PHP errors in control panel; main site still working

Question

NOTE: I am a non-technical person and know nothing about PHP. I can follow step-by-step instructions though.

I am running EE v2.5.5

I am getting PHP errors on my control panel which won't go away with a refresh. I have NOT changed any files, however I did open and peek around a few files through my FTP site two weeks ago to see if I could find the code for my tags.

Since then, these errors are constant.

It is NOT effecting my front end site (www.justfrances.com) but it IS effecting my ability to search for previous posts on the control panel to edit things. It's also slowed a lot of the control panel functions and has meant that I have to refresh after posting a new entry.

Any thoughts on WHY or on how to fix this?

I tried looking at other threads on this, but nothing seemed to work (or make sense) for me

Thank you, Just Frances

Answer 1

$plugin_info is a required array for ExpressionEngine 2.x plugins. The PHP class providing the functionality for the plugin will work fine without it, but that is where the information for installed plugins is pulled to be displayed in the control panel.

You can find the full details here: ExpressionEngine Plugin API: $plugin_info array

e.g.:

$plugin_info = array(
    'pi_name'         => 'Member List',
    'pi_version'      => '1.0',
    'pi_author'       => 'Jane Doe',
    'pi_author_url'   => 'http://example.com/',
    'pi_description'  => 'Returns a list of site members',
    'pi_usage'        => Memberlist::usage()
);

Answer 2

This error looks like Expression Engine is having trouble with reading your plugins.

In the control panel when you go to Add-ons > Plugins, do you see a list of plugins there?

Are they what you expect?

Similarly on the FTP side, when you go /system/expressionengine/third_party do the file permissions seem right? Are you seeing the folder that you expect?

Answer 3

UPDATE: A knowledgeable PHP friend solved ALL errors for me by adding a new line of code on line number 145:

$plugin_info = array();

That fixed ALL errors and the site is running as normal now.