[User Story]: Preserve Child Elements on Parent Deletion

[kallewesterling]

Role

As an assurance case editor

Desired Feature

I want child elements to remain in the assurance case even if their parent element is deleted, allowing them to "float" until reconnected appropriately

Benefit

So that I can manage the structure of the assurance case more flexibly without losing data inadvertently when modifying higher-level elements

Acceptance Criteria

GIVEN a parent element is deleted, WHEN I navigate to the assurance case view, THEN the child elements of the deleted parent should still be visible and unlinked in the assurance case. AND I should be able to reconnect these floating elements to other valid parent elements within the assurance case according to the defined linking rules (e.g., a property claim can only be connected to a strategy or another property claim).

Dependencies

• [ ] Review and update of the current deletion logic to ensure child elements are preserved and not automatically deleted.
• [ ] Develop a UI mechanism that allows users to visually identify and reconnect floating elements.

Technical Notes

• Implement logic to mark elements as "floating" when their parent is deleted.
• Ensure reconnection actions are constrained to valid parent-child relationships to maintain the integrity of the assurance case structure.
• Consider adding visual cues or a separate workspace area within the UI to manage floating elements effectively.
• Accessibility considerations: Ensure that all new UI components are accessible, including proper keyboard navigation and screen reader support for managing floating elements.

Definition of Done

• [ ] The feature fulfills all acceptance criteria.
• [ ] The code is reviewed and meets team coding standards.
• [ ] All unit, integration, and end-to-end tests are passed.
• [ ] The feature meets accessibility standards set for the project.
• [ ] The code passes the CI/CD pipeline quality controls (style and linting).
• [ ] The feature is merged into the main branch.
• [ ] The feature is deployed and functional in the QA environment.
• [ ] The feature was demonstrated to the team and accepted by the product owner.

[cptanalatriste]

@RichGriff , in the development branch now there's a working version of the new endpoints for this issue. At the moment, it only works on Context elements:

• First, there are some database changes. Please run python manage.py migrate before testing the code.
• For placing an existing Context element in the "sandbox", do a POST request to contexts/<context_id>/detach, without a payload. The response is just a status code.
• For attaching a Context element to an existing Goal, do a POST request to contexts/<context_id>/attach, with payload {goal_id: <goal_id>}.The response is just a status code.
• For retrieve the contents of the Sandbox, do a GET request to cases/<assurance_case_id>/sandbox without a payload. The JSON response will have the format {contexts: [<all Context elements in Sandbox>]}

In the following days, I will be adding support to the rest of the case elements.

[RichGriff]

@cptanalatriste just a quick update from me on my changes:

• User can now detach a context element
• User will see a banner notifying them that there are orphaned elements linked to this case
• User can find existing elements (orphaned elements) when editing a node. This is a different action to creating a new child element
• User can select an orphan to attach (this list is filtered based on what can be added to the parent node)
• User can then choose to delete all orphans that they see in the list above

https://github.com/alan-turing-institute/AssurancePlatform/assets/28445922/6bfedc21-3d61-4f24-9f30-1beb597d11a6

I've tried to make this versatile for all types but will need to review once you have completed them.

[kallewesterling]

Oh, I really like how this looks!

[cptanalatriste]

@RichGriff , just updated the branch with the endpoints for attaching Evidence:

• For placing an existing Evidence element in the "sandbox", do a POST request to evidence/<evidence_id>/detach, with payload {property_claim_id: <parent_property_claim_id>}. The response is just a status code.
• For attaching a Evidence element to an existing Property Claim, do a POST request to evidence/<evidence_id >/attach, with payload {property_claim_id: <new_property_claim_id>}. The response is just a status code.
• For retrieve the contents of the Sandbox, do a GET request to cases/<assurance_case_id>/sandbox without a payload. The JSON response will have the format {contexts: [<all Context elements in Sandbox>], evidence: [<all Evidence elements in Sandbox>]}

In the following days, I will be adding support to the rest of the case elements.

[cptanalatriste]

@RichGriff, just updated the branch with the endpoints for attaching Property Claims:

• For placing an existing Property Claim element in the "sandbox", do a POST request to propertyclaims/<property_claim_id>/detach, with payload {goal_id: <parent_goal_id>, property_claim_id: <parent_property_claim_id>, strategy_id: <parent_strategy_id>}. You only need to include the ID of the parent element you want to detach (e.g. for detaching from a goal use {goal_id: 123}). The response is just a status code.
• For attaching a Property Claim element to an existing case element, do a POST request to propertyclaims/<property_claim_id>/attach, with payload {goal_id: <parent_goal_id>, property_claim_id: <parent_property_claim_id>, strategy_id: <parent_strategy_id>}. You only need to include the ID of the parent element you want to attach. The response is just a status code.
• For retrieve the contents of the Sandbox, do a GET request to cases/<assurance_case_id>/sandbox without a payload. The JSON response will have the format {contexts: [<all Context elements in Sandbox>], evidence: [<all Evidence elements in Sandbox>], property_claims: [<all Property Claim elements in the Sandbox>] }

IMPORTANT: Attaching/Detaching property claims do not break the connections between that property claim and its child elements. This means that if you detach a property claim with the structure P1 -> P.1.1 -> E1, moving P1 to the sandbox will actually move the whole branch. Also, if you attach P1 to another element, you will also be attaching the whole branch.

@chrisdburr is this the expected behaviour?

In the following days, I will be adding support to the rest of the case elements.

[cptanalatriste]

@RichGriff, the backend endpoints for this issue are all available in staging. Regarding Strategies:

• For placing an existing Strategy element in the "sandbox", do a POST request to strategies/<strategy_id>/detach, without payload. The response is just a status code.
• For attaching a Strategy element to an existing goal element, do a POST request to strategies/<strategy_id>/attach, with payload {goal_id: <parent_goal_id>}. The response is just a status code.
• For retrieve the contents of the Sandbox, do a GET request to cases/<assurance_case_id>/sandbox without a payload. The JSON response will have the format {contexts: [<all Context elements in Sandbox>], evidence: [<all Evidence elements in Sandbox>], property_claims: [<all Property Claim elements in the Sandbox>] , strategies: [<all Strategy elements in the Sandbox>]}

IMPORTANT: Attaching/Detaching strategies do not break the connections between that strategy and its child elements. This means that if you detach a strategy with the structure S1 -> P.1-> E1, moving P1 to the sandbox will actually move the whole branch. Also, if you attach S1 to another element, you will also be attaching the whole branch.

[chrisdburr]

IMPORTANT: Attaching/Detaching property claims do not break the connections between that property claim and its child elements. This means that if you detach a property claim with the structure P1 -> P.1.1 -> E1, moving P1 to the sandbox will actually move the whole branch. Also, if you attach P1 to another element, you will also be attaching the whole branch.

@chrisdburr is this the expected behaviour?

@cptanalatriste, yes that's what I'd expect to happen. After all, the evidence and sub property claims only make sense in relation to their linked parent.

[cptanalatriste]

@RichGriff after this PR https://github.com/alan-turing-institute/AssurancePlatform/pull/538 , when retrieving sandbox contents now we also include the child elements of strategies and property claims (as you pointed out, before only IDs where included).

I just merged the PR into develop, so it should be available in staging shortly.

[cptanalatriste]

@chrisdburr , please provide the new text for the model when deleting.