fix: store a quoted Editable expression as a conditional editability, and refuse what cannot be stored

[stagknee]

Closes #1567.

What it fixes

Editable: '$currentObject/Locked = false' on an input widget passed check and exec, and was stored as Editable: Always with no condition, so a field meant to be locked stayed editable. The quoted Visible: next to it was kept. Editable: false on an input widget was dropped the same way, because the builder read the value only as a string.

How

One rule now covers both keys: a string that isn't a plain value of the property is its condition.

• StaticEditability (sdk/pages) is the Editable counterpart of StaticVisibleExpression:

  • Always, Never and Conditional (any case) map to the enum;
  • true/false map to Always/Never;
  • any other string is the condition.

  The page builder (applyConditionalSettings) and the pluggable-widget path use it. A list view and a grid column keep their plain boolean Editable (MDL-WIDGET20 falsely warns that Editable is dropped on listview and column — it is written ako/mxcli#510).

• Check parity. A quoted condition now gets the same checks as the bare one: MDL-WIDGET13 (association step), MDL-BUTTON02, MDL-WIDGET20 and MDL-WIDGET41. MDL-WIDGET31 treats editable: false as Never.

• New refusal (MDL-WIDGET19, error). Check now refuses an Editable: value that exec can't store, where before it was silently ignored. The message names the accepted spellings. It covers:

  • a lone word such as 'Neever' or ReadOnly;
  • quoted text that doesn't parse as an expression;
  • Conditional with no condition.

  This is a behaviour change: a script that relied on one of these being ignored now fails check. The docs had shown Editable: ReadOnly as valid, so they are corrected to Never.

• alter page … set (Editable: '<expr>') still refuses a non-enum string with its existing message, before anything is written. replace and insert rebuild through the builder and are fixed.

• Docs: pages.md, widget-types.md, alter-page.md, create-page.md and mxcli syntax page.

• Also included: a CHANGELOG entry (Fixed), a finding in findings/mdl-executor/, and the regression scripts mdl-examples/bug-tests/1567-quoted-editable-expression.mdl and a .fail.mdl negative companion.

Evidence

• Control run: with the tests in place and the production code at main, 11 test functions fail, each for the intended reason. For example, the quoted widget is stored ("Always", ""), Editable: false is stored Always, and MDL-WIDGET19 is silent on Neever. All pass with the fix. The controls pass both ways: enum words, Visible unchanged, and list-view/column booleans.

• Real run (Mendix 11.12.5 scratch app), stored values:

  Widget	v0.26.0	this branch
  checkbox, Editable: '$currentObject/Locked = false'	Always / no condition	Conditional / $currentObject/Locked = false
  textbox, same	Always / no condition	Conditional / same
  textbox, Editable: false	Always	Never
  checkbox, Editable: 'Never'	Never	Never
  checkbox, unquoted expression	Conditional / expr	unchanged

  • The stored widget BSON for the quoted spelling is the same as for the unquoted one, with ids stripped.
  • Re-running the describe output reports Unchanged page, and mx check reports 0 errors.
  • alter page … replace/insert and create snippet store the same condition.

• check over all 891 mdl-examples scripts: the main binary and this branch give identical pass/fail results, apart from the new .fail.mdl, which fails check as designed.

• Windows: go test ./mdl/executor/ ./sdk/pages/... shows the same 28 pre-existing failures as main (the sorted lists are identical). go vet and gofmt are clean.

• Linux (golang:1.26.6-bookworm, ANTLR 4.13.2): make grammar build test check-mdl check-findings check-conformance check-migration-reference lint-go all pass.

Not in this PR

• A data view stores its static editability from its own ReadOnly flag, which the builder never sets from Editable:. dataview (Editable: Never), false and true are all stored as Editability Always, on main and here. Only the condition is carried. That's a separate silent drop in the same family, and I can file it.
• A quoted Visible: still gets no syntax check, MDL-WIDGET13 or MDL-BUTTON02. This PR only brings Editable up to Visible.

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

[github-actions]

AI Code Review

Critical Issues

None found.

Moderate Issues

None found.

Minor Issues

None found.

What Looks Good

• Issue Resolution: The PR correctly fixes the core problem where quoted Editable: expressions and boolean values were being dropped/stored incorrectly. The solution introduces a unified StaticEditability function that handles enum words, booleans, and condition expressions consistently with Visible: handling.

• Full-Stack Consistency: Changes are properly layered through the pipeline:

  • Grammar: No changes needed (existing slot reused)
  • AST: No changes needed (existing property structure)
  • Visitor: Added ParsesAsExpression helper for validation
  • Executor: Updated page builder (applyConditionalSettings) and validation logic
  • Documentation: All relevant docs updated (pages.md, widget-types.md, etc.)
  • DESCRIBE roundtrip: Verified via new test (TestQuotedEditableExpression_DescribeRoundTrip)

• Test Coverage: Excellent test additions including:

  • New comprehensive test file (widget_editable_quoted_expression_test.go -

---

Automated review via OpenRouter (Nemotron Super 120B) — workflow source