Widget removes fields w/ default HTML on initial save in IE8 and 9

[layotte]

Weird problem, testd in IE8/9, Chrome, and Firefox. If you have a widget, with HTML in the default value, IE8/9 will remove the field entirely. However, if you then paste the HTML back into the field and save, it works fine. This ONLY happens after the initial drag/drop then save of the widget. It even happens if you drag/drop the widget, change the field and click save.

Example Plugin: ​http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/ft-calendar/
Widget: Upcoming Events Widget

The Event Template (event_template) is set by default to:

<a href="%URL">%TITLE%</a>

The event_template source for the Available Widget is:

<input type="text" value="&lt;a href=&quot;%URL%&quot;&gt;%TITLE% (%TIME%)&lt;/a&gt;" name="widget-ft_cal_event_list[__i__][event_template]" id="widget-ft_cal_event_list-__i__-event_template" class="widefat" />  

The event_template source for the widget after it is dragged to a widget area is:

<input type="text" value="&lt;a href=&quot;%URL%&quot;&gt;%TITLE% (%TIME%)&lt;/a&gt;" name="widget-ft_cal_event_list[8][event_template]" id="widget-ft_cal_event_list-8-event_template" class="widefat" /> 

The source for the widget after it is first saved is:

<input type="text" value="&lt;a href=&quot;%URL%&quot;&gt;%TITLE% (%TIME%)&lt;/a&gt;" name="widget-ft_cal_event_list[8][event_template]" id="widget-ft_cal_event_list-8-event_template" class="widefat" />

I setup a test to output $new_instance and $old_instance during the "update" process.

Step 1: Moving widget from Available Widgets to Widget Area (in IE):

NEW INSTANCE:
Array
(
    [title] =>
    [date] =>
    [number_of] => 1
    [date_types] => Month
    [limit] => 0
    [timeformat] => g:i a
    [dateformat] => jS
    [date_template] => %DATE%
    [monthformat] => F Y
    [month_template] => %MONTH%
)
OLD INSTANCE:
Array
(
)

Step 2: Saving widget in Widget Area:

NEW INSTANCE:
Array
(
    [title] =>
    [date] =>
    [number_of] => 1
    [date_types] => Month
    [limit] => 0
    [timeformat] => g:i a
    [dateformat] => jS
    [date_template] => %DATE%
    [monthformat] => F Y
    [month_template] => %MONTH%
)
OLD INSTANCE:
Array
(
    [title] =>
    [show_rss_feed] => off
    [show_ical_feed] => off
    [date] =>
    [span] => +1 Month
    [number_of] => 1
    [date_types] => Month
    [calendars] =>
    [limit] => 0
    [dateformat] => jS
    [timeformat] => g:i a
    [monthformat] => F Y
    [event_template] =>
    [date_template] => %DATE%
    [month_template] => %MONTH%
    [hide_duplicates] =>
)

Step 3: Pasting HTML code back into Event Template and saving Widget:

NEW INSTANCE:
Array
(
    [title] =>
    [date] =>
    [number_of] => 1
    [date_types] => Month
    [limit] => 0
    [timeformat] => g:i a
    [dateformat] => jS
    [date_template] => %DATE%
    [monthformat] => F Y
    [month_template] => %MONTH%
    [event_template] => <a href="%URL%">%TITLE% (%TIME%)</a>
)
OLD INSTANCE:
Array
(
    [title] =>
    [show_rss_feed] => off
    [show_ical_feed] => off
    [date] =>
    [span] => +1 Month
    [number_of] => 1
    [date_types] => Month
    [calendars] =>
    [limit] => 0
    [dateformat] => jS
    [timeformat] => g:i a
    [monthformat] => F Y
    [event_template] =>
    [date_template] => %DATE%
    [month_template] => %MONTH%
    [hide_duplicates] =>
)

Here is a screenr showing the problem not working in IE9 and working in Chrome: ​http://www.screenr.com/mkhs

[SergeyBiryukov]

Apparently IE uses unencoded values in DOM, in spite of esc_attr():

<INPUT value='<a href="%URL%">%TITLE% (%TIME%)</a>' ...

There's a regular expression in widgets.dev.js which replaces __i__ with a proper number:
​http://core.trac.wordpress.org/browser/tags/3.2.1/wp-admin/js/widgets.dev.js#L122

In IE, it fails on fields with HTML values, and they end up in a separate array on POST:

[widget-ft_cal_event_list] => Array
    (
        [5] => Array
            (
                [title] => 
                [calendars] => all
                [number_of] => 1
                [date_types] => Month
                [limit] => 0
                [timeformat] => H:i
                [dateformat] => jS
                [date_template] => %DATE%
                [monthformat] => F Y
                [month_template] => %MONTH%
            )

        [__i__] => Array
            (
                [event_template] => <a href="%URL">%TITLE% (%TIME%)/a>
            )

    )

18446.patch​ is an attempt to fix this.

[layotte]

Good find! I'm surprised no one noticed this before.

Thanks.
Lew

[SergeyBiryukov]

#24493 was marked as a duplicate.

[Frumph]

#24493 has better information from nofearinc where it's coming from and what line is doing it

[SergeyBiryukov]

#30351 was marked as a duplicate.

[callumbw95]

Hi All,
I have just been taking a look at this ticket, as well as the history around it, and a great deal has changed since this report was filed. The WordPress project no longer supports Internet Explorer, as the browser has been retired for many years. Additionally, the classic widget system is now in maintenance mode, with development focus having shifted entirely to block-based widgets.

Given the extreme age of this ticket, the fact that it pertains exclusively to unsupported browsers, and the evolution of the widget system, this issue is no longer relevant within the current state of WordPress.

For these reasons, I am closing this ticket as wontfix, but feel free to reopen the ticket if you have further comments. 😃