Strange node.status "defaults"

General
1

While experimenting with the status display provided by the function node in the editor, I have run into some odd results that occur when properties of the status object are undefined or invalid. This flow tries to capture what happens in the most interesting cases. (The name of each function node is the argument of its node.status function.)

Status
Status.jpg1678×462 150 KB 

[{"id":"fb6c0922.e11b38","type":"function","z":"62978e96.1c89f","name":"{fill:\"red\"}","func":"node.status({fill:\"red\"});\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":240,"y":360,"wires":[["38cf5db5.98a862"]]},{"id":"d4b794b2.9df69","type":"inject","z":"62978e96.1c89f","name":"case 1","topic":"","payload":"","payloadType":"date","repeat":"","crontab":"","once":false,"onceDelay":0.1,"x":90,"y":360,"wires":[["fb6c0922.e11b38"]]},{"id":"1e8b1284.f41ecd","type":"function","z":"62978e96.1c89f","name":"{shape:\"dot\"}","func":"node.status({shape:\"dot\"});\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":260,"y":420,"wires":[["ef5d16ef.9cb35"]]},{"id":"ef5d16ef.9cb35","type":"function","z":"62978e96.1c89f","name":"{shape:\"ring\"}","func":"node.status({shape:\"ring\"});\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":440,"y":420,"wires":[["e760db6e.badde"]]},{"id":"77adb04c.a684e8","type":"inject","z":"62978e96.1c89f","name":"case 2","topic":"","payload":"","payloadType":"date","repeat":"","crontab":"","once":false,"onceDelay":0.1,"x":90,"y":420,"wires":[["1e8b1284.f41ecd"]]},{"id":"20f640c.eaee74","type":"inject","z":"62978e96.1c89f","name":"case 3","topic":"","payload":"","payloadType":"date","repeat":"","crontab":"","once":false,"onceDelay":0.1,"x":90,"y":480,"wires":[["c9cda5b1.27882"]]},{"id":"2b51cc4f.8b3d34","type":"function","z":"62978e96.1c89f","name":"{shape:\"ring\",fill:\"goo\"}","func":"node.status({shape:\"ring\",fill:\"goo\"});\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":530,"y":480,"wires":[["7326b634.6000f"]]},{"id":"c9cda5b1.27882","type":"function","z":"62978e96.1c89f","name":"{shape:\"banana\",fill:\"red\"}","func":"node.status({shape:\"banana\",fill:\"red\"});\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":290,"y":480,"wires":[["2b51cc4f.8b3d34"]]},{"id":"dd9677c9.66ef8","type":"inject","z":"62978e96.1c89f","name":"case 4","topic":"","payload":"","payloadType":"date","repeat":"","crontab":"","once":false,"onceDelay":0.1,"x":90,"y":540,"wires":[["69dfa7c1.c9c0b8"]]},{"id":"69dfa7c1.c9c0b8","type":"function","z":"62978e96.1c89f","name":"{shape:\"banana\",fill:\"goo\",text:\"hello world\"}","func":"node.status({shape:\"banana\",fill:\"goo\",text:\"hello world\"});\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":350,"y":540,"wires":[["77062052.14f61"]]},{"id":"38cf5db5.98a862","type":"function","z":"62978e96.1c89f","name":"{fill:\"green\"}","func":"node.status({fill:\"green\"});\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":410,"y":360,"wires":[["5d79e49.8f77c9c"]]},{"id":"5d79e49.8f77c9c","type":"function","z":"62978e96.1c89f","name":"{fill:\"goo\"}","func":"node.status({fill:\"goo\"});\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":580,"y":360,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"e760db6e.badde","type":"function","z":"62978e96.1c89f","name":"{shape:\"banana\"}","func":"node.status({shape:\"banana\"});\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":630,"y":420,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"77062052.14f61","type":"function","z":"62978e96.1c89f","name":"{shape:\"banana\",fill:\"goo\",text:\"\"}","func":"node.status({shape:\"banana\",fill:\"goo\",text:\"\"});\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":680,"y":540,"wires":[[]]},{"id":"7326b634.6000f","type":"function","z":"62978e96.1c89f","name":"{shape:\"banana\",fill:\"goo\"}","func":"node.status({shape:\"banana\",fill:\"goo\"});\nreturn msg;","outputs":1,"noerr":0,"x":780,"y":480,"wires":[[]]}]

Some generalizations seem to apply:

  1. If only the fill is given, the status uses dot for the shape.
  2. If only the shape is given, the fill is grey.
  3. If the shape is invalid, nothing is displayed, EXCEPT 4.
  4. If both the shape and fill are invalid, a grey dot is displayed.
  5. If the fill is invalid and the shape is valid, the fill is grey.
  6. If text is also given, the results are mostly what one would expect from the above, EXCEPT that if both shape and fill are invalid and the text string is empty, a warning message appears.

I suspect that these results come from the logic used to parse the status object and might occur in other nodes that display their status in the editor. I'm not sure whether this should just be documented or treated as a bug.

2

Interesting - thanks for the detailed use case !