# Compact contextual help: independent source review

Review date: 2026-09-25. Scope: Gitea issue #39 compact editing chrome and contextual Help, reviewed against base `715036e1` and the issue screenshot. Reviewed source includes `e0812b3932fbb36100516f0981dc9c646eeda56d` plus the subsequent local passive-geometry admission patch and regression test in this change. This is source-review evidence, not native acceptance or executed test evidence.

Criteria: [editing workspace UX review](../docs/ui-review.md), especially preserving pending edits and selection, stable canvas geometry, accessible disclosure, and retaining actionable feedback.

## Findings addressed in source

- The initial Help action used ordinary page navigation, clearing multiselection and selected bends, including before a pending behavior form rejected navigation. Contextual Help now overlays the existing workspace. Close/Escape changes reading state without navigating or applying drafts.
- App-level modal admission originally ran after allocation and reference-picker fast paths. Help now gates user messages at the beginning of `App::update`; allocation and behavior keyboard ownership are also disabled while Help is open.
- Combining live gesture feedback with multiselection controls could leave no width for feedback at the configured minimum window size. Selection controls now keep a compact, fixed-height row; current drawing/allocation feedback uses the existing application footer.
- Footer feedback initially replaced operation status, concealing errors while a promoted edge or drawing tool remained selected. The footer now retains operation status alongside feedback and exposes complete text in its tooltip.
- Conditional modal wrapping could recreate the editor widget tree. Both closed and open states now use the same outer Stack with the workspace as its first child.
- State/Process selection guidance removed from persistent chrome was missing from its target Help articles. The States and Chains articles now include group selection, primary-properties semantics and relevant tool/read-only guidance.
- The new early modal gate initially rejected passive behavior viewport/scroll notifications. It now admits Process/Scenario geometry and State viewport notifications to their existing context-validated handlers, preventing resize observations from being lost while Help is open.

## Regression coverage added

[`context_help_tests.rs`](../crates/oa-desktop/src/app/context_help_tests.rs) covers property drafts and multiselection, source drafts, pending state-transition forms, blocked background actions, contextual Help topic dispatch, Close/Escape, allocation input ownership, queued inspector reference-picker admission, and valid/stale Process viewport measurements during Help and after closing. Assertions include accepted-model snapshot identity and absence of history changes where applicable. Passive geometry intentionally validates document/owner/revision; stale pointer epochs alone do not invalidate measurements.

The reviewer did not compile or execute these tests. Suggested focused command: `cargo test -p oa-desktop context_help_tests`. The integration owner records actual execution and native results separately.

## Scope and remaining verification

Production changes reviewed: desktop App messages/admission, allocation input ownership, Escape bridging, behavior keyboard ownership, architecture/State/Process toolbar layout, guide article disclosure and footer feedback; supporting architecture/UI-review documentation. Regression tests and this record are review artifacts. No model schema, persistence format or authored-model transformation is introduced.

No further concrete source blocker was identified after the fixes above. Native checks remain necessary at 1100×700 and a representative normal size: Help discovery and keyboard reading/dismissal, focus and caret return, preservation of canvas camera/selection and form drafts, resize while Help is open, multiselection control visibility, allocation refusal/destination feedback, current operation failures, and stable canvas bounds through selection/gesture changes. Source inspection and App tests do not establish layout quality, keyboard scrolling, pointer behavior or usability.