Skip to content

Add search-backed pickers for reference and media fields - #2622

Merged
pournasserian merged 1 commit into
v2from
2621-form-pickers
Oct 19, 2026
Merged

Add search-backed pickers for reference and media fields#2622
pournasserian merged 1 commit into
v2from
2621-form-pickers

Conversation

@pournasserian

@pournasserian pournasserian commented Oct 19, 2026

Copy link
Copy Markdown
Member

Closes #2621

What

The third slice of F-FRM (#2426): pickers for reference and media fields (FRM-01), backed by search (ISearch, #2566, #2606) and the media library (#2543).

  • PickerField (Components/Forms) is an interactive island inside the static generated form. FieldWidget renders it for reference and media fields.
    • Over the circuit it shows the current choice, a Clear button and a search box. The choice is a hidden input named Form.Values[field], so the form posts and saves exactly as before.
    • Entries: as the person types, it searches the reference's target type (at most 10 direct hits). Each hit shows its first text value, or an entity's first text fact, with its state and a short id.
    • Media: it filters the library by file name or folder, newest first, with a preview for images.
    • The matches are a listbox of buttons that rove with the module from Add keyboard-first review with roving focus, browser tests and WCAG checks #2585. ArrowDown moves from the search box into the list, the arrows move through it, Enter chooses and Escape clears the matches.
    • Before the circuit attaches, or when it is lost, the prerendered island is the plain select from Add generated forms for content types, saved as a person's change set #2613, so a form posted then still saves.
  • admin.js: a data-ui="rove-input" box moves focus to the first item of the list its aria-controls names on ArrowDown.

Why

  • An island, not a page in interactive mode. Only the search needs the circuit. The form, its other fields and the save stay static, so the save path from Add generated forms for content types, saved as a person's change set #2613 does not change, and a lost circuit costs only the search.
  • A hidden input in the island. The static form collects it with the other fields, and no server state has to survive between the choice and the save.
  • FieldOption[] rather than an interface. An island's parameters cross into the circuit as JSON. With IReadOnlyList<FieldOption>, the browser refused the root components with "The list of component operations is not valid". The parameter says why in a comment.
  • Not in this PR: field filters in the picker (SearchQuery.Fields exists for it once a field's settings name a filter), list-of-reference widgets, and rule hints (FRM-03, needs F-RUL F-RUL: Rule book as versioned content #2419).

Tests

  • bUnit (PickerFieldTests):
    • Before the circuit, a picker is the select with the stored choice.
    • An entry picker searches its target type and names hits by their first text fact. It wires the listbox to the search box and the rove module, and choosing posts the id and shows the name. Clear empties the choice.
    • A search with no match says so, and Escape clears the matches.
    • A media picker finds an asset by file name, case-insensitively, with its preview, and posts its id.
    • GeneratedFormTests renders the reference and media widgets before the circuit, as selects.
  • Browser (FormPickerTests), keyboard alone: type the title, Tab to the picker, type part of a product's name, press ArrowDown and Enter, then write the rationale and save. The stored entry references the product.

dotnet build -warnaserror, the unit and bUnit suite, the browser tests and the SQLite integration suite pass locally. The local PostgreSQL run on a loaded machine had nine failures in untouched classes, the same pattern as the last three PRs. CI runs the full PostgreSQL suite. No new package and no new project reference.

Checklist

  • Linked to an issue a maintainer has confirmed
  • Targets v2
  • Tests or docs updated where behaviour changed
  • No tool-generated co-author trailers or footers

@pournasserian pournasserian added this to the M1 Governance core milestone Oct 19, 2026
@pournasserian pournasserian added type:feature New capability v2 FluentCMS v2 (v2 branch) area:forms Generated forms (FRM) labels Oct 19, 2026
@pournasserian
pournasserian merged commit 0e9c759 into v2 Oct 19, 2026
2 checks passed
@pournasserian
pournasserian deleted the 2621-form-pickers branch October 19, 2026 09:48
This was referenced Oct 19, 2026
Merged
Closed
pournasserian added a commit that referenced this pull request Oct 19, 2026
@pournasserian
Keep the entry form's base version and the values a person didn't tou…
f35ea66 
…ch (#2638)

Closes #2630
Closes #2633

## What

Follow-ups from the independent reviews of #2613 and #2619 (F-FRM,
#2426). The generated form now keeps the version it was made from and
the values the person didn't touch.

