Clearing manufacturer & save not possible

Summary

When we edit a device that has a manufacturer entry, we want to clear it & save it, then we get an error from the backend.

Steps to reproduce

• login
• open the page to add a new device
• insert shortname, manufacturer and permission group
• save
• edit this device again
• clear the manufactuerer
• click on save

What is the current bug behavior?

The backend rejects the payload, as the manufacturer_name field is serialized to a null.

What is the expected correct behavior?

The manfacturer_name should be serialized to an empty string - and the save should succeed.

Some logs and/or screenshots

Payload of the post request

{"data":{"type":"device","attributes":{"description":"","short_name":"manufacturer test","long_name":"","serial_number":"","inventory_number":"","manufacturer_uri":"","manufacturer_name":null,"device_type_uri":"","device_type_name":"","status_uri":"","status_name":"","model":"","persistent_identifier":null,"website":"","dual_use":false,"is_private":false,"is_internal":true,"is_public":false,"group_ids":["1339"]},"id":"20"}}

Possible fixes

• Changed handling in the form to insert the manufacturer (field should not be null at all).
• Changes in the serializer (one could add some handling to replace it this.manufacturerName || '')

Nice to know

It could also affect the platform forms.

ToDo's

• Bug reproduced
• Cause found
• Bug fixed