Quick-win fixes from second review

- create_ticket_api.php: validate status (against TICKET_STATUSES) and
  priority (numeric 1-5). A non-numeric priority previously cast to 0 and
  escalated the ticket below P1 on the dedup/update path.
- manage_workflows.php: reject empty/invalid from_status/to_status on POST
  and PUT (must be valid ticket statuses) so the workflow table can't be
  populated with bogus transitions.
- TicketModel::getAllTickets: COUNT(*) OVER() rides on returned rows, so a
  page past the last row returned total/pages = 0. Fall back to a direct
  COUNT when an over-range page yields no rows, keeping pager math correct.
- DashboardView: stop double-escaping category/type/assigned active-filter
  labels (they were htmlspecialchars'd into the label and again at output,
  rendering R&D as R&D); output escaping is retained.
- check_duplicates.php / NotificationHelper::notifyWatchers: wrap the DB
  lookups in try/catch so a failed prepare/query degrades gracefully
  (advisory dup-check returns none; best-effort watcher notify is skipped)
  instead of fataling the request. Works whether mysqli throws or returns
  false. (manage_* endpoints already have a top-level try/catch.)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Opus 4.8 <noreply@anthropic.com>

api/check_duplicates.php

@@ -50,12 +50,24 @@ $sql = "SELECT ticket_id, title, status, priority, created_at
 
 $types = "ss" . $visFilter['types'];
 $params = array_merge([$searchTerm, $soundexTitle], $visFilter['params']);
-$stmt = $conn->prepare($sql);
-if (!empty($params)) {
-    $stmt->bind_param($types, ...$params);
+
+// Duplicate detection is advisory (it must not block ticket creation), so on any
+// DB error degrade gracefully to "no duplicates" rather than fataling the request.
+// mysqli may throw (default exception mode) or return false depending on config.
+try {
+    $stmt = $conn->prepare($sql);
+    if (!$stmt) {
+        throw new RuntimeException('prepare failed: ' . $conn->error);
+    }
+    if (!empty($params)) {
+        $stmt->bind_param($types, ...$params);
+    }
+    $stmt->execute();
+    $result = $stmt->get_result();
+} catch (Throwable $e) {
+    error_log('check_duplicates: ' . $e->getMessage());
+    ResponseHelper::success(['duplicates' => []]);
 }
-$stmt->execute();
-$result = $stmt->get_result();
 
 while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
     // Calculate similarity score

api/manage_workflows.php

@@ -82,6 +82,15 @@ try {
         case 'POST':
             $data = json_decode(file_get_contents('php://input'), true);
 
+            $wfValid = $GLOBALS['config']['TICKET_STATUSES'] ?? ['Open', 'Pending', 'In Progress', 'Closed'];
+            if (
+                !in_array($data['from_status'] ?? '', $wfValid, true)
+                || !in_array($data['to_status'] ?? '', $wfValid, true)
+            ) {
+                http_response_code(400);
+                echo json_encode(['success' => false, 'error' => 'from_status and to_status must be valid ticket statuses']);
+                exit;
+            }
             if (($data['from_status'] ?? '') === ($data['to_status'] ?? '')) {
                 http_response_code(400);
                 echo json_encode(['success' => false, 'error' => 'From Status and To Status cannot be the same']);
@@ -125,6 +134,15 @@ try {
 
             $data = json_decode(file_get_contents('php://input'), true);
 
+            $wfValid = $GLOBALS['config']['TICKET_STATUSES'] ?? ['Open', 'Pending', 'In Progress', 'Closed'];
+            if (
+                !in_array($data['from_status'] ?? '', $wfValid, true)
+                || !in_array($data['to_status'] ?? '', $wfValid, true)
+            ) {
+                http_response_code(400);
+                echo json_encode(['success' => false, 'error' => 'from_status and to_status must be valid ticket statuses']);
+                exit;
+            }
             if (($data['from_status'] ?? '') === ($data['to_status'] ?? '')) {
                 http_response_code(400);
                 echo json_encode(['success' => false, 'error' => 'From Status and To Status cannot be the same']);

create_ticket_api.php

@@ -231,6 +231,22 @@ $priority    = $data['priority'] ?? '4';
 $category    = (string)($data['category']    ?? 'General');
 $type        = (string)($data['type']        ?? 'Issue');
 
+// Validate externally-supplied status and priority. (category/type are free-form
+// in this schema.) A non-numeric priority would otherwise cast to 0 and escalate
+// the ticket below P1 on the dedup/update path.
+$validStatuses = $GLOBALS['config']['TICKET_STATUSES'] ?? ['Open', 'Pending', 'In Progress', 'Closed'];
+if (!in_array($status, $validStatuses, true)) {
+    http_response_code(400);
+    echo json_encode(['success' => false, 'error' => 'Invalid status']);
+    exit;
+}
+if (!is_numeric($priority) || (int)$priority < 1 || (int)$priority > 5) {
+    http_response_code(400);
+    echo json_encode(['success' => false, 'error' => 'Invalid priority (must be 1-5)']);
+    exit;
+}
+$priority = (int)$priority;
+
 $ticketHash = generateTicketHash($data);
 $auditLog   = new AuditLogModel($conn);
 

