From 0237b2698b37346dff9f43102ca36505b1883b56 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001
From: StasJ <stas708@gmail.com>
Date: Mon, 4 Mar 2024 17:28:26 -0700
Subject: [PATCH] Fix #3556

---
 CMakeLists.txt                      |  2 +-
 apps/vaporgui/PStringDropdown.cpp   | 10 +++++++++-
 apps/vaporgui/PStringDropdown.h     |  2 ++
 apps/vaporgui/PVariableSelector.cpp |  3 ++-
 4 files changed, 14 insertions(+), 3 deletions(-)

diff --git a/CMakeLists.txt b/CMakeLists.txt
index 9f64387ee6..c5072d20b9 100755
--- a/CMakeLists.txt
+++ b/CMakeLists.txt
@@ -173,7 +173,7 @@ include_directories ("${PROJECT_SOURCE_DIR}/lib/osgl/glad/include")
 if (WIN32)
 	get_property(dirs DIRECTORY ${CMAKE_CURRENT_SOURCE_DIR} PROPERTY INCLUDE_DIRECTORIES)
 endif ()
-if (BUILD_VDC)
+if (BUILD_VDC AND EXISTS ${PYTHONPATH}/lib-dynload)
 	link_directories (${PYTHONPATH}/lib-dynload)
 endif ()
 
diff --git a/apps/vaporgui/PStringDropdown.cpp b/apps/vaporgui/PStringDropdown.cpp
index 5a51b4f950..46f0f2e964 100644
--- a/apps/vaporgui/PStringDropdown.cpp
+++ b/apps/vaporgui/PStringDropdown.cpp
@@ -10,6 +10,14 @@ PStringDropdown::PStringDropdown(const std::string &tag, const std::vector<std::
 
 void PStringDropdown::SetItems(const std::vector<std::string> &items) const { _vComboBox->SetOptions(items); }
 
-void PStringDropdown::updateGUI() const { _vComboBox->SetValue(getParamsString()); }
+void PStringDropdown::updateGUI() const
+{
+    auto val = getParamsString();
+    if (val.empty())
+        val = _customBlankText;
+    _vComboBox->SetValue(val);
+}
+
+void PStringDropdown::setCustomBlankText(std::string text) { _customBlankText = text; }
 
 void PStringDropdown::dropdownTextChanged(std::string text) { setParamsString(text); }
diff --git a/apps/vaporgui/PStringDropdown.h b/apps/vaporgui/PStringDropdown.h
index 6e0b372220..7e0e46b2ec 100644
--- a/apps/vaporgui/PStringDropdown.h
+++ b/apps/vaporgui/PStringDropdown.h
@@ -14,6 +14,7 @@ class PStringDropdown : public PLineItem {
     Q_OBJECT
 
     VComboBox *_vComboBox;
+    std::string _customBlankText;
 
 public:
     PStringDropdown(const std::string &tag, const std::vector<std::string> &items, const std::string &label = "");
@@ -22,6 +23,7 @@ class PStringDropdown : public PLineItem {
 
 protected:
     virtual void updateGUI() const override;
+    void setCustomBlankText(std::string text);
 
 protected slots:
     virtual void dropdownTextChanged(std::string text);
diff --git a/apps/vaporgui/PVariableSelector.cpp b/apps/vaporgui/PVariableSelector.cpp
index 59985099d8..e177381438 100644
--- a/apps/vaporgui/PVariableSelector.cpp
+++ b/apps/vaporgui/PVariableSelector.cpp
@@ -8,7 +8,8 @@ typedef VAPoR::DataMgr::VarType VarType;
 
 #define NULL_TEXT "<none>"
 
-PVariableSelector::PVariableSelector(const std::string &tag, const std::string &label) : PStringDropdown(tag, {}, label) {}
+PVariableSelector::PVariableSelector(const std::string &tag, const std::string &label)
+: PStringDropdown(tag, {}, label) { setCustomBlankText(NULL_TEXT); }
 
 void PVariableSelector::updateGUI() const
 {