Want-to-read list hast 'blank entries'

[bitnapper]

Problem

The want-to-read list has entries which don't show a cover, title, author or necessary buttons to remove them. But they link to the regarding work item which can be added a second time though and that new items appears on the list normally, the broken one stays though.

Reproducing the bug

1. Go to https://openlibrary.org/people/bitnapper/books/want-to-read
2. find an entry which appears with no working buttons

Context

• Browser (Chrome, Safari, Firefox, etc):
• OS (Windows, Mac, etc):
• Logged in (Y/N):
• Environment (prod, dev, local): prod

Breakdown

Implementation Details (for maintainers)

Requirements Checklist

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Related files

Stakeholders

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[openlibrary-bot]

Thank you @bitnapper for submitting this issue!

⚠️ Contributors, this issue will be ready to work on once:

• Triage — maintainers will add Priority: * and Lead: @*
• Needs: Breakdown — issue lacks concrete implementation steps

Context

This looks like the same underlying root cause as issue #13169 (opened by the same reporter, same day, also on the want-to-read shelf): both are almost certainly triggered by Bookshelves.add_storage_items_for_redirects:

openlibrary/openlibrary/core/bookshelves.py

Lines 277 to 282 in 5aa48e6

	# Here, we add in dummied works for situations in which there is no edition key present, yet the work key accesses a redirect.
	# Ideally, this will be rare, as there's no way to access the relevant information through Solr.
	for key in missing_keys.copy():
	if not work_to_edition_keys.get(key):
	missing_keys.remove(key)
	solr_docs.append(web.storage({"key": key}))

When a reading-log entry's work has been merged/redirected and no edition_key was recorded for it, this code pushes a bare placeholder — web.storage({"key": key}) — into solr_docs, with no title, cover, or author data. That placeholder is what ends up on the shelf.

• In reading_log.html → macros/SearchResultsWork.html, title is read defensively (doc.get('title', '-'), line 28), so the row just renders blank — no cover, title, or author, matching this issue's screenshot.
• In my_books/dropper.html (line 29), title is read via direct attribute access (work.title), which raises AttributeError: 'title' on the same placeholder object — which is exactly the error reported in Want-to-read list throws error in processing template #13169. This is likely also why the remove/action buttons are missing here: dropper.html is what renders those, and when it errors, web.py falls back to an empty default template for that section.

A near-identical case (/type/delete records) was already fixed for exactly this reason in #11027 and again in add_storage_items_for_deletes (L310-L337), which gives deleted records a friendly [Record deleted] title stub. The redirect-with-no-edition branch never received the same treatment, and remains unchanged since it was introduced.

Also related (different subsystem, same class of bug): #10735 — Lists don't follow work redirects either, because list "seed" arrays live in Infobase rather than the SQL tables that resolve_redirect_chain already updates for reading logs, ratings, etc.

Issue Assessment

Open questions

• Should the fix for the no-edition redirect case add a placeholder title (mirroring add_storage_items_for_deletes's [Record deleted]), or should it resolve the redirect target and re-fetch proper Solr data for the new work key?
• Confirming that @bitnapper's specific affected entries are redirect-with-no-edition (vs. some other case) would require checking the reading_log DB in production — flagging in case a maintainer wants to verify before scoping the fix.

Suggested breakdown

• Confirm root cause against production data: verify the affected want-to-read entries correspond to merged/redirected works with no edition_key, per Bookshelves.add_storage_items_for_redirects
• Give the no-edition redirect placeholder a friendly title/cover fallback, mirroring add_storage_items_for_deletes's handling of /type/delete records
• Harden my_books/dropper.html line 29 against a missing title attribute (e.g. work.get('title', ...) instead of work.title) — this alone could be a Good First Issue and would resolve Want-to-read list throws error in processing template #13169's error
• Add a test covering redirected reading-log entries with no edition_key rendering safely in both the shelf listing and the dropper

🔔 Stakeholders

@cdrini — most recent/active contributor on openlibrary/core/bookshelves.py's redirect/delete stub handling (added the [Record deleted] stub fix), and already engaged as domain expert on the related redirect-propagation issue #10735.

Full triage checklist

• Triage — correct labels applied or removed
• Problem / opportunity — problem is clear, audience identified, actionable
• Scope — issue is well-scoped; does not try to do too many things
• Justification — reasoning and impact stated; sufficient for leads to prioritize
• Success & testing criteria — defines what "done" looks like, verifiable by a contributor
• Proposal & breakdown — concrete plan present; checklist actionable for a contributor
• If bug: environment & repro steps — browser, version, local vs prod; steps to reproduce
• Risks, concerns, open questions — identified and surfaced
• Richy context — relevant code, commits, PRs reviewed; no duplicate found
• References — screenshots, designs, docs, and links present where needed

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Note

This comment was automatically generated by Richy, Open Library's issue enrichment assistant, on behalf of @mekarpeles. This is NOT a sign-off. This issue needs lead review before work begins.