Context

When the main reference is defined in a template and the reused with details by a sub-ref in the article, there's a message in the Context menu that the main content can not be displayed.

See this Wikitext

{{#tag:ref|The Book|name=book}}
<ref details="p. 2" name="book" />
<references />

In the Context menu of that sub-ref there's text then, that the main ref is "missing"

These details are linked to a missing reference. Please remove them from the page or fix the issue in source mode.

Maybe it makes more sense to show a different message, that's also used for "normal" refs defined in a template

This reference is defined in a template or other generated block, and for now can only be edited in source mode.

Challenge

• Can we easily check if the main content is missing or coming from a template?

Update

After investigation, we found that VE cannot distinguish between a main ref defined in a template and a main ref with missing content.
In both cases the internal item node that stores the ref content is empty.
Therefore our suggestion is to change the error message to one that fits for both cases:
Eg: "These details are linked to a reference that is either missing, defined in a template or other generated block. Please edit in source mode. "
Putting this in PM/UX review to decide on how to proceed.

Acceptance Criteria

• Change error to fit for both cases : "These details are linked to a reference that is either missing or defined in a template or other generated block. For now, it can only be fixed or edited in source mode."