fix(sync): cast role to array for backwards compatibility

[wil-gerken]

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Changes proposed in this Pull Request:

Casts $data->role to an array in class-user-manually-synced.php to maintain backwards compatibility with pre-#187 events in the event log.

PR #187 changed the role field from a string to an array on the sending side (class-user-manual-sync.php), but the receiving side (class-user-manually-synced.php) wasn't made backwards-compatible with events already in the event log.

Nodes that haven't processed past the old-format events get permanently stuck, as array_diff() is erroring when it receives a string instead of an array.

Since this error occurs right before set_last_processed_id() in process_pulled_data(), the last processed ID never advances, and the node re-pulls the same failing batch indefinitely.

You can see the mixed types in the network_manual_sync_user events here:

7218 "role":"subscriber" ← string (pre-#187)
36531 "role":"customer" ← string
...
122559 "role":["subscriber"] ← array (post-#187)
146730 "role":["contributor"] ← array

How to test the changes in this Pull Request:

The (array) cast handles both the old string format and the new array format. With a string value like "subscriber", it becomes ["subscriber"]. With an array value like ["subscriber", "customer"], it passes through unchanged. Both cases produce a valid array for array_diff()

Other information:

• Have you added an explanation of what your changes do and why you'd like us to include them?
• Have you written new tests for your changes, as applicable?
• Have you successfully ran tests with your changes locally?

I'm not able to test this full loop locally, but I have tested that the (array) cast will work with both a string and an array.

[Copilot]

Pull request overview

This PR fixes a critical backwards compatibility issue introduced in PR #187, where the role field in user sync events was changed from a string to an array. Nodes processing old events from before this change were getting stuck indefinitely because array_diff() was receiving a string instead of an array, causing errors before the last processed ID could be updated.

Changes:

• Added array casting to $data->role in the receiving side of manual user sync to handle both old string format and new array format

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[leogermani]

@wil-gerken Let's make this a hotfix:

• Branch it off from the release branch
• prefix the branch name with hotfix/
• submit a new PR based to release

[wil-gerken]

Thank you and done! PR #292

[matticbot]

🎉 This PR is included in version 2.18.3 🎉

The release is available on GitHub release

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