known issue Polls not working correctly (random)

[NAWAC]

We use a lot of polls, with a simply Yes or No vote. Most of the time, they work perfectly. However, over the last month we've had two separate polls. When a person places their vote, it shows to that person that their vote has been cast, but it does not tally it in the results.

Using phpMyAdmin, and after researching inside the core_polls database table, I see the following:

choices field

{"1":{"question":"Please place your vote.","multi":0,"choice":["Yes","No"],"votes":[0,1]}}

votes field:

5

As you can see, these do not equate in terms of number of votes. There should be a sum total of 5 votes in the choices field. In other words, it should look something like the following in order for the tally to be be shown correctly in the poll on the forum.

{"1":{"question":"Please place your vote.","multi":0,"choice":["Yes","No"],"votes":[4,1]}}

This has happened twice now, but it is random. Most polls work, but now, two have not, and have had this problem occur in both instances. Seems like it could be a bug. Please help. 

Thank you.

[NAWAC]

30 minutes ago, NAWAC said:

However, over the last month we've had two separate polls.

Sorry, the above should have said, "However, over the last month we've had two separate polls that have not work correctly."

[Jim M]

Do you have a link to the given poll(s) that we can investigate?

[NAWAC]

It's a private forum.

[Jim M]

Not having access to the poll or your community. My suggestion then would be to isolate any third party applications/plugins to see if they are related. Unfortunately, we have not heard any reports of polls not working correctly elsewhere.

[NAWAC]

I disabled all the third party apps on our site and tried it, and still didn't work correctly.

[NAWAC]

The first time I found this happening was March 15, 2023. Was there an update near this date that could have caused it?

I looked in the Admin logs and I found I did a Community Update on March 08, 2023.

[NAWAC]

Update:

The first time I saw this occur was February 26, 2023, not March 15.  

Edited March 24, 2023 by NAWAC

[NAWAC]

After further research, I noticed that it seems like "Yes" votes are not getting recorded or tallied, but "No" votes are. In the database "Yes" votes are recorded as "0" and "No" votes are recorded as "1", simply because the "Yes" is the first choice and "No" is the second choice. It seems these "0" aren't getting counted and added properly in the database. 

Please refer back to my original post in this thread...

{"1":{"question":"Please place your vote.","multi":0,"choice":["Yes","No"],"votes":[0,1]}}

Edited March 26, 2023 by NAWAC

[Richard Arch]

I've ran a test poll (v4.7.9 beta 1 as that's what my test site is at) and it was fine.  Simple yes/no question, 3 people voted, 2 for yes and 1 for no.  However, what has been recorded in core_polls.choices is different to what you posted above.

{"1":{"question":"Choose ","multi":0,"choice":{"1":"Yes","2":"No"},"votes":{"1":2,"2":1}}}

 

[NAWAC]

So, I really don't know what to do from here.  This is no longer random, but every instance on a simple Yes/No poll, the Yes votes are no longer getting tallied. I'm a paying customer but I don't know why I can't get support from the developer of this software. I'm a little frustrated at this point. I've done everything told I should do, yet the bug exists.

[Randy Calvert]

This is an issue that cannot be duplicated in a new stock/default installation. That means there is something unique to your setup or installation. That could be a plugin or something else, but without access to troubleshoot, how do you expect them to be able to help you?

Simply saying it doesn’t work does not help them to help you. 

Edited April 10, 2023 by Randy Calvert

[NAWAC]

11 hours ago, Randy Calvert said:

That could be a plugin or something else, but without access to troubleshoot, how do you expect them to be able to help you?

 

I've disabled all plugins and 3rd party customizations during the testing and it still happens. 

I can create a separate Admin account for them giving them access to the points of interest...I've done it before. 

[NAWAC]

On 3/26/2023 at 2:30 PM, Richard Arch said:

I've ran a test poll (v4.7.9 beta 1 as that's what my test site is at) and it was fine.  Simple yes/no question, 3 people voted, 2 for yes and 1 for no.  However, what has been recorded in core_polls.choices is different to what you posted above.

{"1":{"question":"Choose ","multi":0,"choice":{"1":"Yes","2":"No"},"votes":{"1":2,"2":1}}}

 

I don't know why, but your string inside the database is different than mine. And your choices are not the same as mine. Note, you have 1 for Yes, and 2 for No.

{"1":{"question":"Choose ","multi":0,"choice":{"1":"Yes","2":"No"},"votes":{"1":2,"2":1}}}

Mine is a simple Yes, No. 

On 3/26/2023 at 9:24 AM, NAWAC said:

{"1":{"question":"Please place your vote.","multi":0,"choice":["Yes","No"],"votes":[0,1]}}

It was configured this way due to a post submitted, here. Where @Stuart Silvester explains how to create Yes/No polls using API. And in his post he states, 

/* poll variables below */
,'poll_title'    => 'Cast your vote'
	// poll_options: Array of objects with keys 'title' (string), 'answers' (array of objects with key 'value' set to the choice) and 'multichoice' (bool)
,'poll_options[1][title]' => urlencode('Make your choice, either Yes or No:')
	,'poll_options[1][answers][0][value]'        => 'Yes'
	,'poll_options[1][answers][1][value]'        => 'No'
	,'poll_options[1][multichoice]'     => '0'

,'poll_public'    => '0' // bool     Make the poll public
,'poll_only'    => '0' // bool     Make this a poll-only topic

 

Note the answers are configured with the answer array starting with 0 for Yes, and 1 for the No answer. 

