Fix #883: JSON braces no longer treated as blackboard variables

[facontidavide]

Summary

• Enhanced isBlackboardPointer() to validate content between braces matches a valid variable name pattern ([@]?[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_./]*), rejecting JSON strings like {"key": "value"}
• Centralized the blackboard pointer check in xml_parsing.cpp to use TreeNode::isBlackboardPointer() instead of an inline brace check
• Added PortTest.IsBlackboardPointer_Issue883 test covering valid pointers, JSON rejection, and edge cases

Test plan

• New test PortTest.IsBlackboardPointer_Issue883 passes
• All 322 existing tests pass (0 failures)
• Pre-commit hooks (clang-format, codespell) pass

🤖 Generated with Claude Code

Summary by CodeRabbit

Release Notes

• Bug Fixes
  • Enhanced validation for parameter expressions with stricter content checking and improved error detection for malformed inputs, ensuring more robust configuration processing.

[coderabbitai]

📝 Walkthrough

Walkthrough

The changes enhance the isBlackboardPointer function in the TreeNode class to perform strict content validation within braces using a regex pattern, handle the special {=} auto-remapping case, and return sanitized content. The integration in xml_parsing.cpp replaces inline blackboard pointer detection with calls to the improved function. Test coverage is added to validate the enhanced behavior.

Changes

Cohort / File(s)	Summary
Core Validation Enhancement src/tree_node.cpp	Reworked isBlackboardPointer to extract and validate inner brace content against pattern [@]?[a-zA-Z_][a-zA-Z0-9_./]*, handle special {=} case, and return cleaned content. Early returns for invalid braces; maintainence of existing stripping behavior.
Integration src/xml_parsing.cpp	Replaced inline blackboard pointer detection logic with call to TreeNode::isBlackboardPointer, centralizing validation while maintaining downstream logic.
Test Coverage tests/gtest_ports.cpp	Added TEST(PortTest, IsBlackboardPointer_Issue883) to validate function behavior across valid/invalid inputs, stripping output, and {=} handling. Added tree_node.h include.

Estimated code review effort

🎯 3 (Moderate) | ⏱️ ~25 minutes

Poem

🐰 A rabbit hops through blackboard lanes,
With braces checked and pattern reigns,
{=} transforms with magical care,
No invalid pointers sneak in there! ✨
Validation strong, the logic's right,
Testing bright—what a delight! 🌟

🚥 Pre-merge checks | ✅ 2 | ❌ 1

❌ Failed checks (1 warning)

Check name	Status	Explanation	Resolution
Docstring Coverage	⚠️ Warning	Docstring coverage is 40.00% which is insufficient. The required threshold is 80.00%.	Write docstrings for the functions missing them to satisfy the coverage threshold.

✅ Passed checks (2 passed)

Check name	Status	Explanation
Title check	✅ Passed	The title 'Fix #883: JSON braces no longer treated as blackboard variables' clearly and concisely describes the main change: preventing JSON strings from being misidentified as blackboard references.
Description check	✅ Passed	The PR description includes all key information: what was enhanced, why (fixing issue #883), what tests were added, and confirmation that all tests pass including the template's requirements for unit tests and pre-commit checks.

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✨ Finishing touches

• 📝 Generate docstrings

🧪 Generate unit tests (beta)

• Create PR with unit tests
• Post copyable unit tests in a comment
• Commit unit tests in branch fix/issue-883-json-port-values

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[codecov]

Codecov Report

❌ Patch coverage is 88.88889% with 3 lines in your changes missing coverage. Please review.
✅ Project coverage is 66.63%. Comparing base (2e72fb3) to head (141797f).
⚠️ Report is 12 commits behind head on master.

Files with missing lines	Patch %	Lines
src/tree_node.cpp	87.50%	3 Missing ⚠️

Additional details and impacted files

@@            Coverage Diff             @@
##           master    #1088      +/-   ##
==========================================
+ Coverage   66.59%   66.63%   +0.03%     
==========================================
  Files         225      225              
  Lines       12853    12874      +21     
  Branches     1197     1206       +9     
==========================================
+ Hits         8560     8578      +18     
- Misses       4243     4246       +3     
  Partials       50       50              

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