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fix: handle empty certificate_available_date in schedule & details PUT#38456

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Anas12091101 wants to merge 2 commits intoopenedx:masterfrom
mitodl:anas/fix-certificate-display-setting
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fix: handle empty certificate_available_date in schedule & details PUT#38456
Anas12091101 wants to merge 2 commits intoopenedx:masterfrom
mitodl:anas/fix-certificate-display-setting

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Description

When the Certificate display behavior is set to Immediately upon passing or End date of course and the Save button is clicked, the API returns a 400 error with the following response:

[
  "Datetime has wrong format. Use one of these formats instead: YYYY-MM-DDThh:mm[:ss[.uuuuuu]][+HH:MM|-HH:MM|Z]."
]

The third option, A date after the course end date, works correctly since it includes a date in the request payload.

This was introduced by PR #38213: "feat: add AuthZ permissions for schedule and course details"), which added certificate_available_date to the date_fields set in _classify_update. Unlike the other date fields (start_date, end_date, etc.), the MFE sends certificate_available_date: "" (empty string) when no date is applicable. The existing guard if payload_value is not None does not cover empty strings, so DateTimeField.to_internal_value("") was called, raising a DRF ValidationError that propagated as a 400 response.

This PR fixes this by normalizing empty string to None for date fields in _classify_update before calling to_internal_value, since an empty string semantically means "no date". Additionally, allow_null=True was added to the certificate_available_date field in CourseDetailsSerializer, making it consistent with end_date, enrollment_end, and enrollment_start, all of which already allowed null.

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  • Which edX user roles will this change impact? Course Author
  • Include screenshots for changes to the UI (ideally, both "before" and "after" screenshots, if applicable).
  • Provide links to the description of corresponding configuration changes. Remember to correctly annotate these
    changes.

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Be sure to check they are publicly readable, or if not, repeat the information here.

Testing instructions

. Go to the Schedule & Details page of an instructor-paced course.
2. Select Immediately upon passing or End date of course under certificate display behavior.
3. Click Save.
4. Verify that the change saves without any error

Deadline

"None"

Other information

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  • Does this change depend on other changes elsewhere?
  • Any special concerns or limitations? For example: deprecations, migrations, security, or accessibility.
  • If your database migration can't be rolled back easily.

@openedx-webhooks openedx-webhooks added the open-source-contribution PR author is not from Axim or 2U label Apr 27, 2026
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Thanks for the pull request, @Anas12091101!

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@Anas12091101 Anas12091101 force-pushed the anas/fix-certificate-display-setting branch from d56670d to 683b43e Compare April 27, 2026 15:31
@mphilbrick211 mphilbrick211 moved this from Needs Triage to Waiting on Author in Contributions Apr 29, 2026
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