fix: write a DataGrid 2 column's Visible expression

.claude/skills/fix-issue/findings/mdl-executor.jsonl

@@ -881,3 +881,4 @@
 {"area": "mdl-executor", "date": "2026-10-07", "refs": ["mendixlabs/mxcli#1324"], "symptom": "A widget directly inside data view `dvP` that reads `$dvP` OUTSIDE an action — a nested data view's `DataSource: microflow M.F(Gate = $dvP)`, `Visible: $dvP/Name != ''`, `Editable: …`, `DynamicClasses: …`, or a nested list's `database from M.E where [Name = $dvP/Name]` — passes `check` and `exec`, then `mx check` reports `[CE0117] \"Error(s) in expression.\"` at the widget (CE0161 \"Error(s) in XPath constraint.\" for the `where`)", "cause": "MDL-BUTTON02 (the #1324 fix) only looked at action arguments, though every slot evaluated in the widget's enclosing context has the same scope: a container's widget-name variable exists only one data container below it", "file": "`mdl/executor/validate_page_button_context.go` (`checkOwnContainerName` now takes the widget and walks action args, `GetDataSource().Args` / `.Where`, and `ownNameExprProps`)", "insight": "**A scope rule belongs to the context, not to the slot the report happened to use.** The follow-up question that settled it was one probe per slot with a control one data view deeper: five of five slots failed in the own context and all five controls built clean, so the rule is 'anything evaluated in this widget's enclosing context' — enumerate those slots rather than wait for one report each. Two things that would have wasted a build: (1) `Visible:`/`Editable:` arrive in the AST as `VisibleIf`/`EditableIf` strings (dump `w.Properties` before keying on what the author wrote), and (2) text-template parameters (`ContentParams ({1} = $dvP/Name)`) are already refused by MDL-WIDGET24 for an unrelated reason (a template parameter is an attribute name, not a variable path), so they are not a scope case at all. The XPath slot reports a different code (CE0161), which is why the message carries the code per slot. Control: stubbing the data-source and property slots fails the new test with `flagged \"\"`; the `$currentObject` rewrite of all five builds at 0 errors. Repro `mdl-examples/bug-tests/1324-own-data-container-name-outside-actions.fail.mdl`"}
 {"area": "mdl/executor", "date": "2026-10-07", "symptom": "`describe structure depth 2|3` / `mxcli structure -d 3` never annotates a page with its data widgets (`Page M.P [DataView<Customer>, …]`), on any project and with a full catalog — every page prints bare. Evora Factory Management: 0 of 54 pages annotated, although CATALOG.widgets holds their data views and grids.", "cause": "structurePages queried `widgets … where ParentWidget = ''`; widgets_data has never had a ParentWidget column (the tree position, added later, is ParentWidgetId + Depth). The query failed and the error was discarded (`if err == nil { … }`), so the annotation was dead code from the initial commit. Every other catalog query in cmd_structure.go swallowed errors the same way (`if err != nil || len(rows) == 0 { return }`).", "file": "`mdl/executor/cmd_structure.go` (`structureQuery`, `structurePages`, `queryCountByModule`, `shortWidgetType`), `mdl/executor/cmd_structure_page_widgets_test.go`", "insight": "A fixed SQL query against a table the builder owns can only fail through drift inside mxcli, never because of the user's project, so swallowing its error converts a schema mismatch into silent absence — the same shape as the depth-1 flow-count casing bug (#717), which a swallowed error also hid. Route such queries through one helper that returns the error; then a column rename fails the first test that runs the command against a real built catalog. That test must build the catalog with catalog.NewBuilder in FULL mode (SetFullMode(true)) over raw page BSON from GetRawUnitFunc — widgets_data is empty in fast mode, and a fast-mode test passes against the broken query because 'no widgets' and 'query failed' both print a bare page. Mock gotcha: the builder dereferences GetNavigation, whose mock default is (nil, nil), so stub it with an empty NavigationDocument. Semantics choice: 'top-level' cannot mean Depth = 0 — real pages wrap content in a layout grid, so a root filter lists almost nothing; list data widgets with no data-widget ancestor instead (walk ParentWidgetId). Measured on Evora after the fix: 45 of 54 pages annotated (181 of 212 with `all`), and the 9 bare pages have no data widget in CATALOG.widgets.", "refs": ["#717"]}
