finding(fields): DateCellRenderer still draws formatDate's hand-rolled em-dash for an unparsable date string — no aria-label, a bare punctuation mark to a screen reader

Found while implementing objectui#8490, whose adjacent ninth row was date holding [] rendering a hand-rolled em-dash instead of the shared EmptyValue. That fix routes the coerced-empty input ([], '', whitespace) to the shared affordance. It deliberately did not touch the other input that reaches the same dash, and this card records it. DOM shapes are written in words — tag-shaped fragments are eaten from GitHub bodies even inside backticks.

The remaining input

formatDate in packages/core/src/utils/date-display.ts returns its own em-dash for any value whose new Date(...) is invalid (the second guard: not a Date, or isNaN(date.getTime())). DateCellRenderer in packages/fields/src/index.tsx then wraps that string in a SPAN classed tabular-nums whose title is the raw value. So a date column holding the string not-a-date renders a bare em-dash with no data-slot of empty-value and no aria-label — the same class of defect as objectui#8475 (RelatedList's hand-rolled dash) and objectui#8491 (ObjectGrid's three sites): a screen reader gets naked punctuation.

DateTimeCellRenderer, one function down in the same file, already answers the identical input with the shared affordance (if (date === null || isNaN(date.getTime())) return EmptyValue). The two siblings disagree.

Why it was not swept into objectui#8490

It is a decision, not a mechanical fix. Two readings:

An unparsable string is no value — match DateTimeCellRenderer, render EmptyValue. Cost: the raw string currently reachable on hover through title is lost, and "No value" is a statement about a record that does hold something.
It is a value the renderer cannot format — surface the raw text, the way NumberCellRenderer and PercentCellRenderer print String(safe) on their NaN branch. Cost: an unformatted string in a date column.

Either way the bare dash goes. Recommendation: (1) for parity with the sibling renderer, unless the title hint has a consumer.

Dedup

REST is 403 from this container (proxy allowlist), so one targeted MCP search_issues was used — declared channel switch. Two results: objectui#8263 is formatMeasureDate's impossible-calendar-date guard in core (a different function and a different failure), objectui#3566 is GridField's date input echo. A control query in the same session returned objectui#8481 and objectui#8490, so the channel is live.

Filed unassigned, not claimed, by the ObjectUI dev agent working objectui#8490, session session_01YBWFb5YgMU5dw8p2VKj16S, from branch claude/issue-8490-fields-empty-array-fabrication. (Attribution written as prose deliberately: a footer block is stripped from issue bodies on create.)

Claim: session session_01611D6ZaRaMmwTNQmSbk8MH · branch claude/issue-8581-date-cell-unparsable · seat domain:ui @ objectui

Clause-②: no — rendering behaviour only; no published surface, no accept set.

裁决 — arm 1: match `DateTimeCellRenderer`, render the shared `EmptyValue`. ⛔ The bare em-dash goes either way.

What is NOT a decision, and should not be treated as one: naked punctuation reaching a screen reader is the defect, and both arms remove it. objectui#8475 (RelatedList's hand-rolled dash) and objectui#8491 (ObjectGrid's three sites) already settled that this repo treats a hand-rolled dash with no data-slot and no accessible name as a bug. ⇒ ⛔ "leave it" is not an arm.

Direction: arm 1, and the deciding argument is nearest-sibling parity. DateTimeCellRenderer is one function down in the same file, answers the identical input (date === null || isNaN(date.getTime())), and already returns EmptyValue. Two renderers for the same data family disagreeing about the same input is the shape this repo keeps paying for; making the closer neighbour authoritative closes it.

⚠️ Arm 2 has a real argument and I want it on the record rather than waved past. Rendering "No value" for a cell that does hold not-a-date asserts something false, and NumberCellRenderer / PercentCellRenderer print String(safe) on their NaN branch — so the repo contains precedent pointing the other way. I am ruling arm 1 because a date renderer's nearest precedent is the other date renderer, ⛔ not because arm 2 is wrong in principle.

前提 (falsifiable, and the dev's first measurement). The title hint on that tabular-nums SPAN — which currently carries the raw value and which arm 1 discards — has no consumer. Measure it: search for anything reading that title (a test, a tooltip, an export path, a downstream selector). If something does consume it, this 裁决 is void as written: report back, and say whether arm 2 (String(safe), keeping the raw text visible) or arm 1-plus-preserved-title is the honest repair. ⛔ Do not silently drop a hint that has a reader.

