Dashboard search page renders blank: SearchComponent reads the throwing `filters` ViewChild getter during initial change detection

[yangzhang75]

What happened?

Navigating to the dashboard search page (/dashboard/search, e.g. by typing a query in the top search bar and pressing Enter) renders a blank results area — no results, no empty-state, nothing. The search request succeeds and the autocomplete dropdown still shows suggestions; only the results page fails to render.

The browser console shows this error repeating on every change-detection cycle:

ERROR Error: Property cannot be accessed before it is initialized.
    at get filters (search.component.ts:75:11)
    at SearchComponent_Template (search.component.html:86:33)

Root cause

SearchComponent exposes its FiltersComponent child through a @ViewChild getter that throws until the view is initialized:

private _filters?: FiltersComponent;
@ViewChild(FiltersComponent)
get filters(): FiltersComponent {
  if (this._filters) return this._filters;
  throw new Error("Property cannot be accessed before it is initialized.");
}

The template binds a search-results input directly to this getter:

<texera-search-results [searchKeywords]="this.filters.getSearchKeywords()" ...>

Angular re-evaluates template expressions on every change-detection pass, including the first render — which happens before the @ViewChild query resolves and the filters setter assigns _filters. So on first render _filters is undefined, the getter hits its throw, the exception aborts SearchComponent's rendering, and the results area never mounts → blank page.

The component and template are unchanged from earlier releases; the throw only started firing after the Angular 21 upgrade, whose change-detection ordering now evaluates that sibling binding before the #filters @ViewChild is populated. A getter that can throw should not be referenced from a template binding.

How to reproduce?

1. Log in and open the dashboard.
2. Type any keyword in the top search bar and press Enter (or go to /dashboard/search?q=...).
3. The results area is blank; the console shows the error above.

Screen.Recording.2026-07-10.at.6.08.41.PM.mov

Version/Branch

1.3.0-incubating-SNAPSHOT (main)

Commit Hash (Optional)

No response

What browsers are you seeing the problem on?

No response

Relevant log output

ERROR Error: Property cannot be accessed before it is initialized.
    at get filters (search.component.ts:75:11)
    at SearchComponent_Template (search.component.html:86:33)

[yangzhang75]

/take