Radio button group: programatic setting does not work anymore

[mworion]

Radio button group: programatic setting does not work anymore

[bartbutenaers]

I will try to find some time tonight to have a look at this issue...

[colinl]

Working for me.

[colinl]

Please provide a simple test flow to show the problem. Then others will be able to try to replicate it.

[mworion]

Here the demo flow:

[
    {
        "id": "aef98b9fd27e4463",
        "type": "inject",
        "z": "3cc4c4a5bf7df696",
        "name": "",
        "props": [
            {
                "p": "payload"
            }
        ],
        "repeat": "",
        "crontab": "",
        "once": false,
        "onceDelay": 0.1,
        "topic": "",
        "payload": "10",
        "payloadType": "num",
        "x": 330,
        "y": 440,
        "wires": [
            [
                "8851a8ed40435f77"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "dd359ad4b081bfc8",
        "type": "inject",
        "z": "3cc4c4a5bf7df696",
        "name": "",
        "props": [
            {
                "p": "payload"
            }
        ],
        "repeat": "",
        "crontab": "",
        "once": false,
        "onceDelay": 0.1,
        "topic": "",
        "payload": "20",
        "payloadType": "num",
        "x": 330,
        "y": 500,
        "wires": [
            [
                "8851a8ed40435f77"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "5e771ba3e007d4e6",
        "type": "inject",
        "z": "3cc4c4a5bf7df696",
        "name": "",
        "props": [
            {
                "p": "payload"
            }
        ],
        "repeat": "",
        "crontab": "",
        "once": false,
        "onceDelay": 0.1,
        "topic": "",
        "payload": "30",
        "payloadType": "num",
        "x": 330,
        "y": 560,
        "wires": [
            [
                "8851a8ed40435f77"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "8851a8ed40435f77",
        "type": "ui-radio-group",
        "z": "3cc4c4a5bf7df696",
        "group": "f9352287a37c685a",
        "name": "",
        "label": "Select Option:",
        "order": 0,
        "width": 0,
        "height": 0,
        "columns": 1,
        "passthru": false,
        "options": [
            {
                "label": "Top 10",
                "value": 10,
                "type": "num"
            },
            {
                "label": "Top 20",
                "value": 20,
                "type": "num"
            },
            {
                "label": "Top 30",
                "value": 30,
                "type": "num"
            }
        ],
        "payload": "",
        "topic": "topic",
        "topicType": "msg",
        "className": "",
        "x": 620,
        "y": 500,
        "wires": [
            [
                "e9aa0920c901d58b"
            ]
        ]
    },
    {
        "id": "e9aa0920c901d58b",
        "type": "debug",
        "z": "3cc4c4a5bf7df696",
        "name": "debug 2",
        "active": true,
        "tosidebar": true,
        "console": false,
        "tostatus": false,
        "complete": "false",
        "statusVal": "",
        "statusType": "auto",
        "x": 840,
        "y": 500,
        "wires": []
    },
    {
        "id": "f9352287a37c685a",
        "type": "ui-group",
        "name": "ESS Settings Grid",
        "page": "2607af8a108bf1e2",
        "width": "6",
        "height": "3",
        "order": 4,
        "showTitle": true,
        "className": "",
        "visible": "true",
        "disabled": "false"
    },
    {
        "id": "2607af8a108bf1e2",
        "type": "ui-page",
        "name": "ESS",
        "ui": "fa623d9b8e82a88f",
        "path": "/page1",
        "icon": "home-lightning-bolt-outline",
        "layout": "grid",
        "theme": "0e8ff20731ab48ca",
        "order": 4,
        "className": "",
        "visible": true,
        "disabled": "false"
    },
    {
        "id": "fa623d9b8e82a88f",
        "type": "ui-base",
        "name": "UI Venus",
        "path": "/dashboard",
        "includeClientData": true,
        "acceptsClientConfig": [
            "ui-notification",
            "ui-control"
        ],
        "showPathInSidebar": false,
        "navigationStyle": "icon"
    },
    {
        "id": "0e8ff20731ab48ca",
        "type": "ui-theme",
        "name": "Venus Theme",
        "colors": {
            "surface": "#282828",
            "primary": "#0094ce",
            "bgPage": "#181818",
            "groupBg": "#181818",
            "groupOutline": "#404040"
        },
        "sizes": {
            "pagePadding": "10px",
            "groupGap": "5px",
            "groupBorderRadius": "5px",
            "widgetGap": "10px"
        }
    }
]

[colinl]

I can confirm that selecting an option via msg.payload does not work, at least in the posted flow. I cannot vouch for whether it used to work as I have not used that node previously.

@mworion, for the future, if you add lines with tripple backticks before and after the flow then it will be formatted as a code block and a Copy button will be provided making it easier to copy it. In addition if you select Compact on the JSON tab when exporting it then it will be compressed so will not take up large amounts of space here.

[mworion]

Many thanks for the quick responses and for the hint about the backticks. I had a more complicated flow already working and the issue occurred after the last dashboard update to 1.8.1. From my point of view this might be a topic of the accepted PR.
Michel

[colinl]

this might be a topic of the accepted PR

Sorry, I don't understand that statement.

[mworion]

OK, try to rephrase. I only said, that it worked in the past correctly and the issue arose with the update to v1.8.1 of the dashboard.

[bartbutenaers]

Hi, had not much time tonight due to some unexpected family stuff...

I pulled the latest version from this Github repo, because that is the version I will need to start from to implement a fix. But for me it is working fine, which is not what I had expected.

When I view at the commit history, there was only 1 change after version 1.8.1:

That change is about the ui gauge widget, so that cannot have solved the issue.

I will install version 1.8.1 tomorrow and try to reproduce the problem.

[bartbutenaers]

Ok, I was able to reproduce the problem with the latest Github master branch.
As @mworion mentioned, the issue was indeed introduced via this PR.
I will implement a fix tonight. Now the daily stuff...

[bartbutenaers]

I quickly created a pull-request. Did some other tests, which seemed ok to me. But would be nice if anybody could do some more testing, to make sure I haven't introduced other issues. Thanks!

[bartbutenaers]

Thanks @colinl for testing. That really helps!!

[colinl]

In the docs it says that sending a null msg.payload should clear any selected option. This doesn't appear to work, I don't know if it ever did. It does clear it if sent an empty string, which actually seems more intuitive to me.

[bartbutenaers]

@colinl,
I was thinking the same last week. From a developer point of view I completely understand that injecting a null value clears it. However since Node-RED is about low-code, I indeed think an empty string would be more intuitive. Moreover I think using a simple Inject node you even cannot inject a null?

On the other hand different types of values are supported by this ui node, and even mixes are allowed:

When no strings are used, a "" value again makes not much sense imho...

[colinl]

@joepavitt can you confirm what payload values should clear the selection?

[joepavitt]

Empty string is more sensible in the context of Node-RED as @bartbutenaers has mentioned. I would vote we move to that going forward.

[colinl]

In that case it is just the docs that need updating. I note that the node has not yet got any help text in the editor.