[QTI] Delay validation messages until the author has engaged with the question #6107

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Overview

Validation runs on every state change, so a question that has just been created shows its error messages immediately — before the author has had a chance to fill anything in. Validation should keep running as it does; what should change is when its messages are shown. An author should see a message only once they have engaged with the thing it is about, or once they have finished with the question.

Complexity: Medium
Target branch: unstable

Context

Every interaction editor validates on each state change and renders the resulting messages inline — under the question prompt, under an individual answer row, and under the answer list. Because a newly created question is empty, it is also invalid, so the messages are on screen from the moment the card opens.

A question that was saved empty earlier is a different case: its author already had the chance to fill it in, so its messages are not premature.

The Change

Messages should be revealed rather than suppressed — validation still runs, and an author who has engaged with a field still sees what is wrong with it immediately.

For a question created in the current session, each message waits for the author to touch what it is about:

• "Question is required" appears once the question prompt editor has been blurred.
• The answer-list messages — "Choose a correct answer" for choice questions, "At least 2 items are required for an ordering question." for ordering — appear once any answer row's editor has been blurred.
• A row's own messages — the blank and duplicate errors on a choice, an ordering item, or a text entry answer — appear once that row's editor has been blurred.

Closing the question card reveals every message the question has, whether or not anything was touched. Once a message has been revealed it stays revealed while the error lasts.

A question that already existed before the author opened it shows all of its messages from the first render. Only a question created in the current session starts out quiet.

How to Get There

Open a channel for editing and go to /channels/<channel_id>/#/qti-demo. Adding a question exercises the new-question case; the fixture items, which are already saved, exercise the existing-question case.

Acceptance Criteria

• A question created in the current session shows no validation messages when it opens
• "Question is required" appears after the question prompt editor is blurred
• "Choose a correct answer" appears after any answer row's editor is blurred, for choice questions
• "At least 2 items are required for an ordering question." appears after any item row's editor is blurred
• A row's blank and duplicate messages appear after that row's own editor is blurred, and not before — for choices, ordering items and text entry answers
• Blurring one row does not reveal another row's messages
• Closing the question card reveals every message the question has
• A message that has been revealed stays revealed while its error lasts
• A question that existed before the author opened it shows all its messages from the first render
• Tests cover that a newly created question starts with no messages and that each blur reveals the messages it should

AI usage

I used Claude Code to draft this issue. It read the validation strings and interaction editors to confirm the current messages; I defined the reveal behavior and reviewed every section.