(#9183) - Fix null pointer exception when searching with index for missing field

[brucearctor]

Overview

When performing a find() query that uses an index, if one of the documents in the database is missing the indexed field, filterInclusiveStart throws a TypeError: can't convert null to object from inside pouchdb-collate.

filterInclusiveStart calls getKeyFromDoc to extract the indexed key from each document. When a document does not have the indexed field, getKeyFromDoc returns undefined for that field. This undefined value is then passed to collate(), which crashes.

This fix adds a guard in filterInclusiveStart to skip any document whose key is undefined (i.e. the document is missing the indexed field). This matches standard CouchDB behaviour, where documents missing a field are excluded from an index.

Testing recommendations

A regression test has been added in tests/find/test-issues/test.issue9183.js:

• Inserts two documents: one with the indexed field (name), one without
• Creates an index on name
• Queries with $gt: null and verifies only the document with the field is returned
• Previously this would throw a TypeError

Run with: TYPE=find PLUGINS=pouchdb-find GREP=issue9183 npm test

Related Issues or Pull Requests

Fixes #9183

Checklist

• I am not a bot
• This is my own work, I did not use AI, LLM's or similar technology for code or docs generation
• Code is written and works correctly
• Changes are covered by tests
• Documentation changes were made in the docs folder

[janl]

could you please ensure you use the PR template?