fix(navigation): a sub-menu never keeps a stored action (mendixlabs/mxcli#1341)

.claude/skills/fix-issue/findings/mdl-executor/2026-10-09-submenu-keeps-same-caption-page-item-action.json

@@ -0,0 +1 @@
+{"area":"mdl/executor","date":"2026-10-09","symptom":"`create or replace navigation` turning page item 'Work' into a sub-menu 'Work' reports success (plus `kept the stored action of menu item 'Work' (Forms$FormAction): MDL cannot express it`), then `mx check` fails with CE0548 \"Items with subitems cannot have an action themselves.\" (v0.25.0 regression; a different sub-menu caption avoids it)","cause":"`keepStoredMenuAction` had a sub-menu branch that kept ANY stored non-NoAction, on the reasoning that a sub-menu \"takes no OnClick, so a stored action on one is never stated\". Pairing is by caption only, so the stored page item's action was carried onto the new sub-menu. Navigation profiles and menu documents share the decision","file":"`mdl/executor/cmd_navigation.go` (`keepStoredMenuAction`)","insight":"**A keep-what-MDL-cannot-say rule must only keep what the target element can legally hold.** \"The script states no action\" is not \"the script wants the stored one\" when the element's kind changed under the same caption — a sub-menu can hold no action at all, so the carry is never right there. The tell in the output was the false reason: `Forms$FormAction` is printable MDL, yet the message said MDL cannot express it. Guards `TestNavigationRewrite_SubMenuDoesNotKeepAStoredAction` / `TestCreateMenu_SubMenuDoesNotKeepAStoredAction` (control: a leaf still keeps an unprintable action, #980). Measured on 11.14.0 with `mdl-examples/bug-tests/1341-navigation-submenu-keeps-page-action.mdl`: unfixed binary -> docker check CE0548; fixed -> 0 errors","refs":["mendixlabs/mxcli#1341","ako/mxcli#980"],"ce":["CE0548"]}

CHANGELOG.md

@@ -28,6 +28,7 @@ The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](https://keepachangelog.com/en/1.1.0/).
 
 ### Fixed
 
+- **A navigation sub-menu no longer keeps the action of the page item it replaces** (mendixlabs/mxcli#1341) — turning menu item `'Work'` into sub-menu `'Work'` with `create or replace navigation` (or `create or modify menu`) paired the two by caption and carried the page item's `Forms$FormAction` onto the sub-menu, reporting it as an action "MDL cannot express"; `mx check` then failed with CE0548 "Items with subitems cannot have an action themselves." A sub-menu is now always written with no action (measured on 11.14.0).
 - **`mxcli test --attach` and the dev loop's "already serving" detection see a live app on Windows** (mendixlabs/mxcli#1284) — both read a pid from a handshake file (`.mxcli/test-endpoint.json`, `.mxcli/run-local.json`) and tested it with `Signal(0)`, which Go supports only as Kill on Windows, so every pid read as dead: `test --attach` always refused with "the app that published … is no longer running" while the app was up, and a command that looks for a dev loop already serving the project (the recompile warning, for one) never found it. Liveness is now `internal/procalive.Alive`, which uses OpenProcess and WaitForSingleObject on Windows (the check `run --local` already used for mxbuild) and `Signal(0)` elsewhere. No change on Linux or macOS.
 - **`run stop` on Windows no longer reports a run that has shut down as still alive** — it printed "failed: 1 process(es) of pid N's run are still alive" and exited 1 for a run that had stopped, because its liveness check counted any pid Windows could still open as alive, and an exited process stays openable while its parent holds a handle to it. It now uses the same check as `test --attach` (above), and reports "stopped: pid N".
 - **`retrieve $u from $obj/System.owner` passed check and exec, then failed the build with CE0136** (mendixlabs/mxcli#1358) — `owner` and `changedBy` are entity flags, not modelled associations: mxbuild resolves the name in a retrieve by association but derives no entity from it, `[CE0136] "Retrieve object must specify the 'Entity' property."`, with or without `owner: AutoOwner` (measured on 11.12.2, `System.changedBy` alike). `check` and `exec` now refuse it as **MDL-RETRIEVE02** and name the form that builds: `retrieve $u from System.User where [id = $obj/System.owner] first;`.

