"Select a Page" custom-field browser (legacy/old edit mode) always returns "No files found" for Pages

[nathan-hildebrandt]

Problem Statement

The legacy "Select a Page" / "Select a file" browser dialog used by classic (old edit mode) custom fields — for example the bundled redirect_custom_field_old.vtl template — never returns any Pages, even when live/published pages exist. The dialog opens correctly and renders the site/folder tree, but the content pane always shows "No files found" for every folder, including a site's root with a guaranteed published index page.

This affects any customer using a custom field (VTL) built on dotcms.dijit.FileBrowserDialog with mimeTypes="application/dotpage" to let editors pick a Page — the picker is 100% non-functional; there is no workaround short of manually typing the page's URL.

Root cause: The dialog is configured with mimeTypes="application/dotpage":

• dotCMS/src/main/webapp/WEB-INF/velocity/static/htmlpage_assets/redirect_custom_field_old.vtl (line 40)

That value flows: BrowserAjax.getFolderContent(...) builds a BrowserQuery.showMimeTypes(["application/dotpage"]) (dotCMS/src/main/java/com/dotmarketing/portlets/browser/ajax/BrowserAjax.java, ~lines 395-409) → BrowserAPIImpl.getFolderContent() → getContentUnderParentFromDB() → selectQuery() → appendMIMETypeQuery() (dotCMS/src/main/java/com/dotcms/browser/BrowserAPIImpl.java, lines 2158-2163):

private void appendMIMETypeQuery(final StringBuilder sqlQuery, final List<String> mimeTypes) {
    final String mimeTypesFilter = String.format(" AND (%s)", mimeTypes.stream()
            .map(mimeType -> String.format("jsonb_path_exists(c.contentlet_as_json,'$.fields.**.metadata ? (@.contentType like_regex \".*%s.*\")')", mimeType))
            .collect(Collectors.joining(" OR ")));
    sqlQuery.append(mimeTypesFilter);
}

This checks whether a binary field's stored metadata has contentType matching the requested MIME type. "application/dotpage" is not a real, persisted value anywhere in a Page Contentlet's contentlet_as_json — it is a synthetic label invented only when building the JSON response sent back to the browser, in BrowserAjax.java (~line 788): pageMap.put("mimeType", "application/dotpage");. That assignment happens client-response-side, after the SQL query already ran, and is also used by a separate, harmless in-memory filterReturnList check — it is never written back into any contentlet's actual stored metadata.

Since Pages (post "HTML Page as Content" refactor — see Task03100HTMLPageAsContentChanges.java) have no binary field at all, jsonb_path_exists(...) can never evaluate true for a Page row. appendMIMETypeQuery therefore unconditionally excludes every Page from the SQL result set whenever mimeTypes=["application/dotpage"] is requested — regardless of publish state, permissions, host, or folder. This is a structural mismatch between a synthetic display-only label and a real DB-level filter, not a data or configuration problem.

Steps to Reproduce

1. On a content type with a custom field built on the bundled redirect_custom_field.vtl template (or any custom field/VTL that opens dotcms.dijit.FileBrowserDialog with mimeTypes="application/dotpage"), open the content edit form in classic/old edit mode.
2. Click the field's "Select a Page" button to open the file browser dialog.
3. Navigate to any site root or folder that has at least one published (live) Page — e.g. the site's index page.
4. Expected: the live Page(s) under that folder appear in the results list, selectable.
5. Actual: the folder tree renders correctly (site/folder navigation works), but the content pane always shows "No files found" — no Pages are ever listed, even the guaranteed-published root index page.

Acceptance Criteria

• Opening the "Select a Page"/"Select a file" browser (legacy custom field, e.g. redirect_custom_field_old.vtl) on any folder containing at least one live Page returns that Page in the results list
• The root index page of a site (published/live) appears in the browser when navigating to that site's root
• Existing File Asset / dotAsset mimeType filtering (e.g. an image-only custom field) continues to work unchanged after the fix
• The original bug (Pages never appearing regardless of publish state, host, or folder) no longer reproduces on any folder/site combination

dotCMS Version

26.06.04-01
26.06.22-02

Severity

High - Major functionality broken

Links

• Freshdesk ticket #38479

[nathan-hildebrandt]

Companion issue: #36663 (same feature — New Edit Mode "Select a Page" browser, different root cause: missing hostFolderId param instead of the SQL mimeType filter here).

[gortiz-dotcms]

Passed QA

Working as expected, content tree renders and when navigating Pages are displayed and selectable.

Fixed by #37032