API can create a View Map view outside the navigator hierarchy- impossible to delete

[Mathias Jonathan]

The API can create a View Map view outside the navigator hierarchy (no folder / no subset), and that view is then impossible to delete - by API or by hand

 

Environment:

- Archicad 27
- macOS 14

Summary:
Two connected problems, one root cause.

1. Creating a View Map view while leaving the destination parent unset does not fail and does not fall back to a sensible container - it attaches the new view directly to the View Map ROOT node, outside every folder and subset. The Navigator palette has no place to show such an item cleanly, and Archicad itself never creates views there.

2. A view in that position can then never be removed. ACAPI_Navigator_DeleteNavigatorView returns NoError but is a silent no-op - the item is still there on the next read. ACAPI_Navigator_ChangeNavigatorItem cannot move it into a real folder either (fails with error -2130313112, "Failed to move navigator item"). And it cannot be deleted by hand in the Navigator palette. The project is permanently stuck with the orphan view.

The same view, created inside a folder, deletes and moves without any problem.

How the orphan item is created
Cloning a Project Map story into the View Map with the destination parent left empty.

The underlying operation is an ordinary "create navigator view from a Project Map source" with the parent container left unspecified. We would expect this to either be rejected, or to place the view in a default location that behaves normally (e.g. the View Map root as a real, editable container). Instead it produces an item that is half-attached: valid guid, resolvable database, but unreachable by any edit operation.

The resulting item, read back via ACAPI_Navigator_GetNavigatorItem:
- itemType: story item (a clone of a Project Map story)
- guid: valid, resolvable (GetNavigatorItem succeeds, GetDatabaseId succeeds and returns the floor plan database)
- parent: the View Map root node
- isIndependent: false

Steps to reproduce
1. Create a navigator view in the View Map from a Project Map story with the parent container left unspecified (no folder / no subset).
-> succeeds, no error, no warning.
2. Read it back with ACAPI_Navigator_GetNavigatorItem - it is there, attached to the View Map root.
3. Call ACAPI_Navigator_DeleteNavigatorView(&guid, &silentMode) with silentMode = true.
-> returns NoError.
4. Read the View Map tree again - the view is still present.
5. Try ACAPI_Navigator_ChangeNavigatorItem to move it into a real folder.
-> fails with error -2130313112 ("Failed to move navigator item").
6. Try to delete it by hand in the Navigator palette.
-> not possible.
7. For contrast: create the same folder, create a second view of the same story inside that folder, delete that one with ACAPI_Navigator_DeleteNavigatorView.
-> succeeds, the folder view is gone.

Expected
- Creating a View Map view with no parent should either be rejected with a real error (APIERR_BADPARS / APIERR_NOTSUPPORTED), or place the view in a normal, editable container - never in a state where no later edit call can touch it.
- ACAPI_Navigator_DeleteNavigatorView should actually delete such a view, and return NoError only when it really did (otherwise a meaningful error).

Operating system used: Mac Apple Silicon