Matrix and Solspace Importer issue with saving properly

Question

I'm not sure which plugin is at fault here, but here goes. Using the latest version of all plugins, and EE.

I have an Importer task to create entries, from a feed of about 20. One field in this feed is an of images and alt text. This is mapped correctly to a Matrix field, and seemingly importing fine for all entries. See below.

However, for some entries, when attempting to output in templates, these rows in the Matrix field aren't being displayed.

{if '{images:total_rows}'}
    {images}
        {image_src}
    {/images}
{if:else}
    no img
{/if}

What's more, using the above code, you'd expect even if there was a problem with mapping, that {images:total_rows} would return false, and print no img. This isn't the case, and the whole code is seemingly skipped over.

What makes me think this is an issue with Importer, is if I go to the offending entry, where I can see the rows in the Matrix as above, and re-save that entry (without changing anything) the templating works as expected. Is it somehow possible Importer isn't saving the Matrix field properly after importing?

Answer 1

I would query the matrix table for an entry that doesn't work and one that does and compare the 2 to see if there is any difference.

Answer 2

If you see your Matrix data in your entry, that means the data is stored somewhere on your database (or else the Matrix field would be empty). Have you tried using {if images:total_rows > 0} instead of a true/false condition (i.e. {if '{images:total_rows}'})? Matrix data is likely stored in exp_matrix_XXX tables (where Matrix data gets stored) but not in exp_channel_data (where searchable Matrix data gets stored), which {if '{images:total_rows}'} might be relying on.