PHP Deprecated: PlgFinderJdownloads::prepareContentJD()

[Andrés Restrepo]

Hi Arno,

On Joomla 5.x with recent PHP (8.2/8.3), the jDownloads Smart Search plugins are filling up my error log with deprecated messages.

Affected plugins:
- Smart Search – jDownloads (plugin = finder, version 4.0.36, 2023-10-23)
- Smart Search – jDownloads Categories (plugin = finder, version 4.0, 2022-12-24)

Messages appearing:
PHP ��Deprecated: PlgFinderJdownloads::prepareContentJD(): Implicitly marking parameter ... as nullable is deprecated, the explicit nullable type must be used instead

It seems the plugin method has outdated signatures (without a type or without "?") and PHP 8.2+ already flags them.

Temporary solution: Unpublish both jDownloads Finder plugins → the error disappears.
Request: Update the jDownloads Finder plugins to use signatures compatible with PHP 8.2/8.3 and Joomla 5 (typed parameters and explicit nullability).

Regards,

[ColinM]

Hi
Could please check the jD documentation about Smart Search
Using Smart Search
to see if set up is OK
Colin

[Arno]

Thanks.
Will be fixed in 4.0.49. Coming soon.