17071 fix BaseActiveRecord::populateRecord() method

[np25071984]

Q	A
Is bugfix?	yes
New feature?	no
Breaks BC?	no
Tests pass?	yes
Fixed issues	#17071, #15265

[rob006]

This will break getDirtyAttributes() and isAttributeChanged() behavior - === will return false if you compare 2 cloned object (even if they're identical).

[np25071984]

This will break getDirtyAttributes() and isAttributeChanged() behavior - === will return false if you compare 2 cloned object (even if they're identical).

I think we should introduce isEqual method, which compares two values and returns boolean. If the method obtain objects, it will compare them member by member.

[rob006]

I think we should introduce isEqual method

Related: #5375

[np25071984]

Maybe we should keep isEqual method somewhere in Helper? It can be useful in many cases! And do we really need * identical values using `===`, defaults to `true`. Otherwise `==` is used for comparison.

[np25071984]

I decided to get rid of identical parameter in isAttributeChanged method. Possibly, it isn't a good decision, but I didn't find usage this parameter within whole the source.

[rob006]

I don't like this isEqual() method. It looks over-complicated and bugged (Expression may hold params, which are ignored on casting to string). All we need is to compare object properties (probably recursively) using strict comparison, there is no need to special treatment for expressions.

[np25071984]

Manual tells us

When using the comparison operator (==), object variables are compared in a simple manner, namely: Two object instances are equal if they have the same attributes and values (values are compared with ==), and are instances of the same class

Why don't we compare them by native method '$obj1 == $obj2'?

[rob006]

Because it will use == also for comparing properties, while we need to use === in this case.

[np25071984]

@rob006 , would you like to comment the current statue? Also, I need a clue to deal with Cognitive Complexity.

[rob006]

I was thinking about something like:

public function isAttributeChanged($name, $identical = true) {
    if (isset($this->_attributes[$name], $this->_oldAttributes[$name])) {
        if ($identical) {
            if (is_object($this->_attributes[$name]) && is_object($this->_oldAttributes[$name])) {
                return !(
                    $this->_attributes[$name] == $this->_oldAttributes[$name]
                    && (array) $this->_attributes[$name] === (array) $this->_oldAttributes[$name]
                );
            }
            return $this->_attributes[$name] !== $this->_oldAttributes[$name];
        }
        return $this->_attributes[$name] != $this->_oldAttributes[$name];
    }
    return isset($this->_attributes[$name]) || isset($this->_oldAttributes[$name]);
}