fix(i18n,list): the sort panel's relational hint points at a stored denormalised field, not a formula field (#4294)

[yinlianghui]

Fixes#4294

The Sort panel withholds columns that link to another record and explains why. The last sentence of that explanation named the remedy — "To sort by that name, add a formula field holding it" — and a formula field is the one type the platform will not order by. The server keeps UNMATERIALIZED_SORT_TYPES = new Set(['formula']), and since objectstack#6994 a sort naming one is a hard 400 INVALID_SORT; before that it degraded silently, returning every row with asc and desc byte-identical. Since #4243 withheld formula fields from this very picker, an author who followed the hint also arrived at a field the panel does not offer. Two doors, opposite advice, one problem.

The wording, and where it comes from

The remedy now names a stored, denormalised field, written when the source changes, and rules the formula field out in as many words. That is deliberately the server's own vocabulary rather than a third phrasing: objectstack#6924 and objectstack#6994 settled on one wording across the refusal doors so an author refused twice is not sent two different ways.

Server wording source, read read-only at objectstack origin/main @ 5d24f4b94:

• packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts:5046-5049 — the hint on the unmaterialized-type refusal door (objectstack#6994), verbatim:

  Denormalise the value onto '{object}' (a stored field, written when the source changes) and sort by that. A formula field is virtual: with no column behind it the ORDER BY reaches the driver, finds nothing, and is dropped — the arbitrary order this refusal replaces.

• packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts:4993-4996 — the same remedy sentence on the dotted-path door, which is what "one vocabulary across the doors" means in practice.

• packages/metadata-protocol/src/protocol.ts:1593 — UNMATERIALIZED_SORT_TYPES. (The triage comment cites :1903; on today's main the constant sits at :1593. Same constant, same set, line drift only.)

New en value:

Columns that link to another record are not listed: they can only be sorted by the stored ID, not by the name shown in the cell. To sort by that name, denormalize it onto this object as a stored field, written when the source changes, and sort by that. Not a formula field: it is virtual, so no column is stored for it and the server refuses to sort by one.

The first half — why relation columns are withheld — is unchanged in every pack. Only the remedy sentence moved. Spelling follows this repo rather than the server's British form: packages/plugin-list/README.md already writes "denormalize" for this exact remedy.

All ten packs, and one copy that is not a pack

Ten locale packs updated (packages/i18n/src/locales/*.ts), as check:i18n-drift requires of any en edit. Each translation matches its pack's existing register for "field" / "stored" / "formula" — the terms were taken from neighbouring keys in the same pack (the formula field-type label, the sort* cluster, the import notices' word for "server"), not machine-translated.

One edit outside the packs, and it is load-bearing:packages/plugin-list/src/ListView.tsx holds LIST_DEFAULT_TRANSLATIONS, the table createSafeTranslation serves when no I18nProvider is mounted, and it carried a byte-identical copy of the old sentence. That copy is updated to match en exactly. This is not belt-and-braces — it is measured. Reverting only that file, with all ten packs already holding the new text, leaves the rendered panel serving the retired advice:

FAIL packages/plugin-list/src/__tests__/ListView.relationalSort.test.tsx
Expected element to have text content:
/denormalize it onto this object as a stored field/i
Received:
Columns that link to another record are not listed: ... To sort by that name,
add a formula field holding it.

So a pack-only reword would have left the old advice on exactly the surface this card is about, wherever the component is used outside the console. No gate can see that: check:i18n-keys judges inline t(key, { defaultValue }) options at call sites, never a createSafeTranslation table, and the drift gate compares packs to packs. Flagging it as a deliberate, reviewable step beyond the dispatched file list — it is the same key and a pure string swap, no logic touched.

Tests

No existing assertion needed updating. Both suites that read this hint (ListView.relationalSort.test.tsx:88, ListView.sortFieldFallback.test.tsx:227) match on /can only be sorted by the stored ID/i, which lives in the unchanged first half.

One pin added to ListView.relationalSort.test.tsx — it asserts the remedy the hint gives and the one it must never give again, since "formula" still appears in the sentence, named only to be ruled out.

Red-first is real here, in both directions:

• The drift gate, reverting one pack (zh) to origin/main while en holds the new text: EXIT=1, unchanged in: zh. Restored, green: "1 en value(s) changed, 9 pack value(s) followed ... Every changed en value was followed by all nine translation packs."
• The new pin, reverting ListView.tsx only: the failure quoted above. Restored, green.

Gates and suites run locally, all green:

node scripts/check-i18n-en-drift.mjs # 1 en changed, 9 packs followed
node scripts/check-i18n-call-site-keys.mjs # 2813 keys, 844 inline defaults match
node scripts/check-control-bytes.mjs # 4052 files scanned
node scripts/check-changeset-presence.mjs # 12 src files / 2 released packages / 1 changeset
vitest run packages/i18n packages/plugin-list/src/__tests__/ListView.relationalSort.test.tsx \
packages/plugin-list/src/__tests__/ListView.sortFieldFallback.test.tsx
-> Test Files 40 passed (40) | Tests 675 passed (675)
pnpm --filter @object-ui/i18n --filter @object-ui/plugin-list type-check # both tsc runs each, Done

Changeset: patch for @object-ui/i18n and @object-ui/plugin-list.

Out of scope, filed separately

packages/plugin-list/README.md:229-230 gives the same retired advice in prose ("denormalize it onto this object with a formula field"). Different surface, its own explanatory paragraph to rewrite — filed rather than ridden along, per the card's scope note.

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Metric	Value	Budget
Main entry (gzip)	29.5 KB	350 KB
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