Issue status update for http://drupal.org/node/18663 Project: Drupal Version: cvs Component: base system Category: bug reports Priority: critical Assigned to: chx Reported by: killes@www.drop.org Updated by: chx Status: patch Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/form_checkboxes_4.patch (2.06 KB) Previous patch had index.php missing. jhriggs, the current problem is that a form_checkboxes expected to be an array. Currently, empty form_checkboxes is a string. That's bad. chx Previous comments: ------------------------------------------------------------------------ March 10, 2005 - 02:51 : killes@www.drop.org If you select nothing from a set of checkboxes an empty string is save to the variables table. This is a problem if the calling code assumes, it would get an array. We should make it save an empty array. The problem is the form_hidden field that we add. even if we replace form_hidden($name, 0) by form_hidden($name, array()) it isn't going to work, because the empty array is eaten by htmlspecialchars. redLED found this bug and he does not like it: 02:53 < redLED> i just like things saying 'CRITICAL' in red 02:53 < redLED> it gives this warm impending doom feeling 02:53 < redLED> and is generally associated with nuclear reactors in people's subconsciousness Suggestions welcome. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ March 12, 2005 - 19:47 : Steven There is no way to fix it in form_checkboxes() itself afaik, because even without htmlspecialchars, it would still come out as "Array". You can only create arrays indirectly through form submissions, by naming your values "foo[]". But you can not create empty arrays this way. So it is really up to the module which uses form_checkboxes() to handle this. A simple is_array() should do the trick. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ March 28, 2005 - 17:27 : chx Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/checkboxes.patch (1.71 KB) system_settings_save can not really cope with this situation. This makes a problem with empty node options. And the fact that we have a check everywhere we use form_checkboxes is error prone, too. Here is a patch. If this accepted I'll comb the core for dead code. For eg. the first three lines of taxonomy_save_vocabulary and so. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ March 28, 2005 - 17:32 : chx Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/checkboxes_0.patch (1.71 KB) Oh NO! One strayed space! I fixed it before steven beheads me.... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ March 28, 2005 - 18:36 : chx Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/checkboxes_1.patch (1.64 KB) Among other changes, I have moved the hidden field form_checkboxes[] out of $edit. I have included HTML code, yes, but this is a very special thing, so it does not merit changing form_input just 'cos of this. And you won't need to theme a hidden field... ------------------------------------------------------------------------ April 8, 2005 - 08:19 : chx Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/form_checkboxes_2.patch (1.9 KB) killes did not like the previous version. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ April 12, 2005 - 00:15 : chx Dries? ------------------------------------------------------------------------ April 12, 2005 - 20:15 : chx Attachment: http://drupal.org/files/issues/form_checkboxes_3.patch (1.64 KB) ------------------------------------------------------------------------ April 12, 2005 - 20:39 : jhriggs I have to agree with Steven that it is up to the calling code...and I hardly think this is critical. Code that is expecting an array from form_checkboxes() should ensure that it is dealing with an array (i.e. is_array()). As for dealing with variables set through things like system_settings_save(), the same thing applies. The code that is retrieving the variable should ensure that it is working with an array. With regards to your patch, what's the difference if the calling code has to remember to check via is_array() or remember to call fix_checkboxes()? This method is no less error prone as it's just as easy to forget this call as it is to check for an array. That is unless you are suggesting that fix_checkboxes() gets called for every page load which seems rather crufty. I wrote the original patch to add form_checkboxes() -- which didn't exist -- and if I remember, this was the desired behavior if nothing was selected. Isn't this the same behavior one would see using a multiple form_select() if the user chooses nothing? They should behave the same. A single select widget is the same as a radio group, and a multiple select widget is the same as a group of checkboxes. They should behave the same; the select types just take up less realestate.