What causes "Please select initial state:${_space}" in hcengineering/platform?

Select a state for the destination space before confirming the move

hcengineering/platform · error · Error

Please select initial state:${_space}

Error message

Please select initial state:${_space}

What it means

Thrown in MoveApplication.svelte when `selectedState` is undefined while moving an application to another space. The application must be assigned a state in the destination space, so the update aborts. Notably the function duplicates the same check twice; the second (unreachable) copy shows the intended 'state not found space:' message.

Source

Thrown at plugins/recruit-resources/src/components/MoveApplication.svelte:62

  import VacancyCard from './VacancyCard.svelte'
  import VacancyOrgPresenter from './VacancyOrgPresenter.svelte'

  export let selected: Applicant[]

  const status: Status = OK

  let _space = selected[0]?.space

  const dispatch = createEventDispatcher()
  const client = getClient()

  export function canClose (): boolean {
    return true
  }

  async function updateApplication () {
    if (selectedState === undefined) {
      throw new Error(`Please select initial state:${_space}`)
    }
    if (selectedState === undefined) {
      throw new Error(`create application: state not found space:${_space}`)
    }

    const op = client.apply(undefined, 'application.states')

    for (const a of selected) {
      await moveToSpace(op, a, _space, { status: selectedState._id })
    }
    await op.commit()
    dispatch('close')
  }

  let states: Array<{ id: number | string, color: number, label: string }> = []
  let selectedState: TaskStatus | undefined
  let rawStates: TaskStatus[] = []
  const spaceQuery = createQuery()

View on GitHub (pinned to 63e28dc964)

Solutions

Select a state for the destination space before confirming the move
Ensure the target space has states configured/inherited from its project type
Disable the move button until selectedState is defined
Remove the duplicated check and catch the error to show a friendly prompt

Example fix

// before
if (selectedState === undefined) {
  throw new Error(`Please select initial state:${_space}`)
}
if (selectedState === undefined) {
  throw new Error(`create application: state not found space:${_space}`)
}
// after
if (selectedState === undefined) {
  ui.notify(`Please select a state in ${_space} before moving`) 
  return
}

Defensive patterns

Strategy: validation

Validate before calling

if (selectedState === undefined) {
  ui.notify(`Select a state in ${_space} before moving`) 
  return
}
await updateApplication()

Type guard

function hasState (state: Ref<DomainState> | undefined): state is Ref<DomainState> {
  return state !== undefined
}

Try / catch

try {
  await updateApplication()
} catch (err) {
  if (err instanceof Error && err.message.startsWith('Please select initial state')) {
    ui.notify('Choose a destination state to complete the move.')
  } else throw err
}

Prevention

Preselect a default state when opening the move dialog
Load destination space states before enabling confirm
Remove the duplicated selectedState check
Validate states whenever the target space changes

When it happens

Trigger: User confirms the move dialog without choosing a target state; the destination space's states have not loaded or the space has no states configured so the selector remains empty.

Common situations: Destination vacancy/project without a set-up state machine; UI permitting submit on an empty selector; async state loading that has not resolved when the user clicks move.

Related errors

AI-assisted analysis of hcengineering/platform@63e28dc964 (2026-08-29). Data as JSON: /api/errors/1e74e8393fef406b. Report an issue: GitHub.