How do you properly clear a json_encode error state? - php

I am using a PHP 5.6.40 development environment. Many of my classes implement JsonSerializable. The jsonSerialize method of one of these classes uses json_decode, since the value of one of its data members may or may not be encoded as JSON. The problem is that after calling json_decode on a data member whose value is just a plain string, the json_encode fails.
Here is an example:
class JsonSerializableClass implements JsonSerializable
{
private $dataMember;
public function __construct($dataMember)
{
$this->dataMember = $dataMember;
}
public function jsonSerialize()
{
$decodedDataMember = json_decode($this->dataMember, 1);
if ($decodedDataMember && $decodedDataMember['jsonDataMember'])
{
return $decodedDataMember['jsonDataMember'];
}
// json_encode(''); This keeps json_encode from failing, but I'm looking for a different solution.
return $this->dataMember;
}
}
// This works
$test1 = new JsonSerializableClass(json_encode(array(
'jsonDataMember' => 'plain string'
)));
var_export(json_encode($test1));
// This fails
$test2 = new JsonSerializableClass('plain string');
var_export(json_encode($test2));
This is fixed by adding a call to json_encode in the jsonSerialize method after the failed json_decode; however, another developer may not immediately realize what that accomplishes. Of course I would comment my reasoning for doing it, but I'm looking for a more clear solution. Is there error state data that json functions rely on that is being cleared by a successful json_encode? If so, is there a way to clearly reset that error state data, like clear_json_error_state?
I'm sorry if my explanation is hard to understand; it was difficult for me to explain. Please ask me for any clarification you need.

I downgrade the version to V4.1.5, It works.
"name": "pusher/pusher-php-server", "version": "v4.1.5",

Related

PHP serialize() is not properly serializing stdClass object

I have an application running on Google App Engine (using PHP 5.5.38), and I'm using a Laravel package for caching query results.
This worked well for a similar project, but for this one, I get errors such as, "unserialize(): Error at offset 14 of 860 bytes" (the numbers vary, depending on what was serialized.)
The error occurs in a class that has only these two functions:
public function encode($data){
return serialize($data);
}
public function decode($data){
return unserialize($data);
}
I found that when testing the app locally, everything works correctly, and the serialized data looks something like this:
a:1:{i:0;O:8:"stdClass":27:{s:2:"id";i:2;s:10:"first_name";s:4:"Zach";...
But when I run it on App Engine with the same data, it returns this:
a:1:{i:0;O:8:"#*lass":27:{s:2:"id";i:2;s:10:"first_name";s:4:"Zach";...
It might not show here, but there are invisible characters next to the '*' (in notepad++, they show up as [ENQ] and [DLE]).
I believe that the call to unserialize() fails because the serialized data contains #*lass instead of stdClass, but I don't know what's causing it, or how to prevent it. I tried using str_replace, and it worked at first, but not for everything. I also made sure that PHP was using UTF-8 as the default charset.
EDIT: I modified the encode function to try to pinpoint the moment the trouble starts.
I now have:
public function encode($data)
{
$serialized = serialize($data);
try{
unserialize($serialized);
} catch (\Exception $ex) {
var_dump($serialized);
die;
}
return $serialized;
}
And when it's executed on the server, it outputs:
a:1:{i:0;O:8:"#*lass":27:{s:2:"id";i:2;s:10:"first_name";s:4:"Zach"; ...
So it seems like the problem starts with before anything is saved or unserialized.
Probably not an ideal fix, but this seems to work...
public function encode($data)
{
return serialize(json_decode(json_encode($data), true));
}
public function decode($data)
{
return json_decode(json_encode(unserialize($data)));
}
The problem seemed to come from serializing an array of stdClass objects, so I figured it would help to convert stdClass to associative arrays.
This works for me
$data = json_decode(json_encode($data), true);
$data_serialized = serialize($data);

