console

src/features/catalogue/CatalogueBrowser.tsx

@@ -256,17 +256,34 @@ export function CatalogueBrowser({
   });
 
   /**
-   * The category an import would actually be written under.
+   * The LAST-RESORT category: the tenant's first real one.
    *
-   * Falls back to the tenant's first real category rather than to nothing.
+   * Only reached when a product carries no catalogue category of its own and
-   * `categoryOptions` arrives asynchronously, so this is derived at render
+   * nothing has been picked. `categoryOptions` arrives asynchronously, so this
-   * instead of pushed into state by an effect — state seeded from an empty
+   * is derived at render rather than pushed into state by an effect — state
-   * list would keep the old default after the categories loaded, and the
+   * seeded from an empty list would keep the old default after the categories
-   * picker would then show one thing while the request sent another.
+   * loaded, and the picker would then show one thing while the request sent
+   * another.
    */
   const defaultCategory = categoryOptions.find((option) => option.value !== '')?.value ?? '';
   const chosenCategory = importInto ?? defaultCategory;
 
+  /**
+   * What the picker DISPLAYS, which is not the same as the fallback above.
+   *
+   * Empty until the operator picks, so the control shows its placeholder — and
+   * the placeholder names the catalogue's own category, which is what an
+   * untouched import actually uses.
+   *
+   * Showing `chosenCategory` here was a straight contradiction on screen: the
+   * description read "filed under Food - Mixes" while the select beside it
+   * showed "Category 2" as the chosen value, because the fallback had been
+   * pressed into service as a display value. The two are different questions —
+   * "what will happen" and "what have you chosen" — and only the second belongs
+   * in the control.
+   */
+  const pickerValue = importInto ?? '';
+
   /**
    * True when an import would produce a product the customer app cannot show.
    *
@@ -631,7 +648,7 @@ export function CatalogueBrowser({
           isBusy={busy === catalogueKey(open)}
           actionLabel={actionLabel}
           {...(showCategoryPicker
-            ? { categoryOptions, categoryid: chosenCategory, onCategoryChange: setImportInto }
+            ? { categoryOptions, categoryid: pickerValue, onCategoryChange: setImportInto }
             : {})}
           {...(canImport && !isReadOnly && !hasNoCategory
             ? {