Steps to replicate the issue
- In VisualEditor, when I click on an item in the reference list I get a dialog with a button at the bottom left corner "replace citation"
- I click the button "replace citation"
- The entire reference list is replaced by the three dots and the "replace citation" dialog is shown.
- I click on the "re-use" tab and select a reference from the list
- the entire list is replaced by the reference I just reused.
- When I switch to Wikitext all contents that were originally defined in the reference list get replaced with that one reference I selected.
What happens?
The contents of the reference list are replaced by the selected reference. As an editor I lose the entire reference list (I can obviously get it back with Ctrl+z).
What should have happened instead?
- I was not expecting to see the three dots appear in place of the reference list.
- I was not expecting to find the standard citoid dialog with the reuse tab, when I am editing a reference from the reference list.
- I am questioning why this dialog appears in the first place? Why is it that I get to reuse a reference while I am in the reference list? Is there a specific use case in mind?
- Even if the standard citoid dialog should be served to the user, then the reference list should not be replaced.
Screencast
Implemented workaround
We disable the convert button when editing refs from the reflist.
- Disable replace feature when ReferenceList is selected ( ReferenceDialog )
- Disable CitationDialog replace feature when ReferenceList is selected
Next steps
T413760: Allow MWCitationDialog and MWReferenceDialog to work on refs that are not selected