'poll_options[1][answers][0][value]' => 'Yes' 

'poll_options[1][answers][1][value]' => 'No'

Is it possible that if someone votes Yes (which is sent as a "0" to the system to process), the system doesn't know what to do with the "0"?  Should the poll be set up like this in order to count the vote?

'poll_options[1][answers][1][value]' => 'Yes' 

'poll_options[1][answers][2][value]' => 'No'

 

 

 

 

 

[NAWAC]

I just confirmed and this is indeed the case. I reconfigured the string, using phpMyAdmin, in the core_polls table to the following for this poll:

{"1":{"question":"Choose ","multi":0,"choice":{"1":"Yes","2":"No"},"votes":{"1":0,"2":1}}}

And it worked successfully and tallied the votes correctly.

However, when the core_polls table field is set to this...

{"1":{"question":"Please place your vote.","multi":0,"choice":["Yes","No"],"votes":[0,1]}}

it does not work!

So, @Stuart Silvester's example, no longer works as of about February 2023. 

When creating a poll via API, you cannot put this below (note the 'answers' array keys)...

/* poll variables below */
,'poll_title'    => 'Cast your vote'
	// poll_options: Array of objects with keys 'title' (string), 'answers' (array of objects with key 'value' set to the choice) and 'multichoice' (bool)
,'poll_options[1][title]' => urlencode('Make your choice, either Yes or No:')
	,'poll_options[1][answers][0][value]'        => 'Yes'
	,'poll_options[1][answers][1][value]'        => 'No'
	,'poll_options[1][multichoice]'     => '0'

,'poll_public'    => '0' // bool     Make the poll public
,'poll_only'    => '0' // bool     Make this a poll-only topic

You must put this below (again, note the 'answers' array keys)...

/* poll variables below */
,'poll_title'    => 'Cast your vote'
	// poll_options: Array of objects with keys 'title' (string), 'answers' (array of objects with key 'value' set to the choice) and 'multichoice' (bool)
,'poll_options[1][title]' => urlencode('Make your choice, either Yes or No:')
	,'poll_options[1][answers][1][value]'        => 'Yes'
	,'poll_options[1][answers][2][value]'        => 'No'
	,'poll_options[1][multichoice]'     => '0'

,'poll_public'    => '0' // bool     Make the poll public
,'poll_only'    => '0' // bool     Make this a poll-only topic

This appears to be a bug with the code as it worked before, and now it doesn't unless it is configured as I've shown. You cannot have the array key starting with poll_options[1][answers][0][value] because the '0' is submitted to the system and it doesn't know how to handle or count the the '0' as a legitimate value or response when someone votes.

Edited April 10, 2023 by NAWAC

[Stuart Silvester]

I have created a bug report, I'll look into this.

[Adriano Faria]

2 hours ago, Stuart Silvester said:

I have created a bug report, I'll look into this.

Did something change at all regarding the 0 (zero) value in this version?

Although it shows in the table definition:

 

I don't see it when I see the column definition:

 

The field seems ok:

$return['posts'] = new \IPS\Helpers\Form\Number( 'sas_app_restriction_posts', $item ? $item->restriction_posts : 0, FALSE, array( 'min' => 0, 'unlimited' => 0, 'unlimitedLang' => 'no_restriction' ), NULL, NULL, NULL );

Saving:

		if( isset( $values['sas_app_restriction_posts'] ) )
		{
			$this->restriction_posts = $values['sas_app_restriction_posts'];
		}

 

I have several columns throwing errors when saving the default value, which is 0:

Quote

IPS\Db\Exception thrown with message "Incorrect integer value: '' for column `47x`.`staffappsystem_applications`.`sas_app_restriction_posts` at row 1"

Stacktrace:
#9 IPS\Db\Exception in C:\wamp64\www\47x\system\Db\Db.php:679
#8 IPS\_Db:preparedQuery in C:\wamp64\www\47x\system\Db\Db.php:1159
#7 IPS\_Db:update in C:\wamp64\www\47x\system\Patterns\ActiveRecord.php:520
#6 IPS\Patterns\_ActiveRecord:save in C:\wamp64\www\47x\applications\staffappsystem\sources\Applicationrecord\Applicationrecord.php:595
#5 IPS\staffappsystem\_Applicationrecord:processForm in C:\wamp64\www\47x\applications\staffappsystem\modules\front\general\view.php:573
#4 IPS\staffappsystem\modules\front\general\_view:edit in C:\wamp64\www\47x\system\Dispatcher\Controller.php:107
#3 IPS\Dispatcher\_Controller:execute in C:\wamp64\www\47x\system\Content\Controller.php:50
#2 IPS\Content\_Controller:execute in C:\wamp64\www\47x\applications\staffappsystem\modules\front\general\view.php:36
#1 IPS\staffappsystem\modules\front\general\_view:execute in C:\wamp64\www\47x\system\Dispatcher\Dispatcher.php:153
#0 IPS\_Dispatcher:run in C:\wamp64\www\47x\index.php:13

As you can see, it is trying to save '' instead of 0.

Feel free to split my post into a new topic if you think it's necessary.

Thank you.

Edited April 12, 2023 by Adriano Faria