 {"area": "mdl/executor", "date": "2026-10-07", "symptom": "`mxcli check script.mdl -p app.mpr --references` printed \"Check passed!\" for `grant read * on entity System.Nope to M.R`, for a grant to `M.NopeRole`, and for every other GRANT/REVOKE form naming a missing entity, document, member or role; also for `create user role R ( ModuleRoles: (M.NopeRole) )`, `alter user role … add module roles`, and a demo user with an unknown user role or entity (measured on Evora Factory Management, 10.24.15). exec refused the grants after the earlier statements were written; the user-role and demo-user shapes it wrote unresolved (CE1613 at build).", "cause": "No validate path resolved a security statement's names. validateWithContext's switch had no case for any of them (only the role-free validateCrossModuleGrant ran), and the user-role/demo-user executors store module and user role names verbatim without resolving them, so neither check nor exec stood between a typo and the model.", "file": "`mdl/executor/validate_grant_refs.go` (`validateGrantReferences`), wired into `validateProgramWithWarnings` in `validate.go`; test `check_grant_references_pedapp_test.go`", "insight": "Two things made the obvious version wrong. (1) What check refuses has to be what exec refuses, form by form: exec refuses an unknown role on a GRANT and on an entity REVOKE, but a document REVOKE (and `alter user role … drop module roles`) of an unknown role is a reported no-op, which keeps cleanup scripts re-runnable after the role is dropped — refusing it would make check louder than exec. Likewise every System entity is refused by exec (refuseSystemEntityGrant), so `grant … on entity System.User` must be refused by check too, while System MODULE roles in a user role must pass. (2) A script's own effects are not only its CREATE statements: creating a microflow/nanoflow/page in a module with no module roles auto-creates `<Module>.User` (defaultDocumentAccessRoles), and doctype-tests/02b grants to exactly that role — the first version flagged 10 statements there. Walking the program in statement order (not the whole-program scriptContext) gives the forward-reference hint for free. Performance trap: reading every module's security costs ~5s on Evora; read only the modules a statement names (~0.1s).", "refs": ["mdl-examples/bug-tests/check-grant-unknown-reference-refused.mdl", "mdl-examples/bug-tests/check-grant-unknown-reference.mdl", "ako/mxcli#1020"]}
+{"area": "mdl/executor", "date": "2026-10-07", "symptom": "A DataGrid 2 column's `Visible:` expression is stored as `true` (always visible) for every spelling but the old quoted one: `Visible: $showPrices`, `Visible: if … then … else …`, `visible: not(…)`, `Visible: [cond]`. check clean, exec reports \"Created page\", describe shows no Visible. `alter page … set (Visible: <expression>) on grid column(…)` is refused as \"column property VisibleIf not found\"; `insert` of such a column drops it, and drops `Visible: false` too.", "cause": "The visitor lowers every expression spelling of Visible to the key VisibleIf (the page-widget conditional-visibility key) and keeps only plain values under Visible. The column writers read only visible/Visible: the widget engine by schema key + types.ItemPropertyAliases (no VisibleIf alias), the ALTER mutator's resolveColumnPropertyKey the same table, and widgetobj.BuildDataGrid2Column (ALTER insert/replace via buildColumnSpecFromAST) the exact key \"Visible\" as a string only, so a bool false fell to the default too. The mirror image of widget-visible-expression.mdl, where page widgets read VisibleIf and dropped Visible.", "file": "`mdl/types/widget_item_aliases.go` (`visible` ← `VisibleIf`), `mdl/executor/widget_engine.go` (WidgetDefGeneratorVersion 18), `mdl/executor/cmd_pages_builder_v3_widgets.go` (`columnSpecProperties`), `mdl/executor/cmd_pages_describe_output.go` (column Visible via widgetConditionMDL), `mdl/executor/validate_column_visible_scope.go` (MDL-WIDGET43)", "insight": "When the visitor lowers one MDL property to two AST keys by value shape, every consumer must read both — grep the consumers of the key the visitor writes, not of the property name. Making the value persist exposed what the drop had hidden: a column's visible expression has no row object (no dataSource in the widget schema, unlike columnClass), so every $currentObject example became CE0117 at build — measured on 11.14.0 — and needed a check rule (MDL-WIDGET43) in the same change. The widget def's per-item `dataSource` field is the signal for whether $currentObject exists.", "refs": ["mdl-examples/bug-tests/datagrid-column-visible-expression.mdl", "mdl-examples/bug-tests/widget-visible-expression.mdl"]}

