Health Check Error: Vardef HTML function

Overview

The Health Check wizard must be run when upgrading in order to evaluate your instance's ability to move to the target version. During the health check, various types of issues may be detected which can affect your ability to upgrade. This article will cover the "Vardef HTML function" error reported by the health check.

Symptoms

This error generates an output similar to the following in health check:

This error may accompany the "Vardef HTML function in module for field" error in the health check. For more information regarding the "Vardef HTML function... module for field" error, please refer to the article Health Check Error: Vardef HTML function in module for field.

The "Vardef HTML function" error is caused by a field defined in the ./modules/{custom_module_name}/vardefs.php file or ./custom/Extension/modules/{custom_module_name}/Ext/Vardefs/{custom_file_name}.php file. The vardef file contains an array such as the following:

'contacts_fields' =>   
 array (    
  'function' =>     
   array (       
    'name' => 'getObjectFields',       
    'returns' => 'html',      
    'include' => 
 'modules/Test_Module/CustomCode.php',    
   ), 
  ), 

Resolution

To address this error, Sugar creates a file under ./custom/Extension/application/Ext/Include/upgrade_bwc.php when upgrading to the target version. Then it adds the following line with the module's name in which these vardefs are found, to enable this module for Legacy mode:

$bwcModules[] = 'EX_Example';

Note: This file should never be manually modified to remove a module out of Legacy mode. 

The specified module in the error will not be upgraded to the Sidecar user interface and will continue to be available with the Legacy user interface upon upgrade. It is recommended that the module be tested after upgrade to ensure that it continues to work as expected.