hacks and updates

mocha-dotnet/src/app/Mocha.Oms.Server/Program.cs

@@ -123,6 +123,10 @@ public class Program : WebApplication
 			Log.WriteLine("path not found: " + path);
 			return;
 		}
+		else
+		{
+			Log.WriteLine("base path for MCLs: " + path);
+		}
 
 		string[] requiredLibraries = new string[]
 		{

mocha-dotnet/src/lib/Mocha.Core.UI.Server/Commands/ElementCommand.cs

@@ -48,6 +48,7 @@ public class ElementCommand : InstanceCommand
 				JsonObject obj2 = new JsonObject();
 				obj2.Add("result", "failure");
 				obj2.Add("message", "no CT associated with element");
+				obj2.Add("element", oms.GetInstanceKey(ProcessingInstance).ToString());
 				RespondWithJson(oms, sw, e.Context, 400, "Bad Request", obj2);
 				return;
 			}

mocha-dotnet/src/lib/Mocha.Core/AttributeImplementation.cs

@@ -39,6 +39,11 @@ public abstract class AttributeImplementation : ClassImplementation
 	protected virtual IEnumerable<Type>? ValidDataTypes { get; }
 	protected abstract object? ConvertFromInternal(Oms oms, object? value);
 
+	protected virtual object AutoCast(object value)
+	{
+		return value;
+	}
+
 	public object? ReadDerivedData(BinaryReader br)
 	{
 		return ReadDerivedDataInternal(br);
@@ -62,11 +67,12 @@ public abstract class AttributeImplementation : ClassImplementation
 	}
 	public void Validate(Oms oms, InstanceHandle attributeInstance, object value)
 	{
+		value = AutoCast(value);
 		if (ValidDataTypes != null)
 		{
 			if (value != null && !ValidDataTypes.Contains(value.GetType()))
 			{
-				throw new ArgumentException(String.Format("value {0} cannot be converted to attribute type `{1}`", value is string ? "\"" + value.ToString() + "\"" : value, oms.GetInstanceText(attributeInstance)));
+				throw new ArgumentException(String.Format("value {0} cannot be converted to attribute type `{1}`", value is string ? "\"" + value.ToString() + "\"" : value, oms.GetInstanceKey(attributeInstance)));
 			}
 		}
 		ValidateInternal(oms, attributeInstance, value);

mocha-dotnet/src/lib/Mocha.Core/AttributeImplementations/BooleanAttributeImplementation.cs

@@ -25,6 +25,15 @@ public class BooleanAttributeImplementation : AttributeImplementation<bool>
 {
 	public override Guid ClassGuid => KnownInstanceGuids.Classes.BooleanAttribute;
 
+	protected override object AutoCast(object value)
+	{
+		if (value is string)
+		{
+			return Boolean.Parse((string)value);
+		}
+		return value;
+	}
+
 	protected override object? ConvertFromInternal(Oms oms, object? value)
 	{
 		if (value is string)

mocha-dotnet/src/lib/Mocha.Core/DebugToggleSwitches.cs

@@ -0,0 +1,31 @@
+// Copyright (C) 2025 Michael Becker  <alcexhim@gmail.com>
+// 
+// This file is part of mocha-docker.
+// 
+// mocha-docker is free software: you can redistribute it and/or modify
+// it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by
+// the Free Software Foundation, either version 3 of the License, or
+// (at your option) any later version.
+// 
+// mocha-docker is distributed in the hope that it will be useful,
+// but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of
+// MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.  See the
+// GNU General Public License for more details.
+// 
+// You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License
+// along with mocha-docker.  If not, see <https://www.gnu.org/licenses/>.
+
+/// <summary>
+/// Debug toggle switches for internal Mocha Core use only.
+/// </summary>
+public static class DebugToggleSwitches
+{
+	/// <summary>
+	/// Temporary toggle to fix latent bugs which surfaced when we started validating attributes on Work Data.
+	/// (See OmsContext.cs)
+	/// 
+	/// Toggle on when testing to uncover the underlying issues in the MCL/YAML; toggle off if you want a usable PHP/docker frontend to work.
+	/// </summary>
+	/// <value></value>
+	public static bool Validate_Constraints_for_Attributes_on_set_Work_Data { get; } = false;
+}

mocha-dotnet/src/lib/Mocha.Core/InstanceHandle.cs

@@ -109,7 +109,7 @@ namespace Mocha.Core
 
 			if (Oms.DebugOms != null)
 			{
-				return Oms.DebugOms.GetInstanceText(this);
+				//return Oms.DebugOms.GetInstanceText(this);
 			}
 			return _ID.ToString();
 		}

mocha-dotnet/src/lib/Mocha.Core/Oms.cs

@@ -917,7 +917,7 @@ public abstract class Oms
 		if (!ValidateConstraints)
 			return;
 
-		if (value == null || value == "")
+		if (value == null || (value is string && (string)value == ""))
 		{
 			// all we can do really is verify if it's supposed to be `Not Empty`
 			return;
@@ -1426,8 +1426,10 @@ public abstract class Oms
 				continue;
 			}
 
