WP_REST_Request->get_params() doesn't correctly handle boolean false

[ivankk]

When I use ​addQueryArg with a false value, it's not interpreted as false by ​WP_Rest_Request->get_params()

wp.url.addQueryArgs( 'endpoint', { foo: false } );

will give us endpoint?foo=false which rest_route callback $request->get_params();

Will treat as array( 'foo' => 'false' );

This arises as there's no standard for encoding a boolean in a query string.

[ivankk]

poc.php

[ivankk]

Added a poc mu-plugin which demonstrates the issue.

Also raised a bug against the Gutenberg project as both the JS library and PHP need to work the same. ​Issue#30428

[TimothyBlynJacobs]

Hi @ivankk,

Welcome back to trac and thanks for the ticket!

There is no way to encode a boolean value in a URL. Instead, you need to define the expected type of your request argument using JSON Schema in your route's args definition: ​https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/extending-the-rest-api/schema/ rest_sanitize_boolean will then convert a 'false' string to a boolean false value.

[ivankk]

@TimothyBlynJacobs what do you think about an update to the documentation?

​https://developer.wordpress.org/rest-api/extending-the-rest-api/schema/#type-juggling

Because the WordPress REST API accepts URL form encoded data both in the POST body or as the query portion of the URL, many primtive types perform type juggling to convert these string values into their proper native types.

boolean Booleans, the integers 0 and 1, or the strings "0", "1", "false", and "true". 0 is treated as false and 1 is treated as true.

Maybe the Overview section could be updated to elaborate on what sorts of things we could be missing out on if we didn't have a schema in place (type coercion / juggling as an example):

You can implement endpoints without using a schema, but you will be missing out on a lot of things. It is up to you to decide what suits you best.

[TimothyBlynJacobs]

That sounds like a good idea to me. Our docs are hosted on Github: ​https://github.com/wp-api/docs Feel free to make a PR!