ReferenceSet Associations from OData *-to-* Navigation Properties

[acarum]

When importing an OData entity that has one or more collection-to-collection (-to-) navigation properties, mxcli (and Mendix itself)
auto-creates ReferenceSet associations for each such property. These associations are invalid for external OData entities and cause CE6618 at
mxbuild time. There is currently no MDL statement to remove them, and neither check nor lint detect them — making the only available fix a
manual Studio Pro step.

---

Steps to Reproduce

1. Import an OData entity that exposes -to- navigation properties:
   CREATE OR MODIFY EXTERNAL ENTITIES FROM "ConnectorModule"."App" INTO "MyModule"
   ENTITIES ("Buffer");
2. Run ./mxcli check script.mdl -p System.mpr --references → no errors.
3. Run ./mxcli lint -p System.mpr → no errors.
4. Run ./mxcli docker check -p System.mpr → CE6618 for each auto-created ReferenceSet association.

---

Observed Behavior

• mxcli creates ReferenceSet associations automatically (one per -to- navigation property on the imported entity).
• Example associations auto-created during a Buffer entity import:
  • MyModule.Associations
  • MyModule.CapacityTypes
  • MyModule.Definitions
• These associations are invalid for external entities and mxbuild rejects them with CE6618.
• check and lint are both silent — the error is invisible until docker check (~25s gate).
• There is no MDL statement to remove them (DROP ASSOCIATION does not exist).
• The only fix is to delete each association manually in Studio Pro.

---

Expected Behavior / Requested Improvements

1. Add DROP ASSOCIATION to MDL (highest priority)

This would allow a clean, scriptable workaround immediately after import:

CREATE OR MODIFY EXTERNAL ENTITIES FROM "ConnectorModule"."AppU4DM" INTO "MyModule"
ENTITIES ("Buffer");

DROP ASSOCIATION "MyModule"."Associations";
DROP ASSOCIATION "MyModule"."CapacityTypes";
DROP ASSOCIATION "MyModule"."Definitions";

Without this, any OData entity with -to- navigation properties forces a mandatory manual Studio Pro step that breaks fully automated
migrations.

2. Emit a warning during import when -to- navigation properties are detected (medium priority)

When CREATE OR MODIFY EXTERNAL ENTITIES FROM detects a collection-to-collection navigation property, mxcli should warn:

Warning: entity 'Buffer' has -to- navigation property 'BufferMaterialItemAssociations'.
A ReferenceSet association will be auto-created and will cause CE6618 at mxbuild.
Remove it manually in Studio Pro or use DROP ASSOCIATION (if available).

3. Detect CE6618 in check or lint (lower priority)

Since mxcli manages the model, it has enough information to detect invalid ReferenceSet associations on external entities without invoking
mxbuild. Surfacing this at check or lint would reduce the feedback loop from ~25s to ~2s.

---

Environment

• mxcli version: (0.23.0)
• Mendix version: 11.12.4
• Affected OData entity: any entity with -to- (Collection) navigation properties in its $metadata

[github-actions]

Issue Triage

Summary:
The issue requests a way to drop auto‑created ReferenceSet associations (e.g., via a DROP ASSOCIATION MDL statement) and to warn/detect them when importing OData entities with collection‑to‑collection navigation properties, to avoid the CE6618 build error.

Checklist (feature request):

• Use case – why the feature is needed / what problem it solves
• Proposed syntax or behavior (if applicable)
• Mendix version relevance (if version‑specific)

Comments:
All required information for a feature request is present. Thank you for the detailed report!

---

Automated triage via OpenRouter — workflow source