+			object? assignsFromWorkDataValue = assignsFromWorkData;
+
 			// there are several possibilities:
-			
+
 			// `assigns to Parm` is a Class which is an Attribute. `assigns from Work Data` is an Attribute.
 			// in this case, we should set the work data to the value of the work data pointed to by `assigns from`
 			// `Token` := `User Name` 	-> 		`Token` = "testinguser"
@@ -1442,7 +1444,11 @@ public abstract class Oms
 			if (IsInstanceOf(assignsToParm, GetInstance(KnownInstanceGuids.Classes.Attribute)) && IsInstanceOf(assignsFromWorkData, GetInstance(KnownInstanceGuids.Classes.Attribute)))
 			{
 				// if `assigns to Parm` is a Class which inherits from Attribute, and `assigns from Work Data` is an Attribute, then assign the underlying work data
-				context.SetWorkData(assignsToParm, context.GetWorkData(assignsFromWorkData));
+				assignsFromWorkDataValue = context.GetWorkData(assignsFromWorkData);
+			}
+			else if (IsInstanceOf(assignsToParm, GetInstance(KnownInstanceGuids.Classes.Attribute)) && IsInstanceOf(assignsFromWorkData, GetInstance(KnownInstanceGuids.Classes.ReturnAttributeMethodBinding)))
+			{
+				assignsFromWorkDataValue = Execute(context, assignsFromWorkData.GetHandle());
 			}
 			else
 			{
@@ -1459,8 +1465,10 @@ public abstract class Oms
 						assignsFromWorkData = context.GetWorkData<InstanceHandle>(assignsFromWorkData);
 					}
 				}
-				context.SetWorkData(assignsToParm, assignsFromWorkData);
+				assignsFromWorkDataValue = assignsFromWorkData;
 			}
+			// Console.Error.WriteLine("assign to parm: {0}, assign from WD: {1} ('{2}')", GetInstanceKey(assignsToParm), GetInstanceKey(assignsFromWorkData), assignsFromWorkDataValue);
+			context.SetWorkData(assignsToParm, assignsFromWorkData);
 		}
 	}
 
@@ -2472,29 +2480,27 @@ public abstract class Oms
     public bool EvaluateConditions(OmsContext context, IEnumerable<InstanceHandle> trueConditions, IEnumerable<InstanceHandle> falseConditions, bool useAnyCondition)
     {
 		bool value = false;
-		if (trueConditions != null)
+		if (trueConditions.Count() == 0 && falseConditions.Count() == 0)
 		{
-			foreach (InstanceHandle trueCondition in trueConditions)
+			return true;
+		}
+		foreach (InstanceHandle trueCondition in trueConditions)
+		{
+			object? retval = Evaluate(context, trueCondition, InstanceHandle.Empty);
+			if (retval is bool && ((bool)retval))
 			{
-				object? retval = Evaluate(context, trueCondition, InstanceHandle.Empty);
+				value = true;
-				if (retval is bool && ((bool)retval))
+				break;
-				{
-					value = true;
-					break;
-				}
 			}
 		}
-		if (falseConditions != null)
+		foreach (InstanceHandle falseCondition in falseConditions)
 		{
-			foreach (InstanceHandle falseCondition in falseConditions)
+			InstanceHandle ret = Execute(context, falseCondition);
+			object? retval = context.GetWorkData(ret);
+			if (retval is bool && (!(bool)retval))
 			{
-				InstanceHandle ret = Execute(context, falseCondition);
+				value = true;
-				object? retval = context.GetWorkData(ret);
+				break;
-				if (retval is bool && (!(bool)retval))
-				{
-					value = true;
-					break;
-				}
 			}
 		}
 		return value;

mocha-dotnet/src/lib/Mocha.Core/OmsContext.cs

@@ -74,11 +74,17 @@ public class OmsContext
 			// !fixme! move all this hardcoded $@#! into configurable OMS AttributeImplementations
 			if (Oms.IsInstanceOf(parm, Oms.GetInstance(KnownInstanceGuids.Classes.BooleanAttribute)))
 			{
-				value = Boolean.Parse(sz);
+				if (Boolean.TryParse(sz, out bool val))
+				{
+					value = val;
+				}
 			}
 			else if (Oms.IsInstanceOf(parm, Oms.GetInstance(KnownInstanceGuids.Classes.DateAttribute)))
 			{
-				value = DateTime.Parse(sz);
+				if (DateTime.TryParse(sz, out DateTime val))
+				{
+					value = val;
+				}
 			}
 		}
 		return value;
@@ -224,7 +230,12 @@ public class OmsContext
 			}
 			else
 			{
-				Oms.ValidateConstraintsForAttribute(parm, value);
+				// FIXME: this bugs out for some reason when running the whole frontend PHP application
+				// perhaps we've been doing something wrong this whole time?
+				if (DebugToggleSwitches.Validate_Constraints_for_Attributes_on_set_Work_Data)
+				{
+					Oms.ValidateConstraintsForAttribute(parm, value);
+				}
 			}
 		}
 		_WorkData[parm] = value;

mocha-dotnet/src/lib/Mocha.Core/UI/Widgets/Element.cs

@@ -40,6 +40,10 @@ public class Element : Widget
 			// if we hae `Show Subelements Vertically`, we are a vbox
 			if (displayOptions.Contains(doShowSubelementsVertically))
 			{
+				if (displayOptions.Contains(doSingular))
+				{
+					return "fieldSet"; // hack
+				}
 				return "vbox";
 			}
 			else