Odd unable to add item error issue in Container on a DCR Form

G'day

I've been looking everywhere and haven't been able to find anything remotely similar to this issue, so I apologise in advance if I'm asking a well known question.

Working with Teamsite 6.5. If a non mandatory item within a container is saved with an empty/blank value, and the DCR closed, then reopened for editing, the item is no longer present. Subsequent attempts to add another item to that container (little plus sign) fail with a Javascript error " '****' is null or not an object". It especially seems to affect dropdown list boxes.

Investigating the dcr xml shows that that item's xml is no longer present.

Known workarounds are to either manually reinsert the item xml, make it mandatory (of course) or delete the container and recreate it.

What I'd like to know is why the field is removed - other fields appear to remain on the form empty with no problems, and why I cannot create another item to replace it.
Has anyone run across this before? Is there a way to stop losing the field or allowing new items to be created?

I realise that the general response might be 'upgrade', but that's not an option at this point and I'm looking for suggestions for possible fixes.

Thank you for reading

WR

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saurabh4984

G'day

I've been looking everywhere and haven't been able to find anything remotely similar to this issue, so I apologise in advance if I'm asking a well known question.

Working with Teamsite 6.5. If a non mandatory item within a container is saved with an empty/blank value, and the DCR closed, then reopened for editing, the item is no longer present. Subsequent attempts to add another item to that container (little plus sign) fail with a Javascript error " '****' is null or not an object". It especially seems to affect dropdown list boxes.

Investigating the dcr xml shows that that item's xml is no longer present.

Known workarounds are to either manually reinsert the item xml, make it mandatory (of course) or delete the container and recreate it.

What I'd like to know is why the field is removed - other fields appear to remain on the form empty with no problems, and why I cannot create another item to replace it.
Has anyone run across this before? Is there a way to stop losing the field or allowing new items to be created?

I realise that the general response might be 'upgrade', but that's not an option at this point and I'm looking for suggestions for possible fixes.

Thank you for reading

WR

You can just add a space in any text field /textarea of your container.. That should solve your problem

Samir_Friend

Seems strange! Can't recall dealing with anything like this while I was on 6.5

Can you post your DCT code.

Adam Stoller

Is your DCT defined as type "iwov" or "xml" in the templating.cfg file?
Can you post the DCT code (properly formatted, or as an attachment)? If not the whole thing, then perhaps just the specification for the container and all of it's items?

WheeledWriter

G'day all

Thanks for the thoughtful questions. Fish, all our templating.cfg definitions have a dcr-type of iwov - we don't use the xml type at all. (old version/established procedures issues)

As requested here is the XML for the container causing the problem. I've also attached it in case the code format makes things confusing.

It's direct parent is the root container so I didn't see the need to list pages and pages of code. This particular code is reused in several DCT's using inline commands in the datacapture.cfg file e.g - [html]
...

[/html]
I've only changed the code to remove personal/company information. Everything else is the same

[html]
Under review
If this document is undergoing extensive review tick the check box below and this will insert an "under review" message into the web page. Adding further information about the review is optional.

Document undergoing extensive review?
Tick this check box if this document is currently undergoing, or is about to undergo, an extensive review process.

Further information
If desired, select a unit that can be contacted for further information, or use the replicant plus button on the right to select an individual person.

Unit
Select the unit that can be contacted for further information, or use the replicant plus button on the right to select an individual person.

...

Contact person
Select a person who can be contacted for further information, or use the replicant plus button on the right to select a unit.

...

Completion date
If desired, enter the expected date of completion of the review, in the format dd/mm/yy (e.g., 26/7/06).

Reason for review
If desired, enter a few words to explain why the review is being conducted, or what the review will be focusing on.

[/html]

The Problem occurs with the 'furtherInformation' container. If a 'unitId' or 'name' drop down is saved and closed empty, when the DCR is reopened for editing the drop down is no longer visible and attempts to create a new one with replicator buttons result in the javascript error - "(item)'name' is null or not an object".
The other fields do not have this issue and remain even if saved unticked or empty.

I'm going to try the - add in a empty string when saving - trick suggested by saura (if its possible). I'll let you know if it works.

Thanks for the assist

WW

WheeledWriter

Adding an empty string to the value stored in the DCR by the .tpl doesn't appear to help. The field is still gone when the DCR is reopened.

I've done a little more poking around. The javascript error is coming from the following code internal Teamsite code:

function insertOrContainerChoice( itemInstanceID, choiceName )
 {
     var containerItem = datacapture.itemsRegistry.find( itemInstanceID );
     //Get the replicant container node.
     var template = containerItem.template;
     for ( var i = 0; i < template.length; i++ )
     {
         var protoType = template;
         if ( protoType.name == choiceName )
         {
             var oldItem = containerItem.children[0];
             var newItem = null;

             if (choiceName == oldItem.name) {
                 return true;  // Handle cases where we re-select the same item by doing nothing
             }

In this case when its attempting to add a new item to the form it grabs the first item in the container and assigns it to an oldItem variable...
...but the item has vanished so the object returns null. So it looks like Teamsite knows the object should be there but the XML in the DCR is malformed.
I just can't figure out why saving the item with empty string/no value causes the DCR to remove the XML.

WW

Adam Stoller

I believe the problem is with:[html]...

...[/html]An OR container with a min/max of 1 is a tricky thing to implement because generally the Edit DCR window will want to present something and in so doing it will have already reached the max number of instances and thus not allow you to enter another.

You might trying using a min="0" and default="0" (or default="1" - try both) and see if that resolves your basic problem. If you really believe that having something within this container is a requirement, you may have to handle that with your own custom validation code that checks to see if there is a populated "furtherInformation" item before determining if the DCR is valid.

WheeledWriter

Thank you Fish, setting the min to 0 allowed the DCR to permit a new dropdown to be created if it isn't already present.