data”]=> array(0) { } [“additional_data”:protected]=> array(0) { } }
Something went wrong with the plugin API

The Customizer loads, but the theme is completely broken. It would be great if someone could help me out with this.

Best Regards Gisela

2

Hi Gisela,

Thank you for the detailed report, and I’m sorry — this one is our fault. The error comes from the theme itself, not from your child theme or your site setup.

What happened: in the 2.6 releases we removed an old bundled library (the “Epsilon framework”), but one file, inc/welcome-screen/welcome-page-setup.php, still tried to use two classes from it. WordPress runs that file every time the Customizer opens, so the Customizer crashes with exactly the error you received. This affects every site running Sparkling 2.6.x, with or without a child theme. The same mistake also made the Appearance → About Sparkling page disappear.

The fix is ready and will be in the next update, Sparkling 2.6.10. It arrives as a normal theme update once WordPress.org has reviewed it, and you won’t need to change anything else.

If you’d like the Customizer back right away, you can add this to the end of your child theme’s functions.php (Appearance → Theme File Editor → Sparkling Child → functions.php, or via FTP):

// Temporary fix for Sparkling 2.6.x: skip the Customizer sections that cause the crash.
add_action( 'after_setup_theme', function () {
	remove_action( 'customize_register', 'sparkling_welcome_customize_register' );
} );

We tested it on Sparkling 2.6.9 with a child theme: without it the Customizer fails, with it the Customizer opens normally. After you update to 2.6.10 it’s harmless to leave in — the only effect is that two small help links won’t appear in the Customizer — but you can remove it at that point.

About the “FirmaSite Theme Enhancer” message: that isn’t part of Sparkling. It comes from a different theme called FirmaSite, which must also be installed on your site — when you deactivated Sparkling Child, WordPress switched to FirmaSite, and that’s why the site looked completely different. FirmaSite needs the “FirmaSite Theme Enhancer” plugin, which its author withdrew from WordPress.org in 2022, so it can no longer be installed; that’s what the plugins_api_failed … closed error means. Please don’t install anything for that — just re-activate Sparkling Child under Appearance → Themes, and your site will look as it did before. (If you’re not using FirmaSite, you can delete it from the Themes screen.)

Let us know if anything still doesn’t work after that.

Best regards,
Aigars

3

Hi Aigars,

thank you so much, that was a really quick reply. I’ll enter the code right away. Have a wonderful day.
Best Regards Gisela

4

It works perfectly; the customizer is active and accessible again. Thank you.