[iliyan-velichkov]

Cause

A generated page had two ways to show a field whose value is empty, and neither could say what the empty value means. The Details rail hid the row (and the whole Details block when every value in it was empty, #7522); every other surface printed "—". A reader could not tell "no limit" from "not loaded" or "not filled in yet", and the only workaround was a sentinel value (-1, 9999-12-31) that every rule, check and report then had to know about.

Change

A new field key, as the issue designs it:

- { name: maxLoans,  type: integer, readOnly: true, label: Loan limit, emptyText: No limit }
- { name: expiresOn, type: date, label: Membership expires, emptyText: Never }
- { name: nickname,  type: string, length: 40, emptyText: Not set }

• Model / parser - FieldIntent.emptyText; IntentParser.validateEmptyText refuses it blank, on a boolean, a uuid, the primary key, a required field, a number:, placement: hidden, an aggregate, the document title and a chat messageBody, each naming the entity and field. On a relation it stays an unknown key (pinned by a test).
• Generator - EdmIntentGenerator emits the trimmed scalar widgetEmptyText (both twins) and carries it on a related: register column; ModelParameterProcessor escapes widgetEmptyTextJs (templates: an authored field label: is written raw into the Harmonia report JS and the form T() fallback - an apostrophe blanks the page (#7207 class) #7294) and copies emptyText/emptyTextJs onto a register column; ModelTranslations seeds t.<DATA_NAME>_empty beside the label.
• Runtime - one helper, basePage.orEmptyText(value, shown, tkey, text) (empty = null / undefined / '' / []); detailPanel.cellValue wraps its result with it, so composition panels and related: registers follow (a cross-project register has no emptyTkey and prints the authored text).
• Templates - the six view templates' #valueDisplay (manage form, power/my/partner document, my/partner form) print the text; #valueGate keeps only the canSee / visibleWhen terms, so the rail row always shows, and hasDetailValues counts the field whenever the caller may see it; the text/email/url/tel/number/textarea inputs get it as :placeholder (date-family pickers unchanged); the subtitle (subtitleParts) and the document summary line; the manage and plain list cells and preview sheets; the my/partner lists' display(); the detail and related register columns. exportCell is unchanged, so exports keep ''.
• Byte-identical when absent - every template change is guarded by widgetEmptyText, and widgetEmptyText / widgetEmptyTextJs / the _empty catalog entry are emitted only when authored.
• Docs - assistant guide, .claude/docs/intent-dsl-features.md, .claude/docs/harmonia-ui.md.

Verification

• mvn -T 1C formatter:validate after wiping the formatter cache - BUILD SUCCESS.
• Unit suites: engine-intent 2121 and ide-template 359 green, including the new FieldEmptyTextIntentTest (12), EdmFieldEmptyTextTest (3) and ModelParameterProcessorTest#anEmptyTextIsEscapedForTheTemplates / #anEmptyTextSeedsItsCatalogEntryBesideTheLabel / #aRelatedColumnCarriesTheEmptyText; ConsumedAttributesAuditTest green.
• Integration (local, headless): IntentEmissionCoverageIT (new TeamNote.reviewBy: the record page wraps it, the rail has no emptiness gate for it, other surfaces name the key, the en-US catalog holds TEAM_NOTE_REVIEW_BY_empty: Not scheduled, no page of a field without the key carries any emptyText code, and a created record reads it back null), the new FieldEmptyTextHarmoniaIT (record page rail "Loan limit / No limit" with the Details block shown, "Never" / "Not set" in the main column, "Not returned" in the composition panel, the list cells, the edit form's placeholder, a filled member printing its values with no emptyText, REST answering null), FieldPlacementHarmoniaIT, RecordHeaderHarmoniaIT - all green.
• HarmoniaFieldDisplayIT (smoke gate) matched the value macros by their exact text and failed on the first CI run; it now asserts the new shape (the #{else} branch is the unchanged one, both gate branches ask canSee()) and runs basePage.orEmptyText in GraalJS - 9/9 locally.
• Byte-identical: the 14 changed templates rendered from origin/master and from this branch with a context carrying no widgetEmptyText (fresh Velocity engine per template) produce identical output.

Not verified / not covered:

• The CSV export is not driven in the browser; exportCell is unchanged code.
• The my/partner pages and the list preview sheets are covered by template rendering only, not driven in a browser.
• The release-profile javadoc build was not run; the only Javadoc added is on FieldIntent, which is not a published SDK type.
• Not in the issue's surface list, so left out: the document's own items table (cellDisplay) and the my/partner child tables (displayChild). Both still print "—"; changing them would also touch every document model's output.

Documentation

• Spec proposal 0143: proposal 0143: what an empty value reads as - emptyText: on a field IntentFile/intent-specification#237
• intentfile.org site: spec: emptyText - what an empty value reads as (proposal 0143) IntentFile/intentfile.github.io#84
• dirigible.io DSL reference: intent: emptyText on a field - what an empty value reads as dirigible-io/dirigible-io.github.io#291

Fixes #8605

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