Custom entity view empty for non-admin users despite API returning data correctly

[assoclip]

Title: Custom Person entity list view empty for non-admin users — .list-container empty despite API returning data correctly

---

EspoCRM version: 9.3.4
Environment: Shared hosting (O2Switch), PHP 8.4.19, MariaDB 11.4.10

---

Description


We have a custom entity CClipClipien of type Person, migrated from EspoCRM v5.7.
Non-admin users with read: all permission see an empty list view (.list-container innerHTML = ""), while:

• The REST API returns data correctly for the same user
• Admin users see all 1760 records
• A freshly created identical Person entity works perfectly

This issue has been investigated exhaustively over several days. We are filing this as a potential bug.

---

What works

• GET /api/v1/CClipClipien?maxSize=25 returns {"total": 1760, "list": [...]} for non-admin users
• Admin users see all records in the list view
• Non-admin users can create new records in this entity
• Non-admin users can access the detail view of individual records via direct URL
• Non-admin users can see all other custom entities (Base and Person type) correctly
• A freshly created Person entity CLipClipien with identical configuration and same data works correctly for non-admin users

What does not work

• Non-admin users navigate to #CClipClipien — page title and "+ Create" button appear, but list is empty
• document.querySelector('.list-container').innerHTML → "" (empty string)
• No JavaScript errors in the console
• No server-side errors in the logs
• window.onerror handler catches nothing
• Backbone router correctly matches the CClipClipien route
• Promoting the user to admin fixes the issue immediately; reverting breaks it again

---

Investigation results

ACL cache — identical for both entities

'CClipClipien' => (object) ['read' => 'all', 'stream' => 'all', 'edit' => 'all', 'delete' => 'no', 'create' => 'yes']
'CLipClipien' => (object) ['read' => 'all', 'stream' => 'all', 'edit' => 'all', 'delete' => 'no', 'create' => 'yes'] ORM metadata cache — identical structure


Both entities: attributes, relations, indexes, collection API response — correct for non-admin user

{"total": 1760, "list": [{"id": "...", "name": "...", "statut": "...", ...}]}


25 records returned correctly with all requested attributes. JavaScript — no errors, routing works

• Backbone.history.fragment = "CClipClipien" ✓
• Route handler matched ✓
• #content > #main > .list-container exists in DOM ✓
• .list-container innerHTML = "" — view never rendered
• No errors caught by window.onerror
• Espo.app is undefined (normal for EspoCRM)

Key discovery — freshly created entity works, migrated entity does not


We created CLipClipien (a new Person entity created natively in v9.3.4) with:

• Exact same entityDefs (copy of CClipClipien.json)
• Exact same data (copied via INSERT INTO c_lip_clipien SELECT ... FROM c_clip_clipien)
• Exact same layouts
• Exact same role permissions

Result: CLipClipien works for non-admin users. CClipClipien does not.

The only structural difference found between the two database tables was:

• c_clip_clipien.id was originally varchar(24) (v5.7 legacy) — later corrected to varchar(17)
• c_lip_clipien.id is varchar(17) (v9.3 native)

Correcting the column type did not fix the issue. Metadata files — no significant differences found after extensive comparison


Tested modifications (none fixed the issue):

• Removed aclDefs/CClipClipien.json (had {"contactLink": null, "accountLink": null})
• Simplified clientDefs, scopes, entityDefs, filters.json, list.json
• Set stream: no in all roles via SQL
• Removed entity from all roles except Gestion
• Cleared all server caches (rm -rf data/cache/*, rebuild)
• Tested with multiple browsers (Firefox, Chrome) and incognito mode

---

Minimal reproduction

1. Install EspoCRM v9.3.4
2. Create a custom Person entity in v5.7, export its configuration and data
3. Import the entity configuration and data into v9.3.4
4. Create a non-admin user with read: all on this entity
5. Navigate to the entity list as non-admin → list is empty despite API returning data

---

Role configuration (verified)

• Role "Gestion": CClipClipien → read: all, edit: all, create: yes, delete: no
• Single role, single team — no conflicting permissions
• entity_team table has 0 entries for CClipClipien
• assigned_user_id values verified as valid existing users

---

Comparison table

Type	Person	Person
Created	Migrated from v5.7	Fresh in v9.3.4
entityDefs	Identical	Identical
Data	Same (copied)	Same (copied)
ACL cache	read: all, stream: all	read: all, stream: all
API response	Returns 1760 records	Returns 1760 records
Non-admin list	Empty	Works

---

Question


Is there a known difference in how EspoCRM v9.3 initializes the JavaScript list view for Person entities depending on their origin (migrated vs natively created)?

Specifically: why would .list-container remain empty (no render triggered) for a migrated entity, while the API correctly returns data and no errors are thrown — and an identical freshly-created entity works?

Any pointer to the relevant JavaScript controller, view, or metadata key that controls list view rendering for Person entities would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you.

[assoclip]

I have reproduced the bug in a newly created EspoCRM environment - only admin profiles can view the data for this entity.

[yuri]

I cannot reproduce on the latest version.

1. Created a custom entity of Person type (in the latest version).
2. Exported to an extension.
3. Installed an extension on a fresh instance.
4. Configured a role so that read = all.
5. Created a user with this role.
6. The user can see records.

An extension exported from such an old version can be not compatible with in the future version in theory. If it's the case, it's likely that can't fix it. Fixing an extension will be needed.

[assoclip]

Thank you Yuri : our migration from 5.7 to 9.3.4 works very well apart from this issue ; I have first recreated all the custom entity and fields manually in 9.3.4 and then uploade the relevant data through SQL in the db tables ; when I create again a simuilar custom person entity to replace the faulty one, it works well (non admin can view) until I update all the related relations

[assoclip]

Steps to reproduce this issue :

1) Install a new EspoCRM v9.3.4 instance
2) Unzip the attached custom files from espo.zip in the ..espocrm/custom/ folder
3) Rebuild until the 3 custom entities show up in the Entity Manager (CClipien, CClipClipien and CAdhesion)
4) Create a role with all authorizations on the 3 custom entities
5) Create a regular user with this role
6) Add the 3 entities in the NavBar of the user interface
7) Create a record in CClipien and another in CClipClipien
8) Connect with the regular user : he can see the record in CClipien but not the one in CClipClipien

Both CClipien and CClipClipien have the same definitions, fields, layouts...

The data is however sent through the api :

https://yourespocrmurl/api/v1/CClipClipien