Incorrect Serialization of Numeric Strings in BeanJsonSerializer.php

[vladaman]

Issue

The BeanJsonSerializer.php incorrectly treats numeric strings as numbers during JSON serialization. This issue arises particularly in fields containing leading zeros, such as phone and company registration numbers.

Description:
When using BeanJsonSerializer.php to convert bean objects into JSON format, any field that contains numbers is treated as a numeric value rather than a string. This behavior leads to several problems, especially with fields that should preserve their original format.

Example Issue:

• For instance, a company registration number stored as "0001234" is serialized to 1234 in the resulting JSON output. This loss of leading zeros is technically incorrect and can cause data integrity issues.

Impact:

• This bug affects fields such as:
  • Phone numbers (which may also require leading zeros)
  • Company registration numbers (which need to maintain their original format)

Expected Result:
The JSON output should retain the original string format, resulting in "0001234" instead of 1234.

See

SuiteCRM-Core/public/legacy/lib/Utility/BeanJsonSerializer.php

Line 145 in 582636a

if (is_string($value)) {

or it could be using NUMERIC_CHECK

SuiteCRM-Core/public/legacy/lib/Utility/BeanJsonSerializer.php

Line 89 in 582636a

$flags = JSON_UNESCAPED_SLASHES | JSON_NUMERIC_CHECK | JSON_UNESCAPED_UNICODE;

Possible Fix

Modify the BeanJsonSerializer.php to ensure that any field containing numbers that should be treated as strings (i.e., those with leading zeros) is serialized correctly without losing the leading zeros. Check for data type of the original field and don't rely on PHP is_string()

Steps to Reproduce the Issue

1. Create a bean object with a text field containing leading zeros (e.g., `"0001234"`).
2. Serialize the object using `BeanJsonSerializer.php`.
3. Check the serialized JSON output to see if the leading zeros are preserved.

Context

No response

Version

8.7.1

What browser are you currently using?

Chrome

Browser Version

No response

Environment Information

MySql

Operating System and Version

Ubuntu