Plot Reference to Missing SubSection Crashes GUI

Edit: It actually turns out to be even more general and any plot reference to a SubSection which has not been instantiated yet will cause the GUI to crash. For example, uploading the following yaml schema and then creating a MyTopSection in the GUI will cause a crash as the SubSection MySubSection has yet to be instantiated:

definitions:
  sections:
    MySubSection:
      quantities:
        x:
          type: np.float64
          shape: ['*']
        y:
          type: np.float64
          shape: ['*']
    MyTopSection:
      m_annotations:
        eln:
        plot:
          - x: my_sub_section/x
            y: my_sub_section/y
      sub_sections:
        my_sub_section:
          section: '#/MySubSection'

Below you find a more detailed example of the specific case where a repeating SubSection has yet to be defined:

If a plot reference to a schema refers to a repeating SubSection which is not defined in the data file the GUI will crash with the error:

resolveInternalRefSingle
src/utils.js:1248

  1245 | const segments = path.split('/').filter(segment => segment !== '')
  1246 | let current = data
  1247 | for (const segment of segments) {
> 1248 |   if (!current) throw new Error(`Path does not exist: ${path}`)
       | ^  1249 |   if (isNaN(segment)) {
  1250 |     current = current[segment] || current._properties?.[segment] || current.sub_section?._properties?.[segment]
  1251 |   } else {

Here is a minimum breaking example in yaml:

definitions:
  sections:
    MySubSection:
      quantities:
        x:
          type: np.float64
          shape: ['*']
        y:
          type: np.float64
          shape: ['*']
    MyTopSection:
      m_annotations:
        eln:
        plot:
          - x: 
              - my_sub_sections/0/x
              - my_sub_sections/1/x
              - my_sub_sections/2/x
            y: 
              - my_sub_sections/0/y
              - my_sub_sections/1/y
              - my_sub_sections/2/y
      sub_sections:
        my_sub_sections:
          repeats: True
          section: '#/MySubSection'

data:
  m_def: '#/MyTopSection'
  my_sub_sections:
    - x: [0,1]
      y: [1,2]
    - x: [0,0.5]
      y: [1,2]

I see three different ways that this could be solved:

  1. Somehow catch the error and display it without crashing the GUI
  2. Ignore paths that cannot be found
  3. Allow users to reference repeating SubSections with a range, i.e. something like: x: my_sub_sections/:/x. This is very similar to the feature request in #1313 (closed).

I personally think that the 3rd option would be very convenient but if that is technically hard to implement I would at least suggest the 2nd option (which would be needed as part of the 3rd option anyways).

Edited by Hampus Naesstroem