- **Base version.** The hidden `BaseVersion` comes from the form being
shown. A form refused for its own problems keeps the version it started
from, so its next save is refused as a conflict instead of overwriting a
change saved meanwhile.
- **Untouched values.**
  - `FieldValues.Read` and `FactValues.Read` take the stored value.
- A posted text that shows the same as the stored value keeps the stored
JSON. Seconds, offsets, `4.50` and LF line breaks survive a save.
- Textarea line breaks are compared as LF. Only CR and CRLF are
converted; other line separators stay as typed.
- A stored value the field's current type no longer takes, as after a
number field became text, is read from what was posted.
- A `text` value with line breaks is shown in a textarea, since a
single-line input drops them.
- A textarea value that starts with a line break gets one more, since
HTML drops the first.
- **Which draft the form shows.**
- When the latest version isn't the published one and no set is
reviewing it, a note names the version shown. It offers
`?from=published`. The update is still made from the latest version, so
the version check holds.
  - A reverted create, which leaves nothing published, says so too.
- **Entity facts.**
- The owner list holds every user, and disabled users are labelled
"(disabled)", so a stored owner stays selected.
  - Owner ids are compared as GUIDs, and the stored text is kept.
- A posted owner that is neither a user nor the fact's stored owner is
refused.
- **Untouched facts are kept exactly.** A fact whose value and parts all
show as stored is saved as stored, with its property order, spaces and
any other properties.
- **A stored plain value** of a type made an entity type later shows as
the value of a fact with no details yet, flagged unsourced. It no longer
fails the save or is dropped. A fact is an object with a `value`, so a
plain JSON object is a plain value too.
- **An owner who is no user**, such as one an agent set, shows as
"Unknown user" on its own field and stays selected.
- **The published version the values came from** is posted under
`?from=published`, and whenever the latest version is the published one.
- `EntryEdit.PublishedBase` carries it to `EntryEdits`. That checks it
before the unit of work, and again against the version the operation is
based on.
- If publishing or a revert has moved on, the save is refused as a
conflict, so it can't undo what was published.
- **Booleans.** An unchecked box saves `false` only when a value was
stored, the field is required, or its fact details were given. Otherwise
the field is left out, as an empty field is. A name-only edit no longer
adds an unsourced `{"value": false}` fact.
- **Fact details for an empty value** are reported next to the field
instead of being dropped.
- **`EntryEdits`** checks the rationale and sources before it writes.
- **`PickerField`** names `aria-controls` only while its list exists.
The new axe check found it pointing at a missing id (#2622).

## Why

- **Keep the stored JSON when the text matches.** No widget can show
every stored value exactly, such as a date-time's seconds or a number's
trailing zero. Comparing what the widget would show tells an untouched
field from an edited one without client script.
- **The base version stays the latest version under `?from=published`.**
Another base would weaken the version check. The person sees which
values they start from, and the set's diff shows the full change.

