fix #583: parse StringAttributeType.Length across BSON numeric widths

.claude/skills/fix-issue.md

@@ -37,6 +37,7 @@ to the symptom table below, so the next similar issue costs fewer reads.
 | CE0463 "widget definition changed" on every pluggable widget that contains a caption/template parameter (gallery, datagrid2 captions, dynamictext with ContentParams) on Mendix 11.9 — cascades into CE3637 on master-detail pages | `serializeClientTemplateParameter` emitted `Forms$FormattingInfo` with a `TimeFormat: "HoursMinutes"` field, but the FormattingInfo reflection schema only declares CustomDateFormat / DateFormat / DecimalPrecision / EnumFormat / GroupDigits — the extra field made Studio Pro mark the embedded WidgetType as drifted | `sdk/mpr/writer_widgets.go` `serializeClientTemplateParameter` + `mdl/backend/mpr/widget_builder.go` (mirror copy of the same FormattingInfo block) | Drop the `TimeFormat` entry from both writers. Verify by diffing your BSON against a Studio Pro-saved page's FormattingInfo block — if you see keys outside the reflection schema, that's the trigger |
 | Pluggable widget `Selection` BSON value is lowercase (`single` / `multi` / `none`) but Studio Pro stores PascalCase — contributes to CE0463 drift on stricter widgets and looks wrong in diffs | MDL passes the user's typed value verbatim to `SetSelection`; the builder didn't normalise | `mdl/backend/mpr/widget_builder.go` `SetSelection` | Canonicalise via `canonicalSelectionValue` helper (lowercase-keyed switch → `Single` / `Multi` / `None`); unknown values pass through |
 | Nightly `mx check` reports `CE0117 "Error(s) in expression." at Log message activity 'Log message (warning)'` on Mendix 10.24.19+ but not 10.24.16 or 11.x | Mendix 10.24.19 tightened expression validation: `toString(<string>)` is now a type error (toString expects a non-string input). An example called `toString($OrderNumber)` where `$OrderNumber` was already a string parameter | The offending `log warning ... with ({1} = toString($stringVar))` — find via `~/.mxcli/mxbuild/{ver}/modeler/mx check`, then bisect with `drop microflow ...` until CE0117 disappears | Remove the redundant `toString()` wrapper around already-string values. Only wrap non-string values (integers, decimals, dates, enums) in `toString()`. The Mendix 11.x parser is more lenient and lets this slide, but 10.24.19+ rejects it |
+| `describe entity` shows every String attribute as `String(unlimited)` and `CATALOG.ATTRIBUTES.Length` reports `0` for all of them, even though Studio Pro shows a finite max length and runtime rejects overlong values | BSON numeric width mismatch — Mendix Studio Pro stores `Length` as int64, but `parseAttributeType` used `raw["Length"].(int32)` so the assertion always failed and Length defaulted to 0 | `sdk/mpr/parser_domainmodel.go` → `parseAttributeType` `case "DomainModels$StringAttributeType"` | Replace narrow type assertions on BSON numeric fields with the existing `extractInt(raw["X"])` helper (`sdk/mpr/parser.go`), which handles int32/int64/int/float64. Sweep other `parser_*.go` files for the same `.(int32)` / `.(int64)` pattern on size/length/count fields. Issue #583 |
 
 ---
 

mdl-examples/bug-tests/583-string-attribute-length-roundtrip.mdl

@@ -0,0 +1,28 @@
+-- Bug test: String attribute length must roundtrip through write -> read -> describe.
+-- Issue #583: describe entity and CATALOG.ATTRIBUTES reported every String attribute
+-- as String(unlimited) / Length: 0, even when a finite length was set. Root cause was
+-- a type assertion in sdk/mpr/parser_domainmodel.go that only accepted BSON int32,
+-- while Mendix Studio Pro stores the Length field as BSON int64.
+--
+-- The Go unit test in sdk/mpr/parser_domainmodel_test.go reproduces the original
+-- int64-from-Studio-Pro decode path. This MDL script is a complementary end-to-end
+-- regression test: it creates entities with several finite lengths plus one unlimited
+-- string, then asserts that describe emits the expected lengths back.
+--
+-- Run with:
+--   mxcli exec mdl-examples/bug-tests/583-string-attribute-length-roundtrip.mdl
+--   mxcli check mdl-examples/bug-tests/583-string-attribute-length-roundtrip.mdl
+create module bug583;
+
+create persistent entity bug583.Item (
+  ShortCode: string(10),
+  Description: string(200),
+  LongText: string(4000),
+  Notes: string
+);
+
+describe entity bug583.Item;
+
+select Name, DataType, Length from CATALOG.ATTRIBUTES
+  where EntityQualifiedName = 'bug583.Item'
+  order by Name;

sdk/mpr/parser_domainmodel.go

@@ -360,9 +360,9 @@ func parseAttributeType(raw map[string]any) domainmodel.AttributeType {
 	case "DomainModels$StringAttributeType":
 		t := &domainmodel.StringAttributeType{}
 		t.ID = typeID
-		if length, ok := raw["Length"].(int32); ok {
-			t.Length = int(length)
-		}
+		// Issue #583: Studio Pro stores Length as BSON int64; mxcli's writer
+		// emits int32. extractInt accepts both (plus int and float64).
+		t.Length = extractInt(raw["Length"])
 		return t
 	case "DomainModels$IntegerAttributeType":
 		t := &domainmodel.IntegerAttributeType{}

sdk/mpr/parser_domainmodel_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,48 @@
+// SPDX-License-Identifier: Apache-2.0
+
+package mpr
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	"github.com/mendixlabs/mxcli/sdk/domainmodel"
+)
+
+// Issue #583: parseAttributeType silently dropped the Length value for
+// StringAttributeType when Mendix Studio Pro stored it as BSON int64.
+// The previous code only handled int32, so every String attribute in a
+// Studio Pro-written MPR was reported as String(unlimited) / Length: 0.
+//
+// Studio Pro and mxcli can both store integers as int32 or int64 depending
+// on encoder choice; the parser must handle every BSON numeric width.
+func TestParseAttributeType_StringLength_BsonNumericWidths(t *testing.T) {
+	cases := []struct {
+		name   string
+		length any
+		want   int
+	}{
+		{"int32 (mxcli writer)", int32(40), 40},
+		{"int64 (Studio Pro writer)", int64(40), 40},
+		{"int", int(40), 40},
+		{"float64 (extended JSON)", float64(40), 40},
+		{"missing field = unlimited", nil, 0},
+	}
+	for _, tc := range cases {
+		t.Run(tc.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			raw := map[string]any{
+				"$Type": "DomainModels$StringAttributeType",
+			}
+			if tc.length != nil {
+				raw["Length"] = tc.length
+			}
+			at := parseAttributeType(raw)
+			st, ok := at.(*domainmodel.StringAttributeType)
+			if !ok {
+				t.Fatalf("parseAttributeType returned %T, want *StringAttributeType", at)
+			}
+			if st.Length != tc.want {
+				t.Errorf("Length = %d, want %d (input %T(%v))", st.Length, tc.want, tc.length, tc.length)
+			}
+		})
+	}
+}