Inconsistent usage of boolean URL parameters (true, false, yes, no, True, False, 1, 0)

[tisto]

ToDo

• Make code consistent in what boolean values to accept
• Agree/Decide/Define what the standard boolean value formats are
• Document the standard boolean value format

Claude Code Analysis

Claude Code Prompt (on plone.restapi checkout):

analyse the code base of plone.restapi which url parameters are used for
boolean values (e.g. True, False, true, false, yes, no, 0, 1).

⏺ I'll analyze the plone.restapi codebase to identify how boolean URL
parameters are handled and what formats are accepted.

⏺ Explore(Analyze boolean URL parameters)
⎿  Done (36 tool uses · 71.4k tokens · 1m 46s)

⏺ I've completed a comprehensive analysis of boolean URL parameter handling
in the plone.restapi codebase. Here are the key findings:

Main Boolean Conversion Function

The primary function is boolean_value() located in
src/plone/restapi/deserializer/init.py:20-31:

def boolean_value(value):
return value not in {False, "false", "False", "0", 0}

This uses a blacklist approach - only these specific values return False:

• False (boolean)
• "false" (lowercase string)
• "False" (uppercase string)
• "0" (string)
• 0 (integer)

Everything else returns True, including: True, "true", "True", "1", 1, or
even "yes", "no", "foobar".

URL Parameters Using Boolean Values

1. include_items (Folders & Collections)

• Files: src/plone/restapi/serializer/dxcontent.py:176,
  src/plone/restapi/serializer/collection.py:19
• Uses: boolean_value() function
• Example: GET /folder?include_items=false excludes children items

2. fullobjects (Search)

• File: src/plone/restapi/search/handler.py:78
• Uses: Presence check (if key exists in query)
• Example: GET /@search?fullobjects=1 returns full objects

3. use_site_search_settings (Search)

• File: src/plone/restapi/search/handler.py:86
• Uses: Presence check (if key exists in query)
• Example: GET /@search?use_site_search_settings=1 applies Plone search
  settings

Special Case: Boolean Index Queries

For catalog boolean index queries, there's a more restrictive parser in
src/plone/restapi/search/query.py:219-230:

Only accepts (case-sensitive, lowercase only):

• "true" or "1" → True
• "false" or "0" → False

Any other format raises a QueryParsingError.

Key Inconsistency ⚠️

There are two different approaches in the codebase:

1. boolean_value(): Permissive blacklist - accepts "True", "False",
   "true", "false", "0", "1"
2. BooleanIndexQueryParser: Restrictive whitelist - only accepts lowercase
   "true", "false", "0", "1"

Recommendation

For consistent API usage, the safest formats are:

• true or 1 for true values
• false or 0 for false values

These work across all boolean parameter types in the codebase.

[aviralgarg05]

I would like to solve the issue, please assign me

[stevepiercy]

@aviralgarg05 no. Please read and follow First-time contributors, especially Things not to do, Contributing to Plone, and Contribute to plone.restapi.

@davisagli @jnptk did #1966 close this issue?

[shivaansh0610-LUFFY]

Working on this Issue.