Bugfix — Issue #892: Metrics Dashboard shows bare "Error" when no test project is selected

Problem

Opening the Metrics Dashboard (gui/templates/results/metricsDashboard.html) when no test project is selected (empty/fresh install, or before picking a project in the top bar) renders a red box whose only content is the bare string "Error". No guidance is given to the user about why the screen cannot load.

Root Cause

The screen's loadDashboard() requests GET /api/metrics/index.php/dashboard. When no project is selected, the front-end sends no tproject_id (empty, falsy — metricsDashboard.html:174-178), the BFF falls back to the session project (api/metrics/index.php:53-60) which is 0, and the /dashboard route answers 400 {"status":"error","message":"No test project selected"} (line 91-95). This mirrors the legacy controller, which throws Exception("Invalid Test Project ID") in the same situation (lib/results/metricsDashboard.php:388-392).

The defect was purely on the client side: the .fail() handler only distinguished 403 (md.msg.noRights) from the generic fallback common.error — the literal "Error" — and silently discarded the server's actionable message:

// before (metricsDashboard.html:197-199)
}).fail(function(xhr) {
  showMsg('#errorBox', xhr.status === 403 ? 'md.msg.noRights' : 'common.error');
});

Fix

Applied in commit 98c5ac709 on branch fix/issue-892.

1. i18n — new key md.msg.noProject added to all 10 locale bundles (de, en, es, fr, it, ja, pt, ro, ru, zh), English value: "No test project selected. Please select a test project first."
2. Frontend — the .fail() handler maps the API's 400 to the new key, keeping the existing 403 and generic fallbacks untouched:

// after
}).fail(function(xhr) {
  var key = 'common.error';
  if (xhr.status === 403) { key = 'md.msg.noRights'; }
  else if (xhr.status === 400) { key = 'md.msg.noProject'; }
  showMsg('#errorBox', key);
});

Why this method: it is the smallest change that restores the app's established pattern for the no-project state (the same 400 → localized guidance mapping already used by cfieldsAssignView.html:310 with cfa.msg.noProject, and printReq.noProject on other screens). No BFF change was needed — the API contract is correct and stable. Alternative rejected: skipping the API call entirely when tproject_id is empty would have changed load behaviour beyond the reported symptom and duplicated the server-side decision.

Files Changed

• gui/templates/i18n/de.json, en.json, es.json, fr.json, it.json, ja.json, pt.json, ro.json, ru.json, zh.json (+1 key each)
• gui/templates/results/metricsDashboard.html (.fail() handler)

Verification

• tproject_id=0 → red box now shows the localized guidance instead of "Error" (verified in English and in Română).
• tproject_id=1 with seeded project/plan/build/executions → full dashboard still renders (progress bars, plan table, "Generated on" footer).
• All 10 locale bundles pass python3 -m json.tool and contain md.msg.noProject.
• events table shows no new ERROR/WARNING entries during the test window.
• Regression suite TC-892 appended to tmp/TLU_Test_Cases.md, 8/8 PASS.