Improve error handling for duplicate recipe names

- Enhanced backend error message to be more descriptive and actionable
- Added prominent error dialog in frontend to alert user about save failures
- Keep user's edits in the editor so they can fix the issue and retry
- Updated test to verify improved error messaging

Co-authored-by: hay-kot <64056131+hay-kot@users.noreply.github.com>

frontend/components/Domain/Recipe/RecipePage/RecipePage.vue

@@ -13,6 +13,22 @@
         {{ $t("general.discard-changes-description") }}
       </v-card-text>
     </BaseDialog>
+    <BaseDialog
+      v-model="saveErrorDialog"
+      :title="$t('recipe.save-error')"
+      color="error"
+      :icon="$globals.icons.alertCircle"
+      @cancel="saveErrorDialog = false"
+    >
+      <v-card-text>
+        <p class="mb-2">
+          <strong>{{ saveErrorMessage }}</strong>
+        </p>
+        <p>
+          {{ $t('recipe.save-error-description') }}
+        </p>
+      </v-card-text>
+    </BaseDialog>
     <RecipePageParseDialog
       :model-value="isParsing"
       :ingredients="recipe.recipeIngredient"
@@ -246,6 +262,8 @@ const notLinkedIngredients = computed(() => {
  */
 const originalRecipe = ref<Recipe | null>(null);
 const discardDialog = ref(false);
+const saveErrorDialog = ref(false);
+const saveErrorMessage = ref("");
 const pendingRoute = ref<RouteLocationNormalized | null>(null);
 
 invoke(async () => {
@@ -352,6 +370,11 @@ async function saveRecipe() {
   const { data, error } = await api.recipes.updateOne(recipe.value.slug, recipe.value);
   if (!error) {
     setMode(PageMode.VIEW);
+  } else {
+    // Show prominent error dialog for save failures
+    saveErrorMessage.value = error?.response?.data?.detail?.message || "An error occurred while saving the recipe.";
+    saveErrorDialog.value = true;
+    return;
   }
   if (data?.slug) {
     router.push(`/g/${groupSlug.value}/r/` + data.slug);

frontend/lang/messages/en-US.json

@@ -530,6 +530,8 @@
     "recipe-settings": "Recipe Settings",
     "recipe-update-failed": "Recipe update failed",
     "recipe-updated": "Recipe updated",
+    "save-error": "Unable to Save Recipe",
+    "save-error-description": "Your changes have been preserved in the editor. Please fix the issue and try saving again.",
     "remove-from-favorites": "Remove from Favorites",
     "remove-section": "Remove Section",
     "saturated-fat-content": "Saturated fat",

mealie/routes/recipe/recipe_crud_routes.py

@@ -92,7 +92,10 @@ class RecipeController(BaseRecipeController):
         elif thrownType == sqlalchemy.exc.IntegrityError:
             self.logger.error("SQL Integrity Error on recipe controller action")
             raise HTTPException(
-                status_code=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST, detail=ErrorResponse.respond(message="Recipe already exists")
+                status_code=status.HTTP_400_BAD_REQUEST, 
+                detail=ErrorResponse.respond(
+                    message="A recipe with this name already exists. Please choose a different name and try saving again."
+                )
             )
         elif thrownType == exceptions.RecursiveRecipe:
             self.logger.error("Recursive Recipe Link Error on recipe controller action")

tests/integration_tests/user_recipe_tests/test_recipe_crud.py

@@ -1324,3 +1324,45 @@ def test_create_recipe_slug_length_validation(api_client: TestClient, unique_use
 
     response = api_client.get(api_routes.recipes_slug(created_slug), headers=unique_user.token)
     assert response.status_code == 200
+
+
+def test_recipe_update_duplicate_name_error(api_client: TestClient, unique_user: TestUser):
+    """Test that updating a recipe with a duplicate name returns a 400 error with a helpful message."""
+    # Create two recipes with different names
+    recipe1_name = random_string(10)
+    recipe2_name = random_string(10)
+    
+    response1 = api_client.post(api_routes.recipes, json={"name": recipe1_name}, headers=unique_user.token)
+    assert response1.status_code == 201
+    recipe1_slug = json.loads(response1.text)
+    
+    response2 = api_client.post(api_routes.recipes, json={"name": recipe2_name}, headers=unique_user.token)
+    assert response2.status_code == 201
+    recipe2_slug = json.loads(response2.text)
+    
+    # Fetch the full recipe2 object
+    get_recipe2 = api_client.get(api_routes.recipes_slug(recipe2_slug), headers=unique_user.token)
+    assert get_recipe2.status_code == 200
+    recipe2 = json.loads(get_recipe2.text)
+    
+    # Try to update recipe2 with recipe1's name (should fail)
+    recipe2["name"] = recipe1_name
+    update_response = api_client.put(
+        api_routes.recipes_slug(recipe2_slug),
+        json=recipe2,
+        headers=unique_user.token
+    )
+    
+    # Should return 400 error with helpful message
+    assert update_response.status_code == 400
+    response_data = json.loads(update_response.text)
+    error_message = response_data["detail"]["message"]
+    assert "already exists" in error_message.lower()
+    assert "choose a different name" in error_message.lower()
+    assert "try saving again" in error_message.lower()
+    
+    # Verify original recipe2 is unchanged in the database
+    get_response = api_client.get(api_routes.recipes_slug(recipe2_slug), headers=unique_user.token)
+    assert get_response.status_code == 200
+    unchanged_recipe = json.loads(get_response.text)
+    assert unchanged_recipe["name"] == recipe2_name