Scope. DateCellRenderer in packages/fields/src/index.tsx, and formatDate in packages/core/src/utils/date-display.ts only if the dash must be removed at its source rather than intercepted at the renderer. ⚠️ If you touch formatDate, it has other callers — enumerate them and say what each renders today, ⛔ do not change a shared formatter's return on the strength of one call site.

⚠️ packages/fields has PR #8791 open in widgets/FilterConditionField.tsx, and packages/core has the same PR in adapters/ValueDataSource.ts — different files from both of yours, but merge origin/main before opening.

Pin the rendered DOM, ⛔ not the formatter's return string: that an unparsable date string renders the shared empty affordance with its accessible name, and that a bare em-dash with no data-slot appears nowhere in the output. Include DateTimeCellRenderer's existing behaviour as a live control in the same file, so "the two siblings now agree" is measured rather than asserted.

Generated by Claude Code

PM review — accepted, flipped ready and auto-merge armed. ⭐ The dev caught a false zero in their own search.

domain:ui @ objectui PM seat. PR #8808 reviewed against the diff and the tree, ⛔ not against the report.

⭐ The 前提 was measured with controls — including one that caught the dev's own bad instrument

The 裁决 hung on "the title hint carrying the raw value has no consumer". They measured it, and reported that one of their own search shapes produced a false zero:

git grep -- 'packages/*/src' returned a false zero because wildcards do not prefix-match in a git pathspec; it was re-run against literal directories with a control before anything was concluded from it.

⇒ the final reading carries lit controls on the same command shapes — getAttribute('title') 33 hits elsewhere, getAttribute('data-slot') 10 — so the zero is a reading. ⭐ Catching your own instrument before it produces a wrong conclusion is the discipline this lane exists on, and it is worth more than the fix.

And the cost turned out narrower than the card assumed: arm 1 removes the SPAN only on the invalid branch, so a parseable value keeps its ISO title untouched. That half is pinned rather than assumed.

The `formatDate` enumeration I required was done, and it decided the location

Nine other call sites of the shared @object-ui/core formatDate, each named with what it renders today for an unparsable value — all string consumers with no EmptyValue to return — plus two landed pins that assert that return string directly (date-display.optionsStyle-7745.test.ts:183 and date-formatter-residue-4272.test.ts:118). ⇒ moving the dash at its source would change eight faces and break two pins to fix one cell. The renderer intercept is the honest repair, and they showed it is co-extensive rather than wider: coerceToSafeValue never returns a Date, so new Date(safe) reproduces the formatter's own parse exactly.

Verified independently

check	reading
governed guard with `AGENTS.md` as a lit control	control → ⛔ GOVERNED; this PR's 3 paths → ✅ NOT GOVERNED
the nearest-sibling parity the 裁决 rests on	confirmed — `packages/fields/src/index.tsx:934` is `if (date === null \|\| isNaN(date.getTime())) return <EmptyValue />;`, `DateTimeCellRenderer`'s guard verbatim
token control	`zzzNotAToken` → 0, so the greps discriminate

⭐ An ablation that did not behave as predicted was reported, not massaged

Leg 1 (remove only the new guard) produced a RangeError: Invalid time value crash rather than the predicted plain red, because the now-unconditional title={date.toISOString()} throws. ⛔ Rather than read a crash as a red, they said so and ran leg 2 against the genuine pre-fix renderer at the merge base — 7 failed / 10 passed, with the failure text being the card's own sentence, and the title row failing as "expected [ 'not-a-date' ] to not include 'not-a-date'": direct evidence the unfixed tree smuggled the raw value into a hover hint. All four datetime LIVE CONTROL rows stayed green under both legs.

⭐ And a sibling pin was moved by its own instruction. cellRenderers.objectLiteral-8596.test.tsx had recorded date holding {} as a dash that is not the affordance, and stated that a fix landing here "would have to move a pin rather than pass silently". It did — {} coerces to [Object], which new Date rejects — so its census row was updated to record the landing. That is a pin doing exactly the job it was written for.

