In-UI error reporting

[adrianthedev]

Depends on https://github.com/avo-hq/avo/issues/2352

We need to improve the way we report errors to the developer in the Avo UI in development.

Common errors

• [ ] model class not found
• [ ] bad block arguments
• [ ] The developer tried to use field types that are inexistent
• [ ] more errors from https://github.com/avo-hq/avo/issues/2310
• [ ] bad initializer settings (from here undefined method 'tabs_style=' for #<Avo::Configuration)

Ideally we'd use the same error reporting system for both this issue and https://github.com/avo-hq/avo/issues/2310

Build a UI for it

I'm thinking of having a tiny icon/button somewhere that highlights the number of errors that are present. When that button is pressed, an overlay slides in, showing a list with all the errors and the next steps on how to correct them or link to the docs.

[MrJoy]

I have a couple cases right now where I'm creating fields for non-existent fields, and handling it via the format_using attribute. Since that would interact badly with this feature, and this feature is very much worth having, a better solution for my use-case would be welcome.

An example:

      Product.all.each do |product|
        field(:"Missing #{product.name} Perms",
              as:           :text,
              readonly:     true,
              format_using: -> { (product.gsuite_scopes - record.scopes).join("<br/>\n").html_safe }) # rubocop:disable Rails/OutputSafety,Layout/LineLength
      end

(In this case, Product is not an ActiveRecord model, so this isn't a degenerate association of some kind.)

I could perhaps push these into accessor methods on the model, but they wouldn't show up as "fields" if querying ActiveRecord metadata. So if you made it allowable to make a read-only field refer to an arbitrary instance method on the model class (and non-read-only fields would have to refer to DB fields), that would cover such use-cases while still allowing robust, proactive error reporting for the developer.

[adrianthedev]

Ok. I made a mistake in the description (and corrected). Instead of inexistent field names I meant field types.

field :name, as: :string # should show a warning that the `string` field does not exist

I use that technique of "virtual" fields as well. It's rather powerful!

[github-actions[bot]]

This issue has been marked as stale because there was no activity for the past 15 days.

[adrianthedev]

Some brainstorming

[adrianthedev]

Closing in favor of https://github.com/avo-hq/avo/issues/2311