Fix Uninitialized Properties¶

Priority: 🟠 P1 - HIGH Status: Planning Related Analysis: phpstan-rector-analysis-overview.md

Problem Statement¶

18 PHPStan errors for uninitialized properties - properties declared but not set in constructor or with default values.

Impact¶

Bug Risk: High - can cause null reference errors
Type Safety: Properties may be null when not expected
Production Risk: Runtime null pointer exceptions
Maintainability: Unclear initialization requirements

PHPStan Error Category¶

Error ID: property.uninitialized
Count: 18
Priority: High - prevents runtime null errors

Investigation Required¶

For each uninitialized property:

Should it be nullable?
Should it be initialized in constructor?
Should it have a default value?
Is it always set before use?
Is initialization missing by mistake?

Implementation Plan¶

Step 1: Get Complete List¶

make phpstan 2>&1 | grep "property.uninitialized" > /tmp/uninitialized-props.txt

Step 2: Categorize Properties¶

For each property, determine:

Entity/Class name
Property name
Property type
Usage pattern

Step 3: Fix Strategies¶

Strategy A: Make Nullable

// Before
private string $name;

// After
private ?string $name = null;

Use when: Property is optional

Strategy B: Initialize in Constructor

// Before
private DateTimeImmutable $createdAt;

// After
private DateTimeImmutable $createdAt;

public function __construct()
{
    $this->createdAt = new DateTimeImmutable();
}

Use when: Property should always have a value

Strategy C: Provide Default Value

// Before
private int $count;

// After
private int $count = 0;

Use when: There's a sensible default

Strategy D: Use Promoted Constructor Parameter

// Before
private string $name;
public function __construct(string $name) {
    $this->name = $name;
}

// After
public function __construct(
    private string $name
) {}

Use when: Property is required at construction

Common Patterns¶

Entity Properties¶

Often uninitialized properties in entities are:

Timestamps (createdAt, updatedAt)
Collections (should be initialized in constructor)
Optional relationships (should be nullable)

Service Properties¶

May be set via setter injection
May need to be nullable
May need lazy initialization

Success Criteria¶

All property.uninitialized errors resolved
No null reference errors introduced
Clear initialization contract
All tests passing

Risk Assessment¶

Medium Risk:

Changing nullability can affect logic
May reveal hidden bugs
Could require database migration for entities

Mitigation:

Analyze usage before changing
Add tests for edge cases
Review all usages of property
Check for null checks in existing code

Estimated Effort¶

Per Property:

Investigation: 15 min
Fix: 15-30 min
Testing: 15 min
Average: 30-45 min per property

Total for 18 properties:

Estimate: 9-13 hours

Dependencies¶

None - can be done independently

Notes¶

This plan needs the complete list of uninitialized properties to be specific about fixes.

TODO:

Extract full list from PHPStan
Analyze each property's usage
Determine appropriate fix strategy
Check for database schema implications