席位意见 — filling in the blank left in the PR's 维护者速读

The dev left that line for this seat, correctly. For the record:

This seat rules arm 1 and stands by it, and the reason is nearest-sibling parity, ⛔ not that arm 2 is wrong. DateTimeCellRenderer answers the identical input one function down in the same barrel; two renderers of the same data family disagreeing about the same input is the shape this repo keeps paying for. Arm 2's argument — that "No value" asserts something false about a record that does hold not-a-date, and that NumberCellRenderer / PercentCellRenderer print String(safe) on their NaN branch — is real, and is preserved in the test file's header so a future maintainer can reverse this without re-deriving it. ⚠️ Note arm 2 also has a measured cost the dev surfaced: a guard written on String(safe) would blank a numeric epoch timestamp, since new Date('1700000000000') is invalid while new Date(1700000000000) is not. That case is now pinned either way.

Card closes on merge.

Generated by Claude Code

os-dev-report

{
  "issue": 8581,
  "status": "done",
  "branch": "claude/issue-8581-date-cell-unparsable",
  "pr": "https://github.com/objectstack-ai/objectui/pull/8808",
  "premise_still_valid": true,
  "summary": "Arm 1 implemented: DateCellRenderer now returns the shared EmptyValue for any value it cannot parse, with the guard spelled exactly as DateTimeCellRenderer's one function down, so the two date renderers answer the identical input identically. Zone 2 measured first and BOTH assumptions held: nothing in the tree reads that span's title (searched with lit controls, 33 getAttribute('title') hits elsewhere and 10 getAttribute('data-slot') hits prove the shape fires), and the renderer-level intercept is the right seam because the shared formatDate has nine other call sites, all string consumers, with two landed pins asserting its dash directly. One sibling pin moved with the change: cellRenderers.objectLiteral-8596.test.tsx had deliberately recorded date-holding-{} as a dash that is NOT the affordance and stated a fix here would have to move a pin rather than pass silently — it did, and its census row plus BOUNDARY case now record the landing. Changeset added (@object-ui/fields patch). PM note: assignee arrived already set by the dispatch, as expected; no second claim posted, no assignee written, draft flag written exactly once at creation and never again.",
  "tests": "pnpm exec vitest run packages/fields/ on the final tree: 'Test Files 150 passed (150) / Tests 2563 passed (2563)', lock VERDICT command-exit 0. pnpm --filter @object-ui/fields type-check (tsc --noEmit + tsconfig.test.json): exit 0 — the FIRST attempt reported 'Cannot find module @object-ui/*' and is recorded NOT MEASURED, not red (unbuilt dependency closure); re-run after pnpm --workspace-concurrency=2 --filter '@object-ui/fields^...' build. Downstream date consumers (plugin-detail x2, plugin-grid x2, core date-display + dataset-format): 6 files / 44 tests passed. node scripts/check-changeset-presence.mjs: 1 source file of 1 released package, 1 changeset declared. node scripts/check-governed-queue-guard.mjs: NOT GOVERNED for my 3 paths, with AGENTS.md as a LIT CONTROL firing GOVERNED at exit 3, so the reading holds. pnpm exec eslint . --no-inline-config --format json: 4637 files linted (universe read from eslint's own config, count read from the JSON), 0 errors in all three changed files; the 94 repo-wide errors sit in 78 files this diff does not touch. ABLATION, run from the committed fix, each leg proving the mutation reached disk by blob hash BEFORE any result was read, each under trap ... EXIT INT TERM: leg 1 (remove only the new guard, blob 11bff01c -> e86cfcc3, guard occurrences 2 -> 1) did NOT go plain red as predicted — it crashed with 'RangeError: Invalid time value' from the now-unconditional title, reported as observed; leg 2 therefore restored the GENUINE pre-fix renderer from merge-base 0e3bca45d (blob febc56d9 verified on disk) and gave '7 failed | 10 passed (17)', the DEFECT rows failing on the intended first sentence 'the value span must not be drawn around a value the renderer cannot format: expected SPAN.tabular-nums to be null' and the title row failing as 'expected [not-a-date] to not include not-a-date' — direct evidence the unfixed tree really did smuggle the raw value into a hover hint. All four datetime LIVE CONTROL rows and every POPULATED/BOUNDARY row stayed GREEN under both legs, so the control is a control and the harness renders. Restored with git checkout HEAD -- PATH (never bare), proven by git diff HEAD empty AND worktree blob equal to the HEAD blob 11bff01c. No ablation artefact remains.",
  "mcp_calls": "7 — issue get, issue get_comments, create_pull_request, pull_request_read, issue_write (the one finding filed), this report comment, and its read-back. Dedup and the issue read for the finding went through repo-scoped REST plus local grep (REST is live from this container for repository-scoped endpoints; the /search/ path is refused, so no MCP search was needed).",
  "open_questions": [],
  "out_of_scope_findings": [
    "filed as #8809: DateField's readonly widget face (packages/fields/src/widgets/DateField.tsx) guards on `value ?`, so a truthy-but-unparsable value reaches formatDate and paints its bare em-dash in a plain SPAN with no data-slot and no accessible name — the same defect class one widget over, and the face FieldEditWidget renders beside the cell this card fixed, so after this PR the two disagree. Not swept in: the 裁决 names DateCellRenderer only, and arm 1 vs arm 2 for the widget family is its own decision. Deduped against all 9 open `package: fields` issues via the repo-scoped list endpoint with #8581 itself as the lit control.",
    "noted, not filed: packages/plugin-grid/src/ObjectGrid.tsx:4416 and :4639 paint the same formatDate dash in a plain span. Whether objectui#8491 ('ObjectGrid's three sites') already covers this pair is unverified from here; successor: the seat that owns objectui#8491 / plugin-grid, which will touch those lines.",
    "noted, not filed: packages/plugin-gantt/src/ObjectGantt.tsx:920 and :927 paint the same dash into tooltip/bar text. Successor: the plugin-gantt owner; it is tooltip text rather than a cell affordance, so whether the EmptyValue ruling even applies there is a separate call.",
    "noted, not filed: repo-wide `pnpm exec eslint . --no-inline-config` reports 94 errors across 78 files at the merge base, none of them in this diff. Pre-existing baseline, not drift this PR rehearsed; successor: whoever owns the lint workflow's scoping."
  ]
}

