The function groups_get_invites_for_user() can return inconsistent total

[imath]

Now that Group invites are managed using the BP Invitations API, it looks like the total of groups can be inconsistent into this function. I've found a case where there were no groups found and the total was 1. The reason was the $wpdb . 'bp_invitations' table was containing an invite for a group that has been deleted.

Is there a reason why we don't use the total number of groups returned by the groups_get_groups() and use instead groups_get_invite_count_for_user() which run an extra DB query that can be wrong...

See ​https://buddypress.trac.wordpress.org/browser/trunk/src/bp-groups/bp-groups-functions.php#L1420

[dcavins]

Also need to double-check that invites for deleted groups are being removed when the group is deleted.

[dcavins]

I double-checked that invitations are removed from the invitations table when a group is deleted in the usual way, and they are, via a call to groups_delete_all_group_invites() in groups_delete_group().

Regarding the function groups_get_invites_for_user(), the groups_get_groups() call is limited to the groups that the user is invited to, found by groups_get_invited_to_group_ids(). groups_get_invite_count_for_user() is just a counting wrapper for return count( groups_get_invited_to_group_ids( $user_id ) ), so it shouldn't incur another db lookup, since the result of groups_get_invited_to_group_ids() will be cached. It seemed like a good source of truth, because groups_get_invited_to_group_ids() is the original throttle.

I agree, though, that the "total" number is going to be always accurate if it is just the groups_get_groups['total'] response, because that would only return groups that exist, excluding zombie invitations that are left over via a hasty db group delete or similar.

Thanks for opening this ticket!

[dcavins]

In 12741:

Change how groups_get_invites_for_user() reports total.

In groups_get_invites_for_user() use the total returned by the groups_get_groups() call. This helps avoid the edge case where invitations to groups that no longer exist are still recorded in the invitations table. In that case, groups_get_groups() will only return existent groups.

Also update groups_get_invite_count_for_user() to use this more reliable method.

Props imath.

Fixes #8297.