[Bug]: iOS not sending url encoded data if it's a number

[nickredding]

Capacitor Version

Latest Dependencies:

@capacitor/cli: 7.4.2
@capacitor/core: 7.4.2
@capacitor/android: 7.4.2
@capacitor/ios: 7.4.2

Installed Dependencies:

@capacitor/android: not installed
@capacitor/ios: 7.4.2
@capacitor/core: 7.4.2
@capacitor/cli: 7.4.2

Other API Details

nickredding@MacBookPro BagCaddy % npm --version
11.4.2
nickredding@MacBookPro BagCaddy % node --version
v22.14.0
nickredding@MacBookPro BagCaddy % pod --version
1.14.3

Platforms Affected

• iOS
• Android
• Web

Current Behavior

As of 7.4.2 iOS getRequestDataAsFormUrlEncoded behaves differently in a breaking way.

Prior to 7.4.2 this function was not encoding values. Now it is. While this is now the correct behaviour, it breaks any app code that assumes the values need to be encoded by the app, since now the values end up double-encoded and actually show up at the server not as properly decoded values but actually encoded (encoding twice then decoding once yields a once-encoded value).

An equally significant breaking change is that prior to 7.4.2 a numeric value was converted to a string as in

components.queryItems?.append(URLQueryItem(name: key, value: "(obj[key] ?? "")"))

where is obj[key] is numeric it is converted to a string.

Now, the statement

let value = obj[key] as? String ?? ""

replaces a numeric with an empty string. Big difference!!

Expected Behavior

I believe these fixes should have retained backward-compatibility with the previous code, as in (1) check if already encoded and don't double-encode and (b) continue to convert numbers to strings.

Project Reproduction

https://github.com/nickredding/bug8076

Additional Information

No response

[nickredding]

components.queryItems?.append(URLQueryItem(name: key, value: "\(obj[key] ?? "")"))

converts a number to it's string representation

[nickredding]

Looking at the Android code, it seems numeric values will be converted to string representations, so the iOS and Android behaviors are now different.

[ionitron-bot]

This issue needs more information before it can be addressed. In particular, the reporter needs to provide a minimal sample app that demonstrates the issue. If no sample app is provided within 15 days, the issue will be closed.
Please see the Contributing Guide for how to create a Sample App.
Thanks! Ionitron 💙

[nickredding]

I'm not going to waste my time creating a demo app to illustrate what is blindingly obvious from the code. Even the most inexperienced Swift developer would tell you there is a difference between

obj[key] as? String ?? ""

and

"\(obj[key] ?? "")

when obj[key] is a number.

Look, if you have no intention of dealing with this issue, just say so, but at least acknowledge it is a breaking change versus what has been in place in the http code from day one.

I have already patched the apps of mine that were affected by this and quite frankly, I'm inclined to no longer bother reporting Capacitor problems here because (unlike obscure issues that are not readily apparent) some problems are very obvious and should have been detected in a code inspection.