mdl-examples/bug-tests/1341-navigation-submenu-keeps-page-action.mdl

@@ -0,0 +1,42 @@
+mdl 1;
+-- ============================================================================
+-- mendixlabs/mxcli#1341: a sub-menu does not keep a same-caption item's action
+-- ============================================================================
+--
+-- Turning the page item 'Work' into a sub-menu 'Work' paired the two by caption
+-- and carried the page item's Forms$FormAction onto the sub-menu (v0.25.0):
+--
+--   kept the stored action of menu item 'Work' (Forms$FormAction): MDL cannot
+--   express it, and the item states none
+--
+-- exec and describe reported success; mx check then failed with CE0548 "Items
+-- with subitems cannot have an action themselves." The sub-menu must be written
+-- with Forms$NoAction, and `mxcli docker check` must report 0 errors after the
+-- second statement.
+
+create module NavSubmenu1341;
+
+create page NavSubmenu1341.Accounts ( Title: 'Accounts', Layout: Atlas_Core.Atlas_Default ) {
+  dynamictext t (Content: 'Accounts')
+};
+
+create page NavSubmenu1341.Sessions ( Title: 'Sessions', Layout: Atlas_Core.Atlas_Default ) {
+  dynamictext t (Content: 'Sessions')
+};
+
+-- Step 1: 'Work' is a page item.
+create or modify navigation Responsive
+  home page NavSubmenu1341.Accounts
+  {
+    menu item 'Work' ( OnClick: show page NavSubmenu1341.Accounts )
+  };
+
+-- Step 2: 'Work' becomes a sub-menu under the same caption.
+create or modify navigation Responsive
+  home page NavSubmenu1341.Accounts
+  {
+    menu 'Work' {
+      menu item 'Accounts' ( OnClick: show page NavSubmenu1341.Accounts )
+      menu item 'Sessions' ( OnClick: show page NavSubmenu1341.Sessions )
+    }
+  };

mdl/executor/cmd_navigation.go

@@ -261,11 +261,11 @@ func keepStoredMenuAction(ctx *ExecContext, def ast.NavMenuItemDef, match *types
 	if menuItemStatesAction(def) || len(match.StoredAction) == 0 {
 		return false, ""
 	}
-	// A sub-menu takes no OnClick, so a stored action on one is never stated.
+	// A sub-menu cannot have an action at all — mx check CE0548 "Items with
+	// subitems cannot have an action themselves" — so nothing stored is kept on
+	// it, least of all a page item's action paired by caption
+	// (mendixlabs/mxcli#1341).
 	if len(def.Items) > 0 {
-		if t := menuActionTypeName(match); !isNoMenuAction(t) && t != "NoAction" {
-			return true, t
-		}
 		return false, ""
 	}
 	if _, note := menuItemActionMDL(ctx, match); note != "" {