## Tests

- Unit:
- `FieldValues.Read` keeps stored date-times, numbers, CRLF text and
JSON whose text matches, and replaces a changed one.
  - Unchecked booleans.
- `FactValues.Read` keeps a stored owner's case and a stored time's
seconds.
  - An unknown owner is refused.
  - `HasDetails`.
  - A JSON object without a `value` is a plain value.
  - A U+2028 in an edited text is kept.
  - A picker without matches has no `aria-controls`.
- Integration (`EntryFormScreenTests`, `EntityFormScreenTests`):
  - The #2630 overwrite scenario ends in the conflict message.
- After a published revert, the form names the reverted draft and offers
the published version. A form from a published version since replaced is
refused.
  - A reverted create says so.
- Editing an entry written before its type held facts shows its plain
values, a JSON object included, and saves its facts.
  - A title-only edit keeps several values exactly as stored:
    - a CRLF body that starts with a line break;
    - a multi-line `text` value, which gets a textarea;
    - the date-time text `09:30:45.5+02:00`;
    - `4.50`;
    - an absent boolean.
- `EntryEdits` refuses a blank source, and an update whose published
base isn't the published version. Neither writes a version or an event.
- A form open on the published version when a revert publishes an older
one is refused on save.
- An untouched value after its field changed from number to text is
saved as text.
- Editing a published entry proposes an update from version 1, and a
stray draft is named. The saved set is submitted from the set view.
  - The unknown enum value is reported.
- A name-only entity edit keeps the other fact byte for byte, including
a disabled upper-case owner, a source in another order with a trailing
space, and times with seconds and offsets. It also keeps an owner who is
no user, and an absent boolean.
- Problems and the unsourced marker sit inside their field's fact
fieldset.
  - A forged owner and fact details without a value are refused.
- Browser:
- A title-only edit in Chromium keeps a multi-line text and a rich text
that starts with a line break.
- The axe check covers a form with every widget, and a refused submit.
The keyboard path through a form and its save is `FormPickerTests` from
#2622.

`dotnet build -warnaserror`, the unit and bUnit suite, the browser tests
and the integration suite pass locally. No new package and no new
project reference.

## Checklist

- [x] Linked to an issue a maintainer has confirmed
- [x] Targets `v2`
- [x] Tests or docs updated where behaviour changed
- [x] No tool-generated co-author trailers or footers
@pournasserian pournasserian mentioned this pull request Oct 20, 2026
Merged
4 tasks done
pournasserian added a commit that referenced this pull request Oct 20, 2026
@pournasserian
Make the form pickers keep typed text, start with large types and sur…
a245fa2 
…vive a lost circuit (#2655)

Closes #2639

## What

Follow-ups from the independent review of #2622 (F-FRM, #2426).

- **The search box owns its text.** The server never writes `value`
back, so a key typed while a search runs is never lost. `admin.js`
empties the box after a choice.
- **The island takes no option list.** Its parameters are the field, the
chosen id and text, so the circuit's start message stays small however
many entries or assets there are.
- Before the circuit attaches, the prerendered select loads its own
choices: the 200 newest, and the chosen one named.
  - `EntryEditor` no longer loads every entry and asset for its pickers.
- **Every read goes through a scope of its own.** The pickers of a form
load at once, and searches overlap as the person types, while a
`DbContext` takes one query at a time. This is the rule from #2642.
- **A search waits for a 250 ms pause in typing,** and only the newest
search shows its results.
- **The media picker asks the library for its text.** `MediaQuery`
gains:
  - `Text`, which matches a file name or folder whatever its case;
- `Newest`, which returns that many of the newest assets, newest first.

The text is matched in .NET over the names alone, because SQLite's
`lower()` folds ASCII letters only. Only the matching assets are read
after that, so the picker no longer reads every asset on every
keystroke.
- **Enter in the box never submits the form.** It chooses the only
match, or enters the list when there are more (`admin.js`).
- The list says which text it answers (`data-for`). Enter acts only when
the box still holds that text, so a fast typist never chooses a match
left from an earlier word.
- Text, not a count of keys, so keys typed while the connection was down
can't put the box and the server out of step.
- **Focus stays in the box** after a choice, Clear or Escape.
- **The choice is kept with the circuit** (`[PersistentState]`, keyed by
field). A circuit paused and resumed, as after a laptop sleeps, keeps
what the person chose rather than going back to the stored value. A new
stored value replaces it, as when enhanced navigation shows another
version of the entry.
- **A choice is named by the type's first text field,** in definition
order, with its state and short id. An entity's fact value counts. The
chosen option in the prerendered select is named the same way.
- **A lost circuit doesn't reload a page whose form holds a picker or
any typed input,** such as a rejection reason on the set view.
- The reconnect display says the connection was lost and the page keeps
what was typed. It offers to reload, and says that reloading loses it.
  - The picker boxes are disabled. The hidden choice still posts.
- Enhanced navigation is turned off for the rest of the page's life, so
every link loads its page in full. So do Back and Forward: Blazor
handles them without looking at that attribute, so a capture-phase
`popstate` listener reloads the page instead. Without a circuit nothing
can render the next page's islands, and an enhanced navigation would
keep this page's: another version's picker choice, or another set's
items.

