check passes $Var/<member> for a member the entity does not have, incl. the system id (mx check CE0117; check/exec pass) #1650

mxcli v0.28.0 (2026-10-23) · Mendix 11.14.0 (blank repro project) — first hit in an 11.15.0 app · OS Windows Server 2025

Summary

mxcli check (with --references, and with the catalog-based expression type pass reporting "Expression types OK") accepts a microflow expression that reads a member which does not exist on the entity. exec writes it; mx check then reports CE0117. Two shapes:

• the system member id — toString($Obj/id) or $A/id = $B/id. In Studio Pro an object's id is not readable in an expression at all; this is the shape a script author is most likely to write (to build an audit key, a correlation id, …);
• any misspelled attribute — toString($User/Bogus) on an entity that already exists in the model.

Related: #580 (open, expression type checking) and #1515 (open, expressions the build rejects — function arguments, Decimal toString, backslashes). Neither covers member resolution on $Var/<member>.

Minimal repro

create module ModI;
create microflow ModI.MF_UserIdText ($User: System.User) returns String as $r
begin
  declare $r String = toString($User/id);
  return $r;
end;

Expected

check reports the unknown member (an error, or at least a warning), the way the type pass already reports a type mismatch. For id specifically, a hint such as "an object's id is not readable in an expression — use CommunityCommons.getGUID(item = $Obj) or compare the objects themselves ($A = $B)".

Actual

$ mxcli check <repro>/scripts/ewo_id4.mdl -p Repro.mpr --references
✓ Syntax OK (2 statements)
✓ All references valid
✓ Expression types OK, no unstated member drops, no flow change exec would refuse, no used flow left without access, no entity-access call mismatch
Check passed!

$ mxcli exec <repro>/scripts/ewo_id4.mdl -p Repro.mpr
Created module: ModI
Created microflow: ModI.MF_UserIdText

$ mx check Repro.mpr
[error] [CE0117] "Error(s) in expression." at Create variable activity 'Create String variable'
The app contains: 1 errors.

What narrows it down

The rows with an entity created in the script are expected to be skipped by --references ("References to objects created within the script are skipped"); the System.User rows are the bug — the member is resolvable against the catalog and is not checked.

Suggestion

Resolve $Var/<segment> against the variable's entity (and its generalizations) in the expression type pass; refuse a segment that is neither an attribute nor an association; special-case id with the hint above.

Workaround we use

CommunityCommons.getGUID(item = $Obj) (returns Long) and toString() of that; object comparison ($A = $B) instead of comparing ids.

{"level":"INFO","msg":"session_start","version":"v0.28.0","go":"go1.27.3","os":"windows","arch":"amd64","mode":"mxcli check","args":["mxcli.exe","check","<repro>/scripts/ewo_id4.mdl","-p","Repro.mpr","--references"]}
{"level":"INFO","msg":"connect","mpr_path":"Repro.mpr","mendix_version":"11.14.0","mpr_format":2}
{"level":"INFO","msg":"execute","stmt_type":"ConnectStmt","stmt_summary":"connect local 'Repro.mpr'","duration_ms":1}
{"level":"INFO","msg":"session_end","commands_executed":1,"errors_count":0,"duration_s":2}
{"level":"INFO","msg":"session_start","version":"v0.28.0","go":"go1.27.3","os":"windows","arch":"amd64","mode":"mxcli exec","args":["mxcli.exe","exec","<repro>/scripts/ewo_id4.mdl","-p","Repro.mpr"]}
{"level":"INFO","msg":"connect","mpr_path":"Repro.mpr","mendix_version":"11.14.0","mpr_format":2}
{"level":"INFO","msg":"execute","stmt_type":"CreateModuleStmt","stmt_summary":"create module ModI","duration_ms":126}
{"level":"INFO","msg":"execute","stmt_type":"CreateMicroflowStmt","stmt_summary":"create microflow ModI.MF_UserIdText","duration_ms":71}
{"level":"INFO","msg":"session_end","commands_executed":3,"errors_count":0,"duration_s":0}