mdl/executor/issue1341_submenu_keeps_page_action_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,121 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+package executor
+
+import (
+	"bytes"
+	"strings"
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/mendixlabs/mxcli/mdl/ast"
+	"github.com/mendixlabs/mxcli/mdl/backend/mock"
+	"github.com/mendixlabs/mxcli/mdl/types"
+	"github.com/mendixlabs/mxcli/mdl/visitor"
+	"github.com/mendixlabs/mxcli/model"
+)
+
+// mendixlabs/mxcli#1341: "CREATE OR REPLACE NAVIGATION keeps a page item's
+// action on a same-caption sub-menu (mx check CE0548; v0.25.0 regression)" —
+// CE0548 "Items with subitems cannot have an action themselves". The rewrite
+// paired the new sub-menu 'Work' with the stored page item 'Work' by caption
+// and carried its Forms$FormAction, because a sub-menu "states no action".
+// A sub-menu cannot have one, so nothing stored may be kept on it.
+
+// storedWorkPageItem is the menu as v0.25.0 read it back: a top-level page
+// item 'Work' (a Forms$FormAction, which describe prints) beside 'Reports',
+// whose action describe cannot print.
+func storedWorkPageItem(pageAction, unknown []byte) []*types.NavMenuItem {
+	return []*types.NavMenuItem{
+		{Caption: "Work", ActionType: "PageAction", Page: "Administration.Account_Overview",
+			StoredAction: pageAction, ActionDoc: map[string]any{"$Type": "Forms$FormAction"}},
+		{Caption: "Reports", ActionType: "Forms$UnknownFutureClientAction",
+			StoredAction: unknown, ActionDoc: map[string]any{"$Type": "Forms$UnknownFutureClientAction"}},
+	}
+}
+
+func TestNavigationRewrite_SubMenuDoesNotKeepAStoredAction(t *testing.T) {
+	pageAction := []byte("stored-form-action")
+	unknown := []byte("stored-unknown-action")
+	var got types.NavigationProfileSpec
+	mb := &mock.MockBackend{
+		IsConnectedFunc: func() bool { return true },
+		GetNavigationFunc: func() (*types.NavigationDocument, error) {
+			return &types.NavigationDocument{Profiles: []*types.NavigationProfile{{
+				Name: "Responsive", Kind: "Responsive", MenuItems: storedWorkPageItem(pageAction, unknown),
+			}}}, nil
+		},
+		UpdateNavigationProfileFunc: func(_ model.ID, _ string, spec types.NavigationProfileSpec) error {
+			got = spec
+			return nil
+		},
+	}
+	ctx, buf := newMockCtx(t, withBackend(mb))
+	prog, errs := visitor.Build(`create or replace navigation Responsive
+  menu (
+    menu 'Work' (
+      menu item 'Accounts' page Administration.Account_Overview;
+      menu item 'Sessions' page Administration.ActiveSessions;
+    );
+    menu item 'Reports';
+  )
+;`)
+	if len(errs) > 0 {
+		t.Fatal(errs[0])
+	}
+	assertNoError(t, execAlterNavigation(ctx, prog.Statements[0].(*ast.AlterNavigationStmt)))
+
+	if len(got.MenuItems) != 2 || got.MenuItems[0].Caption != "Work" {
+		t.Fatalf("spec items = %+v, want 'Work' and 'Reports'", got.MenuItems)
+	}
+	work := got.MenuItems[0]
+	if work.KeepAction != nil {
+		t.Errorf("sub-menu 'Work' kept the stored page action %q: mx check CE0548 "+
+			"\"Items with subitems cannot have an action themselves\"", work.KeepAction)
+	}
+	if len(work.Items) != 2 {
+		t.Errorf("sub-menu 'Work' has %d items, want 2", len(work.Items))
+	}
+	if strings.Contains(buf.String(), "menu item 'Work'") {
+		t.Errorf("no action is kept on 'Work', so none may be reported:\n%s", buf.String())
+	}
+	// CONTROL: a leaf that states no action still keeps one MDL cannot print
+	// (#980). A converter that kept nothing at all would pass the checks above.
+	if !bytes.Equal(got.MenuItems[1].KeepAction, unknown) {
+		t.Errorf("leaf 'Reports' must keep its stored action, got KeepAction=%q", got.MenuItems[1].KeepAction)
+	}
+}
+
+// The menu-document writer shares the decision (menuItemsFromAST).
+func TestCreateMenu_SubMenuDoesNotKeepAStoredAction(t *testing.T) {
+	pageAction := []byte("stored-form-action")
+	unknown := []byte("stored-unknown-action")
+	existing := &types.MenuDocument{ID: "menu-1", ContainerID: "folder-9", Name: "Main_Menu",
+		Items: storedWorkPageItem(pageAction, unknown)}
+	var updated *types.MenuDocument
+	mb := menuBackend(existing)
+	mb.GetModuleByNameFunc = func(name string) (*model.Module, error) {
+		return &model.Module{BaseElement: model.BaseElement{ID: "mod-1"}, Name: name}, nil
+	}
+	mb.UpdateMenuDocumentFunc = func(md *types.MenuDocument) error { updated = md; return nil }
+
+	ctx, _ := newMockCtx(t, withBackend(mb))
+	assertNoError(t, execCreateMenu(ctx, &ast.CreateMenuStmt{
+		Name:           ast.QualifiedName{Module: "MyModule", Name: "Main_Menu"},
+		CreateOrModify: true,
+		Items: []ast.NavMenuItemDef{
+			{Caption: "Work", Items: []ast.NavMenuItemDef{{Caption: "Accounts"}}},
+			{Caption: "Reports"},
+		},
+	}))
+
+	if updated == nil || len(updated.Items) != 2 {
+		t.Fatalf("UpdateMenuDocument got %+v", updated)
+	}
+	if work := updated.Items[0]; work.StoredAction != nil || work.ActionType != "NoAction" {
+		t.Errorf("sub-menu 'Work' kept ActionType=%q StoredAction=%q: CE0548", work.ActionType, work.StoredAction)
+	}
+	// CONTROL: the leaf keeps what MDL cannot print.
+	if !bytes.Equal(updated.Items[1].StoredAction, unknown) {
+		t.Errorf("leaf 'Reports' must keep its stored action, got %q", updated.Items[1].StoredAction)
+	}
+}