Inconsistent behavior of optional operator with empty strings

[ju1ius]

Probably related to #601 ?

Current behavior

Using the following fixture file:

AppBundle\Entity\Foo:
  title: '50%? <sentence()> : ""'

Results in the string "" being insterted in the database.

Using the following fixture file:

AppBundle\Entity\Foo:
  title: "50%? <sentence()> : ''"

Results in an empty string being inserted in the database.

Expected behavior

Both fixture files should result in an empty string being inserted in the database.

Dependencies

{
    "require-dev": {
        "doctrine/data-fixtures": "^1.3",
        "hautelook/alice-bundle": "^2.0",
        "nelmio/alice": "^3.1",
        "theofidry/alice-data-fixtures": "^1.0"
    },
}

[theofidry]

Actually maybe this one is different as I guess if you want a "" or '' as a string input the expression should be \"\" and \'\'

[theofidry]

Actually looking at this again, this is a legit case. Indeed there is no way to understand that "" should be interpreted as an empty string as your expression is strictly equivalent to say "50% changes of having '<sentences()>' (which will be interpreted) or having '""' which is a plain string. If you want the result to be evaluated in an empty string i think that's the case where a custom Faker provider is required.

[dribtech]

Actually there is no need for custom Faker provider. Since PHP functions can be used as providers, this works reliable:
addressNote: '20%? <sentence()>: <strval("")>'
Of course instead of "" you can use anything that will evaluate into empty string by strval.