DomTextAssignmentDestroysChildren

warning native off by default

Group: Probable bugs

Preserve child nodes when adding element text. This inspection is disabled by default; enabling it selects the stated policy.

Example

<?php
$d=new DOMDocument(); $d->loadXML('<box><part/></box>'); $d->documentElement->nodeValue='added';

Reported:

• line 2: Preserve child nodes when adding element text.

Detection

• Assigning nodeValue or textContent on a proven DOMElement with existing element children is reported. Prove children through direct construction or literal loadXML. Enabling establishes child-preservation policy; text-only nodes and unknown children are excluded.
• Resolve builtin functions, extension classes, constants and method receivers, including aliases and supported named arguments. Inspect reachable operations in one lexical scope with bounded local flow.
• Emit one finding per violating operation. Never infer policy from names or comments. When the proof is inconclusive, nothing is reported.

Exceptions (no report)

• Exclude shadowed or unresolved symbols, incomplete code, unknown required constants, ambiguous receiver identity and unsupported versions. Reassignment, escaping aliases, and unknown calls invalidate dependent flow facts.
• A child proven through a variable appended to the element stops counting once a later statement could move or remove that node: passing the variable to any call (including appending it to another parent), calling a method on it other than attribute accessors, hasChildNodes or appendChild, or any use other than reading or writing one of its properties. Rebinding the variable to a new value leaves the appended node in place and keeps the proof.
• Both @custos-ignore DomTextAssignmentDestroysChildren and @noinspection DomTextAssignmentDestroysChildren suppress this native rule.

Fix

None. A safe repair requires choosing values, error handling, or application behavior.

PHP versions

Apply throughout PHP 5.3–8.5 only where the extension API and syntax exist. Do not flag API unavailability through this rule. Legacy DOM classes are the initial target; modern Dom namespace classes require independently established matching contracts.

Options

None. Use normal rule configuration to enable or disable the inspection.

Configure

In custos.json:

{
  "rules": {
    "DomTextAssignmentDestroysChildren": {
      "enabled": true
    }
  }
}

Suppress

Before the statement or declaration (or the first statement of the file):

// @custos-ignore DomTextAssignmentDestroysChildren