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A list item field with value 'PT' being converted to Datetime object

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Assessment

Difficulty
4/5
Estimated time
3-5 days
Newbie friendliness
50/100
Issue type
Bug
Clarity
Mostly clear
Activity status
Quiet
Tech stack
python
Domain
api

Research direction

Start with the Python SDK path used by await ...items.get(...) and trace how the SharePoint list field value is deserialized. Reproduce the case with a text field containing "PT" and add a focused regression test; done means the value remains the string "PT" rather than becoming datetime.timedelta(0).

Written by the indexing model from the issue text.

Description

Needs: Attention :wave: type:bug
Describe the bug

I am trying to iterate through a SharePoint list entries/rows for further processing:
...
list = await client.sites.by_site_id(site_id).lists.by_list_id(list_id).items.get(request_configuration=request_config)

rows = []
for item_id in list.value:
fields = item_id['fields']
rows.append(fields.additional_data.get("code")) # test
rows

but when text/string field have value 'PT' it is retrieved as a datetime (exactly: "datetime.timedelta(0)"). It makes my code useless for keeping for example 'Country Code' as list's field. I have seen similar issue before with 4-digit strings, so maybe it is related.

Please, take a moment to look at this.

here some screenshots:

list in SP (just field 'code' and its values) :

Image

and my code results:

Image
Expected behavior

Expected behavior would be to display 'code' the same way as it is in SharePoint list, means:
PT
PTA
..

How to reproduce

To reproduce please just create new list with text field. Then add value 'PT' to this field and try to use await client.sites.by_site_id(site_id).lists.by_list_id(list_id).items.get(request_configuration=request_config) for entried reading.

SDK Version

1.40.0

Latest version known to work for scenario above?

No response

Known Workarounds

No response

Debug output
Click to expand log ```
</details>


### Configuration

_No response_

### Other information

_No response_
Dominant language
Python
Stars
630
Forks
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Avg merge
15h 20m
Merged PRs (30d)
3

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