octobercms/october · error · Error

Invalid update value. The correct format is an object ({...}

Error message

Invalid update value. The correct format is an object ({...})

What it means

Thrown by Options.extractPartials() in October CMS's AJAX framework when the update option passed to a request is not an object. The update map associates partial names with target CSS selectors ({'partialName': '#target'}, plus the special '_self' key); extractPartials iterates its keys to build the X-AJAX-PARTIALS header, so a string, number or other non-object type is rejected before the request is sent.

Source

Thrown at modules/system/assets/js/framework.js:383

      }
      var xsrfToken = this.getXSRFToken();
      if (xsrfToken) {
        headers["X-XSRF-TOKEN"] = xsrfToken;
      }
      var csrfToken = this.getCSRFToken();
      if (csrfToken) {
        headers["X-CSRF-TOKEN"] = csrfToken;
      }
      if (options.headers && options.headers.constructor === {}.constructor) {
        Object.assign(headers, options.headers);
      }
      return headers;
    }
    extractPartials(update = {}, selfPartial) {
      var result = [];
      if (update) {
        if (typeof update !== "object") {
          throw new Error("Invalid update value. The correct format is an object ({...})");
        }
        for (var partial in update) {
          if (partial === "_self" && selfPartial) {
            result.push(selfPartial);
          } else {
            result.push(partial);
          }
        }
      }
      return result.join("&");
    }
    getCSRFToken() {
      var tag = document.querySelector('meta[name="csrf-token"]');
      return tag ? tag.getAttribute("content") : null;
    }
    getXSRFToken() {
      var cookieValue = null;
      if (document.cookie && document.cookie != "") {

View on GitHub (pinned to b608633a7e)

Solutions

1. Convert the value to the partial->selector map: {update: {'search-results': '#result'}}
2. If you only want the element's own partial, use the _self key or options.partial instead of a string
3. When receiving the map as JSON text, JSON.parse it before passing it into options

Example fix

// before
oc.request(el, 'onSearch', { update: '#result' });

// after
oc.request(el, 'onSearch', { update: { 'search-results': '#result' } });

const isPlainObject = (v) => Object.prototype.toString.call(v) === '[object Object]';

if (isPlainObject(options.update)) {
  oc.request(el, 'onSearch', options);
} else {
  console.error('update must map partial names to selectors, e.g. {"results": "#list"}');
}

const isUpdateMap = (v) => !v || (Object.prototype.toString.call(v) === '[object Object]' && Object.values(v).every((s) => typeof s === 'string'));

try { oc.request(el, 'onSearch', opts); } catch (e) { if (/Invalid update value/.test(e.message)) { console.error('Pass update as {partial: "selector"}'); return; } throw e; }

When it happens

Trigger: oc.request(el, 'onSearch', {update: '#result'}) - a bare selector string instead of {resultPartial: '#result'}; passing update: 'partialName'; passing a JSON-encoded string instead of a parsed object; update: true from a boolean flag misuse.

Common situations: Developers assuming update takes a selector string like old jQuery plugins; passing a serialized JSON string where the options expect a literal object; copy-pasting from data-request-update attribute syntax (string form) into JS options (object form); forgetting _self must be a key, not a value.

Related errors

• cms::lang.partial.invalid_name
• The request handler name is not specified.
• Invalid handler name. The correct handler name format is: "o
• The property name is not specified.
• The inspectable class name is not specified.

AI-assisted analysis of octobercms/october@b608633a7e (2026-08-21). Data as JSON: /api/errors/16e84af2194d40d8. Report an issue: GitHub.