[5.4] Converting DatabaseQuery::castAsChar() to castAs()

[Hackwar]

Summary of Changes

DatabaseQuery::castAsChar() has been deprecated in version 2 of the Joomla database framework package for removal in version 3. We missed that at that time and will now do that in version 4 of the framework. This PR converts all calls to the correct method DatabaseQuery::castAs() with the parameter CHAR instead. The update to version 4 of the framework will come in Joomla 6, but we want to have this change as early as possible.

Testing Instructions

Codereview

Link to documentations

Please select:

• Documentation link for docs.joomla.org:

• No documentation changes for docs.joomla.org needed

• Pull Request link for manual.joomla.org:

• No documentation changes for manual.joomla.org needed

[richard67]

I have tested this item ✅ successfully on 629a6b4

Tested by review.

The PR does like it is documented here: https://github.com/joomla-framework/database/blob/3.x-dev/src/DatabaseQuery.php#L574

It catches all occurrences of castAsChar calls of the database query.

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[chmst]

I have tested this item ✅ successfully on 629a6b4

Tested by review and applied the changes to one of my applications also with own components. No error found.

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[richard67]

RTC

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[muhme]

✅ Final check before merge:

• Checked 20 places substituted, nothing else changed
• Followed @richard67 advice to check all places are found with:
  find . -type f -name "*\.php" -exec grep -Hn "\->castAsChar(" {} \;

[muhme]

Thank you @Hackwar for your contribution. Thank you @richard67 and @chmst for testing.

[obuisard]

Hello Hannes @Hackwar,
great catch about castAsChar, the removal was long overdue, but since it is code that has been removed, shouldn't that be documented? Many extensions still use it and that should be mentioned in the manual.

[richard67]

There is some documentation about it in the framework where it actually has been removed: https://github.com/joomla-framework/database/blob/4.x-dev/docs/v3-to-v4-update.md

[obuisard]

There is some documentation about it in the framework where it actually has been removed: https://github.com/joomla-framework/database/blob/4.x-dev/docs/v3-to-v4-update.md

Thank you Richard! But should these changes be documented in the general Joomla 5.4 to 6.0 manual as well? Since it is affecting Joomla 6. Just wondering.