octobercms/october · error · SystemException

Invalid configuration. All keys must be non-empty strings an

Error message

Invalid configuration. All keys must be non-empty strings and values must be scalar.

What it means

setDefaultWidgetConfig() stores a name-value list (documented keys: icon, title, link_text) that is applied as the default configuration for widgets generated from this dimension. To keep the config serializable into widget definitions it enforces that every key is a non-empty string and every value is scalar (string, int, float, bool).

Source

Thrown at modules/dashboard/classes/ReportDimension.php:420

    /**
     * Allows setting default widget configuration values.
     * The configuration is used for widgets created from this dimension
     * through the quick widget creation feature. Currently, the future supports
     * indicator-type dimensions only.
     *
     * @param array $config A name-value list of configuration parameters.
     * All property names should be strings, and values should be scalar. The currently
     * supported parameters are:
     * - icon: Sets the default indicator icon CSS class.
     * - title: Sets the default widget title.
     * - link_text: Sets the default indicator link text.
     * @return ReportDimension Returns the dimension object for chaining.
     */
    public function setDefaultWidgetConfig(array $config)
    {
        foreach ($config as $key => $value) {
            if (!is_string($key) || empty($key) || !is_scalar($value)) {
                throw new SystemException("Invalid configuration. All keys must be non-empty strings and values must be scalar.");
            }
        }

        $this->defaultWidgetConfig = $config;
        return $this;
    }

    /**
     * getDefaultWidgetConfig returns the default widget configuration.
     */
    public function getDefaultWidgetConfig(): array
    {
        return $this->defaultWidgetConfig;
    }
}

View on GitHub (pinned to b608633a7e)

Solutions

1. Pass only flat scalar entries: setDefaultWidgetConfig(['icon' => 'icon-check', 'title' => 'Orders', 'link_text' => 'View orders'])
2. If values come from external config, flatten or serialize nested values to strings/numbers before calling
3. Drop null entries — null is not scalar-safe in this check (is_scalar(null) === false)

Example fix

// before
$dimension->setDefaultWidgetConfig([
    'icon' => 'icon-check',
    'title' => ['text' => 'Orders', 'level' => 2],
]);

// after
$dimension->setDefaultWidgetConfig([
    'icon' => 'icon-check',
    'title' => 'Orders',
]);

$clean = [];
foreach ($config as $key => $value) {
    if (!is_string($key) || $key === '' || !is_scalar($value)) {
        throw new InvalidArgumentException("Invalid default widget config entry '{$key}'");
    }
    $clean[$key] = $value;
}
$dimension->setDefaultWidgetConfig($clean);

function isScalarWidgetConfig(array $config): bool
{
    foreach ($config as $key => $value) {
        if (!is_string($key) || $key === '' || !is_scalar($value)) {
            return false;
        }
    }
    return true;
}

When it happens

Trigger: Calling setDefaultWidgetConfig(['title' => ['text' => 'Orders']]) (nested array value), setDefaultWidgetConfig([0 => 'x']) (integer key), or setDefaultWidgetConfig(['' => 'v']) (empty key). One invalid entry is enough — the whole loop throws.

Common situations: Passing a full widget configuration array (which contains nested arrays) instead of the flat default set; merging YAML/JSON config verbatim without flattening; values computed dynamically that end up as null or arrays.

Understand the failure class

Background: Config validation failed: what "invalid value for {key}" and settings-rejection errors mean across 19 open-source libraries — this error's family across 19 libraries.

Related errors

• Unknown dimension specified:
• The dimension field code cannot be empty.
• Display name cannot be empty.
• Unknown dimension type:
• Date dimensions cannot have fields.

AI-assisted analysis of octobercms/october@b608633a7e (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/2a82bfd82fe5429a. Report an issue: GitHub.