fix: default empty workspace state to Unknown in API responses

The list-workspaces API was copying ws.Status.State verbatim, so a workspace
whose controller had not yet reconciled a status was serialised with
"state": "" — leaving frontend label cells visually empty (the symptom in
#1104) and contradicting the generated OpenAPI contract, which declares the
field as the non-empty V1Beta1WorkspaceState enum.

Default ws.Status.State to WorkspaceStateUnknown when it is the zero value
so the API always honours the contract, and remove the need for defensive
fallbacks in clients. Also adds a unit test for the helper.

Refs #1104

Assisted-by: Claude (Anthropic)
Signed-off-by: Ian Moog <ianmoog42@gmail.com>

Author: yanmo42

workspaces/backend/internal/models/workspaces/funcs.go

@@ -86,7 +86,7 @@ func NewWorkspaceListItemFromWorkspace(cfg *config.EnvConfig, ws *kubefloworgv1b
 		Paused:         ptr.Deref(ws.Spec.Paused, false),
 		PausedTime:     ws.Status.PauseTime,
 		PendingRestart: ws.Status.PendingRestart,
-		State:          ws.Status.State,
+		State:          defaultWorkspaceState(ws.Status.State),
 		StateMessage:   ws.Status.StateMessage,
 		PodTemplate: PodTemplate{
 			PodMetadata: PodMetadata{
@@ -119,6 +119,15 @@ func wskExists(wsk *kubefloworgv1beta1.WorkspaceKind) bool {
 	return wsk != nil && wsk.UID != ""
 }
 
+// defaultWorkspaceState returns WorkspaceStateUnknown when the controller has not
+// yet reconciled a workspace's status, so API consumers never see an empty state.
+func defaultWorkspaceState(state kubefloworgv1beta1.WorkspaceState) kubefloworgv1beta1.WorkspaceState {
+	if state == "" {
+		return kubefloworgv1beta1.WorkspaceStateUnknown
+	}
+	return state
+}
+
 func buildHomeVolume(ws *kubefloworgv1beta1.Workspace, wsk *kubefloworgv1beta1.WorkspaceKind) *PodVolumeInfo {
 	if ws.Spec.PodTemplate.Volumes.Home == nil {
 		return nil

workspaces/backend/internal/models/workspaces/funcs_test.go

@@ -0,0 +1,50 @@
+/*
+Copyright 2024.
+
+Licensed under the Apache License, Version 2.0 (the "License");
+you may not use this file except in compliance with the License.
+You may obtain a copy of the License at
+
+    http://www.apache.org/licenses/LICENSE-2.0
+
+Unless required by applicable law or agreed to in writing, software
+distributed under the License is distributed on an "AS IS" BASIS,
+WITHOUT WARRANTIES OR CONDITIONS OF ANY KIND, either express or implied.
+See the License for the specific language governing permissions and
+limitations under the License.
+*/
+
+package workspaces
+
+import (
+	"testing"
+
+	. "github.com/onsi/ginkgo/v2"
+	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
+
+	kubefloworgv1beta1 "github.com/kubeflow/notebooks/workspaces/controller/api/v1beta1"
+)
+
+func TestWorkspacesModels(t *testing.T) {
+	RegisterFailHandler(Fail)
+	RunSpecs(t, "Workspaces Models Suite")
+}
+
+var _ = Describe("defaultWorkspaceState", func() {
+	It("returns WorkspaceStateUnknown for the empty string", func() {
+		Expect(defaultWorkspaceState("")).To(Equal(kubefloworgv1beta1.WorkspaceStateUnknown))
+	})
+
+	It("returns the original state when it is already set", func() {
+		for _, state := range []kubefloworgv1beta1.WorkspaceState{
+			kubefloworgv1beta1.WorkspaceStateRunning,
+			kubefloworgv1beta1.WorkspaceStateTerminating,
+			kubefloworgv1beta1.WorkspaceStatePaused,
+			kubefloworgv1beta1.WorkspaceStatePending,
+			kubefloworgv1beta1.WorkspaceStateError,
+			kubefloworgv1beta1.WorkspaceStateUnknown,
+		} {
+			Expect(defaultWorkspaceState(state)).To(Equal(state))
+		}
+	})
+})