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -26,6 +26,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/).
 ### Fixed
 
 - **The catalog names a call's and a delete's target** (mendixlabs/mxcli#1305) — `activities_for()` and `CATALOG.ACTIVITIES` returned every microflow, nanoflow, Java action and JavaScript action call with `action_ref=""`, and every delete with `entity_ref=""`, although `refs_from()` had both targets; a loop-scoped lint rule could not follow a call out of the loop. `action_ref` / `ActionRef` is now the called document, `entity_ref` / `EntityRef` a delete's entity (when the flow types the variable: a parameter, a create or retrieve output, a loop iterator), and the new `queue_ref` / `QueueRef` the task queue a microflow or Java action call runs in, so a rule can skip a call that runs asynchronously. A nanoflow's JavaScript action call now has a `refs_from()` `call` row (`target_type` `"JAVASCRIPT_ACTION"`), so `show callers` sees it. The catalog schema is bumped to 23; a cached catalog rebuilds.
+- **A DataGrid 2 column's `Visible:` expression is written** — `Visible: $showPrices`, `Visible: if … then … else …`, `visible: not(…)` and `Visible: [cond]` on a column passed `check` and `exec` and were stored as `true`, so the column was always visible; only the old quoted `Visible: '<expr>'` was kept. `alter page … set (Visible: <expression>) on grid column(…)` was refused as "column property VisibleIf not found", and an inserted column dropped `Visible: false` too. `describe` now prints the bare expression. A column's visibility is evaluated once for the grid, with no row object, so `$currentObject` there is CE0117 at build; `check` refuses it as **MDL-WIDGET43** (measured on 11.14.0). Use a page variable or parameter. Projects regenerate their widget definitions (generator version 18).
 - **`set $Param = …` on a parameter is refused** — a Change variable cannot target a parameter, and mxbuild rejects it with CE7247 "Parameter 'N' cannot be changed." (measured on 11.14.0 for Integer and String parameters in a microflow, a nanoflow and a rule). `check` and `exec` passed it. MDL-SET01 now refuses it for every parameter but a list (`set` on a list parameter is a Change list Replace, which builds), and `exec` enforces the rule. Copy the parameter into a variable first: `declare $Value Integer = $N;`.
 - **`check` refuses a button that passes its own data container by widget name** (mendixlabs/mxcli#1324) — `actionbutton btnOwn (Action: call microflow M.F(Gate = $dvGate))` directly inside data view `dvGate` passed `check --references` and `exec`, then `mx check` reported `[CE0117] "Error(s) in expression." at Action button 'btnOwn'`. A data container's name is a variable only for the containers nested below it; in its own context the object is `$currentObject`. Reported as **MDL-BUTTON02** (error, so `exec` refuses it), for data views, list views, galleries and data grids alike, including attribute paths (`$dvGate/Name`) and a control bar inside the container. The rule covers every slot evaluated in that context, not only action arguments: a nested widget's microflow data-source arguments, `Visible:`, `Editable:` and `DynamicClasses:` (CE0117), and a nested list's XPath `where` (CE0161). A grid's own name from its control bar (the selection) and an enclosing container's name from a nested one are not flagged. The flagged set matches mxbuild 11.14.0's CE0117s widget for widget on a ten-button probe page.
 - **`set $Obj = …` on an object variable is refused** (mendixlabs/mxcli#1323) — with both variables single objects (e.g. a Reference retrieved from its FROM entity), `set $Cursor = $Next;` passed `check --references` and `exec` and was written as a Change variable action, which mxbuild refuses with CE7247 "Variable 'Cursor' does not have a primitive type". Mendix has no action that reassigns an object variable, so `check` (MDL-SET01, for the objects it can see without a project), `check --references` and `exec` now refuse it and name the alternatives (a sub-microflow that returns the next object, `change $Obj (…)`). `check --references` now types a Reference retrieve from its FROM entity as the object it is. `set` on a list variable stays a Change list Replace (ako/mxcli#949).

