"Hide if empty" not hiding items

As an FYI, this issue still exists in version 6.x-3.x-dev dated 2010-10-15.

To verify I had the right version when it last worked properly, I reloaded the 6.x-3.x-dev version that I said was released on 2010-10-11 and I was incorrect. It was released on 2010-09-30. Re-installing this previous version did restore the "hide if empty" routine to work properly.

Is anyone able to determine whether or not this issue will be addressed in a future release?

Sure. I've not used that before but I do have both a good and bad version of the 6.3.dev modules. Let me see what I can find.

Dereine, I must admit to being a git about GIT. I wasn't able to figure it out. However, I was using another app to compare differences between files and wonder if any of the following could be part of the issue:

in handlers\views_handler_area_text.inc, line 20 has the following in the "good" version"
'#description' => $description,
whereas in the "bad" version it is not present.
Line 52 of the good file reads:
if (!$formats[$format]) {
whereas the corresponding line in the "bad" version (line 51) reads:
if (!isset($formats[$format])) {

-------------------------

in handlers\views_handler_field.inc in the "good" version starting at line 517 it reads:

  function render_text($alter) {
    $value = trim($this->last_render);
    if ($this->options['hide_empty'] && empty($value) && ($value !== 0 || $this->options['empty_zero'])) {
      return '';
    }

    if (!empty($alter['alter_text']) && $alter['text'] !== '') {
      $tokens = $this->get_render_tokens($alter);
      $value = $this->render_altered($alter, $tokens);
    }

whereas the "bad version seems to have some of the items "flipped" in terms of sequence.
The "bad" version of this file starting on line 517 reads:

  function render_text($alter) {
    $value = trim($this->last_render);

    if (!empty($alter['alter_text']) && $alter['text'] !== '') {
      $tokens = $this->get_render_tokens($alter);
      $value = $this->render_altered($alter, $tokens);
    }

    if ($this->options['hide_empty'] && empty($value) && ($value !== 0 || $this->options['empty_zero'])) {
      return '';
    }

Could the "flip/flop" of the IF statements be the issue?

@zualas: Great to hear that a) I wasn't the only one with the problem, and 2) that I found the right code :)

Here's to hoping one of the maintainers actually sees this and can incorporate the fix!

I'll work on getting a patch made asap. I'll grab the latest version of the module to compare and make sure it's not already been addressed.

Attached is my first ever attempt at a patch. I hope it's in the proper format, etc. Here are the contents of the patch file:

--- sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_field.inc	Thu Oct 14 18:08:24 2010
+++ sites/all/modules/views/handlers/views_handler_field.inc	Fri Aug 13 13:41:20 2010

@@ -516,16 +516,15 @@
    */
   function render_text($alter) {
     $value = trim($this->last_render);
+    if ($this->options['hide_empty'] && empty($value) && ($value !== 0 || $this->options['empty_zero'])) {
+      return '';
+    }
 
     if (!empty($alter['alter_text']) && $alter['text'] !== '') {
       $tokens = $this->get_render_tokens($alter);
       $value = $this->render_altered($alter, $tokens);
     }
 
-    if ($this->options['hide_empty'] && empty($value) && ($value !== 0 || $this->options['empty_zero'])) {
-      return '';
-    }
-
     if (!empty($alter['strip_tags'])) {
       $value = strip_tags($value);
     }

So... did I create the patch properly?

Digging around in other issues regarding this same problem, I found a work around. I think it's a bit of a kludge as this feature should work as it did prior to the updates from October 2010 (IMO).

This "fix" is not intuitive (well, at least not to me). When you've gone in to the Rewriting section, click the "rewrite the output of this field" and put in your token like you always have. This is where it was not intuitive to me. Click the box next to "Output this field as a link" in the rewriting section. (Why would I click this when the option to output it as a link is towards the bottom of all the options?) Ignore all the other options here and just put something in the Prefix and Suffix sections. For me, it would be things like ( and ) or |. Then just do your regular "hide if empty" stuff.