[OFBIZ-6249] Complete OFBIZ-6057 (error in Freemarker 2.3 versions higher than 2.3.19)

• Type: Bug
• Status: Closed
• Priority: Major
• Resolution: Cannot Reproduce
• Affects Version/s: Release Branch 13.07, Release Branch 14.12, Trunk
• Fix Version/s: 14.12.01, 13.07.03, 15.12.01
• Component/s: accounting, order
• Assignee: Jacques Le Roux
• Reporter: Jacques Le Roux
• Created: 11/Apr/15 21:02
• Updated: 27/Mar/16 10:54
• Resolved: 27/Mar/16 10:54

Description

This is the contiunation of OFBIZ-6057 which have fixed the case below, I simply sort of quote its description here to get the idea:

In order to fix OFBIZ-2120, code was added to the applications/order/webapp/ordermgr/quote/ViewQuoteItemInfo.ftl file. This was working with previous versions of Freemarker but is now in 2.3 a problem at line 46 of this commit: https://github.com/apache/ofbiz/commit/27253c4667e87721212fa8955d75c74a0d171c73
This ends up causing the following error:

     [java] freemarker.core.InvalidReferenceException: The following has evaluated to null or missing:
     [java] ==> null  [in template "component://order/webapp/ordermgr/quote/ViewQuoteItemInfo.ftl" at line 56, column 40]
     [java] Tip: If the failing expression is known to be legally refer to something that's null or missing, either specify a default value like myOptionalVar!myDefault, or use <#if myOptionalVar??>when-present<#else>when-missing</#if>. (These only cover the last step of the expression; to cover the whole expression, use parenthesis: (myOptionalVar.foo)!myDefault, (myOptionalVar.foo)??
     [java] FTL stack trace ("~" means nesting-related):
     [java] 	- Failed at: #assign product = null  [in template "component://order/webapp/ordermgr/quote/ViewQuoteItemInfo.ftl" at line 56, column 21]
     [java] 	- Reached through: #list quoteItems as quoteItem  [in template "component://order/webapp/ordermgr/quote/ViewQuoteItemInfo.ftl" at line 52, column 13]

The main reason for this is because there is no concept of "null" in FreeMarker 2.3 (after 2.3.19), as the following thread kinda explains: http://ehc.ac/p/freemarker/discussion/2346/thread/85da30a4/ Not sure how to go about fixing this error, the thread suggests setting the variable to the string "null".

There are still other instances of this bug in:

applications/order/webapp/ordermgr/return/returnItems.ftl 
    <#assign returnItemSubTotal = null > <#-- otherwise the last item's might carry over -->
applications/accounting/webapp/accounting/reports/DepositSlip.fo.ftl 
    <#assign creditCard = null/>
framework/webtools/webapp/webtools/datafile/viewdatafile.ftl 
    <#assign lastRecordName = null>

There is no needs to change R12.04 though it uses Freemarker 2.3, exactly 2.3.19. I guess this issue only exists in 2.3 versions above 2.3.19!
Note that this should no longer be a problem in Freemarker 2.4... and hopefully above... But for now the other null assignments are wrong in trunk and newer branches.

Issue Links

• relates to: OFBIZ-6057 Quote item view FreeMarker error due Freemarker 2.3 versions higher than 2.3.19