helpers/NotificationHelper.php

@@ -164,32 +164,38 @@ class NotificationHelper
             return;
         }
 
-        // Fetch watcher usernames, excluding the actor so they don't notify themselves
-        if ($excludeUserId !== null) {
-            $sql  = "SELECT u.username FROM ticket_watchers tw JOIN users u ON tw.user_id = u.user_id WHERE tw.ticket_id = ? AND tw.user_id != ?";
-            $stmt = $conn->prepare($sql);
-        } else {
-            $sql  = "SELECT u.username FROM ticket_watchers tw JOIN users u ON tw.user_id = u.user_id WHERE tw.ticket_id = ?";
-            $stmt = $conn->prepare($sql);
-        }
-        // Notifications are best-effort; if the watchers table is absent or the
-        // statement fails to prepare, skip silently rather than fataling the
-        // request that already committed its DB change.
-        if (!$stmt) {
-            return;
-        }
-        if ($excludeUserId !== null) {
-            $stmt->bind_param("ii", $ticketId, $excludeUserId);
-        } else {
-            $stmt->bind_param("i", $ticketId);
-        }
-        $stmt->execute();
-        $result = $stmt->get_result();
-        $stmt->close();
-
+        // Fetch watcher usernames, excluding the actor so they don't notify
+        // themselves. Notifications are best-effort: if the watchers table is
+        // absent or the query fails, skip silently rather than fataling the
+        // request that already committed its DB change. mysqli may either throw
+        // (default exception mode) or return false, so handle both.
         $usernames = [];
-        while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
-            $usernames[] = $row['username'];
+        try {
+            if ($excludeUserId !== null) {
+                $sql  = "SELECT u.username FROM ticket_watchers tw JOIN users u ON tw.user_id = u.user_id WHERE tw.ticket_id = ? AND tw.user_id != ?";
+                $stmt = $conn->prepare($sql);
+            } else {
+                $sql  = "SELECT u.username FROM ticket_watchers tw JOIN users u ON tw.user_id = u.user_id WHERE tw.ticket_id = ?";
+                $stmt = $conn->prepare($sql);
+            }
+            if (!$stmt) {
+                return;
+            }
+            if ($excludeUserId !== null) {
+                $stmt->bind_param("ii", $ticketId, $excludeUserId);
+            } else {
+                $stmt->bind_param("i", $ticketId);
+            }
+            $stmt->execute();
+            $result = $stmt->get_result();
+            $stmt->close();
+
+            while ($row = $result->fetch_assoc()) {
+                $usernames[] = $row['username'];
+            }
+        } catch (\Throwable $e) {
+            error_log('NotificationHelper::notifyWatchers watcher lookup failed: ' . $e->getMessage());
+            return;
         }
 
         if (empty($usernames)) {

models/TicketModel.php

@@ -208,6 +208,11 @@ class TicketModel
                 ORDER BY $sortExpression $sortDirection
                 LIMIT ? OFFSET ?";
 
+        // Keep a copy of the filter params (without LIMIT/OFFSET) for the
+        // fallback COUNT below.
+        $countParams    = $params;
+        $countParamTypes = $paramTypes;
+
         $params[] = $limit;
         $params[] = $offset;
         $paramTypes .= 'ii';
@@ -228,6 +233,24 @@ class TicketModel
         }
         $stmt->close();
 
+        // COUNT(*) OVER() rides on returned rows, so a page past the last row
+        // yields zero rows and a bogus total of 0. Fall back to a direct COUNT
+        // so the total/pages stay correct for stale or over-range page links.
+        if ($totalTickets === 0 && $offset > 0) {
+            $countSql = "SELECT COUNT(*) AS c
+                         FROM tickets t
+                         LEFT JOIN users u_created ON t.created_by = u_created.user_id
+                         LEFT JOIN users u_assigned ON t.assigned_to = u_assigned.user_id
+                         $whereClause";
+            $countStmt = $this->conn->prepare($countSql);
+            if (!empty($countParams)) {
+                $countStmt->bind_param($countParamTypes, ...$countParams);
+            }
+            $countStmt->execute();
+            $totalTickets = (int)($countStmt->get_result()->fetch_assoc()['c'] ?? 0);
+            $countStmt->close();
+        }
+
         return [
             'tickets' => $tickets,
             'total' => $totalTickets,

views/DashboardView.php

@@ -48,14 +48,14 @@ if (!empty($_GET['priority'])) {
     }
 }
 if (!empty($_GET['category'])) {
-    $activeFilters[] = ['type' => 'category', 'value' => $_GET['category'], 'label' => 'Category: ' . htmlspecialchars($_GET['category'])];
+    $activeFilters[] = ['type' => 'category', 'value' => $_GET['category'], 'label' => 'Category: ' . $_GET['category']];
 }
 if (!empty($_GET['type'])) {
-    $activeFilters[] = ['type' => 'type', 'value' => $_GET['type'], 'label' => 'Type: ' . htmlspecialchars($_GET['type'])];
+    $activeFilters[] = ['type' => 'type', 'value' => $_GET['type'], 'label' => 'Type: ' . $_GET['type']];
 }
 if (!empty($_GET['assigned_to'])) {
     $label = match ($_GET['assigned_to']) {
-        'unassigned' => 'Unassigned', 'me' => 'Me', default => 'User #' . htmlspecialchars($_GET['assigned_to'])
+        'unassigned' => 'Unassigned', 'me' => 'Me', default => 'User #' . $_GET['assigned_to']
     };
     $activeFilters[] = ['type' => 'assigned_to', 'value' => $_GET['assigned_to'], 'label' => 'Assigned: ' . $label];
 }