Issue: #496 Branch: fix/issue-496 · Commits: 3fd58c58f (jira), 22bfea31c (stash + matrix verification) Status: VERIFIED-FIXED & CLOSED (2026-08-25)

Event Viewer entry reported in the issue (2026-08-18 09:27:24):

stashrestInterface::connect Missing or Empty username - unable to continue

Incomplete/disabled integrations (Stash, JIRA) threw unhandled exceptions on every screen that instantiates a tracker, writing ERROR rows into the Event Viewer.

1. tlIssueTracker::getInterfaceObject() (lib/functions/tlIssueTracker.class.php:670-698) and tlCodeTracker::getInterfaceObject() instantiate the interface class for whatever tracker is linked to the active test project — no credential validation there.
2. __construct calls connect(); pre-fix connect() went straight into (string)trim($this->cfg->username) then new StashApi\Stash(...) / new JiraApi\Jira(...).
3. Both third-party constructors throw Exception('Missing or Empty username - unable to continue') for empty credentials (third_party/stash-rest/Stash.php:65, third_party/fayp-jira-rest/Jira.php:70); the surrounding catch(Exception) logged it via tLog(...,'ERROR').
4. Fix wave 1 — commit 38c7d6f16 added an emptiness guard before client instantiation (silent skip, $this->connected = false). That killed the ERROR rows but was INCOMPLETE under PHP8:
   • cfg trees are produced by json_decode(json_encode($simplexml)) (issueTrackerInterface.class.php:162, codeTrackerInterface.class.php:147), so:
     • a MISSING <username> element → undefined stdClass property → E_WARNING per instantiation (measured: 4 warnings across the two files);
     • an EMPTY element <username></username> → property-less stdClass{} → (string)trim(stdClass) = uncaught TypeError, fatal white page (TypeError is not an Exception, so it bypassed the catch).

Minimal, symmetric change in both connect() methods — extract credentials through an explicit guard so the existing silent-skip logic runs for every incomplete variant:

$username = '';
if (isset($this->cfg->username) && is_string($this->cfg->username)) {
    $username = trim($this->cfg->username);
}
// identical block for $password

Files: lib/issuetrackerintegration/jirarestInterface.class.php:145-157, lib/codetrackerintegration/stashrestInterface.class.php:99-111.

Rejected alternatives: catching \Throwable around the whole connect body (hides future bugs, wider blast radius); validating in the manager factory (duplicates logic across ~20 call sites).

Runtime gotcha encoded as a comment: PHP 8.3.33 on this host mis-evaluates the compact trim(is_string($cfg->username ?? '') ? $cfg->username : '') form — measured in isolation, is_string($x->cfg->username ?? '') returns true for a MISSING property and the ternary true-branch fires anyway, re-introducing both warnings. Do not refold the guard into a one-liner.

Fixtures: project 9001 'Issue496Proj' with incomplete jirarest (id 501, type 7) and stashrest (id 601, type 1) linked; harness drives the real production path (tlIssueTracker::getInterfaceObject(9001) / tlCodeTracker::getInterfaceObject(9001)).

Browser pass: login admin/admin, active project I496P, mainPage load (mainPage.php:401 path), Event Viewer shows only the AUDIT login row:

Regression suite: tmp/TLU_Test_Cases.md → Suite 496 — 9/9 PASS.