Help: Fatal error doing an export (Civi 4.7.4)

Question

I have just upgraded my Drupal 6 site to the latest CiviCRM 4.7.4 All seemed to go well except that when I try to export contact records (using primary fields). I get the following fatal error:

Fatal error: Can't use function return value in write context in ../public_html/sites/all/modules/civicrm/CRM/Export/BAO/Export.php on line 435

Steps I followed: 1. Search for contacts 2. Select Export option 3. Select Export Primary fields 4. Press continue

Some help would be hugely appreciated!

Thanks Davy

Answer 1

Line 435 in CRM/Export/BAO/Export.php that your error message is referring to says:

if (!empty(self::defaultReturnProperty($exportMode))) {

This will give an error in all PHP versions below 5.5. From the PHP manual (http://php.net/manual/en/function.empty.php):

Prior to PHP 5.5, empty() only supports variables; anything else will result in a parse error

You should be able to fix this by replacing lines 435-437 in Export.php with something like

  $key = self::defaultReturnProperty($exportMode);
  if ($key) {
    $returnProperties[$key] = 1;
  }