Pull Request for Issue #33553 .

Summary of Changes

Back-integrate from 4.0-dev to here (staging) the following changes from PR #25761 for fixing bind() with objects in the JTable class:

• Change order of processing in the bind() routine and add a get_object_vars if the $src parameter is an object, so that it is:

1. Check if the source value is an array or object and throw an exception if not.
2. If the ignore value is a string, explode it over spaces.
3. If the source value is an object, get its accessible properties with get_object_vars.
4. JSON encode any fields if required.
5. Bind the source value, excluding the ignored fields.

• Add a unit test for bind() with an object.

I'm wondering why the 4th step in the above list currently comes before the 1st without this PR.

Testing Instructions

Step 1: On a current staging branch or latest 3.9.x nightly build, switch on ""Debug System" and set "Error Reporting" to "Maximum" or "Development".

Step 2: Add the following code to some administrator view:

// Test PR-33558 begin
JTable::addIncludePath(JPATH_ROOT . '/administrator/components/com_contact/tables');

$row1 = JTable::getInstance('Contact', 'ContactTable');

$contact1 = [
	'name'      => 'Bat Man',
	'alias'     => 'bat-man',
	'catid'     => 4,
	'params'    => ['show_contact_list' => 0, 'show_tags' => ''],
	'language'  => '*',
	'published' => 1,
	'access'    => 1,
];

$row1->bind($contact1);
$row1->store();

echo '<div>Contact 1 saved.<div>';

$row2 = JTable::getInstance('Contact', 'ContactTable');

$contact2            = new stdClass;
$contact2->name      = 'John Doe';
$contact2->alias     = 'john-doe';
$contact2->catid     = 4;
$contact2->params    = ['show_contact_list' => 0, 'show_tags' => ''];
$contact2->language  = '*';
$contact2->published = 1;
$contact2->access    = 1;

$row2->bind($contact2);
$row2->store();

echo '<div>Contact 2 saved.<div>';
// Test PR-33558 end

E.g. you can add it just before the following line in the users view's default template:
https://github.com/joomla/joomla-cms/blob/staging/administrator/components/com_users/views/users/tmpl/default.php#L20

The code creates or updates 2 new contact records in database, using bind() and store(), one contact given as array and the other one as object (stdClass).

Step 3: Navigate to the view modified in the previous step.
In my example: "Users -> Manage" (administrator/index.php?option=com_users&view=users).

Result: Error 'Cannot use object of type stdClass as array', see issue #33553 and section "Actual result BEFORE applying this Pull Request" below.

Step 4: Check in database if the two contacts have been created.

Result: Only the first contact "Bat Man" has been created.

Step 5: Delete that contact.

Step 6: Apply the patch of this PR.

Step 7: Navigate again to the view modified in the previous step, or reload the page if still there.

Result: No error, the debug output is shown, see section "Expected result AFTER applying this Pull Request" below.

Step 8: Check in database if the two contacts have been created.

Result: Both contacts "Bat Man" and "John Doe" have been created.

Actual result BEFORE applying this Pull Request

Storing data fails with error 'Cannot use object of type stdClass as array'.

The line number may be different to the one shown in the screenshot because that screenshot was made when testing PR #33558 which I had made for 3.10).

Expected result AFTER applying this Pull Request

Storing data succeeds.

The debug output is shown.

Documentation Changes Required

None.

Additional information

This change doesn't need to be merged up into 4.0-dev since it has been applied there already, see PR #25761 . The unit tests are implemented differently there.

I.e. when merging this up and getting conflicts, just chose to use the existing 4.0-dev code for these when resolving.