Nested parameter error message prints toplevel as map

[PikalaxALT]

Below is a minimal illustrative example. In a larger case of nested parameter groups, the printed dict can be hundreds of columns wide and bury the true reason for the validation failure.

nextflow_schema.json:

{
    "$schema": "https://json-schema.org/draft/2020-12/schema",
    "$id": "https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nf-core/testpipeline/master/nextflow_schema.json",
    "title": "nf-core/testpipeline pipeline parameters",
    "description": "this is a test",
    "type": "object",
    "$defs": {
        "category": {
            "type": "object",
            "title": "An interesting title",
            "properties": {
                "foo": {
                    "type": "object",
                    "anyOf": [
                        {
                            "required": ["bar"],
                            "errorMessage": "--foo.bar or --foo.baz is required"
                        },
                        {
                            "required": ["baz"],
                            "errorMessage": "--foo.bar or --foo.baz is required"
                        }
                    ],
                    "properties": {
                        "bar": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "baz": {
                            "type": "string"
                        },
                        "boop": {
                            "type": "string",
                            "default": "banana"
                        }
                    }
                }
            }
        }
    },
    "allOf": [
        {
            "$ref": "#/$defs/category"
        }
    ]
}

nextflow.config

params {
    foo {
        bar = null
        baz = null
        boop = 'banana'
    }
}

validation {
    help {
        enabled = true
    }
}

main.nf

include { validateParameters } from 'plugin/nf-schema'

process SAY_HELLO {
    input:
    val object

    output:
    val "Hello $object"

    exec: null
}

workflow {
    validateParameters()
    Channel.of(
        'world',
        params.foo.bar ?: params.foo.baz,
        params.foo.boop,
        'General Kenobi'
    ) | SAY_HELLO | view
}

commandline: nextflow run .

response:

 N E X T F L O W   ~  version 24.10.2

Launching `./main.nf` [wise_edison] DSL2 - revision: bc7026d241

ERROR ~ Validation of pipeline parameters failed!

 -- Check '.nextflow.log' file for details
The following invalid input values have been detected:

* --foo ({"boop":"banana"}): Missing required parameter(s): bar (--foo.bar or --foo.baz is required)
* --foo ({"boop":"banana"}): Missing required parameter(s): baz (--foo.bar or --foo.baz is required)
* --foo ({"boop":"banana"}): Value does not match against any of the schemas

 -- Check script 'main.nf' at line: 17 or see '.nextflow.log' file for more details
(nf-core) pikalaxalt@Mac nextflow_test % 

[nvnieuwk]

Thank you for reporting this! This is definitely intended behaviour of the plugin, but I agree that having those massive maps might not be ideal for the error message.

I'll try and set a limit on the amount of characters that can be printed as for the value. If the length of the value is bigger than the amount of characters allowed, it will print out the start and end of the value instead.

[nvnieuwk]

This will be fixed in 2.4.0 once it comes out. This release will have a new config option (validation.maxErrValSize) that limits the size of the value shown in the error message