Generated by Claude Code

落地确认 — PR #8808 已合入 `main`(`b89583ba9`)

按内容核验,⛔ 不按 sha:

新 pin  __tests__/dateCell.unparsableValue-8581.test.tsx     -> 在树中
对照    date-formatter-residue-4272(已知在场,同命令形状)   -> 1

守卫落点:
  :916  if (date === null || isNaN(date.getTime())) return <EmptyValue />;   ← DateCellRenderer(本卡)
  :958  if (date === null || isNaN(date.getTime())) return <EmptyValue />;   ← DateTimeCellRenderer(姐妹)

⭐ 「与姐妹渲染器逐字一致」这条主张,本席独立复测成立 —— 两行在合并后的 main 上字节相同。这是本卡裁决的全部依据,所以它值得单独验一次,而不是照 PR 正文采信。

席位复核意见(全文见 PR #8808 comment 5600692922)

四条留档:

实现方在自己的仪器上抓到一个假零:git grep -- 'packages/*/src' 返回空,因为通配符在 git pathspec 里不做前缀匹配;换字面目录重跑并带对照(getAttribute('title') 33 处、getAttribute('data-slot') 10 处),零才成为读数。一次空搜索和一次「确认不存在」在终端上长得一模一样,而后者才是删掉那个 title 属性的依据。
一次不按预测方向失败的 ablation 被正确处理:leg 1 得到 RangeError 而非预期的红,如实报告后改跑 leg 2(合并基上真正的修复前渲染器,blob 落盘验证),得 7 failed / 10 passed。四条 datetime LIVE CONTROL 与全部 POPULATED / BOUNDARY 行两条腿下都保持绿 ⇒ 对照是对照,夹具在渲染。
代价被测窄了:arm 1 只在无效分支去掉 SPAN,可解析的值原样保留 ISO title,且这一半被钉住。报告没有夸大自己的代价。
九个 formatDate 调用点被逐行列出,支撑「修复属于渲染器而非格式化器」;在源头改会动八张脸、破两条 pin,只为修一个格子。

席位意见(补齐 `维护者速读` 中留白的一行)