Testing method with no output

I have the following method I want to test:
class SomeObject {
public function actionFromSomeController() {
$obj = new OtherObject();
$obj -> setAttributes();
$obj -> doAction();
}
}
class OtherObject {
private $_attr;
public function setAttributes() {
$this -> _attr = 'something';
Database :: execute('INSERT INTO table VALUES (' . $this -> _attr . ')');
$fileObj = new FileObj();
$content = $fileObj -> getSomeFileContent();
// do something else
}
public function doAction() {
echo $this -> _attr;
}
}
Now I want to test this method, its output depends on database content and one file on the server. It does a lot of things on the way, and the output is just one ID and success => 1.
How should I test it properly?
Some ideas on how to test small code pieces like this:
Generate test-data and pass it to your methods (also, fake database return data or file contents)
Use echo / var_dump() / die() to check property and variable content at different positions in your methods
Also use these commands to check whether execution reaches a certain point (for example to see whether a function got called or not)
If something doesn't work as expected without an error message: Check line by line with the above methods until you find the problem
Consider using interfaces and dependency injection if your code gets bigger - this is a bit over-the-top for this amount of code, but can be a tremendous time-saver when your application becomes big
Testing is never an automatic process and you will always have to think about what makes sense to do and what not. These things to do are never magic but basic PHP.
You should consider letting your scripts throw errors/exceptions if something goes wrong. Writing "silent" applications is almost never good since you can, if you really need a silent execution for production environments, just turn off error reporting and have the same effect. Many PHP functions return something special on failure and/or success and you can check for this. Database handlers do so, too. Do yourself a favor and use these return values!

How to properly call a class while providing error reporting at the class-caller level

I am writing fresh code, as part of refactoring an older legacy codebase.
Specifically, I am writing a Device class that will be used to compute various specifications of a device.
Device class depends on device's model number and particle count and I can call it as $device = new Device($modelNumber, $particleCount);
Problem: since this class will go into existing legacy code, I have no direct influence on if this class will be called properly. For Device to work, it needs to have correct model number and correct particle count. If it does not receive the proper configuration data, internally device will not be initialized, and the class will not work. I think that I need to find a way to let the caller know that there was an error, in case an invalid configuration data was supplied. How do I structure this to be in line with object oriented principles?
Or, alternatively, do I need to concern myself with this? I think there is a principle that if you supply garbage, you get garbage back, aka my class only needs to work properly with proper data. If improper data is supplied, it can bake a cake instead, or do nothing (and possibly fail silently). Well, I am not sure if this principle will be great. I do need something to complain if supplied configuration data is bad.
Here is some code of what I am thinking:
$device = new Device($x, $y);
$device->getData();
The above will fail or produce bad or no data if $x or $y are outside of device specs. I don't know how to handle this failure. I also want to assume that $device is valid when I call getData() method, and I can't make that assumption.
or
$device = new Device($x, $y);
if ($device->isValid())
$device->getData();
else
blow_up("invalid device configuration supplied");
The above is better, but the caller has to now they are to call isValid() function. This also "waters down" my class. It has to do two things: 1) create device, 2) verify device configuration is valid.
I can create a DeviceChecker class that deals with configuration vefication. And maybe that's a solution. It bothers me a little that DeviceChecker will have to contain some part of the logic that is already in Device class.
Questions
what problem am I trying to solve here? Am I actually trying to design an error handling system in addition to my "simple class" issue? I think I probably am... Well, I don't have the luxury of doing this at the moment (legacy code base is huge). Is there anything I can do now that is perhaps localized to the pieces of code I touch? That something is what I am looking for with this question.
I think you need to use below code to verify your passed arguments in construct
class Device {
public function __constructor($modelNumber, $particleCount) {
if(!$this->isValid($modelNumber, $particleCount) {
return false; //or return any error
}
}
}
This will check the passed params are valid or not and create object based on that only, otherwise return false or any error.