A choice made in the select before the circuit attaches is still
replaced by the stored one. That is #2654. The select still reads every
entry of its type to show the newest 200. That is #2656.

## Why

- **No `value` on the box rather than `@bind`.** Every server render
writes a bound value back, and that write is what dropped keys under
latency. The box needs no server state between keys: the search reads
the text from the event.
- **Full page loads after a lost circuit belong to this PR.** Before it,
a lost circuit always reloaded the page. #2639's acceptance keeps the
page, so the form's input survives. A page kept without a circuit can't
render the next page's islands, and an enhanced navigation would carry
this page's dead ones. Turning enhanced navigation off once the page is
kept completes that change.
- **The select loads its choices in prerender.** Anything passed as an
island parameter travels in the circuit's start message, and SignalR
closes the connection when that message passes 32 KB.

## Tests

- **Browser, on PostgreSQL when it is configured (as in CI), otherwise
SQLite:**
- A keyboard-only path from the top of the page, with no `FocusAsync`,
on a target type of 500 entries:
    - type at full speed and keep every character;
- Enter chooses the only match without submitting, and focus stays in
the box;
    - Tab to the rationale and save.
- Searches with no pause overlap, the newest one shows, and the circuit
stays up.
  - Enter never chooses a match left from an earlier search.
- A paused and resumed circuit keeps the choice, and Enter still chooses
after keys typed while it was paused. Without the fix, the test fails.
- Starting from the published version gives the picker that version's
value, and the save proposes it.
- A rejected circuit keeps the form, the typed title and the choice, and
disables the search. The form then saves with both.
- A rejected circuit keeps a set view's typed rejection reason, and N
then loads the next set in full with its own items.
- With the circuit lost, "Start from the published version" loads the
published value into the picker.
- Back after an enhanced move, with the circuit lost, loads the earlier
page in full: the draft with its own choice, or the first set with its
own items.
  - Without the fix, both of these fail.
- The axe check on a form with pickers is the kitchen-sink form from
#2638.
- **Integration, on SQLite and PostgreSQL:** media text search finds
"Ärzte.png" by "ärzte" and "ÄRZTE", and `Newest` keeps the newest first.
- **bUnit:**
  - The island's parameters are only strings and flags.
  - Only the newest of two overlapping searches shows.
  - A media search asks the library for its text and the 10 newest.
- An entry is named by its type's first text field, and the select names
the chosen entry.

`dotnet build -warnaserror`, the unit and bUnit suite, the browser tests
on SQLite and PostgreSQL, and the form and media tests pass locally. No
new package and no new project reference.

## Checklist

- [x] Linked to an issue a maintainer has confirmed
- [x] Targets `v2`
- [x] Tests or docs updated where behaviour changed
- [x] No tool-generated co-author trailers or footers
Sign up for free to join this conversation on GitHub. Already have an account? Sign in to comment

Reviewers

No reviews

Assignees

No one assigned

Labels

area:forms Generated forms (FRM) type:feature New capability v2 FluentCMS v2 (v2 branch)

Projects

None yet

Milestone

M1 Governance core

Development

Successfully merging this pull request may close these issues.

Search-backed pickers for reference and media fields in generated forms

1 participant

@pournasserian