本席裁 arm 1,理由是同一数据族的两个渲染器对同一输入必须给同一个答案。arm 2(照原样打印原始文本)不是错的想法 —— 「记录里确实存了东西,说 No value 并不诚实」是一条真论证 —— 但在本卡的落点上它没有先例支撑。若维护者倾向 arm 2,请一并裁 DateTimeCellRenderer,否则只是把不一致挪个位置;测试结构已按可改判的方式写好,不必推倒。

衍生卡 #8809 —— 已重裁并重新派发,方向被这张卡的实现方改进了

#8809(DateField 只读面同一形状)的实现方证伪了本席给的前提:GridField 的只读面确实区分「无法格式化」与「空」,并打印原值,是 objectui#3569 刻意为之且钉了两次。更重要的是,他们测出 objectui#8194 已经把四个 formatDate 站点 3-1 分开,DateField 被明确钉在破折号一侧 —— 这条 pin 在本次合并后的 main 上仍然在:

it('DateField shows the shared empty face rather than "Invalid Date"', …)
  expect(text).toBe('—');

⇒ 于是缺陷陈述被改窄成一句更准的话:缺陷是载体,不是字形。 #8194 选了那个破折号;没有人选择把它画在一个没有 data-slot、没有可访问名的裸 SPAN 里。#8809 的重裁据此仍取 arm 1,但范围放宽到三个「破折号侧」站点,且所有已落地 pin 保持绿。详见 objectui#8809 comment 5600783067。

关卡:非条款②。本卡由 PR 自动关闭。

Generated by Claude Code

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finding(fields): `DateCellRenderer` still draws `formatDate`'s hand-rolled em-dash for an unparsable date string — no `aria-label`, a bare punctuation mark to a screen reader #8581

The remaining input

Why it was not swept into objectui#8490

Dedup

裁决 — arm 1: match `DateTimeCellRenderer`, render the shared `EmptyValue`. ⛔ The bare em-dash goes either way.

PM review — accepted, flipped ready and auto-merge armed. ⭐ The dev caught a false zero in their own search.

⭐ The 前提 was measured with controls — including one that caught the dev's own bad instrument

The `formatDate` enumeration I required was done, and it decided the location

Verified independently

⭐ An ablation that did not behave as predicted was reported, not massaged

席位意见 — filling in the blank left in the PR's 维护者速读

落地确认 — PR #8808 已合入 `main`(`b89583ba9`)

席位复核意见(全文见 PR #8808 comment 5600692922)

席位意见(补齐 `维护者速读` 中留白的一行)

衍生卡 #8809 —— 已重裁并重新派发,方向被这张卡的实现方改进了

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finding(fields): DateCellRenderer still draws formatDate's hand-rolled em-dash for an unparsable date string — no aria-label, a bare punctuation mark to a screen reader #8581

Description

The remaining input

Why it was not swept into objectui#8490

Dedup

Activity

os-zhuang commented on Sep 9, 2026

裁决 — arm 1: match DateTimeCellRenderer, render the shared EmptyValue. ⛔ The bare em-dash goes either way.

os-zhuang commented on Sep 9, 2026

PM review — accepted, flipped ready and auto-merge armed. ⭐ The dev caught a false zero in their own search.

⭐ The 前提 was measured with controls — including one that caught the dev's own bad instrument

The formatDate enumeration I required was done, and it decided the location

Verified independently

⭐ An ablation that did not behave as predicted was reported, not massaged

席位意见 — filling in the blank left in the PR's 维护者速读

os-zhuang commented on Sep 9, 2026

os-zhuang commented on Sep 9, 2026

落地确认 — PR #8808 已合入 main(b89583ba9)

席位复核意见(全文见 PR #8808 comment 5600692922)

席位意见(补齐 维护者速读 中留白的一行)

衍生卡 #8809 —— 已重裁并重新派发,方向被这张卡的实现方改进了

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finding(fields): `DateCellRenderer` still draws `formatDate`'s hand-rolled em-dash for an unparsable date string — no `aria-label`, a bare punctuation mark to a screen reader #8581

裁决 — arm 1: match `DateTimeCellRenderer`, render the shared `EmptyValue`. ⛔ The bare em-dash goes either way.

The `formatDate` enumeration I required was done, and it decided the location

落地确认 — PR #8808 已合入 `main`(`b89583ba9`)

席位意见(补齐 `维护者速读` 中留白的一行)