[dev/core#3029] Avoid risking a TypeError when evaluating tokens for non-existent custom fields

[jensschuppe]

Overview

Fix for core/dev#3029

Before

Evaluating tokens for non-existent custom fields fails with a 500 TypeError.

After

No error.

Technical Details

Due to type hinting in CRM_Core_EntityTokens::getCustomFieldName() a TypeError was being issued when the custom field in question did not exist. Instead, an exception is now being thrown, which is being caught in the currently only calling method CRM_Core_EntityTokens::getCustomFieldValue() which returns NULL instead of a formatted custom field value.

Comments

Maybe simply returning NULL (with PHP 7.1 supporting nullable return types) is easier? @eileenmcnaughton

[civibot]

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[eileenmcnaughton]

@jensschuppe I'm OK with this - but it could go against the rc branch (5.46) since it's a regression. It's obscure enough I'm happy just to merge to master if you prefer

In a perfect world we would have some sort of sytem check for templates with invalid custom field tokens and / or bubble up a message that logged in users would see so they know something unexpected is happening

[jensschuppe]

Changed base branch to 5.46 as suggested by @eileenmcnaughton.

In a perfect world we would have some sort of sytem check for templates with invalid custom field tokens and / or bubble up a message that logged in users would see so they know something unexpected is happening

Since we can't be sure that everything that looks like a CiviCRM token in a document actually is supposed to be a token, the replacement system should gracefully ignore everything it doesn't recognize. If the user were to be informed about errors regarding tokens, this would have to be a separate check, e.g. being run from within the template editing screen.

[eileenmcnaughton]

test this please

[eileenmcnaughton]

thanks @jensschuppe - I've given this Merge on pass

[seamuslee001]

Jenkins re test this please