False positives when using the null-safe operator ?-> in an if-condition

[windaishi]

Subject	Details
Plugin	Php Inspections (EA Extended) 5.0.0.0
Language level	e.g. PHP 8.2 (check project settings or composer.json)

Current behaviour

The following code is reported with the following two issues:

Line 5: [EA] Null pointer exception may occur here. (on $shippingMethodConfig)
Line 6: [EA] The if-else workflow is driven by inverted conditions, consider avoiding invertions. (on `else)

/** @var ShippingMethodConfigEntity|null $shippingMethodConfig */
$shippingMethodConfig;

if ($shippingMethodConfig?->getAddressConfiguration()->useDefaultAddress() === false) {
    $senderAddress = $shippingMethodConfig->getAddressConfiguration()->getAddress();
} else {
    $senderAddress = $commonConfig->getSenderAddress();
}

Expected behaviour

No errors are reported. Neither is the if driven by an inverted condition (because we are comparing against bool?) nor can shippingMethodConfig be null here.

Environment details

[ea-inspections-team]

Thank you for reporting @windaishi!

We have multiple reports for this case and will include a fix into next release.

[ea-inspections-team]

We are pushing fix for Line 6: [EA] The if-else workflow is driven by inverted conditions, consider avoiding invertions. (on else)` false-positive, which greatly improves accuracy if the inspection. Thank you for reporting it @windaishi!

We are unsure how to proceed with Line 5: [EA] Null pointer exception may occur here. (on $shippingMethodConfig), @kalessil could you please share your thoughts about the false-positive.

[kalessil]

@ea-inspections-team: agree with @windaishi, it's a false-positive.

From a types-resolving perspective, the code is correct (assignment in if-body will not inject null into the result type). I'm in support of fixing this false positive.

[ea-inspections-team]

@kalessil: thank you. Fixing this is not a trivial task and we have to plan the fix for 2024.3 (not 2024.2).