Overwriting existing member_ids during a member import fails

[ricklecoat]

Description of the problem
When importing member data from an XML file: if that member data includes a member_id tag, and if that id number matches the id number of an existing member, EE is supposed to overwrite the existing member with the new data (it gives a reminder about this beforehand). However, instead of overwriting the data, the import simply fails with an error.

How To Reproduce
Steps to reproduce the behaviour:

1. Export some member data to XML in the standard EE 'member import' format, and include the member_id tag in each member's data.
2. If necessary, edit the member_id tags in that data so that at least one matches the id number of an existing user in the system you are importing into.
3. Proceed through the usual EE member import process (select the file, select a member group, etc). The import process will include a reminder that if you have member_id tags in your export data, you risk overwriting existing data. (It doesn't actually check whether the data file HAS such tags, it just presents the reminder/warning every time, just in case).
4. The import process will fail (see error below).

Error Messages

SQLSTATE[23000]: Integrity constraint violation: 1062 Duplicate entry '2' for key 'PRIMARY':
INSERT INTO `exp_members` (`group_id`, `member_id`, `username`, `screen_name`, `password`, `salt`, `email`, `ip_address`, `join_date`, `last_visit`, `language`, `timezone`, `time_format`, `date_format`, `include_seconds`, `unique_id`, `crypt_key`) VALUES (8, '2', 'Joe.Bloggs@example.com', 'Joe Bloggs', '49a0449454543c2f1bf2083d80466312fb26cae87a4d173cc09c9ffba4dc6d34d973787bd0e81238c891bfedc5a3a558c2773b3a33ad463c568c8a687b8357b5', 'yv\'aUq4MVT8\\S1X\"#!SC]L\'c{\'129!J6~]g0Sgk#VE#%)T-wsO#VjO%El?@cw)sSe?DoAq/G=0oY0+uDQ;s(I+?w\\J}~JfX!!mEK\\l?.j8hpvczJG(c0#Bi+bx@rArK>', 'Joe.Bloggs@example.com', '0.0.0.0', '1353667691', '1594633474', 'english', 'Europe/London', '12', '%j/%n/%Y', 'n', '42cc81e672a462b0d2dd22a25599196f437fdba1', 'a46062c31ae577c2640caf72c558d143512360b0')
ee/legacy/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_connection.php:117
Stack Trace: Please include when reporting this error
#0 ee/legacy/database/drivers/mysqli/mysqli_driver.php(112): CI_DB_mysqli_connection->query('INSERT INTO `ex...')
#1 ee/legacy/database/DB_driver.php(270): CI_DB_mysqli_driver->_execute('INSERT INTO `ex...')
#2 ee/legacy/database/DB_driver.php(180): CI_DB_driver->simple_query('INSERT INTO `ex...')
#3 ee/legacy/database/DB_active_rec.php(1371): CI_DB_driver->query('INSERT INTO `ex...')
#4 ee/EllisLab/ExpressionEngine/Service/Model/Query/Insert.php(75): CI_DB_active_record->insert('members')
#5 ee/EllisLab/ExpressionEngine/Service/Model/Query/Update.php(99): EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Service\Model\Query\Insert->actOnGateway(Object(EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Model\Member\Gateway\MemberGateway), Object(EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Model\Member\Member))
#6 ee/EllisLab/ExpressionEngine/Service/Model/Query/Insert.php(39): EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Service\Model\Query\Update->doWork(Object(EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Model\Member\Member))
#7 ee/EllisLab/ExpressionEngine/Service/Model/Query/Insert.php(27): EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Service\Model\Query\Insert->doWork(Object(EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Model\Member\Member))
#8 ee/EllisLab/ExpressionEngine/Service/Model/DataStore.php(282): EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Service\Model\Query\Insert->run()
#9 ee/EllisLab/ExpressionEngine/Service/Model/DataStore.php(238): EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Service\Model\DataStore->runQuery('Insert', Object(EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Service\Model\Query\Builder))
#10 ee/EllisLab/ExpressionEngine/Service/Model/Query/Builder.php(79): EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Service\Model\DataStore->insertQuery(Object(EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Service\Model\Query\Builder))
#11 ee/EllisLab/ExpressionEngine/Service/Model/Model.php(360): EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Service\Model\Query\Builder->insert()
#12 ee/EllisLab/ExpressionEngine/Model/Content/ContentModel.php(225): EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Service\Model\Model->save()
#13 ee/EllisLab/ExpressionEngine/Controller/Utilities/MemberImport.php(751): EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Model\Content\ContentModel->save()
#14 ee/EllisLab/ExpressionEngine/Controller/Utilities/MemberImport.php(421): EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Controller\Utilities\MemberImport->doImport()
#15 [internal function]: EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Controller\Utilities\MemberImport->processXml()
#16 ee/EllisLab/ExpressionEngine/Core/Core.php(268): call_user_func_array(Array, Array)
#17 ee/EllisLab/ExpressionEngine/Core/Core.php(118): EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Core\Core->runController(Array)
#18 ee/EllisLab/ExpressionEngine/Boot/boot.php(156): EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Core\Core->run(Object(EllisLab\ExpressionEngine\Core\Request))
#19 public_html/admin.php(153): require_once('...')
#19 public_html/admin.php(153): require_once('...')

Screenshots / Videos / Template Code
None

Environment Details:

• Version: 5.4
• PHP Version 7.2.22
• MySQL Version 5.7.26
• OS: MacOS
• Web Server: MAMP 5.7

Possible Solution

Additional context
Removing the member_id tags from the XML file (OR simply removing those member(s) from the XML file whose member_id numbers conflict with pre-existing ids in the destination system) allows the import to proceed as expected, but without any data being overwritten. However, in some situations you might WANT specific member_ids to be overwritten with new data.