[wp-trac] [WordPress Trac] #28468: wp_capabilities (wp_usermeta table) actually serialized array of user_role (was: wp_capabalities (wp_usermeta table) actually serialized array of user_role)

[WordPress Trac]

#28468: wp_capabilities (wp_usermeta table) actually serialized array of user_role
--------------------------+----------------------
 Reporter:  Nukeface      |       Owner:
     Type:  defect (bug)  |      Status:  closed
 Priority:  normal        |   Milestone:
Component:  Users         |     Version:  3.9.1
 Severity:  normal        |  Resolution:  invalid
 Keywords:                |     Focuses:
--------------------------+----------------------
Changes (by SergeyBiryukov):

 * milestone:  Awaiting Review =>


Old description:

> Setup: WP3.9.1 Dutch Multi-site
> Plugin (activated but un-used): Advanced Custom Fields - Problem persists
> without plugin.
>
> The user_role assigned to users of a blog gets stored in a weird format
> with an incorrectly named meta_key.
>
> When searching for users from a certain user_role a little trickery has
> to be used to be able to find the correct users.
>
>     table wp_usermeta
>     [meta_key] => [wp_capabilities]
>     [meta_value] => [a:1:{s:13:"administrator";b:1;}]
>
> Not only is this a weird way to store this value, with an incorrect
> meta_key assigned, in this case it's also an incorrect value.
>
> This is the value assigned to a super-admin. So why is it labelled
> "administrator" instead of "super-admin"? And why is it stored with
> "wp_capabilities" and not something along the lines of "wp_user_role"?
>
> Also, why is the value stored like this?
>
>     serialize(
>     array(
>     [administrator]=>true
>     )
>     )
>
> Why not plain-text, like pretty much any value in the wp_usermeta table?
>
> To get the correct users to be returned a query now has to be submitted
> with a meta_query like so:
>
>     $roles[ 'relation' ] = 'OR' ;
>     foreach( $user_roles as $role ){
>     $roles[] = array(
>     'key'       => 'wp_capabilities',
>     'value'     => serialize(array($role=>true)), /* This value gets
> stored as: serialize(array(1){[$key]=>bool(true)) when it's created */
>     'compare'   => '='
>     );
>     }
>
> Also, the record underneath (with every user apart from 'super-admin'
> roles) shows [meta_key]=>0, with super-admins: [meta_key]=>10. The usage
> of wp_user_level has been deprecated since WP3.0, so why is that still
> being used? (source: http://codex.wordpress.org/User_Levels).
>
> When using custom user_roles with custom capabilities this is very much
> so annoying to work through. Especially since there appears to be no
> reliable way to get the users of a specific user_role.
>
> Paired with the WP_User_Query class to get the data in mixed formats (of
> Object, StdClass and Array) and which doesn't properly get the meta-data
> promised in the codex when using 'all_with_meta' in the 'fields' key for
> the query, this gets really frustrating (source:
> http://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_User_Query - Return Fields
> Parameter).

New description:

 Setup: WP3.9.1 Dutch Multi-site
 Plugin (activated but un-used): Advanced Custom Fields - Problem persists
 without plugin.

 The user_role assigned to users of a blog gets stored in a weird format
 with an incorrectly named meta_key.

 When searching for users from a certain user_role a little trickery has to
 be used to be able to find the correct users.
 {{{
 table wp_usermeta
 [meta_key] => [wp_capabilities]
 [meta_value] => [a:1:{s:13:"administrator";b:1;}]
 }}}
 Not only is this a weird way to store this value, with an incorrect
 meta_key assigned, in this case it's also an incorrect value.

 This is the value assigned to a super-admin. So why is it labelled
 "administrator" instead of "super-admin"? And why is it stored with
 "wp_capabilities" and not something along the lines of "wp_user_role"?

 Also, why is the value stored like this?
 {{{
 serialize(
     array(
         [administrator] => true
     )
 )
 }}}
 Why not plain-text, like pretty much any value in the wp_usermeta table?

 To get the correct users to be returned a query now has to be submitted
 with a meta_query like so:
 {{{
 $roles[ 'relation' ] = 'OR' ;
 foreach( $user_roles as $role ){
     $roles[] = array(
         'key'       => 'wp_capabilities',
         'value'     => serialize(array($role=>true)), /* This value gets
 stored as: serialize(array(1){[$key]=>bool(true)) when it's created */
         'compare'   => '='
     );
 }
 }}}
 Also, the record underneath (with every user apart from 'super-admin'
 roles) shows `[meta_key] => 0`, with super-admins: `[meta_key] => 10`. The
 usage of wp_user_level has been deprecated since WP3.0, so why is that
 still being used? (source: http://codex.wordpress.org/User_Levels).

 When using custom user_roles with custom capabilities this is very much so
 annoying to work through. Especially since there appears to be no reliable
 way to get the users of a specific user_role.

 Paired with the WP_User_Query class to get the data in mixed formats (of
 Object, StdClass and Array) and which doesn't properly get the meta-data
 promised in the codex when using 'all_with_meta' in the 'fields' key for
 the query, this gets really frustrating (source:
 http://codex.wordpress.org/Class_Reference/WP_User_Query - Return Fields
 Parameter).

--

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Ticket URL: <https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/28468#comment:2>
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