__PHP_Incomplete_Class_Name wrong

We're randomly getting some very strange error logs. They don't happen on every page hit, even with the same parameters/actions/etc, and they don't seem repeatable, each one is different in its crash location, and context. But almost all have incorrect __PHP_Incomplete_Class_Name as the cause.
One such error is:
main(): The script tried to execute a method or access a property of an incomplete object. Please ensure that the class definition "LoginLogging" of the object you are trying to operate on was loaded before unserialize() gets called or provide a __autoload() function to load the class definition
The problem being, there is no "LoginLogging" class. The object it's referring to was of type ScormElement when it was saved into the session.
Doing a dump of the variable gives:
__PHP_Incomplete_Class::__set_state(array(
'__PHP_Incomplete_Class_Name' => 'LoginLogging',
'intUserId' => '64576',
'__intUserId' => '64576',
'intScormId' => '665',
'__intScormId' => '665',
'intScoId' => '9255',
'__intScoId' => '9255',
'strElement' => 'cmi.core.lesson_location',
'__strElement' => 'cmi.core.lesson_location',
'strValue' => '1',
'dttTimeModified' => QDateTime::__set_state(array(
'blnDateNull' => false,
'blnTimeNull' => false,
'strSerializedData' => '2011-08-31T08:05:22-0600',
'date' => '2011-08-31 08:05:22',
'timezone_type' => 1,
'timezone' => '-06:00',
)),
'__strVirtualAttributeArray' => array (),
'__blnRestored' => true,
'objUser' => NULL,
'objScorm' => NULL,
)
All the properties are retained correctly, and match the class definition for ScormElement. But the class name is wrong. There is no class named LoginLogging.
What is causing this and how do we fix it???
Edit: This is just an example. Other errors are very similar in structure, but affect other class types, and have different incomplete names. However, ALL incomplete names have the same string length of the correct class name.
Edit 2011-10-27: I'm still seeing these error logs, and have had no success in finding a solution. Any help would be appreciated.
PHP 5.3.3, APC, default session handler.
As written in the quote in your question __PHP_Incomplete_Class_Name is a special class name in PHP that is used whenever the class definition could not be found when unserializing (unserialize()).
It's suggested to either ensure the class definition is available or to provide some autoloading for the missing class.
You commented that PHP is looking for the wrong classname here:
wrong: LoginLogging
right: ScormElement
It's hard to say with the information given why the classname is being changed on serialization/unserialization. The information you've given (especially the dump) in your question is incomplete.
So the options are limited to some general suggestions:
You could inspect the serialized string which classname is given in there so you could at least say if it happens with serialization or unserialization. You can easily inspect serialized data with the Serialized PHP Library which has a text-dumper for debug purposes.
Additionally there is the unserialize_callback_func Ini-Directive you can use to further trace the problem.
<?php
$serialized_object='O:1:"a":1:{s:5:"value";s:3:"100";}';
// unserialize_callback_func directive available as of PHP 4.2.0
ini_set('unserialize_callback_func', 'mycallback'); // set your callback_function
function mycallback($classname)
{
// just include a file containing your classdefinition
// you get $classname to figure out which classdefinition is required
}
As you write the problem does not occur any longer, I suspect that at some point the serialization on your site was broken storing invalid data. Which framework/libraries/application are you using? Which component takes care about serialization?
If your trying to access a property method of an object or serialized value you've stored in a $_SESSION variable and you included the class after calling session_start() try including the class before calling session_start();
This happens when we try to initialize the session before loading the class definitions for the object we are trying to save into the session.
you can use simply json methods in PHP
json_encode that array and again json_decode that array and save it in a variable and than print that variable. you will get a simple array.
eg.
$array = array(); // this is your array variable to whom you are trying to save in a session
$encode = json_encode($array);
$decode = json_decode($encode);
echo '<pre>';
print_r($decode);
it will work surely.
Are you, by any chance, using some opcode cache (e.g. APC, XCache) or some debugger? They sometimes cause weird things to happen. If there isn't and never was a LoginLogging class in your project, but yours is not the only project on the server, I would bid on the cache.
To include the class before the session_start() works fine for me. =)
Hakre's suggestion to look at session_write_close led me to what appears to be a reliable fix:
register_shutdown_function('session_write_close');
This forces the session to be written out before any memory cleanup and class unloading occurs. This is important due to a change in PHP that can result in a race condition between APC removing class references and PHP writing out the session data: http://news.php.net/php.internals/46999
When you try to unserialize a variable, php must know the structure of the object. Try to include your class before unserialize. Which class? the one that holds those properties shown in your code. include('pathtoyourclass/classname.php') or include_once('pathtoyourclass/classname.php').
Good luck!
I use this function to solve this problem
$user = $_SESSION['login'];
$auth_user= fixObject($user);
function fixObject(&$object) {
if (!is_object($object) && gettype($object) == 'object')
return ($object = unserialize(serialize($object)));
return $object;
}
It is the serialization issue in your code.It may be your code for some reason could not initialize the object and in next part of your code tries to convert that object to string or some other data type.
Just inspect your code, properly initialize your objects.
Check if you are using serialize()/unserialize() method.
Are you receiving this serialized object from a service/stream or reading it from a file? I've seen it happen in a client-server setting the client side object and the server side objects differ very slightly... maybe have a property that the other doesn't have. This also happens when you serialize an object, save it to file, then refactor code that removes a class and then try's to deserialize the object.
Then when it gets deserialized and tries to instantiate the needed classes they don't exist.
The error is clear and straightforward, you're creating a object for which the class has not been loaded.
I'd do a string search on your code, find where the needed class is located, and make a simple autoloader (or just a raw include/require) of the file. Just get the class it needs loaded somehow.
If the class really doesn't exist anywhere, try checking earlier revisions (I'm assuming you have version control of some type) for existence of the class. If you're deserializing an object generated by another system check that system out as well.