cmd/mxcli/syntax/features_page.go

@@ -402,7 +402,7 @@ LIST IMPACT OF htmlelement;
 			"column width", "alignment", "wrap text", "visible",
 			"dynamic cell class", "tooltip", "associated attribute", "association column",
 		},
-		Syntax:  "COLUMN name (\n  Attribute: AttrName,          -- own attribute\n  -- or an attribute over an association (bare association name):\n  -- Attribute: Assoc/Attr     e.g. Order_Customer/Name\n  Caption: 'Header'\n  [, Sortable: true|false]\n  [, Resizable: true|false]\n  [, Draggable: true|false]\n  [, Hidable: yes|hidden|no]\n  [, ColumnWidth: autoFill|autoFit|manual]\n  [, Size: integer]\n  [, Alignment: left|center|right]\n  [, WrapText: true|false]\n  [, Visible: 'expression']\n  [, DynamicCellClass: 'expression']\n  [, Tooltip: 'text']\n)",
+		Syntax:  "COLUMN name (\n  Attribute: AttrName,          -- own attribute\n  -- or an attribute over an association (bare association name):\n  -- Attribute: Assoc/Attr     e.g. Order_Customer/Name\n  Caption: 'Header'\n  [, Sortable: true|false]\n  [, Resizable: true|false]\n  [, Draggable: true|false]\n  [, Hidable: yes|hidden|no]\n  [, ColumnWidth: autoFill|autoFit|manual]\n  [, Size: integer]\n  [, Alignment: left|center|right]\n  [, WrapText: true|false]\n  [, Visible: <expression>]       -- once for the grid: a page variable or parameter, never $currentObject (MDL-WIDGET43)\n  [, DynamicCellClass: <expression>]  -- per row: $currentObject is the row\n  [, Tooltip: 'text']\n)",
 		Example: "COLUMN colPrice (\n  Attribute: Price, Caption: 'Price',\n  Alignment: right, Sortable: false,\n  ColumnWidth: manual, Size: 150,\n  Tooltip: 'Price in USD'\n)\n\n-- Associated attribute (attribute over a reference association):\nCOLUMN colCustomer (Attribute: Order_Customer/Name, Caption: 'Customer')",
 		SeeAlso: []string{"page.widgets"},
 	})

docs-site/src/appendixes/quick-reference.md

@@ -385,8 +385,8 @@ MDL uses explicit property declarations for pages:
 | `Hidable` | `yes`, `hidden`, `no` | `yes` | `Hidable: no` |
 | `ColumnWidth` | `autoFill`, `autoFit`, `manual` | `autoFill` | `ColumnWidth: manual` |
 | `Size` | integer (px) | `1` | `Size: 200` |
-| `Visible` | expression string | `true` | `Visible: '$showColumn'` (page variable, not $currentObject) |
-| `DynamicCellClass` | expression string | (empty) | `DynamicCellClass: if(...) then ... else ...` |
+| `Visible` | expression | `true` | `Visible: $showColumn` — evaluated once for the grid: a page variable or parameter, never `$currentObject` (MDL-WIDGET43, CE0117) |
+| `DynamicCellClass` | expression | (empty) | `DynamicCellClass: if $currentObject/Stock < 10 then 'text-danger' else ''` |
 | `Tooltip` | text string | (empty) | `Tooltip: 'Price in USD'` |
 
 **Page Example:**

docs-wiki/bug-patterns/silent-property-drop.md

@@ -125,6 +125,16 @@ answer "this shape does not fit" (MDL-WIDGET42, and an error at build) instead o
 falling to `default: continue`. When a grammar alternative is chosen by the
 *first token*, audit which other meanings that token starts.
 
