Add default value for entities.last_action

[kkawahara]

trying to setup a new 1.7RC1 installation. After filling out system settings and clicking next, the following error appears:

Field 'last_action' doesn't have a default value

QUERY: INSERT into elgg_entities
(type, subtype, owner_guid, site_guid, container_guid, access_id, time_created, time_updated) values
('site',0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 1267356443, 1267356443)

Checking the SQL create script (mysql.sql) shows this table with an additional column (last_action) and it does not have a default value assigned.

The update SQL in the entity class does not include this column:
(from entities.sql)
return insert_data("insert into {$CONFIG->dbprefix}entity_subtypes (type, subtype, class) values ('$type','$subtype','$class')");

Upgrading from a 1.6.1 installation seems to work fine.

[cash]

This brings up a point that I've been meaning to ask about: why was last_action added to the entities table? It doesn't seem to belong there and isn't used by anything.

[dave]

@cash this is something we plan on using in the near future so seeing as v1.7 is all about core changes, we decided to put it in there now. At the moment, you can access objects by time_updated but it will also be handy to pull out objects ordered by the last action to be carried out on them such as comments, ratings etc.

[kkawahara]

upgrade from 1.6 actually doesn't work - first time you try and do anything, the error shows up again (Field 'last_action' doesn't have a default value).

[brettp]

I see the potential problem but it's not causing an error for me. Can anyone else confirm this error?

[costelloc]

I think kkawahara probably has the sql mode set to traditional. You can probably reproduce by issuing this command: set sql_mode = 'traditional' and then creating an entity.

​http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.1/en/server-sql-mode.html

[kkawahara]

mode is set to strict (STRICT_TRANS_TABLES,NO_AUTO_CREATE_USER,NO_ENGINE_SUBSTITUTION)

is there any documentation that describes the proper mode to be in?

[brettp]

This can be configured either per-instance or server-wide. To configure this at a per-instance level for Elgg, put this in engine/lib/database.php around line 62 (in 1.7), after the UTF8 call:

// Set DB for UTF8
mysql_query("SET NAMES utf8");
mysql_query("SET sql_mode = ''");

To configure for server wide, view Cash's link above.

I'm hesitant to add another SQL query to the init functions in Elgg Core, so this should be corrected on the server side. I will update the documentation for the installation requirements, though.

[brettp]

(In [svn:3981]) Refs #1562: Updated requirements for Elgg.

[cash]

If he is getting errors, I believe that means a warning is being thrown on every entity creation. Wouldn't a better fix be to set the default value or specify a value for the column in the create entity query?

[brettp]

Since column is completely unused in core, I'm fine putting a default value on it. I'd rather not touch all the update/create queries this late in 1.7's development.

[brettp]

(In [svn:3984]) Fixes #1562: Added a default value for entities.last_action in the schema and as an upgraded. Bumped version number to 1.7 final.