Export through features: possible category duplication with duplicate rules as side effect

Hello,

Same bug here.
How to reproduce: create a rule set, and set its category to "test_category", create a rule inside this rule set, and set its category to the same value, "test_category".
Now, with features, export rules with category "test_category". The code generated contains two instances of the rule defined previously.
Now modify the rule to remove its category "test_category" (or rename it), and then export the feature again : the rule isn't duplicated anymore.

This is because rules_export_items() (rules.export.inc:13) or rules_item_type_invoke() (which is called inside rules_export_items()), when exporting a rule set, export all its rules, wether they have already been exported as standalone rules before, or not. This leads to duplicate entries, when they do.

You can avoid this bug (this IS a bug) by not setting the same category for rule set and the rules it contains (and also not importing two rules categories which coul overlap).

Regards,

David

Indeed. We should just check whether it's already there using in_array(). Perhaps someone wants to tackle that? :)

There's some code ensuring that two rules in the export don't get the same key, by adding a counter.
Function rules_item_rule_export(), rules.export.inc:67

      // Make sure the name isn't already taken.
      $rules = rules_get_items('rules');
      while (isset($rules[$module .'_'. $counter])) {
        $counter++;
      }

      // Rename the rule.
      $export['rules'][$module .'_'. $counter] = $rule;

Why is this code here ? Shouldn't it try to avoid duplicates instead ?

When exporting multiple rules, the other ones aren't yet in the system. So we have to use a counter to ensure the generated names are unique. Also it successfully avoids duplicate rule names.

Yeah, but is there a unique id I can find in $export that could tell me if the rule I am exporting is already in there ?
I can't use the key machinename_counter, as we're sure it is unique...

You suggested using in_array() : is this safe to use it with complex structures (arrays, objects) ?

Subscribing.

I've committed a fix.

Sorry to re-open, but I'm still experiencing this with 6.x-1.3 from September 2nd 2010, every time i run drush fu it duplicates all the rules again. Most recent dev version is currently August 17th. Should i be using the dev version?

I'm also seeing duplicate rules when I export a feature. However, I'm not using rule sets.

In looking at rules.export.inc, I'm seeing that rules are renamed upon export via features - instead of rules_1, on rules.export.inc:75 shows you renaming the rule to be prefixed by the new feature name...foo_1.

My intent is to capture my configuration in code, and continue to work with it on the same site from which it was exported. With other features enabled modules, I can export, use the feature on the current site, and continue to work with a view, panel, imagecache preset, etc and keep updating that same feature via drush to capture further changes.

When I do that with Rules what I end up getting is two of the same rule, distinguished by their names, rules_1 and foo_1. Views, by contrast, doesn't keep two views with different names, instead it changes the existing view so that it indicates it's storage is in code, and notices if you make changes to your view that might need to be exported.

Rules feature integration would be much more consistent ( and useful to me personally ) with the rest of the features ecosystem if it behaved in that same way...is that a goal for Rules under Drupal 6? Can I be of help in some way? I'm not an exportables guru, but I can code.

Sorry - I missed #419644: Use CTools to export. It sounds like you don't plan to integrate with ctools exportables in 1.x.

Any chance you'll reconsider that for rules 1.3 or greater? It's been a while since the idea was floated, and it would make Rules enormously helpful in a features-driven environment. Again, if I can be of help, I'd gladly give it a shot, time permitting.

FWIW -

Here's what you can do if you want Rules to behave like some other modules do when exporting to features:

1. Create your feature, including your rules exports. It might be a best practice to only have one category per rule when exporting to features.
2. Enable your feature back onto the site where you created it, for further development
3. Delete the original rules, to prevent re-exporting them when you next update/recreate your feature.
4. develop as normal, making changes to your site and recreating your feature, or using drush features-update

The extra steps make me nervous, but they appear to be working fine now. Changes made to feature-controlled rules show up when exported, etc. Rules just can't clean up after itself without CTools handling exports for it. A little manual help is required.

This issue is not about duplicated rules - but rule categories. There is another issue for duplicated rules.

Moving to "Provided Module Integrations" component.