OO PHP + Ajax without framework

I'm going to write a booking website using php and ajax and I really can't figure how to mix these two tools with a strict object oriented design.
I was used to make a call using ajax to a php web page that returns the right set of values (string, xml, json) in a procedural way.
With object oriented programming how is it supposed to work?
The simplest solution that i can think is to call through ajax a php page that should only instantiate a new object of the right class and then make an echo on the result of a simple call with the data received but this doesn't look very oo...
For example to implement the register function I should make an ajax call to a register.php web page that, in turn, will instantiate a new Registration object r and then simply calls r.register() with the right data.
Is there a better solution to this problem?
I want specify that I can't use any php framework because it's a didactic project and I have this rule that I should respect.
Another specification: I've read a lot of tutorials that describe how to write your own mvc framework but doing this seems to be an overkill for my problem.
Thank you for your help, every idea will be appreciated.
As you already said you don't really need a PHP framework and don't need to build your own MVC implementation
(especially if you are e.g. working with JSON or XML).
Basically you are pretty free on how to do your OO model, so your idea is not necessarily wrong.
Some OO anti patterns I have seen people using in PHP:
Use global variables in classes
Create classes without member
variables resulting in method calls
being the same as in a produral style
Directly accessing $_GET, $_POST etc.
in a class
Echoing html output (imho this should
be done in view templates)
An example for what you might want to do for the registering process processing some $_POST variables
and returning a JSON success message:
<?php
class Registration
{
private $_data;
public function __construct($registrationdata)
{
$this->_data = $registrationdata;
}
public function validate()
{
// ...
}
public function register()
{
// ...
if($this->validate())
return array("registered" => true, "username" => $this->_data["username"],
"message" => "Thank you for registering");
else
return array("registered" => false, "username" => $this->_data["username"],
"message" => "Duplicate username");
}
}
$reg = new Registration($_POST);
echo json_encode($reg->register());
?>
There is no reason to create any classes if all you are doing is calling a couple of unrelated stateless php functions.

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