+**One property, two keys: a consumer that reads one drops the other.** The
+visitor lowers `Visible:` by value shape — an expression to `VisibleIf`, a plain
+value to `Visible` — and the two writers each read only one: page widgets read
+`VisibleIf` (and once dropped `Visible: false`), DataGrid 2 columns read
+`Visible` (and dropped every expression). Grep the consumers of the *key the
+visitor writes*, not of the property name. And expect persisting a value to
+surface a rule its absence hid: a column's visibility has no row object, so the
+`$currentObject` examples that had always "worked" became CE0117 the moment they
+were written, and the fix needed a check rule to go with it.
+
 **Children drop the same way properties do.** A widget's body is distributed by
 several passes that each skip what they do not recognise, so a child matching no
 container, no slot and no catch-all is built and discarded exactly as an

mdl-examples/bug-tests/datagrid-column-visible-expression.mdl

@@ -0,0 +1,54 @@
+mdl 1;
+-- ============================================================================
+-- A DataGrid 2 column's Visible expression was silently dropped
+-- ============================================================================
+--
+-- Symptom (before fix):
+--   `Visible: $showPrices`, `Visible: if … then … else …`, `visible: not(…)` and
+--   the bracketed `Visible: [cond]` on a column passed check, exec reported
+--   "Created page", and the column was stored always visible (Expression
+--   "true"). Only the old quoted spelling `Visible: '<expr>'` was kept.
+--   `alter page … set (Visible: <expression>) on grid column(…)` was refused as
+--   "column property VisibleIf not found".
+--
+-- Root cause:
+--   The mirror image of widget-visible-expression.mdl. The visitor lowers
+--   every expression spelling of Visible to the key VisibleIf, the key a page
+--   widget's conditional visibility reads. The column writers read only
+--   `visible` / `Visible`: the widget engine by schema key plus
+--   types.ItemPropertyAliases, ALTER's insert path by the exact key.
+--
+-- After fix:
+--   `visible` <- `VisibleIf` alias (create and alter set; widget defs
+--   regenerate at generator version 18), the insert/replace path normalises
+--   the column's properties, and describe prints the bare expression.
+--   A column's visibility is evaluated once for the grid: it has no row
+--   object, so `$currentObject` there is CE0117 — refused at check time as
+--   MDL-WIDGET43. Use a page variable or parameter.
+--   Verified on Mendix 11.14.0: mx check = 0 errors; describe round-trips.
+--
+-- Usage:
+--   mxcli exec mdl-examples/bug-tests/datagrid-column-visible-expression.mdl -p app.mpr
+-- ============================================================================
+
+create entity MyFirstModule.ColVisItem ( Name: String(100), Price: Decimal );
+
+create or modify page MyFirstModule.P_ColumnVisible
+( Title: 'Column visible', Layout: Atlas_Core.Atlas_Default,
+  Variables: ( $showPrices: boolean = 'true' ) )
+{
+  datagrid dg (datasource: database MyFirstModule.ColVisItem) {
+    column (attribute: Name, caption: 'Var', Visible: $showPrices)
+    column (attribute: Price, caption: 'If', Visible: if $showPrices then true else false)
+    column (attribute: Price, caption: 'Not', visible: not($showPrices))
+    column (attribute: Name, caption: 'Hidden', Visible: false)
+    column (attribute: Name, caption: 'Later')
+  }
+};
+
+-- Previously refused: "column property VisibleIf not found".
+alter page MyFirstModule.P_ColumnVisible {
+  set (Visible: $showPrices) on dg column('Later')
+};
+
+describe page MyFirstModule.P_ColumnVisible;

mdl-examples/doctype-tests/03-page-examples.mdl

@@ -2249,7 +2249,7 @@ create page PgTest.P033b_DataGrid_ColumnProperties folder 'DataGrid'
     column (
       attribute: Stock, caption: 'In Stock',
       Alignment: center,
-      visible: '$showStockColumn',
+      visible: $showStockColumn,
       DynamicCellClass: if($currentObject/Stock < 10) then 'text-danger' else '' 
     )