Invalid value assigned to "Global" option for VRF field in IP address form

[jeremystretch]

NetBox version

v3.0.0

Python version

3.7

Steps to Reproduce

1. Navigate to IPAM > IP addresses > Add
2. Attempt to create an IP address with no VRF assigned (i.e. Global)

Expected Behavior

The IP address should be created successfully.

Observed Behavior

A ValueError exception is raised due to an invalid value for the vrf field:

Exception Type: ValueError at /ipam/ip-addresses/add/
Exception Value: Field 'id' expected a number but got 'Global'.

If we inspect the DOM, we can see that a literal value of Global has been erroneously set for the "Global" option (it should have a null value):

<option value="Global">Global</option>

This is being set by the frontend, but I haven't been able to narrow down exactly where. I suspect it might be related to the change in 093a86b for #7081.

[jeremystretch]

I've worked around this temporarily for v3.0.1 in 6f94198 by removing the "Global" placeholder from all VRF fields. However, I still want to resolve the underlying issue to ensure that we properly support the empty_label attribute on form fields.

[thatmattlove]

Handling of empty_label is now implemented in API Select, however, due to an issue with SlimSelect, it doesn't actually work. Issue brianvoe/slim-select#293 and PR brianvoe/slim-select#294 have been submitted to fix this, but they've sat untouched for quite a while. As a result, I've opened brianvoe/slim-select#308 to inquire as to the status of the project.

When I first started working on the jQuery removal, it was pretty close to the recent commits on SlimSelect's develop branch, so I assumed the project was active. However, depending on their answer, we may need to look into alternative options. Sadly, there just aren't many libraries that meet the criteria:

• Vanilla JS, no framework requirement
• Sass styling
• Actively maintained

ChoicesJS was the next closest, and I actually started with that one. However, the ChoicesJS maintainer isn't maintaining that project, either (and there were issues with the styling API, IIRC).

After taking another look, TomSelect (a fork of Selectize.js that drops jQuery and adds some other interesting features) looks like a potential option.

If there are no other viable alternatives, we may need to consider forking Slim Select and modifying as needed. There could be some benefits to that approach - there are a lot of duplicated actions in our implementation due to shortcomings in SlimSelect's API. But on the flip side, there are all the drawbacks of maintaining a separate project.

[jeremystretch]

Thanks, Matt. At this point I think we're okay to just acknowledge it as a limitation of the current solution. With the "Global" label omitted from VRF assignment widgets, we're no longer using empty_label anywhere, so there's no impact. It'll just be something to bear in mind for future work.

[thatmattlove]

It sounds like the project still has life in it, the maintainer says they've been working on a new version. We shall see.