[5.2] Error handling on extension update

[BrainforgeUK]

Pull Request for Issue #43319 .

Summary of Changes

Catch errors from the extension being updated and abort update with a sensible message.

Testing Instructions

(a) Installed this Plugin.
plg_updatetest1.zip

(b) Enable the plugin.

(c) Go to Joomla updater and check for updates.

(d) Then select the plugin installed above PLG_HIKASHOPSHIPPING_BFEXTRAFEATURES and update it.

Actual result BEFORE applying this Pull Request

Expected result AFTER applying this Pull Request

Link to documentations

Please select:

• Documentation link for docs.joomla.org:

• No documentation changes for docs.joomla.org needed

• Pull Request link for manual.joomla.org:

• No documentation changes for manual.joomla.org needed

[brianteeman]

Cannot be tested

[BrainforgeUK]

Try this test plugin - screenshots before applying the pull request changes.
plg_updatetest2.zip

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[brianteeman]

[BrainforgeUK]

Test does not work on Unix system! - must be filename case, investigating.

[brianteeman]

I am using windows

[BrainforgeUK]

Sorted, no change to the above needed, can go ahead with testing.
Appologizes for inconvenience, update server issue, not looked at that for a long time!

[brianteeman]

With Debug Disabled

With Debug Enabled

PLEASE check your work before submitting it

[BrainforgeUK]

Changed.

Sorry, copied the changed code across and forgot the use statement.
Failed to check the files changed count - thought I had copied the language text across.

[brianteeman]

You also forgot to check the language string you used and the string you created.

[BrainforgeUK]

Retested as: #43321 (comment)

With changes made the message is now:

[brianteeman]

I am all in favour of meaningfull error messages but they also have to be helpful. In this example the advice is not helpful at all as it means nothing at all to the user. This is a message that is only useful to the original extension developer and is not something that an end user shoudl ever see. Extension developers dont release updates without testing they work do they

[BrainforgeUK]

Regardless of who is to blame for the error what I propose is better and more useful than what Joomla currently displays.

This is actually not a plugin bug - the plugin is used by and depends on a 3rd party extension, it is that dependency which causes the problem when the update is attempted with the plugin enabled. Could modify such plugins to protect against such errors but I see that as unnecessary code in the plugin when Joomla can handle it more gracefully.

I suppose could add another line to the error message:
"Please contact the extension developer."

Could enhance further by adding contact information from current XML?

[brianteeman]

The question is. Does the new message help the end user more than the original message. For me the answer is no

[BrainforgeUK]

The end user is an admin who hopefully knows the extensions installed on their site.

The current error is missleading as it implies it is a bug in the Joomla installer ... which led to me being asked a question which started me on this.

[chmst]

I think that this helps "Please contact the extension developer of the Plugin ... ".
Then I know that it is not a bug in Joomla or in my confirguration and don't waste time with debugging.

[brianteeman]

@chmst the problem is that according to @BrainforgeUK the problem is not with the developer of this plugin but with the developer of a completely different extension upon which it depends - so which extension developer am I going to contact? For me that is not the problem. The problem is that the extension that is being installed is not checking for the presence of the extension it is dependent upon. ergo nothing sensible can be changed in core to fix an extension developers errors

[chmst]

@brianteeman - thanks, agreed.

[TLWebdesign]

On Joomla 5.1.3 i'm not seeing the path. I tested it both on a localhost and on a live test server.
See attached screenshot:

[brianteeman]

@TLWebdesign as this PR is for 5.1 and not 5.2 then you should be marking this as an unsuccessful test

[TLWebdesign]

I have tested this item 🔴 unsuccessfully on bb1c6aa

On 5.1.3 i'm not getting the path to the file to show.

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[HLeithner]

This pull request has been automatically rebased to 5.2-dev.

[TLWebdesign]

I have tested this item ✅ successfully on bb1c6aa

Tested Succesfully on 5.2

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[Quy]

RTC

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[pe7er]

Thanks @BrainforgeUK !