Refactor cache handling for plugins: update pluginsData initialization and improve fetch logic; enhance UI tests for translation loading

front/js/cache.js

@@ -178,8 +178,10 @@ function cacheApiConfig() {
 
 // Module-level declaration so cachePluginStrings() and other callers can
 // safely reference pluginsData even before cacheSettings() has fetched it.
-// Populated (or repopulated) by cacheSettings() on every full fetch.
-var pluginsData = [];
+// null  = fetch not yet attempted or fetch failed (unknown state).
+// []    = fetch succeeded and confirmed no plugins are configured.
+// [...] = fetch succeeded and plugins are present.
+var pluginsData = null;
 
 function cacheSettings()
 {
@@ -192,12 +194,18 @@ function cacheSettings()
       // so the extra fetch would be pointless on every subsequent warm load.
       if (getCache(CACHE_KEYS.initFlag('cachePluginStrings_v1')) !== 'true') {
         fetchJson('plugins.json')
-          .catch(() => [])
           .then((pluginsArr) => {
-            if (Array.isArray(pluginsArr) && pluginsArr.length > 0) {
+            // Only update pluginsData on a successful fetch so that a network
+            // failure is not misread as "no plugins configured" (null sentinel).
+            if (Array.isArray(pluginsArr)) {
               pluginsData = pluginsArr;
             }
             resolve();
+          })
+          .catch(() => {
+            // Fetch failed — leave pluginsData as null (unknown state) so
+            // cachePluginStrings() retries rather than treating it as no-op.
+            resolve();
           });
         return;
       }
@@ -312,10 +320,20 @@ function cacheStrings() {
   return new Promise((resolve, reject) => {
     if(getCache(CACHE_KEYS.initFlag('cacheStrings_v2')) === "true")
     {
-      // Core strings are already cached. Plugin strings are now handled by
-      // the dedicated cachePluginStrings() step — nothing to do here.
-      resolve();
-      return;
+      // Verify STRINGS_COUNT still matches the current language configuration.
+      // A language switch without a full cache clear leaves the flag set but
+      // the count wrong, causing isAppInitialized() to deadlock.
+      const expectedCount = getLangCode() === 'en_us' ? 1 : 2;
+      const currentCount = parseInt(getCache(CACHE_KEYS.STRINGS_COUNT)) || 0;
+      if (currentCount === expectedCount) {
+        resolve();
+        return;
+      }
+      // Mismatch — reset count and fall through to reload strings for the
+      // current language set. The flag stays set; handleSuccess re-increments.
+      console.log(`[cacheStrings] STRINGS_COUNT mismatch (stored: ${currentCount}, expected: ${expectedCount}) — reloading strings.`);
+      setCache(CACHE_KEYS.STRINGS_COUNT, 0);
+      // Do NOT return — fall through to full load path below.
     }
 
       // Create a promise for each language (include en_us by default as fallback)
@@ -386,7 +404,10 @@ function cachePluginStrings() {
           // No plugin strings returned. If plugins are loaded the file may not
           // be ready yet — reject so retryStep() retries. If no plugins are
           // loaded at all, empty strings are expected: succeed.
-          const hasPlugins = Array.isArray(pluginsData) && pluginsData.length > 0;
+          // null  = plugins.json fetch failed (unknown) — retry to be safe.
+          // []    = confirmed no plugins — accept empty strings as valid.
+          // [...] = plugins present — retry, file may not be ready yet.
+          const hasPlugins = pluginsData === null || (Array.isArray(pluginsData) && pluginsData.length > 0);
           if (hasPlugins) {
             console.warn('[cachePluginStrings] 0 entries returned but plugins are loaded — file may not be ready yet. Will retry.');
             reject(new Error('Plugin language strings empty'));

front/pluginsCore.php

@@ -312,7 +312,7 @@ async function getData() {
 // module-level fetchJson defined in cache.js, which returns res['data'] and
 // is used by cachePluginStrings() during app initialization.
 async function fetchPluginJson(filename) {
-  const response = await fetch(`php/server/query_json.php?file=${filename}`);
+  const response = await fetch(`php/server/query_json.php?file=${encodeURIComponent(filename)}&nocache=${Date.now()}`);
   if (!response.ok) throw new Error(`Failed to load ${filename}`);
   return await response.json();
 }

test/ui/test_ui_translations.py

@@ -9,7 +9,6 @@ PRD: Reliable Loading of Plugin Translation Strings
 
 import sys
 import os
-import time
 
 from selenium.webdriver.common.by import By
 from selenium.webdriver.support.ui import WebDriverWait
@@ -161,16 +160,19 @@ def test_plugins_page_no_undefined_strings_after_cache_clear(driver):
 
     _wait_for_app_init(driver)
 
-    # Give the tabs a moment to render after init completes
-    time.sleep(2)
+    # Wait for getData() to complete: either tab links or the empty-state
+    # paragraph will appear once generateTabs() has run.
+    WebDriverWait(driver, 10).until(
+        lambda d: len(d.find_elements(
+            By.CSS_SELECTOR,
+            "#tabs-location a, #tabs-content-location p.text-muted"
+        )) > 0
+    )
 
-    # Allow the word 'undefined' inside code/technical blocks but not as a
-    # standalone visible label replacing a translation string.
-    # We check that it does not appear as a trimmed standalone word in headings/tabs.
     tab_labels = driver.find_elements(By.CSS_SELECTOR, "#tabs-location a, .tab-label, h5")
     for el in tab_labels:
         label = el.text.strip()
         assert label != "undefined", (
-            f"Tab/heading label is literally 'undefined' — plugin strings were not "
-            f"loaded before getData() rendered the tabs on plugins.php."
+            "Tab/heading label is literally 'undefined' — plugin strings were not "
+            "loaded before getData() rendered the tabs on plugins.php."
         )