[TAN-7666] Allow clearing an idea's location via the edit form

[jinjagit]

Claude Code assisted.

The fix

• BE: permit location_point_geojson as a scalar in addition to its existing nested-hash permit, so a client-sent null is no longer silently dropped by strong-params and actually clears the column.
• FE: at IdeationForm submit time, force location_point_geojson to null when location_description is empty — without this the form would echo the original Point back and the BE would just re-save it, even with the permit fix in place.
• Regression spec in ideas_update_spec.rb: admin sends null for both attributes, both clear on the persisted record.

Not covered

• Asymmetric field gating. location_description is gated on submittable_field_keys; location_point_geojson is permitted unconditionally on the BE. Maybe worth aligning, or maybe there is a good reason for this, but out of scope in any case.
• Historic records with point-but-no-description. Some are possibly legitimate (e.g. bulk import). Cleanup needs a domain decision rather than a blanket rule. Also, nobody is asking for a cleanup of existing data.

A note on Rails params, scalars & nested hashes

In Rails strong-params, parameters are permitted in two shapes:

1. Scalar — a single primitive value at a top-level key. You permit it by name: params.permit(:location_point_geojson). Rails accepts strings, numbers, booleans, nil, dates, etc. as scalars. A JSON object is not a scalar in this sense.
2. Nested hash — a structured value under a key. You permit it by passing a hash spec: params.permit(idea_complex_attributes: [:location_point_geojson, ...]) or params.permit(location_point_geojson: [:type, coordinates: []]).

When you only declare location_point_geojson as a nested hash permit (expecting { type: "Point", coordinates: [...] }), strong-params evaluates whether the incoming value matches that hash shape. A null doesn't match a hash shape, so it gets silently dropped from the permitted params — the controller never sees the clear intent.

Permitting it additionally as a scalar (params.permit(:location_point_geojson)) tells strong-params "a bare primitive value at this key is also acceptable." Now null survives the filter and reaches the model, where assigning nil actually clears the column. The two permits coexist: a hash payload flows through the nested permit, a null payload flows through the scalar permit.

Changelog

Fixed

• [TAN-7666] Allow clearing an idea's location via the edit form

[notion-workspace]

🐛 Input field: you can not remove location once added

[cl-dev-bot]

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[IvaKop]

Makes sense 🚀