Notes: comment_count field is unintentionally incremented when note are resolved or reopened

[wildworks]

Originally reported at ​https://github.com/WordPress/gutenberg/issues/73667 by @shimotomoki

The comment_count column should show the total number excluding notes. However, when a note is resolved or reopened, the wp_update_comment_count_now function counts comments including notes, and increments comment_count by an unexpected number.

As a result, the comment count may not be displayed correctly in some places.

At the very least, I think the SELECT statement ​here should filter out notes.

Step-by-step reproduction instructions

• Create and publish a new post.
• Open the post on the front-end and add a normal comment to the post.
• The comment section says One response to “{post_title}”, which is correct.
• Add a block, add a note to it, resolve the note, and save the post.
• Open the post on the front-end.
• The comment section says 3 responses to “Test”, which is incorrect.
• Access ​http://localhost:8888/wp-admin/edit-comments.php
• The "Inresponse to" column shows the number of comments as 3, which is incorrect.

[gulamdastgir04]

Reproduction Report

Description

I have tested in WordPress Playground in the 6.9-RC3 Version. I'm able to reproduce this issue.

Environment

• WordPress: 6.9-RC3
• PHP: 8.3.28-dev
• Server: PHP.wasm
• Database: WP_SQLite_Driver (Server: 8.0.38 / Client: 3.51.0)
• Browser: Chrome 142.0.0.0
• OS: Linux
• Theme: Twenty Twenty-Five 1.3
• MU Plugins: None activated
• Plugins:
  • Test Reports 1.2.1

Actual Results

✅ Error condition occurs (reproduced).

• Fix the comment count for the notes.

Trac ticket: https://core.trac.wordpress.org/ticket/64325

[hbhalodia]

Hi @wildworks, Have added the PR to exclude the comment_type as note in the SQL query which is used to show the comment count.

PR - ​https://github.com/WordPress/wordpress-develop/pull/10572

@hbhalodia Thanks for the PR! Can you add a unit test?

tests/phpunit/tests/comment/wpUpdateCommentCountNow.php

@@ -46 +46 @@
                remove_filter( 'pre_wp_update_comment_count_now', array( $this, '_return_100' ) );
        }
 
+       /**
+        * @ticket 64325
+        */
+       public function test_only_approved_regular_comments_are_counted() {
+               $post_id = self::factory()->post->create();
+
+               self::factory()->comment->create(
+                       array(
+                               'comment_post_ID'  => $post_id,
+                               'comment_approved' => 0,
+                       )
+               );
+               self::factory()->comment->create(
+                       array(
+                               'comment_post_ID'  => $post_id,
+                               'comment_approved' => 1,
+                       )
+               );
+               self::factory()->comment->create(
+                       array(
+                               'comment_post_ID'  => $post_id,
+                               'comment_type'     => 'note',
+                               'comment_approved' => 0,
+                       )
+               );
+               self::factory()->comment->create(
+                       array(
+                               'comment_post_ID'  => $post_id,
+                               'comment_type'     => 'note',
+                               'comment_approved' => 1,
+                       )
+               );
+               $this->assertTrue( wp_update_comment_count_now( $post_id ) );
+               $this->assertSame( '1', get_comments_number( $post_id ) );
+       }
+
        public function _return_100() {
                return 100;
        }

Yes, on it. Will add the test.

[JeffPaul]

@gulamdastgir04 are you able to test the PR to see that it resolves the issue as well? I’m on mobile for the next hour or so and won’t be able to test for a bit today and would be great to get confirmation that the PR resolves.

[SergeyBiryukov]

In 61336:

Notes: Avoid incrementing comment_count when notes are resolved or reopened.

Follow-up to [60987].

Props hbhalodia, wildworks, shimotomoki, gulamdastgir04, JeffPaul, ellatrix, SergeyBiryukov.
Fixes #64325.

[SergeyBiryukov]

Reopening for backporting to the 6.9 branch.

[ellatrix]

I haven't followed the Notes work closely, but the fix makes sense at this stage of the release. I guess the comment_count column should be reserved for comments of the type comment, so I wonder if in the future we could explicitly check for that instead of excluding note, but I guess that would be a breaks change an not something we can try for 6.9. 🙂

[ellatrix]

In 61337:

Notes: Avoid incrementing comment_count when notes are resolved or reopened.

Follow-up to [60987].

Reviewed by ellatrix.
Merges [61336] to the 6.9 branch.

Props hbhalodia, wildworks, shimotomoki, gulamdastgir04, JeffPaul, ellatrix, SergeyBiryukov.
Fixes #64325.

Nice catch!